Posted on Saturday 21st of April 2007 at 12:24 in Software

Microsoft admit Vista is a failure

I've been thinking that the uptake of Vista hasn't been as energetic as maybe the media made it seem initially. For months everyone sang the praises of "Longhorn" as it was once called, but when it was released it seemed to be met with nothing but apathy. This week, Microsoft basically admitted it's failure.

Vista promised the world and seemed to deliver a re-skinned XP. People were excited over the new interface, Aero, a new file management system and the early-adopters seemed to be the only people who actually followed through and bought it. There were two major events this week that The Enquirer picked up on that seem to indicate an admission of failure.

#1 - Dell was allowed to start re-selling XP again
This week Dell announced that it was going to return to offering XP as the operating system on home-desktop purchases. As it happens the second that Microsoft releases a new flagship product - the vendors are then *encouraged* (in a strong strong way) to ship with the new product. Microsoft make it *very* difficult to sell the old product in the face of the new one. Well, Dell have gained permission to ship XP once again.

A classic case of a super-power losing control

Truly powerful parties don't make concessions. They don't do deals and they don't step backwards. Microsoft showed their inability to make everyone do what they wanted - possibly for the first time. Not a good sign. This indicates that Vista's sales aren't looking overly peachy.

#2 - The "$3 Student Innovation Suite"
In a desperate attempt to avoid pricing themselves out of the "third world market" (and give Linux a nice easy win), Microsoft announced the $3 Student Innovation Suite which is a low-feature bundle aimed at developing nations. This is purely in order to bring Microsoft into the running to influence "one billion of the five who are yet to experience the PC revolution". Not a strong move in my eyes - desperate scrabbling for a bigger market.

Vista has become widely known as Windows Millenium Edition 2 - which was a massive failure too

Better luck next time then?

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Comments

Showing most recent 20 of 24 comments [View all comments]

windows is good because most applications work with windows

windows is compatible

but hardly anything works with vista, so whats the point in it?

kyul

lmmfao! cyb0r_phuck0r.exe!!!

Digi_Ztr0ya

Hey charlie, ever thought of taking an English class? Come on man! we can hardly understand what the hell you are saying!!!

cyb0r_phuck0r.exe

Probably the best thing to do at this point, if you want to keep enjoying using your computer, is to save up and buy a Mac. That seems to be trend.

Ha ha, you’re stuck. Without Microsoft PCs are just empty boxes. Linux is the "not ready for prime time" OS. MS killed off all the possible competition for those empty shells long ago. Digital Research’s DR DOS was better than MS’s but they muscled them out of the picture. The same thing happened with IBM’s OS/2 , another superior product that was manipulated out of business by Microsoft.

Microsoft has scored many own goals with Vista. Due to public demand, Dell and other manufacturers are now offering Linux (or even XP) as an alternative to Vista. The writing is really on the wall for Bill Gates’ old company. It will take a brave man to admit that they have got it wrong, but wrong, it surely is!

Since migration of my business network, and home PC’s to Linux (Mint), things have never been better - we have saved loads of money and regained full control of our systems - something which, in my opinion, is not really possible with Vista.

Thanks to Linus Torvalds, we all have a real alternative to "Big Brother"!

HA TEVISTA

I have run a vista for buying a new laptop,I think it ’s in a lot of ways disapointing,I just think that microsoft have dominated this erana for too long to bring any fresh freeze ,effectively I ’ve got tired of MS brands , Yes ms is greate ,gates is greate ,I admire them so much, but finally a much comercialized entity can not aways get us too much surprize,here is a start , let’s go to linux,let’s go to firefox,let’s have some fun new experience with these uptaking guys!

charlie

switched over to linux too instead of vista - couldn’t be happier 6 months later!

rigo

@John R.

Computers are NOT just filing cabinets!!!

Anonymous

We agree no more MS after XP dies no Vista ever. Apple might be OK but I think Ubuntu is better, faster, cheaper, and far smarter.

Mami.

No more MS OS changes here the next one will be Linux.

John R.

Sorry MS this is being typed on FIREFOX, and we will never have Vista in this house, after so many years with Microsoft it is time for a simpler better more cost effective OS and software package, when XP goes down for the count, we will then change to Linux 100% and Open Office.

JRR

We have 5 computers, 1 runs 98, three run XP and one has Linux, it is the newest one.
For now 2 of the XP machines do the bulk of the work, the third is a backup.
In the future we will NEVER go to Vista, and we are getting tired of Microsoft all together.
When XP is no longer available we will change entirely to Linux based computers. Already the one NEW ONE, is used from time to time and it works great!
I think Bill Gates, brilliant as he is has lost touch with real people and the real purpose of the computer, it is after all just a file cabinet.
XP is a fairly good system if you do not let it update to much and sometime you have to kick it back a few months. The SP1 machine has not been updated in years and it never has any trouble, nor does the 98 machine.
I just thought I would say, we will NEVER go to VISTA and at some point we will stop climbing in and out of windows all together and start using a DOOR, Linux seems to be that door of the future.
By the way, this letter is being written on FIREFOX, as it too works better and is less intrusive and problematic.
I like Bill, this is not a hate letter to MS executives but you guys are out of touch with real people in oh so many ways. The world is not flat and computers are after all just file cabinets with TVs sure they can do a lot of things but as they say in the army KISS.
Linux seems to understand that.
No Vista here ever.

Windows XP currently is the best os for gaming; nothing else comes close; that is why it is the most popular. Unfortunately, Vista does not measure up in the gaming category (yet); nor does Linux or any other operating system. I dislike Microsoft as much as anyone, but this truth cannot be denied. If you think games aren’t important then you are clueless, because games are driving the pc hardware industry. Why update hardware if not for the latest and greatest game (Bioshodk)?

Vista is great. I use it. I love it. But I can’t use it on some of my systems, because....
1)its incompatable with many of the peripherals I use every day.
2)its hardware requirement make it only available to those who upgrade all of their computers every few years, which very few people do.

Microsoft claims that tens of thousands of peripherals have been verified to work with Vista. They forgot that there are hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of different peripherals that people attach to their computers and everyone would like them to keep working.

They just didnt think it out very well and most of their sales are with new systems. They’re getting almost no money from people who are happy with XP on their current systems.

Joe Devo

i can run better graphics than what vista provides, in linux with 128 mb ram, 1,3 ghz processor and on board video card with 16 mb

dan

Aero skin is available for XP and I play new Halo on XP :) as well.
Torrent sites are offering Vista for free -but I "don’t even want it for free".
That is a sad indictment.
If microsoft wants to drive a new operating system for mass consumption- they are going to have to come up with some killer apps that actually require the upgrade and a few games isn’t going to do it- particularly if we can get the games etc to run on XP anyway after short delay.
Honestly i don’t see any must have killer apps coming out anytime soon that require Vista so- I agree its dead in the water.
You would think after earlier flops that Microsoft would reverse engineer the flops- see that killer apps and an environment need necessarily be present and then actually deliver a product that is head and shoulders better than the previous operating system. Vista meets none of these criterion and if I can figure out that simple yet- critical essence of a business model with no college degrees at all- it begs the question- what the heck are these high powered executives actually doing for the millions they are paid? I’m a janitor- but I bet any young new hire could run the company better than the Execs- go figure.

Stolen African Prince

Windows Vista -super high price for a jumped up Windows XP mod.
I can have all of Vista capabilities using XP Pro without shelling an extra dime out. Microsoft is some greedy jackasses.

anti-proselytizer

I bet if you go into any employee of Microsoft’s home they have VISTA doorstops on every door. Bad Joke but true.

Dude

Mac blows.

Flip

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Microsoft admit Vista is a failure

A classic case of a super-power losing control

Vista has become widely known as Windows Millenium Edition 2 - which was a massive failure too