PC World takes a look at fifteen of 2007’s much-ballyhooed products, sites, and services that, it turned out, left much to be desired.
#1. No Wow, No How: Windows Vista: “Five years in the making and this is the best Microsoft could do?” Dan Tynan asks to PC World.
“Vista isn’t all that good. Many of the innovations the operating system was supposed to bring–like more efficient file and communications systems–got tossed overboard as Microsoft struggled to get the OS out the door, some three years after it was first promised. Despite its hefty hardware requirements, Vista is slower than XP,” Tynan writes.
“We have no doubt Vista will come to dominate the PC landscape, if only because it will become increasingly hard to buy a new machine that doesn’t have it pre-installed. And that’s disappointing in its own right,” Tynan writes.
PC World is also disappointed with AT&T’s broadband service for Apple iPhone (EDGE), Microsoft Office 2007’s interface changes, Apple Mac OS X Leopard for minor problems upon release, and Microsoft’s Zune 2.0: “We’re not the only ones disappointed in the Zune. According to the NPD Group, Microsoft still lags behind Sandisk and Creative Labs in market share for portable media players. And for every Zune Microsoft sells, Apple sells 30 iPods. Remember: You can’t kill an iPod if you can’t get close to it.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Pastry Chef” for the heads up.]
It’s too bad there are aren’t other, better choices. /sarcasm
I believe you will always be able to buy a mac without vista pre-installed.
Oh Gosh!
Even PC folks can’t swallow it anymore!
This may be true. but they are getting good reviews from people up grading from Vista to windows XP
Conclusion
To be honest there is only one conclusion to be made; Microsoft has really outdone themselves in delivering a brand new operating system that really excels in all the areas where Vista was sub-optimal. From my testing, discussions with friends and colleagues, and a review of the material out there on the web there seems to be no doubt whatsoever that that upgrade to XP is well worth the money. Microsoft can really pat themselves on the back for a job well done, delivering an operating system which is much faster and far more reliable than its predecessor. Anyone who thinks there are problems in the Microsoft Windows team need only point to this fantastic release and scoff loudly.
Well done Microsoft!
http://dotnet.org.za/codingsanity/archive/2007/12/14/review-windows-xp.aspx
…never heard of it….
I don’t see what the disappointment is, it’s a microsoft product. The only people that understand it’s horridity ( yes I made that up ) are people who use computers, and people who use Mac’s. People buying PC’s to access that NET have no idea what a pile of shit Vista is, and XP for that matter too. Hell, my old man had me convinced at one point that Window’s 3.1 was a fantastic OS. Then I went to compUSA and used a Mac. Good thing my old man was a couple of years behind that curve other wise I would have been using Windows 95 and thought like 90% of the world that it was great, and that it was actually something that microsoft had come up with on their own.
The only thing that is going to dominate that markets is OS X on Mac’s and all of the variants on other devices.
Yeah, but Windows 7 with Service Pack 2 in 2016 won’t suck nearly as much. THIS time they’re serious.
Credibility is reduced with the inclusion of iPhone and Leopard on the list!!
If you want to gloat over that list, Leopard isn’t that far behind at #8. In fact, Apple and Microsoft are the only companies with more than 1 product on the list; Microsoft with 3, Zune, Office 2007, and Vista and Apple with two, iPhone (although, it’s not much of a real disappointment in the description), and Leopard.
“Microsoft struggled to get the OS out the door, some three years after it was first promised.”
I believe it was 5 years. So the analysts are cutting MS a lot of slack. Oh! Oh! That’s what MS is: ‘Slack’.
i am afraid they lose a bit of credibility when they list what everyone else says is the best product of the year in their worst. why is the iPhone on the list?
what ever…..
I name PCWorld headline: Biggest Understatement of the Year.
Et tu, PC World? It appears the Apple astroturfers & Cupertino’s FUD machine got to you too. Sickening.
Magnificent Microsoft Windows Vista is still shaking things up in the computing world with it’s fantastic looking and blazing fast Aero interface. The “Wow” is most definitely now. Maybe you MAC sheep will get a taste of Microsoft’s innovations when Apple copies it in the next OS X Pussy release. PC World’s comments regarding Zune 2.0 are going to look pretty stupid next holiday season when Zune finally overtakes the “me too” I-POD in market share. The new Zunes look great. I’m gonna get one. It gives the tired and stale I-POD a run for its money.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Thanks for the link, Pastry Chef. That was sweet of you….
MDN, ..
Try reading the article. It also lists Leopard and the iPhone in the Top 10 worst products…
WOW
Now that a good example of what can be said is “THE KISS OF DEALTH” for M$’s Vista…
And what about all of those new computer owners who having to pay to degrade there boxes back to XP… someone should take M$ to court for this mess called Vista!
And to think those folks could have bought a new Mac and had chose… MAC or Windows and most would have never gotten past MAC once they had turned on there Mac!
Well I guess that means stupidity is still alive and well in some parts of America… sad but true!
Someone wrote…
“This may be true. but they are getting good reviews from people up grading from Vista to windows XP”
Hell that’s not a upgrade… it’d a downgrade!
Vista was rushed out the door to stop the assault of Mac OS X, plain and simple. Microsoft was scared of the new Apple under Steve Jobs.
The fact that Vista was dragged out for years before release shows the “just wait to see what we got” anticipation was utilized for maximum benefit.
Vista didn’t have to be better than Mac OS X, just not tired looking as XP would be next to OS X.
Microsoft diverted a potentially large defection to Apple and that’s all that was needed. After all there is only so much improvement one can do to a operating system and the GUI before it gets silly, just look at Leopard’s “stacks” and stupid 3D dock, it’s hideous. Now Safari asks you before it quits to save tabs/web pages? How stupid, thats what a History is for.
Microsoft improved the security and the general looks of Windows, unfortunatly they planned on hardware improving enough to be able to run Vista fast, but like everyone else they are struggling to make best use of a multi-core processors, which is difficult to code for. Apple was smart to keep their OS slim.
I suspect the next version of Windows will significanlty improve on Vista but of course always remain slightly behind Mac OS. “Just good enough not to buy into a hardware lock” as the catch phrase is.
In fact Mac OS XI (that’s 11, next comes OS XII and OS XIII and OS XIV and so on) supposed to have animated 3D dock icons when one mouses over them.
Silly. So are glossy screens, just silly.
@therepguy
It is a satirical and amusing story,
http://dotnet.org.za/codingsanity/archive/2007/12/14/review-windows-xp.aspx
Leopard’s minor problems? They seem to be VERY minor compared to what my Winblows sufferer friends have been dealing with in Shitsa since its release.
As an early adopter, I had very few problems at all – some cursor wonkiness, a Firefox crash, and an iTunes crash. That’s it! Not a kernel panic to be seen anywhere! No reboots to fix a frozen system.
Can Shitsa early adopters say that?
Ahhhhhh, Zune Tang. I love your use of the makeup company – MAC and not Mac. That is classic troll-baiting for Mac fanatics! Keep up the good work educating the trolls on how it is really done!
I should have said “real trolls”.
so no mdn take on their number 8? seems a little fud-y to me. “feline fleabag?” seriously? mine went off without a hitch
mw:”large” stickin’ pile
A link to another classic Fista review.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140283/article.html
A great quote that shows how brainwashed some people are and how far behind the times Madia$oft really is.
“I like the junk filtering in Windows Mail (Vista’s upgraded version of Outlook Express); and I appreciate the way I can easily drag User folders (formerly My Documents) to a new location”
Filtering? In mail since Panther, at least. He is happy to be able to move a freakin’ folder?!?!?!
What a joke!
ZuneTang, I can’t help giving a “troll” the treat they seek, an acknowleding response.
Your nose is so brown! You must like the smell of Bill Gates butt in the morning when you kiss it.
Thanks for the laughs.