Don’t blame Microsoft for Vista software issues
By Jonathan Schlaffer
For most people it is easy and convenient to blame Microsoft for all the software issues they might be experiencing which is not only wrong, it’s just not true. Microsoft cannot be held responsible for all the third party providers dragging their feet or refusing to support old products on a new operating system.
PC World lists several products that are partially compatible with Vista, like the Brother 5860CN multifunction printer, while compatible with Vista, the optical character recognition software doesn’t work in Vista nor does the Internet fax feature.
Some of the same goes for any version of PhotoShop other than CS3, previous versions CS2 and CS do run on Vista and I have yet to encounter any issues using CS (version 8.0) in Vista so I’m not really sure what people are complaining about.
It’s pointed out that it is nearly impossible for the third parties to provide updates, patches and support for older, in some cases, much older products on Vista. Vista is a new animal and new hardware has been rolled out to deal with it. If you’re upgrading to Vista, be prepared to upgrade every single peripheral you have, except maybe digital cameras (Vista just sees them as removable storage) unless you like using the (quite often) horrible software included with said camera.
In order to deal with these problems, manufacturers are listing products as “Certified for Vista” or “Works with Vista,” these are not the same thing. “Certified” for Vista means the product is 100% compatible where “works” with Vista means that most features will work in Vista but some won’t and you shouldn’t try using them.
Product managers with Microsoft have said the company worked extensively with hardware and software vendors to ensure as much compatibility as possible under “difficult” circumstances.
But, consumers should not be angry with Microsoft, the responsibility for additional (or required) drivers and compatibility patches is on the shoulders of third parties, most of which have no plans to release updates for older hardware or software as new products have come out on the market and supporting those is more important, it’s what I would do.
Stephen Baker, an analyst with the NPD Group says, “If you’re going to spread blame for Vista headaches, there is enough to spread around the entire computer industry.”
The only thing you can do is to create a list of hardware and software you currently have and check online to see if it is compatible with Vista. The Vista Compatibility tool released by Microsoft is a good place to start if you are planning on upgrading (and by upgrade I mean wiping XP and performing a clean install).
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October 23rd, 2007
I would have to disagree with this; first of all, although it isn’t Microsoft’s job to work hand in hand with all third party software producers, Microsoft blames all problems arising from viruses, malware, etc. on poor performance by third party providers. They use them as a scapegoat many times. Secondly, look at Apple: sure, they have their own problems, but you don’t hear of bad relationships between third party producers and Apple because such situations just don’t happen. They have a good relationship and work together towards better software and interaction. Microsoft refuses to man up and take responsibility for their crappy operating system, and will use whoever they can to misplace the blame.
October 23rd, 2007
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October 24th, 2007
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October 24th, 2007
I disagree also, Microsoft has changed a great many things in Vista, and not all of them because they needed to, in many cases they just wanted to differentiate the “experiance” from XP.
Sure, you can say “don’t blame Microsoft” but you can also tell Microsoft not to have a sad that Vista uptake is slow and that most online reviews give it pretty sad ratings.
The simple point is that now days most people have perfectly good Scanners/printers and web cams that don’t work with Vista. I’m surprised they didn’t see it coming. IT isn’t like the old days where most buyers don’t already have a machine anymore. Most new buyers nowadays are upgraders and Microsoft didn’t see fit to provide a “compatibility mode” where drivers for XP could be contained and used in Vista in a pinch.
Had they done this there would probably not be any problem. (I know it’s been done by others, but it’s not terribly effective in my experience)
rgds
franki
October 24th, 2007
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October 24th, 2007
I quite agree. While MS has its share of blame, I would place that blame mostly on not being outspoken and hard enough on lazy, complacent ISVs. Vista has been out for testing 18 months before the release. Nobody in the industry could honestly say they were surprised by the changes and incompatibilities. Companies like Adobe who just took a big chunk of our hard earned cash and refuse to come up with an upgrade for last year’s software are just thinking of their own profits and laughing at the user base. On a more positive note though, the fiasco that has been the launch of Windows Vista has led many more consummers to explore the market: what else is there? Macs, StarOffice, PDF editors……all benefit from the fall of the arogant.
October 24th, 2007
Would it be easier if Microsoft just made all the hardware too? Oh wait, that’d be Apple. Dude, Vista is rewritten with security in mind. That means that things are held to tighter standards at the driver level. Everyone wanted MS to be more secure, well there you have it. You’ll have to give up devices that are no longer supported by the devices manufacturer. Microsoft is first and foremost a SOFTWARE company. How far back would you like them to provide support for other company’s hardware? I don’t expect to run my ISA RLL 20Meg hard drive. BTW, Apple is no stranger to dropping support for hardware for their platforms after a timeframe either, and they made most of it.
October 24th, 2007
“third party providers dragging their feet…” why should any one support vista to begin with?
October 24th, 2007
I agree with the article
October 30th, 2007
Very good Jonathon!!! Now replace the word “Microsoft” with “Ubuntu”.
http://vista.blorge.com/2007/10/22/zdnet-moves-from-vista-to-ubuntu-and-ive-removed-ubuntu/#comment-10236
>>”Also, the display driver didn’t work with my Nvidia 7600 “out of the box” and required the installation of nvidia-glx which, if required to work, should be installed by default, restricted or no, opensource or no, it should “just work.”