Windows Vista named in top 10 terrible tech products

I think some people should give some credit to Vista. I admit there are a lot of bad points that can contribute to peoples comments, such as the dialogues during games asking if you would like to play it or not. I also think that Microsofts recommended requirements are far too low, such as 1gb of ram, which is just ridiculous. Games in Vista seem to suck RAM as well, which makes them slow and dam right annoying. However, despite all this, I would choose Vista over XP. It has far more options to play with, and graphically its fantastic. I'm sure they'll be a way somewhere to turn off the annoying dialogues. Though, I do think it should be on top 10 suckage list. If you're thinking of up/downgrading to vista, i strongly recommend at least a NVIDIA GeForce 7 series, a dual core CPU and at least 2gb of ram with readyboost running.

Comment by mitzy1002000 at 10:21am 9th December 2007

So many people complaining about drivers for printers and scanners etc, I find this remarkable I still have to drag out driver cds for these after fresh instal of XP, go to the manufacturers web sites before you instal vista, if they dont have the drivers that's hardly the fault of microsoft, I downloaded all drivers before installation and everything went smoothly. It's very easy to put your Admin account back in full control the same as it was in Xp, then I just run in user profile with UAC on and vista asks me for Admin password when needed I very rarely have to choose "run as administartor", I downed vista when I first tried it but over time I found it much more superior to xp, Yes it uses more resources but some of that is when it starts up it preloads the appz that you most frequently use when you log on, saving you time once in. I agree with some games having problem I've been unable to play ARMA on Vista 64 but it might work on a 32bit version, Oblivion ran perfectly but I did have problems with the editor, but there is plenty of helpful tips online to get it working again. All the programs I've installed have worked with no problems. I do still have a dual boot so I can jump into XP if I want to play certain games, in fact I disabled lan connection on that, so I uninstalled all security software, so I have no firewall , no antivirus running and now XP really zooms.

Comment by Slyfartfast at 8:46pm 1st December 2007

I got a full version copy of Vista Business only a few weeks after it was released. Visually, I thought it looked fantastic. After sometime getting around how the system worked, I found myself changing a lot of the default layouts to match closely to that of Windows XP. There were many frustrating hours, too. I have a NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive, where most of my files are located. It took about three hours to get Vista to connect to the drive. That was after it took a little while to find how to change the LAN IP address. So, in terms of ease of use, compatibility, stability and whether it is a useful upgrade, I would say Microsoft released a product before it was ready for the market. I have friends and family who are constantly asking why something doesn't work - and it's me who has to fix it or advise what's best... Yes! It does deserve to be in the list. Especially in light of other alternative Operating Systems that do more than Vista can ever do: openSUSE or Unbuntu??

Comment by opencommunity at 1:35pm 30th November 2007

What vista's got going for it if you have a new PC fresh out of the box and it comes with Vista you have all the drivers and are only install i new software. Then i see no reson for going back to XP. However MY PROBLEM is i cannot load my own drivers i want to overclock using my own utils and i vista wont let me so vista in all its ram stealing gloary gets run in a window in Linux where i dont have to ask to for admin privlages to erase a file having to log in as an admin all the time is a huge hole in security. Well its here to stay so on the hole its ok as long as you dont want to go and do something a bit different. Well i Do and so Vista is very much run out of necesity rather than desire.

Comment by Cool_CR at 12:02am 29th November 2007

I use use Vista on my main rig and personally like it, though I can see the reasoning behind the anti-vista camp's view. I can not, however, see the logic behind putting it in the top ten of the worst tech products ever. To me this is ridiculous. The main reason that Cnet have reached this decision seems to be that as an upgrade Vista doesn't give value for money, and I'd agree, it doesn't. So what? No one's forcing people to upgrade. I know many people still using Windows 98 quite happily on some machines (I have an ancient beast running W95 that still gets a workout now and then) and there's nothing to say people have to ditch XP if they like it. Vista doesn't make a substantial improvement, but it still excels where XP excels and arguably, falls down in the same places as well. To make a comparison, there are literally hundreds of car models made with the same engine, some made with engines designed 20 or 30 years ago, the reason people buy those cars is for the insubstantial, largely cosmetic improvements. Aero drains resources, just like AirCon does, but everyday users like their AC and they like their OS to look pretty.....most people don't buy cars to try and break the Nuremburg lap time and they don't buy PCs to smash benchmarks, so unless most of the cars in the last decade have been terrible inventions as well, I just don't see how Vista deserves such a slamming. I shall end here as I am somewhat drunk and this has desolved into a rant with a very extended simile.

Comment by deadpunk at 10:59am 27th November 2007

As soon as someone backports DX10.1 to XP (3rd party or Microsoft) then I shall see no need for vista, I had it installed for a wile, but have gone back to xp now. Sure vista looked nice, but it is too geared towards people who don't know anything about computers, rather than people who use them on a daily basis.

Comment by jm123 at 10:55am 27th November 2007

Having used Vista Ultimate at work for the last 3 months, I am convinced that the only reason to like Vista currently is for its aesthetics. Even this has achievable with software on XP for a long time now. Vista is riddled with poor hardware and software compatibility (which will probably be ironed out, eventually, in the next five years, by the time the next MS OS is released) not to mention the draconian way it handles ram. Save yourself the bother, stick with XP and let the \'guinea pigs\' do what they do best.

Comment by amirza at 9:50am 27th November 2007

I've recently setup Vista Home Premium on a laptop for a relative. This has been my first proper encounter with the OS and reading about the requirements of it before I purchased the laptop I'd opted for a dual core and 2gb. Even still I would say the OS was quick, but what it does appear to do is ensure that those PC users out there who inadvertantly break things are given more of a "hand holding" experience rather than being set free to go and install 5 different firewall applications and then are unable to understand why Windows won't start and even if it does why it does so slowly and can't connect to the internet. However for others that don't fall into this camp Vista can feel a little claustrophobic by default. Additionally performing simple tasks like connecting a USB mouse and finding that the OS couldn't find a driver, or setting up LAN/WLAN connections installing hardware specific drivers. To be fair most of these issues resolved themselves after a couple of reboots but thats hardly plug'n'play and certainly not progress. But it is consistent, for instance vendors of graphics cards have done an excellent job of consistently releasing both hardware and software riddled with bugs sometimes taking months to resolve if ever. So complaining that a major OS vendor takes what is now the industry standard approach of "we'll release it, you can buy it and you can test it" is futile. However the fly in the ointment is that games players havealways wanted the next best graphics card and have been prepared to be on the bleeding edge no matter how painful, just at the thought of that extra 5fps. However would you say that just for the Aero interface? I'm still adopting the wait & see approach for the service packs. Currently viewing the linux competition with gaming platforms like Cedega to emulate DirectX and enable windows games in linux and the Compbiz desktop UI extension giving a far more progressive feel than Aero. if I'm going to have to put time in to get used to a new OS I'm more biased towards test driving a shiny new linux variant before Redmond forces me behind the wheel of Vista.

Comment by khatkar at 8:27am 27th November 2007

I used vista for a good couple of weeks ....although I was instantly impressed with the way it looked and ran when it came to trying to run games and applications thats where it fell on its ass.....nuemorus programs that I would use without problems in XP refused to run or runned sluggish ...even getting the latest vista compliant versions helped a little but at the end of the day I find XP does things a lot quicker ....backed up by a recent article in toms hardware comparing the service packs (3 for XP and Sp1 for Vista) conclustion being xp can run twice as fast as vista in majority of circumstances ... eventually I'll switch to vista .....but not until I have to as XP is more than capable to satisfy my needs.....but once I get crysis I may have to change my tune .......although I couldnt get bioshock to run under vista ....or lost planet .....crapped out the minute it went to the intro sequence ...xp ran like a dream .....some people may find it runs fine for them .....it doesnt for me ....:o)

Comment by akoli at 3:29am 27th November 2007

having used Vista a few times, looking at tests/reviews & spec-eating...I'm happy with XP x64, everything's snappy with 4Gb of RAM (no page file on disk) whereas with the Vista x64 I tried it was slower and kept asking me if I was sure followed by trying to play basketball with the windows. I think the Aero GUI is good for home entertainment and that's it. Vista's too resource-hungry compared to XP so I'm not going to be getting it. My friends can go wow at films not at my folder system

Comment by EdArch at 3:03am 27th November 2007

I love Vista Ultimate and would never go back to XP. Vista's GUI is far more mature and refined than XP's first school maths cartoon lets make this fun and simple looking GUI. The UAC is nothing to moan about either, it's a simple answer to a not-so-simple problem of stopping programs running on your Pc that shouldn't, even in the background as it communicates with defender and firewall.

Comment by Jux_Zeil at 11:49pm 26th November 2007

How come it freezes if I have IE 7 open and I try to open a small M$ access file ???. How come if freezes if I have Mail open with IE 7 and try to down load some files on IE 7. How come it sometimes tries to shutdown for 6 hours and hangs??? This is with 2G of RAM and a good dual core processor. Not good enough M$ after 5 years of development and all the media hype. And they took most of the newly developed bits out. WHAT A LEMON....!!!!

Comment by maxvondel at 11:39pm 26th November 2007

Well i hate most new OS systems when I have to install them. None of them have :- Drivers for Printers/Scanners Drivers for Graphics cards Don't work very well mine have behaved for the most part though. The list of updates that makes it blindingly obvious i have just spent money on something that wasnt finnished. The fact that everything has to be got at via a new way. You like and are used to Ctrl alt del well it will now do something else. You like using your own drivers you will have to click the im sure button at least 12 times. Good god can i not be sure of anything after only a double click im not that new to pc's.

Comment by Cool_CR at 11:15pm 26th November 2007

Did you know that XP Pro had downgrade rights to Win2K and Win98? MS Office and MS Server had the same downgrade rights. So do you name XP as well as all the other Microsoft software in the top 10 terrible tech products? I guess not. Read the link below for more information. http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/2/3/d23b9533-169d-4996-b198-7b9d3fe15611/downgrade_chart.doc

Comment by Super8888 at 10:27pm 26th November 2007

Used Vista in the Beta2 and RC1 stage, pre-ordered it on the strength of it, installed it on day one, never had a problem with it that wasn't my fault. All of my hardware was supported, drivers were green but readily available and I would never go back to XP.

Comment by gavomatic57 at 10:14pm 26th November 2007

Yeah it's quite bad. Not because it's badly broken, just that the few things which are wrong with it happen to be with things that the majority of people will use day in day out. Graphics support... awfull is the only way to put it. Some blame must fall on ATI and Nvidia for not making decent drivers, but given how desperate they are to get your support you can't help but feel this is more microsoft's fault than theirs, I'm still trying to find a card that works properly, 100% with the latest driver. Internet... you only need to search the net to see how many people have experienced incredibly slow internet since upgrading, the tech savvy can probably sort this out (guess what, it's the fault of a vista 'feature'). Compatibility of hardware. Why should vista not support my old scanner? Has scanner technology changed so much since XP? And printers, how many people have had to but a new printer just for Vista... it really is rubbish that such basic staples of computing have to be upgraded when they are probably perfectly good bits of kit. You would have thought that amongst Vista's ridiculous install size it could include a bit more support for these kinds of things. and of course the ultimate annoyance, continuing what xp started you now feel even more like you are being led by the hand in everything. The whole OS feels dumbed down; it's pretty, but oh so tedious, like a conversation with a Miss world contestant; every time you go to do something you just want to roll your eys and say 'oh, thank you for pointing that out, could you possibly hold my hand.. see, I'm afraid of this here newfangled tecnolology' But on the other hand, the aero theme, it's quite pretty, better than any of the windows blinds skins I've seen so far for WB 6.

Comment by DarkStorm at 10:50pm 26th November 2007

Excellent series of points - I use Vista every day on my work machine, and while it's a PITA out of the box, it's not hard to customise it so that it behaves. SP1 should help it, too - being able to turn off the indexing feature will really help. Personally, I don't think it's bad - just a little bit disappointing.... It *could* have been really radical (WinFS etc) but is more of an evolution of XP.

Comment by Sifter3000 at 10:05pm 26th November 2007

I've used vista for months, even from pre-beta stages. I have never had any problems. Ok yes some of the default settings are a bit badly designed, but all in all, it's not that bad. I've never once come across any problems with Vista hardware or installation wise, it works flawless, in fact it's new application crash recovery systems (the new Ctrl Alt Delete procedures) are an absolute live saver when it comes down to gaming. Saying that Vista is a memory hogger, you simply do not touch Vista without at least 2Gb of RAM and a Core 2 Duo. If you look at all the mid price packages you will see the manufactures are producing packages with 1Gb of ram, this is a failing in the manufactures producing a stable and effeicent product. Vista should probably be less of a memory hog, but when you can buy 2 Gb of ram for less than a return train ticket to London, where is the problem in spending the extra bit. Either way, DX10 is Vista only, so if your ok and happy with playing second rate out-dated graphics, then stay with XP, but if you want to be around when the PC takes over the likes of the PS3 on graphics and gameplay, then your going to need Vista. It all just seems too much like deja vu really, anyone remember how everyonecomplained about XP when it was released?

Comment by Killer26 at 7:57pm 26th November 2007

I've had it since day1 - now on both my main PC's. I got so fed up of all the idiootic ramblings about how bad it is, because to me it isn't - its great. DRM has not affected me in any way (and I'm a musician) and all the problems people here are moaning about, I've not come across - so to me it is entirely because they are lazy/incompetent or ignorant and I only need to read the first line of anti-Vista post and I'm already gone elsewhere. Yes, I've had some issues - but I've always managed to find a way around them that doesn't mess up my experience.

Comment by Xonerater at 8:43pm 26th November 2007

I have Vista 32-bit on a laptop, as it came with it, however I see no need what so ever to shell out for Vista for my older machines (i.e. those over 2 months old) There's nothing I can't do without it that I have a need for. Having said that my unwillingness to move to Vista has opened my mind to Linux and so I'm running that (in Ubuntu form with Compiz-Fusion) to give me the same sort of whizz bang OS with zero cost. Then again I know what I'm doing with a PC so I don't need Vista's hand holding... I can imagine it's a great OS to give the uninitiated family members who always call on you for advice etc. Personally, like a window in the side of your rig, I like an OS I can see working.

Comment by countstex at 8:31pm 26th November 2007

Vista wasn't a cock-up, DX10 was the cock-up. The only reason people need Vista is for DX10, and that doesn't even work properly atm (hence DX10.1). I've been using Vista (64bit Home Premium) for near on 10 months now and I prefer it over XP immensely.

Comment by D_Cypher at 7:05pm 26th November 2007

I've been workin with Vista since it was released and really wanted to like it but unfortunaly it is in a word terrible. It's slow and breaks all the time. I havn't had a bluescreen in years until I switched to Vista. Nothin works when it should and when it does it doesn't work the way it should. Vista is possibly the next Windows Me. I miss XP terribly, the most reliable OS I've ever used.

Comment by hideki at 8:24pm 26th November 2007

99% of the people bitching about Vista probably havnt given it a proper chance. The whole thing about Vista is you have to forget XP and the XP way of doing things, take the time to re-learn the new features and things will go smoother. I run Vista Ultimate 64bit and have only found 2 progs that wont run on it, big deal! All my games run on it and yes thats all the top latest games. Newb OS...your right, thats exactly what its aimed at, the security features stop malware and stop people 'accidentally' messing up their own systems, not a bad thing in my opinion, when you know more you can disable these nags, no problems. Beleive me, I was one of the 'Vista Haters' when it first appeared, but on using it, it has grown on me and I dont think I will be going back to XP

Comment by DasReich4 at 6:47pm 26th November 2007

Microsoft's next OS-a total remake, like Apple's OSX remake will be worth looking forward too.

Comment by DudQuitter at 7:50pm 26th November 2007

well I got the vista transformation pack from majorgeeks freeware tried it out an have no problems yet I have used vista and liked the look of the os but I love the feel of the xp os an to honest with you I have no intention fo moving to vista as I got a very similar version that has put new life into xp.

Comment by nollieflip24 at 5:25pm 26th November 2007

The issue 49 or 50 feature about XP vs Vista was right - now, no-one needs Vista, eventually we might. Even then I'll wait for an acceptable price because I'm not getting ripped off while XP is still rolling along and perfectly usable.

Comment by KHenry_07 at 3:48pm 26th November 2007

i got 64bit vista hp in july no compatibility issues with hardware or software except the game gothic 3 but thats not a massive loss. there is no reason to hate vista enough to put it with the sinclair c5! this hae for vista is stupid. its sort of like tony blair; alot of people hate him but not many have a real reason. no one sees the benifits he brung (which are numourous) like noone sees why vista is good.you couldnt put tony blair in the top 5 worst priministers and you cant put vista in the top ten worst tech i like vista because its a hell of alot more secure than xp so i dont have to mess about with buying loads of protection. its alot easier to update than xp ever was.it doesnt take that much ram really. those access request dont happen that often. its also better to look at. and all themicrosoft office work properly unlike in xp and the same with other software like sonicstage works. in my expeirience xp should be in the top 10 worst tech products ever for its own massive security flawsthat knackered up my computer no less than 4 times. you knlow what keep your xp. fools! mwhahaha

Comment by eddie543 at 4:52pm 26th November 2007

VISTA's not gamer/ o:c friendly, if the new service pack sorts this out and becomes gamer/o:c friendly then it will become a hit but till then any hard core gamer is not going to rush out to get this.

Comment by dmc_dc at 4:42pm 26th November 2007

I've used it a while now, and i can't complain. bridging networks doesn't cut you off so thats helped me. Its far more superior than XP. Its funny how people will moan about how crap it is yet they still use it. Makes me laugh.

Comment by terrortom1 at 3:36pm 26th November 2007

i completely agree with what jjs113 is saying! i do exactly the same thing, Vista in my eyes is a much more superior OS to XP (tho XP does have only a couple of features better that are a tad frustrating in Vista) but like every new release of anything! it is! going to have problems! im just waiting to see what the new service pack is like :)

Comment by mipmop at 3:01pm 26th November 2007

I've had Vista since March and after an initial faf to get the right drivers its been great. I too find networking easier with Vista, rather than more difficult. Fair enough it isn't the leap forward in performance that people wanted, but its not the worst thing ever. The way I look at it is, if you are building a new computer you might as well use Vista, but there's no point upgrading to it on your old machine.

Comment by Harry1985 at 2:54pm 26th November 2007

Vista is completely pointless. What new stuff does it bring to the desktop environment that\'s a genuine improvement over XP? Nothing. Even Crysis, the poster child for DX10, can run these so-called DX10 effects under DX9. Why on earth would I pay to \'upgrade\' to something that is slower and more incompatible when what I\'ve already got? Hell, I can get it for free and it still doesn\'t make me want to switch!

Comment by reflux_ at 2:48pm 26th November 2007

I've been using Vista Ultimate x64 for almost a whole year now and once it's tweaked to how you want it; it's pretty good. It does everything I ask of it, plus it takes advantage of my RAM by being able to support NUMA. That aside, UAC is rubbish for a power user/administrator, but I just setup a new machine for my family and left UAC enabled, it hasn't irritated them and it's kept the machine free from crap. The DRM stuff hasn't affected me (yet) so I can't comment on it. Hopefully the release of SP1 will smooth things over and more people will be willing to take the plunge. I definitely don't think it's the best OS ever, but it certainly doesn't deserve to be in the worst top 10 list!

Comment by DC187x64 at 1:33pm 26th November 2007

Same as everyone bitched about XP and I had no problems, Vista has been fine for me. Been running it since september and have had no problems with it! some old game compatability issues but compatability mode works pretty well luckily. I have had no network problems (I actually find it more stable and easier to use in that respect then XP!) ah well, some people always believe the hype and will hate it just because they think they should, remember XP on launch if you will.

Comment by unseendeath at 1:14pm 26th November 2007

after using vista for a short amount of time trying to install some small hardware device, i gave up, got out my crappy xp laptop, and i was away. also a housemate who runs vista, constantly complains fo the popups asking you to allow software. it networks badly with any xp machines, and even when it does work it then decides to fail from time to time.. from these experiances im sticking with xp, and i hope microsoft continue to support it, as i heard service pack 3 was being talked about.

Comment by jaxxersist at 1:02pm 26th November 2007

I dispute their findings, some of what they called terrrible tech products were actually quite good. For example the Tamagotchi, yes they were annoying, but as an item they were amazing, they were everywhere you went, the Atari jaguar was a great system just let down by poor sales because of bad marketing. Vista's a great OS but too there's no real need to change from XP and too many people spouting false horror stories about Vista, putting people off. I've been running Vista 64 ultimate since august and it's much better than XP.

Comment by WoodSpoon at 12:23pm 26th November 2007

I run a dual boot Vista / XP system and I only use XP for old games that will not run on Vista - and if they would I would dump XP. Vista benchmarks within 2 or 3% of XP, and many initial annoyances were simply born of habits picked up from using XP. I would dump the DRM on general principle, but cannot say it has had any affect on me at all. As for the article, while obvious candidates like the C5 get a mention, there have been countless mediocre, badly thought out, badly programmed, badly built or just plain pointless tech products over the years. Vista in the top ten - nope, nowhere near it...

Comment by jjs113 at 12:37pm 26th November 2007

Its made for people who are pc newbs and I cant find any options that i have in xp like changing the gateway i got very angry with the vista. Asks me twice if i want to run this program 0.o. Also the games seem to need twice as much ram and a faster cpu. Vista = Pish OS. Vista is not an upgrade from xp.

Comment by megapig at 12:23pm 26th November 2007

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