The Vista Bashers

There are a lot of these folks, Vista bashers.

I like Vista myself. It is the smoothest running Windows OS I have ever had. But I have to admit I had to get used to Vista and that took me about two weeks, digging and poking into the corners and guts of this much maligned version of Windows.

There are a lot of reasons why people don't like Vista.

"It's too slow." (It isn't really, it probably isn't configured properly. Mine runs just fine, but I do have more memory on my Vista computer than some computers have. Windows XP runs better with more memory as well.)

"I hate that User Access Control because it's always in my face." (It can be turned off if it bothers that much. Once your programs are all installed, turn it back on for the added security to your computer.)

"I can't find where anything is located." (It took me a while to find stuff! But once you think about it, the new locations make sense.)

"I've heard Vista is no good, so it must be bad." (That is a terrible reason! Try it before you badmouth it. There are a LOT of these folks and some of them are posting all over the Internet. I just un-subbed from a newsletter that was constantly bashing Vista. The author doesn't use Vista!)

"My software won't run on Vista" (Most of the software that ran on Windows XP will run on Vista. See Vista's Program Compatibility Mode.All of my Windows XP software works on Vista.)

"My printer, scanner, etc. won't work. That Vista sucks!" (Guess what, the same thing happened when Windows XP was released. New technology needs new drivers and hardware folks want to sell you new technology. One way to do that is not to write and release new Vista drivers for old hardware. Microsoft doesn't write hardware drivers, hardware manufacturers write hardware drivers.)

I think there are probably a lot more reasons why folks don't like Vista. I also think the main reason they don't like Vista is 'it isn't Windows XP'.

My take on the whole 'Vista bashing' is this: If you don't like it at first, get to know it. If you still don't like it,you don't have to use it; there are other alternatives. You can go back to Windows XP. You can install and use Linux. You can get a Mac.

There are some things that came in Vista that are not really up to par, like Internet Explorer and Windows Mail. There is a problem with making your Folder Options 'stick'. But I don't use Internet Explorer, I use Firefox. I used Firefox with Windows XP because it doesn't have ActiveX. I use Thunderbird instead of Windows Mail. More about those issues were discussed on an earlier post, The Buggy Bits in Vista.

No operating system is perfect. That's why I like to think things keep evolving. Maybe one day a perfect OS will show up, but I doubt it will happen in my lifetime!

Martha