Is it Time to Downgrade from Windows Vista?

demofred · **Posted:** September 26th, 2007, 7:02 pm

Quote:

Is it Time to Downgrade from Windows Vista?
Posted Sep 25th 2007 1:13PM by Terrence O'Brien on switched

Nine months after the much delayed, and much ballyhooed launch of Windows Vista, things are not looking good for Microsoft's new operating system. Since its release, users have lodged a litany of complaints against Bill Gates's new baby, including poor device and application compatibility, high hardware requirements, and frequent crashes.

In order to sell new computers, which more often than not come with Vista pre-installed, PC manufacturers and retailers are now offering to downgrade customers back to Windows XP. The U.K. electronics retailer Dabs.com now offers to install XP onto new Sony VAIO computers instead of Vista, with the option to switch back to Vista in the future. As we reported last April, Dell has also begun offering XP as an option over Vista, and even Microsoft itself recently made it easier for partner PC-makers to roll machines back to Windows XP.

But, there's more bad news for the ailing operating system. DSG Internation, the company behind several large consumer electronics outlets in Europe (Dixon's, Curry's, and PC World among others) has been forced to severely discount Vista machines after lackluster sales. To add insult to injury, many mainstream manufacturers are now offering or preparing to offer the Linux operating system as an alternative to any flavor of Windows.

Microsoft's Service Pack 1 for Vista is now available in limited beta tests. This first system update is critical for Vista since, traditionally, most businesses wait for the the release of the first service pack before migrating to a new version of Windows. If user complaints are not addressed in this update, many consumers may choose to skip Vista altogether. Considering the fact that Microsoft just ended support for Windows 98 last May, it's possible people will remain with XP until something better comes along.

Quote:

An accompanying survey (555 votes) shows:

Windows XP 69%
Windows Vista 13%
Mac OSX 7%
Linux 4%
Windows 2K/ME 3%
Windows 98/NT 3%
Other 1%
Mac OS9 0%

andrewq · **Posted:** September 26th, 2007, 7:20 pm

I can't, at this point, see any compelling reason to upgrade from XP. The forthcoming SP1 for Vista seems to be bug fixes rather than new features, so it has nothing to entice me. PC Pro and other commentators are beginning to use the term Windows ME in the same sentence as Vista.... It all seems a bit of a damp squib.

Pete Smithies · **Posted:** September 26th, 2007, 11:59 pm

I couldnt agree more.
The only people that I would recommend vista to is:
People who are buying their very first PC - therefore - have no software and no hardware at all.
My father bought a VISTA laptop (unfortunately on my recommendation - OOPS) as I felt it would be a backward step to stick with XP on a new system. (All my systems are running XP PRo so what kind of hypocrite am I?)
What a nightmare - getting all his software and hardware to work!!
Irrespective of the heartache with drivers for older hardware and the older software compatibility saga - I have to say that VISTA offers very little at present that would want me to upgrade.
NOT AT ALL LIKE OPUS!!!

Pete

:oops:

demofred · **Posted:** September 28th, 2007, 10:26 pm

Here's another news story from engadget.com:

Quote:

Microsoft extends sales of Windows XP till June 2008
(Posted Sep 28, 2007 3:45 PM by Darrne Murph)
Just a week ago, reports were cropping up regarding Microsoft's decision to give Vista Business / Ultimate customers a "downgrade to XP" option amidst complaints over its latest operating system. Now, the Redmond powerhouse has decided to "keep selling Windows XP until the end of June 2008, delaying a scheduled transition to its newer Windows Vista software by five months." Originally, the planned phase out date for XP was January 30th of next year, but now the firm has decided to "extend XP sales in response to feedback from computer manufacturers who said there were customers who still wanted to buy the older operating system." Of note, Mike Nash, a Microsoft corporate vice president, was quoted as saying that the company was "a little ambitious to think that it would need to make Windows XP available for only a year after the release of Windows Vista," referring to the fact that it typically makes its older OS available for two years after the launch of a new one.

Paul · **Posted:** September 30th, 2007, 8:56 pm

I really feel that you need to test on Vista, even if you don't like it personally.
Better to find a potential problem now, than wait until a client brings it back to you.
Vista does have a few "gotchas" depending on what you want your pub to do.
For example; if you want to store user data for your pub, it might pay to research how the "Virtual Store" works (and when it works) -- if you want your pub to find data where it expects to find it.
When I first tried XP I didn't like it -- but I don't want to go back to NT/98 now :-)

Paul

ypt · **Posted:** October 1st, 2007, 6:22 pm

My current project, the first with Opus 6 (I've been using Illumitas) has problems on Vista in that anything in a Doc view doesn't appear - just the border around. (see posting in the basic forum).

I did advise Support of the problem on the 17th Sept, but have not had the email acknowledged yet - could someone offer an idea about how long it normally takes for a response.

Thanks
Michael.

andrewq · **Posted:** October 1st, 2007, 6:57 pm

Michael: as you're in the UK I'd ring DW directly rather than waiting. I've never had much of a response by e-mail (perhaps their SPAM buckets are overflowing?) but they've always been fairly good on phone support (although, admittedly, I haven't tried lately).

Andrew

administrator · **Joined:** October 21st, 2004, 3:42 pm **Posts:** 24

We're not taking phone support calls at present - primarily because we need system details, especially when it comes to Vista. It also because we're getting loads of Vista questions - particularly about products we no longer distribute.

This is also the reason why responses are taking longer than normal - for which our apologies.

If you have problems with Vista, please remember to tell us if it is a native Vista machine, a dual boot or if you've upgraded the machine. And we need to know the graphics card and driver.

Paul · **Posted:** October 2nd, 2007, 8:56 pm

I suggest that you put online a detailed "What you need to know about Opus and Vista" FAQ somewhere.
This should reduce your support workload if the FAQ link is displayed prominently on your main site.
Also add it to this forum as a "sticky".
Otherwise you are going to keep wasting time answering the same questions many times to many people.

Paul

andrewq · **Posted:** October 2nd, 2007, 9:18 pm

administrator wrote:

We're not taking phone support calls at present

That doesn't inspire confidence - it was one of the areas that DW of old always did well. E-mail support has always been flaky, in my experience.

Paul · **Posted:** October 3rd, 2007, 12:47 am

Times change.
Unless you have dedicated phone support personnel, it is very difficult to
make the time for users ringing up and asking questions.
The trend is to purchase packs of "email priority support" or "phone priority support" for an extra fee.
This is because most people that ring a free support line are badly prepared for the conversation, and they don't care if they waste your time.

cheers
Paul

andrewq · **Posted:** October 3rd, 2007, 2:54 am

Quote:

Times change.
Unless you have dedicated phone support personnel, it is very difficult to
make the time for users ringing up and asking questions.
The trend is to purchase packs of "email priority support" or "phone priority support" for an extra fee.
This is because most people that ring a free support line are badly prepared for the conversation, and they don't care if they waste your time.

Maybe so, but the person above asked for e-mail support over a fortnight ago and hasn't been replied to. If DW is no longer offering the expected telephone support as an alternative then it should at least ensure that its main channel is open...

It's been my experience, even in the days of a much larger DW staff, that e-mail support requests hang around until any response is too late to be useful. That's why I've always used the phone. Being able to ask supplementary questions is far more efficient - for the customer - than several e-mails with gaps of a few days between.

ypt · **Posted:** October 3rd, 2007, 7:03 pm

Hi,
Thanks to the administrator for putting us in the picture about the present response times from support.
On my original post in the Basic forum (I know my place!) I have put an example of what I was trying to do, in case anyone with a vista machine would like to try it out.

thanks
Michael.

josephroddy · **Joined:** December 25th, 2004, 3:31 pm **Posts:** 178

Vista, very disappointing version of Windows, many application do not work especially games some very popular ones from the past four years.

Has Digital Workshop been in contact with Microsoft to discuss the few problems with Opus publications and Vista? Opus is built on DirectX so should work great. Maybe with Vista SP1 coming out soon maybe they plan on fixing compatibility issues.

I am sure that Microsoft has a developer complaints division or something.

Paul · **Posted:** October 18th, 2007, 5:44 pm

Keep this in perspective -- other software developers have similar problems.
Using Vista, I have a lot more problems with some Adobe products
(including Director exe and shockwave pubs) than I do with Opus v6.
Similar problems existed when apps were moved from NT/98 to XP.
New operating systems cause problems that can only be solved with
time and experience.

cheers
Paul

Digital Workshop

Is it Time to Downgrade from Windows Vista?

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