support.com, a service which provides consumers with “Instant Technology Relief” from their frustrating computer problems, today announced the top call drivers into support.com about Microsoft’s new operating system, Vista.
According to a recent independent survey from support.com, of 1,000 computer users in the U.S., 77-percent expected some sort of problem with Vista, including 30 percent who expected problems due to the new user interface. Anthony Rodio, chief marketing officer responsible for support.com, noted that the top three consumer call drivers regarding Vista since its release six months ago include:
1. Navigation problems – The new Aero user interface is causing confusion among consumers trying to locate files or operate basic functionality due to the fact that people are accustomed to using the interface in Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
2. Device incompatibility – Consumers who purchase computers with Vista installed or who upgrade their current system cannot connect their devices, including printers, MP3 players and digital cameras, due to outdated drivers.
3. Home networking issues – Consumers who set up a home network using a Vista-enabled computer cannot view other computers in the network running Windows XP.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s no wonder Windows-only sufferers are so terrified of trying something new; Microsoft has for years issued empty promises of something better while conditioning them to expect nothing but frustration and failure. It’s not surprising that these people won’t believe Apple or Mac users when told that there is a much better way. It’s gotten so bad that Apple has to let the frustrated masses take their insecurity blanket with them to the Mac until they figure out for themselves what a sham Microsoft and Windows really is! It doesn’t have to be like this. Windows-only users, you want real “Instant Technology Relief?” Get a Mac.
[UPDATE 9:56am EDT: Edited headline, replaced “experience” with “expect,” as per “MrMcLargeHuge.”]
Love the headline MDN.
Tang?…..Tang?… Zune Tang? You there?
My, they look butch together!
Poor misguided WinDOS users.
It would be nice to have a link to the survey. The link to Support.com doesn’t go there.
replace all those Vista users with Mac OS users and you’ll probably find the numbers to be similar. of course there’s lots of people with Vista issues. there’s lots of people with Vista. if you don’t think Mac users have issues, check the Apple Support forums sometime.
you provide the food, i’ll provide the perspective.
Windows really, really, really sucks.
What’s worse are the smug, ignorant Windows users.
Alright MDN, let’s be fair. Your headline is deceiving and an example of bad journalism. The article explicitly states that “77-percent expected some sort of problem with Vista.” Your headline, however, says that “77% experience Windows Vista problems.” Expect and experience are two seperate things.
Number 3 is a huge pain too. It is a simple fix that isn’t documented well on the MS site either (their “Help” tells you to make sure you are running as administrator on the Vista machine). It involves downloading an update to the windows XP machine that most people would not even know existed. So frustrating to fix/figure out.
Oh come on people, let’s give MS a break here – And may I suggest right down the middle of the back, along the spinal region.
But seriously, a single blow to the back of the head might do it.
Just kidding of course, decapitation would be quicker and less painful for everyone.
One the other hand, slow disembowlment would probably help some of us with out vindication issues.
No but really…
I think the smug, ignorant Windows users are funny. I had this one guy trying to tell me Vista Gadgets were ‘groundbreaking’. I pulled out my MacBook, pressed F12 and said “you mean these?”
Next, his ‘instant search’ was humbled by Spotlight finding an email about a holiday I took 2 years ago in SECONDS.
Then I got his external USB hard drive and plugged it into my MacBook – it mounted almost instantly and all the files were available. I gave him my HFS+ formatted FireWire HD and he couldn’t even get it to mount, Vista gave a strange error message.
Yeh, smug Windows users are annoying, until you smack them down a peg or two with the truth.
Well the problem with seeing other computers on the network is a standard thing for them on upgrades. I used to work for a company and was the go to guy for fixing computers. We had machines running 98, 2000, and XP. No matter how hard we tried we always had problems with the network. On some machines you could see others but not share files. On the Xp it sometimes could not even see the others until you rebooted the other machine.
Windows sux!
I’m a regular on the Mac forums. Hello everyone. The problems I see there are vastly different from the kinds that Windows users see. How so? Mac users have problems that have SOLUTIONS, for the most part (yes, there are some folks with flaky machines or corrupted installs, and so on). Windows users have problems that have WORKAROUNDS. Again, perspective is needed, and I can provide that perspective, having been a Windows user for many years.
Windows was something that you patched and taped and jerry-rigged together until you got frustrated enough to reinstall the whole thing.
OS 9 and OS X occasionally develop a problem and then you find the solution.
They are two different worlds and I know because I’ve been there.
At least MDN gets Microsoft’s slogan right unlike our pal Tang.
Geez, between the iPhone release, the Xbox 360 $1.15 Billion repair debacle, the PS3 price drop, and now this story, it definitely hasn’t been a good last 10 days for Microsoft to say the least…
only 77% expect problems with vista?
so….. the other 23% aren’t upgrading? or are they too stupid to know what is coming?
some combination?
The ‘soft’ underbelly of ‘micro’ shows again.
Small and soft? Sounds like a weiner.
Amazon Bestselling Software, as of 7.10.07, 7:00 am Pacific:
Highest version of Vista: #55 for Ultimate
Highest version of XP #10 for Home SP2
Looks like folks aren’t too interested in the Wow.
Meanwhile, Leopard, and OS you can’t even get yet, sits at #30.
Wow indeed.
-c
MW: ‘drive’ (it like you stole it)
Haha, I didn’t think the headline would actually get changed, but I thank you MDN. It’s rare to see journalists acknowledge when they’ve made a mistake. You’ve gained my respect, for what it’s worth.
If you have a windows pc running Vista THEN YOU ARE A FSCKING IDIOT.
Get a Mac – life is too short for all that hassle!
There is no reason why everybody cannot just use Macs now – Windows OS is dead, forget about it anfd go into your nearest Apple Store.
re: only 77% expect problems with vista?
so….. the other 23% aren’t upgrading? or are they too stupid to know what is coming?
some combination?
—
Na – the other 23% are using Macs of course!
BTSOI,
As a daily Winblows user at work I second everything you just said!
Actually, this 77% may be rather good for Windows! Considering that Windows maintains over 90% of the OS market, one might expect the percentage of support calls related to Windows to be even higher! Of course Vista doesn’t make up 77% of the market, but one would expect there to be a surge in support calls when making an upgrade to a new OS. As subtle as they may be, things are different than people are used to. I will guarantee that when Leopard comes out, you will see a rise in Mac OSX support calls.
It was Jamie who said: “I think the smug, ignorant Windows users are funny”, but it is many of the rest of you who are proving that smugness, arrogance, ignorance, and a whole bunch of other negatives apply at least as well to Mac users. Or, at least, those who post here.
At least this article relates – if only vaguely – to the Mac (Apple, OSX) world, unlike the recent Xbox article. And it is no great surprise to me that Vista is having problems. MS doesn’t respect either their users or their craft and the result shows. Apple, at least, respects their craft, producing some of the best products available – considering the costs – in several fields.
DLMeyer – stay away from my pod-cast
Hey, jack has spratt on his face, listen up.
I, as well as most Mac users, are surprised when we have problems. Just increasing the number of users will not do anything but increase the number of satisfied users, and I doubt that you will ever see 77% of the user base expect problems of any kind.
It’s blatant Apple fanboy websites like these that make me want to just throw my PC out the window.
(Hahaha).
In fact, I remember there was this guy who actually did.
FAO DLMeyer,
Dude, lighten up! I don’t go round worshipping everything , but when a Windoze fanboy starts attacking my informed choice of Macintosh, I think I have the right to defend myself using knowledge based on experience.
It’s too easy to pick holes in the shattered world of Windows.