Windows Vista: WIP (Work In Progress)

[Jale]

Steve Ballmer labels Vista as “work in progress”

By Wolfgang Gruener
Friday, April 18, 2008 14:25

Opinion - As if we needed any more confirmation: Steve Ballmer made official what many of us have been suspecting for more than a year. Vista isn’t final, it’s a work in progress, according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. I don’t want to be much more sarcastic than this, but guys, seriously: Is it worth the effort?

Todd Bishop over at the Seattle Post Intelligencer got his hands on a spicy Microsoft piece , with words from Microsoft’s chief executive officer that are likely to spark a feeding frenzy. Ballmer is quoted saying “Windows Vista: A work in progress. A very important piece of work, and I think we did a lot of things right, and I think we have a lot of things we need to learn from.”

Anyone who has not attended Ballmer’s speech held yesterday at the “Most Valuable Professionals” conference in Seattle (I guess that would be most of us), would have a hard time interpreting these words and their context. Was he serious or funny? Reading over the excerpts from the speech, I would say it’s probably something in between. And if you weren’t sure before, now you know that Microsoft is working on improving Vista.

So, should we happy about this “announcement”? Should we be happy that Microsoft is trying to make Vista better than it is today? I am not going into a rant complaining about Vista performance and compatibility issues and painfully slow and stuttering Office 2007, the fact that Windows has become a data monster with a truckload of features many of us have no use for and a shiny new interface that fails to increase the operating systems productivity capability. I am sure you have your very own complaints.

What struck me about Ballmer’s statement is that there is work being done to make Vista better while XP is kept on store shelves. Is there a value in improving an operating system that has been criticized more any other Windows version since version 3.0? Why not cancel it completely and move quickly to a leaner Windows 7?

Windows is not just ready for a serious renovations, it may actually time to say good-bye. Windows 7 shows some initial promise that users may be getting something new, but I am somewhat suprised how Microsoft is treating its Singularity project. It appears that it is simply ignored in public.

There is a small team of developers who have found some true innovation opportunities, security features that could simplify our everyday life and a performance capability that is nothing short of stunning. Guys, drop Vista and make Singularity your work in progress.

[Zach]

People can rag on Vista as much as they want. I have never regretted the switch and I don't have any many complaints.. I don't use Office 2007 much, but I have no performance complaints either. It certainly isn't "painfully slow".

I have a pretty fast PC though, and I suspect a lot of dissatisfaction people are getting is they just don't have the cash to afford a PC that makes Vista worth running. Which is simply "sour grapes" if you ask me.

They can stick with XP. It will be viaible even after they stop support for it, just like keeping a copy of 9x around.

[seether9111]

vista runs great for me with 2 gb ram.

512 wont cut it though!

[Alexander_13]

that's why i use xp lol

[cibomatto2002]

What Windows is not a Work In Progress LOL anyway All programs are really BETAS

[ulaoulao]

What Windows is not a Work In Progress LOL anyway All programs are really BETAS

- Good point.. but XP was the best thing M$ ever did. Vista is pretty, and needs time to be complete. IT wont run most apps, so they again.. need to catch up. after a few Server pack's in time it will be usable. I'll ovoid it for as long as i can.

[Zach]

The application problem is as much a software developer problem as it may be a Windows compatability issues though.

They are forging ahead into new OS territory with 64-bit adoption and the like.. And they also changed a lot of things that affect both 32 and 64-bit.. Most of my problems were solved when software developers released new versions

[leon_belmont]

I confirm what Zach said,to me until now every program i used in XP ,i can use it in VISTA without problem, and just to show you that what they say are not true,i installed VRALLY3 which dates back to 2003 and worked great in VISTA.

In my opinion VISTA ,has surpassed XP, at least the Ultimate version with SP1 of April2008 integrated in it.

Here some programs of importance ,which every average user normally has in his PC:
1 MS Office
2 Utorrent
3 PowerISO
4 Ashampoo Burning Studio or Nero
5 IDM(Internet download manager,which is the best for Windows)
6 ESET NOD 32 Antivirus and IS
7 Total Video Converter (Convert everything)
8 SothinkWebvideodownloader (firefox plugin commercial)
9 VLC(VideoLan)
10 Winrar,winzip,7 zip

They all work great in VISTA, and they are very very few ,which a normal user should have in his PC.

These programs are for day to day tasks.