Vista struggles to bust out as business customers snub it
April 30th, 2008 . by TexasFredWill Weider is just the kind of customer Microsoft (MSFT) needs to keep its Windows computer operating system franchise growing.
He oversees tech for a chain of Wisconsin hospitals, 14,000 computers’ worth. But Weider has no desire to upgrade to Vista, the latest version of Windows.
“I wouldn’t put on Vista if it was free,” says Weider, chief information officer for Ministry Health Care. “In the past, there’s always been an important reason to upgrade, but XP (the previous version of Windows) is perfectly acceptable.”
Even as it pursues Internet icon Yahoo to create a more potent online-advertising rival to Google, Microsoft is facing increasing pressure on its Windows cash cow. Corporate customers such as Weider are staging a rare revolt over upgrading to Vista, which launched with much fanfare in January 2007. Last week, Microsoft reported a 24% decline in Windows sales in the third quarter.
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Online magazine InfoWorld is waging a Save XP campaign. More than 175,000 signatures have been gathered. “Why pull the plug on XP when there’s clearly a lot of people who still like it?” says Galen Gruman, InfoWorld executive editor.Influential analyst Michael Silver at research firm Gartner calls the Vista launch a “disaster.” Other critics have been no kinder. CNet called Vista one of the “biggest blunders in technology.” PC magazine chronicles Vista’s “11 Pillars of Failure.” The Christian Science Monitor likened it to Coca-Cola’s disastrous New Coke experiment in the 1980s.
Vista, not Windows, is the butt of jokes in Apple ads.
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Vista struggles to bust out as business customers snub it
Love em or hate em, Microsoft is a major player in the PC world, and even though there are other options, many of us really like Windows.
I was 1st introduced to Win95, a great system for it’s time, then Win98 came out and it was impressive, and Microsoft did a lot of upgrades along the way and made it even better, but then Microsoft did what they are becoming infamous for doing, they took a perfectly good operating system and threw it away for a piece of junk.
Case in point, WindowsME, then Win2000, both were pieces of crap, and you know, a smart guy like Bill Gates should have figured it out after he came out with XP, all the PC users were relatively happy, XP made PC users a happy crowd for the most part.
Leave it alone, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, an old axiom that goes a long ways.
We’re a 2 computer household and both of us have XP, and if Microsoft drops support for XP in the future, I will no longer be a Windows person, there are too many people that are very happy with Apple and their systems, and it appears that Apple does listen to their customers, if Windows won’t, hit em where it hurts the most, hit em in the wallet.
Microsoft can tout Vista until hell freezes over but they know it’s a piece of crap and I know that they already have their new system ready to hatch soon, it’s called Vienna, and it’s waiting in the wings right now.
I hope Gates and his crew of eggheads took the time to get it right, they seem to prefer pushing a product off on the public before it’s ready, and if Microsoft has a downfall, that will be it, and there is one other thing that Gates and crew need to consider, the CUSTOMER is always right, keep XP, bring out your new stuff but keep XP, for some of us it IS the perfect system.
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I was looking on Dell’s website and they still give customers an option between Vista and XP. I’ve read of the nightmares of Vista and I wouldn’t get it. I’m perfectly happy with XP and don’t plan on getting rid of it.
Back when I was still active duty, Bill Gates visited some military installations overseas and was given standing ovations. To the GI’s, Bill Gates was the one who made it possible for them to communicate instantaneously with their families back in the states. It was because of him they were able to view their babies being born and they got to see and talk to their children every night via webcams even though they were thousands of miles away.
vista users could write great horror novels…..hell, maybe horror flicks
If XP support is 86′ed, I will be buying an Apple when this XP machine dies. Vista sux, and I’ve about had it with Gate’s attitude. I’ve been dealing with Winblows since 3.0, and considering the install disks went from two 1.44 meg disks to over 15 CDs to who knows what now, I imagine ViennaSausage is going to be much more cumbersome.
Good post Fred,
I have xp and dont plan on upgrading to the Vista format in the future.
I will also consider changing to an Apple computer when this one gives out.
Ed “Wheels” Wallace said that if GM or Toyota made cars like Microsoft makes computer programs, they would be out of business. He hates the Vista program.
‘Nuff said
I have XP Pro and 98SE. I like XP but I love 98SE. I do 99.9% of my work on the 98SE machine. I would not have Vista in any of my machines.
I had 98 on my now dead laptop (monitor went out). Loved it. Had ME on a desktop I bought eight years ago. It sucked.
Have XP on new laptop and both desktops. It’s great.
Have a sister stuck with Vista — she hates it.
I’ll stick with XP as long as possible…..
Vista would not be near as bad if there was a way to surpress all the popups, and they put “up folder” back into file navigation.
You know I use XP on this POS dell laptop and it is a good system, it has flaws like every other system but it is more than capable.
The difference between Macs and PC boils down to this:
PC’s hit your wallet a little at a time for various things like security, and upgrades and new systems that won’t run old programs….
Mac’s hit your wallet right up front, but then they offer some of the best support and functional software out there. They both do the same thing, they both cost the same in the long run, the thing that sold me on apple was the frustration level, being less than PC’s.
I was thinking of buying a PC this dell is struggling it’s old and it’s slow but buying a new PC these days comes with vista loaded, then you have to buy XP and load it, I think I’ll wait till the new system comes out and see what that does….might just chuck the dell and buy another Mac… that would make 5.
I’ve been under the impressin that Bill Gates stepped down from Microsoft and he and his wife went into philanthropic work. Am I wrong? Is he still involved with Microsoft other than raking in the money?
Whatever, I have XP and I hope whoever is in charge will keep the support going …for as long as I do.