Windows apologist upset about Vista

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Windows apologist upset about Vista

By Adam Myers ⋅ April 20, 2006 ⋅

“Paul Thurnott, who is usually excited about all things Microsoft, seems very disappointed with Windows Vista. Here is the conclusion of his review of the latest CTP. He still gives it 5 pauls though.”

Consider, most Windows users won’t even know what Microsoft was promising two and a half years ago. They’ll be happy with their ooo-shiny glass windows and aah-amazing Alt-Tab feature. Vista is ultimately going to be successful - despite the glaring development problems it has had.

What Microsoft should really be concerned about is the poor implementation of the User Account Protection feature. Be very scared if this is any indication of how Microsoft is dealing with their new focus on security. Worst of all, this is something that regular end users will actually notice and complain about.

A deeper problem lies with the interface inconsistency. Thurnott points out how Microsoft has basically turned into what it once despised: a reactive bureaucracy in the mold of IBM from the 70’s. This is really reflected in the current builds of Vista– the interface is incredibly inconsistent compared to OS X, Gnome, or even Windows 2000. It feels like two dozen different teams worked on forty different things without any real coordination or a common set of UI requirements or guidelines.

I won’t bore you with the laundry list of problems that I’ve encountered while working on various Vista PCs, but suffice it to say there have been many, not the least of which is I’ve never seen a Vista machine that has run faster than its XP counterpart, despite the translucent interface. From a productivity standpoint, I don’t get how people can claim that Vista is a superior operating system.

Vista addicts, flame me if you’d like, but I’d rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use Windows Vista over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems. Please spare me the beta line as well - there is a lot of work left to be done in only a few months’ time.