“Windows Vista is Microsoft’s first new operating system in more than five years and the successor to Windows XP. However, it is not worth rushing out to purchase,” Robert Vamosi reports for CNET Reviews.
Vamosi reports, “Windows Vista is not the Apple Mac OS X 10.4 killer one hoped for (or feared).”
“Perhaps we’re spoiled, but after more than five years of development, there’s a definite ‘Is that all?’ feeling about Windows Vista. Like cramming an info-dump into a book report the night before it’s due, there certainly are a lot of individual features within the operating system, but the real value lies in their execution–how the user experiences (or doesn’t experience) these–and like the info-dump, we came away shaking our heads, disappointed,” Vamosi reports.
Vamosi reports, “Compared with Mac OS X 10.4, Windows Vista feels clunky and not very intuitive, almost as though it’s still based on DOS (or at least the internal logic that made up DOS). Despite the addition of a system-wide, built-in search, and various efforts to break away from staidly old directory trees, you still need to drill down one level to even access the search.”
“And there are far too many dependencies on Microsoft products; this is not a very objective operating system, as preference is always given to Microsoft products (of which there are many), from MSN search to RSS feeds only from Internet Explorer. But is Windows Vista a bad operating system? No. It’s just a disappointment for PC users who hoped that Microsoft would deliver something truly exciting to finally leapfrog ahead of Apple. They failed. But stick around; this is just Windows Vista 1.0. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is due out sometime before the end of the year. Windows Vista SP1 promises to fix what’s known to be wrong within Windows Vista and should offer a few concrete reasons to switch,” Vamosi reports.
Vamosi reports, “The bottom line: Windows Vista is essentially warmed-over Windows XP. If you’re currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we see no compelling reason to upgrade. On the other hand, if you need a new computer right now, Windows Vista is stable enough for everyday use.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “NeverFade” for the heads up.]
“Is that all?” Wow, CNET’s Vamosi better duck as the chairs won’t just be flying from Redmond’s direction, but from CNET’s ad sales department, too. Of course, maybe he’ll be spared as he did stop short of providing the real solution. That’s okay, we’ll do it.
For our Google News visitors attracted by the “Vista” in the headline, here is the real bottom line, totally unaffected by Microsoft ad dollars:
Are you really going to “stick around” waiting for Windows Vista Service Pack 1? Or keep running the ancient XP? Come on already! Microsoft equals unfulfilled promises, derivative thinking, and sloppy execution. If you need a new computer right now, you owe it to yourself to buy an Apple Mac. Take Microsoft’s Windows Vista Chief Allchin’s advice from his now infamous 2004 email in which he wrote that he’d buy a Mac if he didn’t work for Microsoft. You probably don’t work for Microsoft, so nothing’s stopping you. Good God, hop off that mule and take the thoroughbred instead!
Along with Mac OS X, run Windows on your Mac if you must, but it’s time to stop shortchanging yourself. Seriously, are you going to wait a year for a Microsoft Service Pack for a “warmed-over Windows XP” or waste your money on an OS-limited Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, or some other dime-a-dozen box assembler’s PC in order to run an OS that “feels clunky and not very intuitive” compared to Apple’s soon-to-be-two-years-old Mac OS X Tiger? For what reason?
Find out about the innovative, secure, elegant, and intuitive Mac OS X Tiger here and take a sneak peek at the real future (coming Spring 2007), Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard here.
Macintosh. Because life’s too short.
Related articles:
Security firm: 38-percent of malware already Windows Vista-compatible – January 22, 2007
Mossberg: Microsoft’s Windows Vista offers lesser imitations of Apple’s Mac OS X features – January 18, 2007
Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
InformationWeek Review: Apple’s Mac OS X shines in comparison with Microsoft’s Windows Vista – January 06, 2007
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Microsoft’s Windows Vista: ‘Looks, Locks, Lacks’ – December 14, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft Windows Vista boss suffers from Mac envy – December 12, 2006
Windows chief Allchin 2004 email: I’d buy a Mac if I didn’t work for Microsoft – December 11, 2006
Unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard will create no new jobs – December 12, 2006
15-year Windows vet tries Apple Mac: ‘My God! This is amazing!’ – December 04, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista: obsolete on arrival? – December 04, 2006
InformationWeek: Now that Vista is the past, let’s look at the future: Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard – December 02, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista and Office 2007 releases generate yawns – December 02, 2006
Dave Winer: ‘Microsoft isn’t an innovator, and never was – they are always playing catch-up’ – December 01, 2006
Harvard Medical School CIO picks Mac OS X over Linux and Windows – November 30, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista vulnerable to malware from 2004 – November 30, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista developers used Apple Macs for inspiration – November 27, 2006
A Windows expert opts for a Mac life – November 06, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows Vista is basically Microsoft’s version of Mac OS 9.3 – October 11, 2006
Embrace and Extinguish in action: TechIQ’s ‘The VAR Guy’ dumps Windows, switches to Mac OS X – September 25, 2006
Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
$399 for Windows Vista Ultimate?! (Hint: Get a Mac) – August 29, 2006
Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard is 64-bit done right, unlike Microsoft’s Windows Vista kludge – August 14, 2006
Microsoft Windows Vista: If you can’t innovate… try to impersonate Apple’s Mac OS X – August 10, 2006
Analyst: Apple’s new Mac OS X Leopard sets new bar, leaves Microsoft’s Vista in the dust – August 08, 2006
Microsoft botches another copy job: Windows Vista Flip3D vs. Apple Mac OS X Exposé – June 26, 2006
Sydney Morning Herald Tech columnist dumps Microsoft Windows, switches to Apple Mac – June 13, 2006
Windows Vista rips-off Mac OS X at great hardware cost (and Apple gains in the end) – June 13, 2006
Computerworld: Microsoft Windows Vista a distant second-best to Apple Mac OS X – June 02, 2006
Thurrott: Microsoft going to get eaten alive over Windows Vista’s resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – March 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue on Gates’ CES demo: Most of Vista features unadulterated ripoffs from Apple Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Analyst: Windows Vista may still impress many consumers because they have not seen Apple’s Mac OS X – January 05, 2006
Apple’s talent and innovation vs. Microsoft’s hype – October 25, 2005
Microsoft’s Windows Vista strives to deliver what Apple’s Mac OS X already offers – October 10, 2005
Thurrott: many of Windows Vista’s upcoming features appeared first in Apple’s Mac OS X – September 26, 2005
Microsoft’s Ballmer: It’s true, some of Windows Vista’s features are ‘kissing cousins’ to Mac OS X – September 18, 2005
PC World: Microsoft innovation – an oxymoron – September 14, 2005
As usual, Apple leads, Microsoft tries to follow – June 02, 2005
Bye-Bye Bill: another columnist dumps Windows for Apple Macintosh – January 20, 2005
Orlando Sentinel writer dumps Windows for Mac and writes ‘God bless Apple’ – January 16, 2005
IBM Fellow dumps Microsoft Windows XP, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – September 02, 2004
I love some of the comments: I won’t use a mac. I won’t! I won’t! I won’t I won’t!
Yep – What a slam at MS, and a huge positive for Apple from C|Net!
OS X kicks some hearty ass…
“Macintosh. Because life’s too short.”
That’s been a tag-line of mine for as long as I’ve been a mac user, since system 6 on a Mac Classic years and years ago…
Or, conversely, “Windoze – because I’ve got time enough to burn….”
Exactly how I felt using it the first time — is this it? It’s shocking really. OS X is so much better right now than Vista, and Leopard promises to be so far advanced in terms of UI and performance (think multi-core support) it’s going to be very bad for Microsoft.
OS X is going to smoke on multi-core chips. True 64bit throughout the OS and the next generation quad, octal, ect. chips are going to make OS X way faster than Vista in every respect. Microsoft has really fallen behind and this is happening because Microsoft spent all their energy trying to immitate the OS X UI; and they have obviously failed miserably. Meanwhile, Apple has been quietly working with Intel and preparing OS X to take full advantage of the new multi-core chips coming out, along with adding even more killer UI effects and implementing them with intelligence. Vista will not be able to compete with this.
Wait until they start benchmarking Vista against Leopard on the same hardware. It aint going to be pretty for M$.
Bottom line:
Vista does NOT “deliver something truly exciting to finally leapfrog ahead of Apple.”
I installed Windows XP on my Macbook Pro today…once in Parallels and once for bootcamp. There went the whole day.
During the process I could NOT help but think of that giant garbage scow that roamed the ocean, unable to find someone to accept it…Wishing that I didn’t HAVE to use Windows at all (but to administer our phone system I do).
Also during the process it was like going back in time to the days of MS-DOS and
640 x 480 green screens, and config.bat files, and all the other assorted total bull that just gets in the way of actually doing something.
I haven’t met anyone who wants to upgrade to Vista. No one wants to take the hit in hardware and “performance”. Many comments I hear are ” if I wanted all that I’d buy a Mac.”
If I understand the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as currently defined, what MicroSquirt releases as Vista 1.0 next week will be all that CAN be released in the initial iteration! That means NO NEW GOODIES can be added to this particular package EVER . . . only “Service Packs” and patches galore for the bugs.
When (if?) Gates and Ballmer finally get around to adding new features to the package to compete with OS X Leopard, it will have to be shipped all over again FOR AN UPGRADE FEE!
BWAAAAAAHAAAAA!
Definitely a Stockholm Syndrome guy. Those last paragraphs were basically like the girl whose boyfriend abuses her saying, “He’ll get better. I know it” or “He can’t help it; it really was my fault”. And he’s preaching to people of like mind. Basically, he’s holding out hope that Microsoft wil fix in the first service pack what they couldn’t accomplish in 5+ years with designing the total OS. They had their chance to start fresh, but they didn’t. Therefore, they’re those 5+ years behind OS X, still.
>I haven’t met anyone who wants to upgrade to Vista.
You have now. When I dumped my PowerBook I bought a Dell Inspiron with Windows XP in it and a free upgrade to Vista. We’ve been running Vista at work to test our apps and hardware, and I brought one of the laptops home to test it and Media Center with my USB HDTV tuner and sound system hardware. It worked flawlessly.
My Vista disc will be in the mail as soon as it’s released and it’ll be loaded in my Inspiron as soon as I get the disc.
I was a Mac user for over 10 years before I “switched”, going off on the same anti-Microsoft rants I read on this forum. I finally decided to grow up. Maybe someday you will too.
MDN: “For our Google News visitors attracted by the “Vista” in the headline, here is the real bottom line, totally unaffected by Microsoft ad dollars”
Sure, unaffected by MICROSOFT AD DOLLARS, but every page of this site is plastered with ads, many of which are for items on the Apple Store, where you make money for every sale made by people clicking on one of those links…
What hypocrites!
By the way, I bought a Mac mini as a test in Januaryy 2005, found no need for my Windows machine within a couple weeks, and in November of ’05, I bought a PowerMac G5 Quad, and have no looked back for a moment… I made the decision to switch based on my OWN research, and avoided idiotic, lie-filled BS from those who are deeply vested in promoting Windows as well as the delusional, nutcase Mac fanatics (that’s you, MDN)… Take the opinions out of the equation, and the Mac won, hands down.
So, those who are sick of WindowsXP, I can’t give you any input on Vista, but I can say this much, Mac OS X is infinitely better, and Vista leaves me unimpressed.
Have a nice day
And there are far too many dependencies on Microsoft products; this is not a very objective operating system, as preference is always given to Microsoft products (of which there are many), from MSN search to RSS feeds only from Internet Explorer.
Vista will turn out to be as insecure as its predecessors. Want to do internet banking? Online credit card transactions? Email personal nformatin? As an anonymous hacker would say:
“Come on, make my day.”
Former Windows users usually use their right names in their public proclimations of switching to Macs.
Why not the Former Mac User?
I guess because he or she is afraid of what the rabid cultists would do to him or her and his or her family. After all, dozens of Windows users are savaged every year by Macheads – many fatally.
It always gets me how IE and Office apps open in an instant in Windows whereas most other apps take a while. Open Firefox first and then Outlook immediately after and Outlook will hog the system and beat Firefox to the punch. I bet M$ breaks the rules how apps can take system resources when opening etc. Everybody else doesn’t have access to those and so always appear slower.
unbiased,
The MacDailyNews guys are “delusional, nutcase Mac fanatics” because they’re right that Mac OS X is better than Windows?
Please explain.
Wait for the Service pack!!!!!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAH
that is the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time.
Vista is basically Win98 service pack16 & as I near life long windows guy, it still sux and nothign’s change. Get the junk out the door, and psend years fixing the worse broken parts with SP’s.
OMG. This is stunning and yet why would anyone be surprised?
Former Mac User:
Not that I want to be one to flame you for your choice, but I would point out that changing your preferred OS simply on forum rants is a disturbing way of doing it.
1. I assume you had no mission critical apps such as photoshop that kept you tied to Mac OS.
2. You have money to burn
3. you have nothing more important in your life than trolling forums
Come on, there must have been more to it than you suggest
Why does CNET’s numberic rating and tag line seem wrong? That is because it is.
If you click on the little numeric rating icon of 7.8 you get the following explanation
8.0 to 8.9 (Excellent):
A product that receives a rating in this range is superior in so many ways that its relatively few drawbacks are not very important.
7.0 to 7.9 (Very good):
While the strengths of a product scoring in this range certainly outweigh its weaknesses, it has some minor faults that certain users should be aware of.
But if you go the COMPARE tab and click on the link Editors’ Ratings Explained you get the following:
8.0 to 8.9 (Very good):
A product that receives a rating in this range is superior in so many ways that its relatively few drawbacks are not very important.
7.0 to 7.9 (Good):
While the strengths of a product scoring in this range certainly outweigh its weaknesses, it has some faults that certain users should be aware of.
GOOD seems to be the proper description for Vista.
Come on CNET! I thought grade inflation was dead.
Former Mac User:
The one thing I can’t believe is that you would switch to Windows and yet still visit macdailynews. My guess is that you didn’t really switch willingly, more like your company “forced” you to switch because they gave you that laptop for free.
And if you did switch because you got tired of the Mac and its users, then it is truly a sad day and I for one am sorry to see you go.
Hopefully one day you’ll come back and join us. We need all the marketshare we can get.
But stick around; this is just Windows Vista 1.0. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is due out sometime before the end of the year. Windows Vista SP1 promises to fix what’s known to be wrong within Windows Vista and should offer a few concrete reasons to switch
Mmm-hmm, sure. And this year the Cubs will finally win the series. Stick around! (Apologies to Cubs fans for comparing their team to Microsoft.)
perhaps you had an OS9 based powerbook and XP seemed to be the future?
Thats a fair thing
Former Mac User:
Really? You switched to Windows because of your stereotypical perceptions of Mac users at MDN. I would have thought an informed and erudite Microsoft apologist would use better logic than that to change operating systems. I laugh at you.
Former Mac User,
Have fun!!! And think of me every time it crashes or you have to reinstall the OS. Also, think of me every time you have to click “OK” for Vista’s craptacular User Access Controls.
Microsucks…..Your Problem, Our Software.
Former Mac User was never a Mac user…
Zune Tang you dog.
DogGone,
I have thought the same thing many times.
and, Trollin’,
OS 9 was a fair competitor for XP. The first argument against me would be about protected memory and I would call “BS”. XP has crashed because of an application crash many times on me!
I would take OS 9 any day over XP!