Andrew 2:42 pm on 2007-04-18
Tags: froth ( 20 ), humour ( 61 ), software ( 18 )

Why I hate Windows Vista (and can’t wait to re-install XP)

To quote Niklaus Wirth:

Software gets slower faster than hardware gets faster.

Dom De Vitto 8:18 am on 2007-04-19

There was a good article (I can’t find it now though…grrr), that compared the speed of 80s computers with those today – but not in magabits and gigaherz: in ‘time to backup system’, ‘time to boot up’ and other *real* user metrics.

It had some scary results: like people just dont/can’t do ‘full backups’ anymore, because the common removable devices (e.g.4/8gb DVDs) are much smaller than the common fixed devices (100-250gb drives).

It’s also pretty scary that you can boot up a 640kb PC XT faster than an duel-core 2.something ghz, 4gb DDR box. Even with Microsoft wizzy prechaching and predictive read-ahead.

I really don’t think we’ve progressed much in the past 10 years – I put this squarely at the door of stalled advances in software engineering.

I guess you could define some laws:

Matthews’s law on memory size:
Average computer memory size will increase at a rate less than average memory requirement.

De Vitto’s law on processing capability:
Processing speed will increase at a rate less than the operating system and applications need.
Alec 9:11 am on 2007-04-21

I wonder if OS/X and Linux user feel the same way?

My iMac boots very quickly and my Ubuntu Linux system is not too shoddy

And I think mainframes now restart faster (they used to take 1/2 or more to IPL?)

So perhaps it’s just DOS/Windows that has the problem :-).

Of course the big delay in starting systems like windows is a) The graphics system and b) the device drives — we never had much of that in the good old days, but then we couldn’t plug in our cameras and look at pictures…

However I still think there is room for improvement.
Andrew Matthews 10:23 pm on 2007-04-22

I think once again it is the ‘victim of their own success’ problem that’s causing this. I recently recieved these (see below) stats recently from a colleague. Obscure operating systems tend to have less drivers, and less concern for backwards compatibility as a rule. I thought Mainframes made use of some kind of hibernation feature? i.e. dump memory to disk. If I were to do that with Vista I’m sure it would load pretty fast as well.

As for runtime performance, the general consensus is that in their attempt to address the continuous complains about security holes, MS have put security (and DRM) checks on pretty much every single line of code in the OS (or at least that’s how it seems). I have quite a few colleagues (we recently went through an upgrade cycle at Readify) who went out and bought dual core 2.xGHz laptops with 2+GB of memory and Vista Ultimate, only to find that they performed little better than their old single core 1.8GHz Pentium M machines with XP. God knows what they would run like with a lean and mean Linux OS installed. (Is Ubuntu lean and mean?)

I think that Windows Vista loads every single one of these drivers at boot time. ;-)

————
Interesting stats from MS for anybody that’s had the pleasure of debugging a crash dump.

~70% caused by third-party driver code, there are lots of third-party drivers
~15% caused by unknown as the memory is too corrupted to tell
~10% caused by hardware issues
~5% caused by Microsoft code
From online crash analysis database:
55,000 unique drivers – 24 new/day (28,000 in 2004)
220,000 total drivers – 98 revised/day (130,000 in 2004)
Over 1,263,300 distinct Plug and Play (PnP) IDs (680,000 in 2004)
1,600 PnP IDs added every day
Jeremy 10:04 am on 2007-05-05

I HATE Windows Vista. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. It is a giant heaping piece of rotten spew in comparison to Windows XP. My programs are running slow, if running at all. Vista bugs out on me left and right. “Program will not respond”, is a phrase that is forever embedded in my mind. I cannot wait to get my hands on a XP disc to get rid of this vial piece of junk. Windows Vista is puke, crusted on my computer. It smells. It reeks of greed. I hate it with all of my heart.

Die Vista, Die.
Andrew Matthews 10:01 am on 2007-05-07

Jeremy,
Don’t hold back dude. Tell us what you think.
vistacrusher 2:27 am on 2007-06-05

I bought all of the Windows versions, & they all suck !
zmc 3:27 am on 2007-07-01

“I wonder if OS/X and Linux user feel the same way?”

What a loaded question! It doesn’t matter how long your computer takes to boot up if you can’t even do what you need to do once it boots up. (ie people who actually need to get work done are going to need Windows).

It is extremely frustrating that Vista is the way that it is. I have had basically nothing but trouble, including but not limited to unpredictable blue screens and incompatible apps.

To be honest, I don’t really know what I expected from Vista, since XP Pro works so damn well. I guess the only 2 things I really wanted from Vista were Solid 64bit support (I bought Vista Ultimate x64 and it blue screens during install, tried every reasonable config.)
and the Desktop compositer to enable full 3D accelleration on the desktop (and that’s just cool factor)

I do not, for the life of me understand why they added MORE security “features”. I mean, when I click an exe, typically I want to run that exe, or else I couldn’t have F’ing clicked on it. Why does it need to ask me 20 questions?

For power users, Vista is a step backwards. When it comes right down to it, you get eye candy across the OS (if you have a gfx card that supports pixel shaders) and the ability to find your files easier (oh by the way there’s 1000 programs to do this same thing for XP, just not native to the OS).

For developers, there’s really no reason to use Vista unless you are testing your software on it.
Joel 8:19 am on 2007-07-06

My computer freeses about 5 times even though it’s realy new. I’m always getting this popup saying the program is not responding and forces me to close it. This happened every time I open iTunes. I can’t wait to get a mac.
will 9:18 am on 2007-07-07

I did not know how much I liked XP till I installed Vista. So many programs just do not work on Vista. What was Microsoft thinking? I guess we should have known better when IE7 was another step backwards. There is a phenom I called “backwards technology” where things sometimes get worse rather than better. I guess it is like stocks, nothing goes up forever.
dipen 6:26 am on 2007-07-09

vista is a supid piece of shit i hate it so much its giving me nothing but grief something as simple as imstalling software can become a nightmare with vista and the number of errors coming up to me!! ‘Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown’ over and over and for some reason that is a problem? WHen you try and ‘check for a solution online’ the window simply closes telling you NOTHING! Vista is having so many conflicts with 90% of the software i install as i tend to get a error after or duri an installation and the solutions are to either delete something in the programs directory or uninstall the bloody program!
blue screen 10:16 pm on 2007-07-26

its been 3 days of pure labour with 113 blue screens, 11 system formats and ‘god alone knows’ no of freezes. i wonder why i did it, then again i did install vista ultimate and voila! it crashed, not once, not twice but aleast 6 times. and all that, even before i could actually explore what vista looked beyond bill’s perennial joke on poor users like us, u guessed right, the welcome screen. and if that wasnt enuff, it wouldnt install any of my programs. the hit rate was like 3 restarts every program. looks like its going up to 4. pretty impressive piece of crap. am gonna mess this piece of joke called software, and then pile on to MS with a suit that should make them think as many times as every vista pc reboots across the world, before theye ever venture into making any soft or hard piece of computer history.
Pingback: Hate Vista, love C# :: slightly
michal burrassa 2:47 pm on 2008-03-18

windows vista sucks why put out something that ant ready yet oh I know more money xp was great don’t f with it down with vista down with big brother.
Phil Miller 4:17 am on 2008-04-01

I agree with all the negatives written here about vista. I’m dumping Vista today for an XP UPGRADE! Yes XP is a giant leap forward over vista. However I just bought a little 2 pound Asus eeePC with Linux OS and love it more than any of my MS OS’s. Next computer I get will either be an Apple or config’ed with linux. No more MS! Hear me Billy?
gieflinux 4:53 am on 2008-04-03

i hate vista…i just wanted to post it somewhere fast..vista isnt compatible with..u guessed it, vista..I HATE VISTA!
henry 10:14 am on 2008-04-03

“Windows has blocked access to these files to help to protect your computer” fuck off. i l be the judge of that. thanks.
Eddie 9:20 am on 2008-04-09

Well, I agree with what you said about Windows Vista but I cannot replace the system with anything for a while. DO you know how come when I download a file and specify where I want it to go, it will not download it says it downloaded but it didnt show up. Here is the kicker though. It shows up in the recent files area on the start tab. Can you help me with this?
chris Jennings 1:26 am on 2008-04-10

Windows Vista is the best thing that ever happened to the open source community. Business’s will flock to open source alternatives.
Lisa Goff 8:34 pm on 2008-04-10

I hate Vista. I can’t install my camcorder, it recognizes that I have a Sony Memory stick in the slot and yet says it needs to format it every time, even though there is data on it. And it won’t format the stick, it says it cant. I can’t use 90% of my programs and the new office sucks too. I really hate Vista. Linux is sounding good.
Dammit 12:44 pm on 2008-04-11

God dammit, its either I get a computer tomorrow or never. And I chose tomorrow but all the damn computers are upgraded with WINDOW VISTA -_________________-.. Piece of crap! WHAT TO CHOOSE!
Marcelo 3:41 pm on 2008-04-12

I hate Window Vista, I really really really hate it. I was thinking about creating a web page to tell the world how I hate Windows Vista, but now I see that many people had the same idea…goot to know that I am not alone…and possibly not wrong…Vista is one of my biggest problems today…
michelle johnson 4:59 am on 2008-04-13

boy and, i just thought it was me because im not computer smart. i have never wanted to throw something so bad as this program. finally got a new fast lap top and its a pice of crap thanks to vista, i will just have to void my warrenty because vista is a total dead product. makers of vista should refund everyone who had or wants to go back to windows xp. they made this shit, and i spent over a thousand on a computer that is about worthless. i say we should sue
sean 1:03 pm on 2008-04-13

I HATE VISTA SO MUCH. So every time I shut down I get the message: registry tool has stopped working. Every time I try to access one of my documents I get an error: access denied. This is probably the worst operating system I have seen. I like the “bells and whistles” but it doesn’t do any good if you can’t even open your documents or shut down your system. I am not computer dummy either. AND my IT guru can’t figure out what the heck is going on with it either. He is a geek and if he can’t figure it out – I AM SCARED. I HATE IT I HATE IT I HATE IT.
shaun miller 2:54 pm on 2008-04-13

AHHHHHHHHHHH omg im trying to upgrade but it will just NOT upgrade i swear down i want to throw my laptop out of the window vista is bugging me so bad !!!!!
Vista h8r 10:02 pm on 2008-04-13

God i hate Vista just spent my night trying to install Vista 5 hours later i have Xp Pro again lol Strange as will install on Laptop fine just not desktop, did a full format, reduced components to 1 HD and 1 GPU as i run Sli, still won’t install, well i’m happy with Xp Pro just want to stream to my 360 Elite. Given up guess in 2010 when Xp gets the shove we may get the Vista we were promised, but then thats questionable.
Thank you for providing me with a space to rant.
Mauricio 1:15 pm on 2008-04-15

I hate windows vista as well… it came with my new laptop, and it is absolutely horrible! It crashes, it asks for permission for everything, it freezes many programs I like…. I hate this.
Ceri 4:48 am on 2008-04-17

Vista sucks big time, my girlfriends new PC came with it installed and I now have to re-install XP. It changes resolution, often refuses to find an internet connection, runs like a dog and has a mind of its own.

I have a mac, it always works, never shuts down for unknown reasons, reliable and a lot faster even though its 2 years older than my girlfriends new pc running vista.

Would not touch Vista if you paid me, anyone looking for a new PC and looking at Vista, my recommendation (for what it is worth) buy a mac.
Gareth Reeves 10:30 pm on 2008-04-17

Vista – Latin for:
Bloated backward step designed to confuse and slow down the progress of mankind.
I have never liked Linux, but now if i can’t get XP on a new PC I will certainly not be using Vista. In my opinion as a project manager, this O/S is not fit for purpose. Microsoft are way of mark, can another O/S take them on now they are on their knees, would be nice but i doubt it.
Vista s shit but here to stay cling on to XP while you can.
Why would a business want the flashy front end, if you don’t use it your then stuck with an XP looky likey thats slow intrusive. I can’t install this in a business and expect the end user to accept the performance of this O/S.
I can’t find the words for how crap this O/S is, i have not spoken to a single person who has a good thing to say about it even hardened Microsoft fans.
Rant Over.
tiredOfCorporateGreed 2:15 am on 2008-04-21

I agree with all of you that vent about Vista; it has been a nightmare. It closes most of my programs due to DEP-compatibility. I think this is just Microsofts way of owning everything “computer” related. It seems as if they want every software manufacturer to bow down and ask them for permission to be included in its elustrious club; without getting Microsofts permission first, it punishes all software manufacturers that would dare sell to its Windows Vista customer; however, Microsoft forgot to ask us what we’d prefer more. Personally, I’d prefer to have access to my applications that I spent thousands of dollars on, such as: Adobe’s STUDIO 8, Interactive Foreign Lanaguage software, copying software, and even free software, such as: ITUNES and QUICKTIME, which I love with a passion.

How do Microsoft think they are to tell me what I can and can’t use. This is nothing but greed on Microsofts part. They know full well that we can’t use a software without an operating system, but they failed to give us a choice. By default, all new computers come with Microsoft Vista, so Microsoft has basically said to the public, “You the public are too dumb to know what you want. We are Microsoft, and we are smarter than all of you. Be glad that you have us, Microsoft, to tell you what is and what isn’t good for you. Oh… and by the way, we will make sure that any theives out there that attempt to copy movies and software illegally will be stopped without question. My computer is a Sony VAIO, and it’s VAIO applications have event been affected by the very operating system installed on it – Windows Vista. All Sony has to say about this is, “Well such and such application is very new, and it may not be as compatible with the new Vista.” Duh!!!! Well, why the heck didn’t you do intensive compatibility test before you pushed your own company’s software on our computers that were made by your company when you knew full well it would run into problems with VISTA. All these software company’s make me sick!!!!!! I just purchase my computer less than 1 month ago, and I’ve had head-aches three days afterwards. I don’t have a cheap computer, so that adds to my disappointment; I’m being nice to use the word dissapointment.
Jim Sayre 8:32 am on 2008-04-23

I have had Vista for about 15 months, and have easily spent 40 hours due to lock-up, blue screen, failure to establish an internet connection, and Freeze. The problem is worse in terms of speed, and the most terrible HELP options I can imagine. Bill has paved the way for alternative operating systems. There is still a future for Apple!
onur cakaloz 8:12 am on 2008-04-24

Vista is the “Real Blonde” of all Windows! Real nice to look at, but too tiring to work with.
Brian May 4:36 am on 2008-04-30

I switched to Macintosh rather than migrate (without choice) to Vista which is grossly over-priced.

Mac OS X costs about £90.00 – that’s it! It includes ALL the bells and whistles.

Look at Ubuntu 8.04 – IT’S FREE.

No wonder people HATE Vista bloatware
Chris 8:24 am on 2008-05-04

I have worked in the IT industry for many years and have never see such a a lemon. ME was bad but Vista takes the cake. I bought a copy of Vista ($380)built a killer machine ($1800)and have not been able to get my moneys worth. I can’t even do updates or install SP1. I refuse to do another rebuild. The PC just sits there while I use my XP box. God why didn’t I purchase a MAC, it would have been cheaper in the long run.
Tardis 9:47 am on 2008-05-06

OMG you are so right Windows Vista sucks balls big time. I hate I ever installed this shit on my computer and I can’t wait until I buy an external HDD to transfer my shit to it so I can go back to XP. The user interface is basically the same as XP but slower, none of my games will work on the damn thing. I try to play even the simplest of games like MSTS and it crashes nearly all the time, the fucking game was made in 2001 when 98 was the big 0S. WTF is up with that. Needless to say it’s slow, pathetic and a nightmare with software. I’ve never had so many issues with an OS ever! I almost want to become a Mac Fan! JK..but anyway Microsoft really fucked this one up! No patches/updates will fix this POS OS.

Do NOT BUY VISTA EVER! To those who are thinking about it!
fc 11:17 am on 2008-05-06

I installed vista Home Basic even though it was cool with some features were cool it took about almost 20 GB of space it made my computer slower than xp, the downside of vista was choppy audio quality and green lines through windows media it did a destructive recovery which bought back my computer to alomost new condition i will never go back to vista even though it is installed on my laptop, the computers that come with vista are fine.
linda 5:20 am on 2008-05-09

Vista is from the devil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jason Maitland 8:25 pm on 2008-05-11

Os x Leopard is the best operating system, sure it had its problems when it first came out, but what new operating system doesn’t. It boots quickly, it runs quickly and for work it does most things a pc does and a load of other things pcs wont do. Vista…..I do not know what ms where thinking….practically throwing costumers at apple the way i see it.
Katie.harville 3:30 pm on 2008-05-12

Thank God for my MacBook..
James 3:07 am on 2008-05-15

Please refrain from killing me, but I have yet to have a single issue with Vista, and it’s been 5 months now. Maybe consider L2Vista?
Daniel 9:22 am on 2008-05-15

I really, really dislike Vista. XP FTW.
Ex MS Engineer 6:02 am on 2008-05-22

My days of getting a new OS and spending
90% of my life getting the poxy thing to work
or understand what the hell has changed and why
are over.
I liked working with Win2k and XP in my professional
IT life. Clean, slick easy to diagnose and
troubleshoot. Dont need to put your life on hold
and pull out your hair to learn new knowledge
but with Vista I dont actually want to relearn
all the shit I can do. Cant be arsed to stress
myself over things I’ve already achieved
beforehand. I’ve done all this many times, why
do it again for this new piece of crap OS?
After following MS till now I
would switch to Mac or anything else in an
instant. Had enough with these corporate rent
boys and their pile of shit encrusted garbage
OS.
Alyson 5:36 pm on 2008-05-22

My needs are fairly simple, I want a spellcheck when I email, and I want an edit button on Word so that I can undo and redo. Vista is a nightmare. Bring back XP
Donald Tito 6:46 am on 2008-05-25

I have windows vista, it came with this new Dell I bought, I didn’t know anything about this software until I received the machine, I relly didnt pay any attention to the type of operating software because I thought they all come with windows XP. Well it didn’t take long for me to find out how bad this software is, not only is it slower but the logical navigation through it doesn’t make any sense, you might say well it takes getting use to which is bullshit because I didn’t have to struggle that much with windows XP the first time around. I’m having another problem too, it doesn’t shut down if more than one user is signed on. I don’t even get the warning message that more than one user is on before shutting down unless I hit the power off twice and even then it don’t shut down, I end up having to pull the plug. So obviously there’s probably a bug in the software. I’m so frustrated and dissapointed I spent alot of money on this piece of shit.
Dive Diva 10:02 pm on 2008-05-27

I agree, I absolutely HATE vista. I paid someone to help me configure but it’s still crap. Hear me? Crap! I am giving up and will be paying more money to put XP back on my computer (which is new and a fine computer). I swear when this computer dies or gets fried (like the one I replaced this one with) I am getting a MAC. I am so done with Windows and Microsoft.
ProfessionalVistaHater 11:13 pm on 2008-05-30

I have Vista too. What a load of crap it is!!!
Bob 8:26 am on 2008-05-31

OMG I can not belive that this piece of S**t was even consider to be put on a computer. Boot time before I can do anything is 4 min. Lanunch a program 20 to 60 seconds before it even shows itself then another 20 seconds to to be able to use it. then try to scan and defrag the system. hell 30 min on a full scan then defrag takes over 3 hours yes three hours???????? This is biggest piece of S**T. I am going to dump the system and then reload with XP. At least I know what to expect of XP. finnal thought of Vista is that it is a memory hungry over priced piece of junk OS.
Vistas many Blue Screens 12:24 pm on 2008-06-04

Hate is an understatement. I despise this operating system, literally.

I was one of the earlier adopters and after forking over much tango denero to buy this sorry excuse for an operating system, I soon came to realize it would be littered with more bugs than a 400 year-old wooden porch.

Crashes occured daily, blue screens a plenty. You name it. And that is not even considering the lack of driver support. This GIGO operating system found ways to surprise me, and in a bad way.

So I waited patiently, thinking SP1 would save the day. Last week, I installed SP1, only to have this operating system show me new blue screens of frozen tundra. Crashing daily, sometimes twice a day! This for me is quite common. And this is a clean install computer!

Gates, give me back my damn money! You should be paying me to use this junk!
teri parker 12:18 am on 2008-06-13

nothing but problems with vista – printing, email, disappearing task bars, can’t find anything on it. We need Microsft to develop a “basic” operating system for the everyday use who just wants internet and word processing. Enough with all this crap!
Marty 2:27 pm on 2008-06-14

Why should we pay to downgrade to Vista.
Class action suit should be filed. I Believe
CA is doing it. WHY SHOULD THE CONSUMER PAY. WAKE UP, TAKE CONTROL.
Michael Lee Savage 8:22 am on 2008-07-17

Windows VISTA Constantly “Disconnects me” from the INTERNET. About every 10 minutes or so…..then I have to DIAGNOSE and REPAIR the connection…which always asks me to “Reset my network adaptor”

I never had this problem with XP.