Friday, February 02, 2007

Vista Thoughts Redux

As a long-time fan of Apple's Macintosh as well as the various flavors of UNIX and Linux that are currently available, I freely confess that I am not a Microsoft fan.

I have become accustomed to using Windows XP at work, and I do have some fond memories of Windows 2000 (in my humble opinion, that was the best operating system Microsoft ever released), but I have long been suspect about the upcoming Vista. I used Longhorn throughout its various permutation as part of my job, and when they repackaged it as Vista, have been forced to test it. However, my impressions have not been positive. (For another reviewer's comments on the security underlying Vista, please see my post About that new Microsoft OS...).

Now, it appears that I am not alone. In a number of reviews, technology reporters share my lack of positivity regarding this new Microsoft OS. Some of the comments have been as follows:
Ironically, playing around with Vista for more than a month has done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan.
-Erika Jonietz, Technology Review

It's also going to have this spiffy new file system called WinFS (Windows File System)… oh wait, that was canned last year. At least Linux doesn't have a new file system either. Well, except for Reiser4, and so what if it may be the fastest desktop file system ever.
-Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols, eWeek.com

Nor is Vista bug-free. As I assessed final code, I ran into a variety of small but annoying glitches and found plenty of features that didn't work as seamlessly as I would have liked. I can't shake the feeling that Vista's release was rushed. So what's our verdict? Vista is good—in some respects very good—but not spectacular. Call it a nice-to-have product rather than a must-have.
-John Clyman, PCMag.com



So while there are plenty of folks out there who I am sure will rush (foolishly) to upgrade to this new release, it appears that once again Microsoft has missed the boat, releasing what is essentially beta-ware and claiming it to be final.

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