BusinessWeek: Microsoft’s Windows Vista is ‘slow and dangerous’

Apple Store“When I write a column, I almost never feel I have had enough time using the product under review. Even in the rare instance in which deadlines aren’t bearing down, I often realize later on that I’ve missed a fair amount. In the case of Microsoft’s Windows Vista, flaws that I thought would grow less annoying with extended use have actually become more troublesome,” Stephen H. Wildstrom reports for BusinessWeek.

“Most of the time I spent testing Vista was with sluggish pre-release versions. I expected things to improve when I ran the finished software on PCs configured for the new Windows version. I now realize that Vista really is slow unless you throw a lot of hardware at it. Microsoft claims it will run with 512 megabytes of memory. I had recommended a minimum of a gigabyte, but 2 GB is more like it if you want snappy performance. This is especially true if you’re also running resource-hungry Microsoft Office 2007,” Wildstrom reports.

Wildstrom reports, “The most exasperating thing about Vista, though, is the security feature called User Account Control. UAC, satirized in an Apple ad as a security guy who constantly interrupts a conversation, appears as a pop-up asking permission before Windows will do a number of things: change system settings, install programs, or update antivirus software. UAC may well be necessary to block malicious programs from secretly installing themselves or hijacking your browser settings. But Microsoft has designed it to drive you nuts.”

Wildstrom reports, “There’s a real danger here: UAC is such a nag that many folks will just turn it off, which Microsoft has made quite easy to do [and which] severely weakens Vista’s defenses.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Take: Yet another very good Vista review. Very good for Apple, that is.

Apple “Get a Mac” ad – Security:

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88 Comments

  1. my global warming experiment…

    6:00am – temperature or rock in front yard is 52deg

    9:00am – temp has risen to 61deg

    12:00 – temperature is now an alarming 77deg

    2:00pm – temperature of rock is now 86deg

    conslusion: the world will catch on fire by 6pm if we all don’t stop driving cars…

  2. Back to the article and away from the politics.

    It is great that Leopard is not out yet. That has forced Vista to be compared to both Windows XP and Mac OS X and Vista comes in third.

    I suggest you just lurk at the mini-Microsoft blog to see the slide into utter demoralization at this very pro Microsoft blog. I’ve been lurking there for over a year to get a sense of how the battle goes inside the enemy’s camp.

    It’s game over folks, game over. The Apple Orcas are ripping the skin off the writhing with pain big Blue Whale of Microsoft. It will take a while, but the Microsoft whale will ultimately be transformed into bubbling piles of Orca poop.

  3. Vista is a slow motion wreck…

    Next question; The Earth has never had a more rapid climate change except for massive volcano releases or meteorite hits.
    The bottom line is at no time in the past has the resources of oil and natural gas been brought to the surface and burned. Every single day billions of raging fires are lit and stoked all over the world. The fires come in the from internal combustion engines in cars, trucks, generators. Next comes furnaces of all types, home heating, blast furnaces ect. Next is turbines, which brings us to this war that is being raged against terror which is doing a huge harm to the environment. Other that winning the war (which may never happen) one of the postives I see from it is full scale hybrid technology for the US army.

    bla bla bla, yeah global warming is real and yeah it’s happened before but never like this and 20 years from now we’re gonna have to figure out how to feed ourselves and the rest of the world.

  4. Snapper — I will bet you any amount of money that you can care to name that in 20 years, the earth will be largely unchanged.

    Both PETA and the UN have claimed recently that the amount of emissions (carbon and otherwise) produced by LIVESTOCK greatly exceeds that produced by cars and industry. Moreover, the single greatest source of pollution is volcanoes.

    Perspective is what’s needed here, guys.

  5. The real truth is Global Warming isn’t real until the Republicans say it is. For the last 20 years, Republicans have denied it. Now, they say its real. But not caused by man. So for the next 20 years, we’ll have to listen to Republicans claims that it isn’t man-made. But at some point, Republicans will take notice and declare that it is man-made and that we will need to do something about it. Then it will be a cause the Republicans will fight for.

  6. I don’t know why you all are so blind.
    Global warming was created by Microsoft, and Vista is gonna cause polar bears to die!

    It is scientifically documented that with each release of Windows the earth’s temperature has risen.

    Coincidence? I think not. Just as large portions of the industrialized world are trying to upgrade to a newer version of Windows, aggravation, heated exchanges, computers on for hours upon hours trying to be fixed, fistfights, they all add up to extra heat. Heat that is drowning polar bears.

    So to those who wonder why we are ‘accidentally’ discussing the two, you have been educated.

    Mac OSX will save the earth.

    MW:nature….lol!

  7. Its hard to prove either way if humans are responsible or if its a natural earth cycle or both.

    However, from a commonsense perspective, it never made sense for humans to destroy >85% of the rain forest that would naturally absorb CO2 and help clean the air in addition to producing oxygen. Since most of our oxygen is produced in the rain forest.

    I would think this great imbalance would have something to do with it. Add it up, take out most of the natural air filters and increase air pollution by orders of magnitudes.

    It becomes even more obvious when you look at the number of people/children increasingly getting asthma and other respiratory diseases.

    It does not matter if we are republicans, democrats, or libertarians…we all have to breath the same air and live on this planet and should do are parts to keep it livable.

    Shinobi

  8. That’s right, Jeff. And when the Republicans get around to saying it, they’ll say it, you know… all Republicanny and stuff… then it’ll be really real.

    Because of the Republicans.

    Stinky Republicans.

    I love lamp.

  9. Hmmmmm,
    “The age of spyware is over. I know there are many news headlines about security problems in Vista, but upon further examination all of these security problems turned out to be bullony; nonexistent or theoretical,”

    NO more spyware, YEAAA!! I guess all this junk I am getting is just MS vaporware. LOL

    As far as viruses, MS has made the “core” of Vista much harder to protect because it blocks actions by all those pesky anti-virus companies and relies on its “Defender” that is designed and made by only microsoft. Nuff said. LOL ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

    ne

  10. And another thing-
    My JEEP Grand Cherokee has been in the body shop going on three days now.

    That is three days that my carbon foot has been shrinking. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want any part of my anatomy getting smaller.

    I am afraid my carbon handprint is next. For some reason, the keyboard looks a little bigger today.

    Good news, though, they finish this morning, and I can get off my carbon ass and go to WORK!

    BTW, did any of you hear about that carbon bigfoot they spotted up in Tennesse?…..

    MW:hand……yikes!

  11. Common sense? First of all the rain forest is still there, despite warnings for the last 35 years that it is disappearing at the rate of however-many-football-fields-a-day. At that rate, it should have been a desert about 20 years ago.
    Secondly, the rain forest – because of the huge abundance and variety of animal life it shelters, is a net user of oxygen – not a net producer.

  12. I thought “Slow and Dangerous” was the working title for Ballmer’s biography.

    “Moreover, the single greatest source of pollution is volcanoes. “

    Which is why they should be outlawed immediately. I recommend a White House fact-finding team for an up close look at active volcanoes led by G.W. personally.

    “I know there are many news headlines about security problems in Vista, but upon further examination all of these security problems turned out to be bullony . . .”

    Bullony? Is that from Encarta? Or did you mean the thirty-one year old female from Louisville on myspace.com? Ahhhh, I get it now.

    MW: total, but here we have our share of Special K’s

  13. Hmmm, went to the site and read this. Good for a laugh!!

    “Vista .. But Microsoft has designed it to drive you nuts…
    A recent experience demonstrates what I mean. I was working away when Windows OneCare, Microsoft’s extra-cost security program, suddenly popped open a window asking me if it should give a program called wercon.exe access to the network. To begin with, this is a question that would mystify nearly everyone. (It turns out wercon.exe is a tool that sends error reports [and who knows what else – my add ] back to Microsoft.) When I clicked O.K., UAC asked me if it should let OneCare proceed. You would think Windows would be able to figure this out for itself and that these different security components would work together. But Vista leaves it all to the user to sort out. “

    Yea, Vista, the dumbest new smart program from Microsoft. “1/innovation”!! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

    ne.

  14. BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots

    Cows eh.. if Cows and other farm animals are the largest sources of CO2 then wouldn’t you say that their populations are caused by Man? Which means it’s not natural, we put them there so its our problem. Also CO2 isn’t the only byproduct of polution.

  15. Yeah, Vista is a disaster, but regarding memory, OS X loves it too!

    On global warming, even if man is responsible for it, there’s not a damn thing we in the Western World can or will do to moderate the production of CO2, even if it means having to go back to horse and buggy days in order to achieve significant change. We all like our energy dependent luxuries a bit too much. And, really, the 800 lb/Kg gorrilla in the room is China. On average China opens a new coal fired electricity power plant large enough to power a city the size of San Diego every 10 days. As a “developing country” China is exempt from the Kyoto Protocals (India, as well). And China has stated emphatically on many occasions, it has no intention of reducing its carbon emissions now or in the future. From their point of view, the West developed its economies and high standard of living through the use of carbon based fuels, so thay have the right to do so also. Go figure!

  16. @Shinobi “Common sense? First of all the rain forest is still there, despite warnings for the last 35 years that it is disappearing at the rate of however-many-football-fields-a-day. At that rate, it should have been a desert about 20 years ago.
    Secondly, the rain forest – because of the huge abundance and variety of animal life it shelters, is a net user of oxygen – not a net producer.”

    Laughing out loud….who made this senseless response? I guess common sense may not be that common.

    Do some research first, and you will find that the rain forest worldwide covered at least 14% of the Earth’s surface. It obviously takes a little time clear that much land. Its estimated that less than 15% remain.

    Your comment on the rain being a net consumer of oxygen because of all the animals living there…are you kidding? what planet are you living on….a great deal of the animals are either extinct or near extinct.

    It’s also believe that the rain forest has a cooling effect on the air that passes thru it. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”LOL” style=”border:0;” />

  17. This is hilarious….so many of you are such arm chair scientists. How many of you have Ph.D.’s? Glonal warming IS occcuring…the question is whether man is accelerating it.
    Have any of you ever done ecological computer modelling? The problem is that there is so much noise in the data it is hard to find trends. To so so you have to make assumptions. There is where the difficulty lies. One assumption will tell you yes and choosing another will tell you know.

    I believer TowerTone has the best model going…release of Windows OS’s is the real cause. The reason is that there is so much CO2 released by all the hot air promoting it that we get huge carbon spikes.

    By the way, cows are one ogf the biggest producers of the other greenhouse gas…methane. Guess which end it comes from? That image in my mind is the perfect metaphor for VISTA!

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