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upgrade their current system cannot connect their devices, including printers, MP3 players and digital cameras, due to outdated drivers.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.”]
I have been a mac/pc user since 486’s (pc’s) early 90’s. I use a mac for everything now. I have dumped my windows completely. The only reason I needed windows was for real estate, and all i had was problems. what a joke windows is. it’s like being stuck in the 90’s for sure.
I think that mac os9 is more stable then windows XP. and the eye candy of Vista does nothing as beneath it all is a true mess of corporate malfeasance..
“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!”
It’s not measuring that.
The 77% is the percentage of 1,000 people surveyed who “expected” to encounter problems when using Vista. That is to say, 770 of the respondents said they expected to encounter problems.
While occasional glitches, and occasional misunderstandings about how applications and interfaces work, are part of the current experience of using a computer, I’d think that those surveyed probably aren’t thinking of such matters but of major failings.
It’s a small sample, but the results are interesting enough. What it shows is that people’s _expectations_ of Microsoft products are very low, indeed. Those results _are_ bad news for Microsoft. Even if Vista is not as bad as people fear it to be, those fears are themselves a factor: they reflect people’s view of the company and its products.
Those low expectations will be based on past experiences and they are unsurprising. I’m sure Microsoft has many talented employees, but Windows–and, in fact, everything Microsoft has ever done–has always been driven by “good enough”. Contrast that with Apple, which currently seems to be driven by an ethic of excellence. This comes right from the top. It’s so obvious that what Gates and Ballmer really care about is business. That’s not true of Jobs, who really loves the products and seems driven by an almost manic perfectionism.
Isn’t it cute how little Billy and not remotely little Ballmy are wearing the same sweaters but in different colors.
Bliss is a clean install of OS 10.4.8 with upgrade to .10 on a new 500 gigger (surprisingly cheap nowadays) on my G5 dual 2.5.
Read about my problems or issues below:
Nil. Nada. Rien. Zip. Resh. Nashi. Ling. <Cluck-cluck>.
Of course Windows users are going to experience problems upgrading to Vista. On the other hand, when I upgraded from Panther to Tiger, the process was nearly flawless. Only thing I had to do was upgrade my version of Quicktime. The Apple Migration Utility rocks…..and I mean ROCKS! All my settings transfered over. Windows users….good luck. hahaha.
Microsoft: Your Rut. Our Revenue.
I’d never used Migration Assistant before, but when I got my new MacBook last month I decided to try it out, transferring 40GB of data from my PowerBook G4…
…all I can say is apart from the speed difference it felt like the same machine! Everything had transferred flawlessly, the only software that didn’t work was CS3, but as soon as I transferred my activation it was all up and running.
The whole process took just over 1 hour, in which time I had my dinner and changed my sons’ nappy twice.
Easy as Mac.
But the masses still buy it. All of these Vista licenses are more than enough to pay for Xbox 360 repairs.
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monkey boy is sinking…
…slowly
Microsoft – your ideas, our plagiarism
Poor, hapless Windows users… Actually, Apple is doing just fine without them. If they’re afraid to switch, they deserve Windows. Let them keep using it forever.
Yes, the migragtion assistant is truely amazing. It even managed to copy my copy-protected software (four high-dollar programs) to my new machine and I didn’t have to re-authorize it.
It’s little things like that that why I love the Mac.
I’d never used Migration Assistant before, but when I got my new MacBook last month I decided to try it out, transferring 40GB of data from my PowerBook G4…
…all I can say is apart from the speed difference it felt like the same machine! Everything had transferred flawlessly, the only software that didn’t work was CS3, but as soon as I transferred my activation it was all up and running.
The whole process took just over 1 hour, in which time I had my dinner and changed my sons’ nappy twice.
Easy as Mac.
—-
I agree.
Every Mac I have bought recently I have used Migration Assistant.
The best migration app I have ever used.
It basically cloned everything onto my new Mac Mini from my macBook Pro.
Bloody excellent!
Microsoft:
Your money. Our Greed.
Your suckers. We are rich.
Youre fault. Our software.
Jamie, Your comment was most applicable to what I was seeing. Sorry if you took it to mean you were “guilty”. I happen to agree with your comment – mostly – but the feeding frenzy here is disgusting.
What part don’t I agree with? I don’t find them “funny”. Annoying, silly, foolish, asinine, pathetic … these are a few of the words I’d use in place of “funny”.
Now, if Petey could learn the difference between “your” and “you’re” – forget “yore” – maybe my comment would be less telling.
DLMeyer
Windows Vista IS spyware.
Vista “phones home” periodically to activate itself. Activation is not a once-for-all proposition. If you aren’t hooked up to the internet, it tells you to call Microsoft. If it can’t reactivate itself for some reason (such as you didn’t call), or the activation server or the Microsoft employee make a mistake, Vista goes into a reduced functionality mode until you do reactivate it or purchase a new license key.
This is the worst spyware I can imagine, because it disables your computer.
I’m the de facto IT guy for a small single unit business. I’m in charge of the LAN and some managers’s use their own laptops to do work. I securely connect them to our WiFi network. Vista’s networking interface is ponderous. What used to take only a few clicks to access the network settings in XP now takes multiple clicks and trials in a completely illogical procedure for Vista. It amazes me that they actually made the OS less intuitive and less user friendly. It is actually easier to connect a Mac laptop to a Windows WiFi network than it is to connect a Vista PC!
PC’s running Micro$oft Vista: The computer and operating system of choice for the S&M crowd.
MDN Magic Word: “products” HA!
Mr. Rizzo,
Just be glad you don’t have to configure IIS in Vista, say, to do web development for your personal site. You have to turn on IIS, you have to select all the features you need for active pages and turn those on, then you have to set up a virtual directory. All of which is very confusing, and you’d think you’d be finished at this point. No! Now you have to go to the physical directory to which you mapped the virtual directory and manually add the everyone group and the anonymous IIS user group (quiz: what’s it called?) and give them the proper permissions.
On OS X you put a check in a box to set up the web server.
Then it condescends to work.
In my previous post, the last two sentences are in reverse order.
I didn’t read the article …just saw the picture. Is one of them expecting …or experiencing an expecting. Oh, that is just so precious. I thought maybe a picture was worth a thousand words but maybe I should read the article.
Those are pretty “high” (low) expectations that Windows users have of their OS. Windows Vista must be the only product for which customers intentionally subject themselves to the expectation of having major issues and inconvenience. Microsoft has done an excellent job of brainwashing its userbase to think that’s OK.
DL Meyer, sorry I am so used to being attacked on these forums, I didn’t realise you were agreeing!
Yes my choice of words wasn’t the best, I actually wouldn’t describe them as funny, more like arrogant assholes.
Long live OS X.
If they’re afraid to switch, they deserve Windows. Let them keep using it forever.
Nah, if they’re afraid to switch, that means they’ve at least thought about it – which makes them smarter than 90% of the other Windows users. It’s the ones that are so far gone that they think Windows is better, and that Mac “sucks”, who fully deserve the torturous hell that is Windows.
Everyone knows Windows Vista cost more, has problems and isn’t going to resolve customer needs, because Windows Vista software is ALL proprietary source code.
Everyone should be innovating and building upon open source code, allowing everyone to contribute, review and most of all not monopolizing the market.
Windows isn’t the future, and it’s obvious Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection (DRM) for so-called “premium content”, typically HD data from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources.
Microsoft’s strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to disadvantage its competitors.
MICROSOFT HAS had a long, a very long history of litigation, court orders, patent infringements and antitrust lawsuits against it since the very beginning of its history. The surprising thing is not only the number of those lawsuits against Microsoft – at one time, it had more than 130 pending – but more importantly, the sheer amount of money it represents. Microsoft Corporation has been ordered to pay nearly $9 billion as of Thursday 14 July 2005.
Though Microsoft is keen to emphasize the fact that they are not guilty of any wrongdoing in many of the lawsuits, they would prefer to pay rather than anything else. This has lead some observers to speculate that fines has been a way to “oil” the progress of Microsoft.
Is this really what you want to support?