Some recent quotes I have seen..

“Too bad they won't offer those of us with Vista a free upgrade. I guess if I'd lived in the right time period, I'd have bought an Edsel, too.”

“IT SAID WINDOWS XP 7 IS COMING MAYBE IN THE FALL. IT WONT BE SOON ENOUGH. VISTA JUST SUCKS, SORRY”

“It's still Windows and it's still bloated.”

Funny thing is that people who criticize Vista generally can’t actually pinpoint what is wrong with it. Oh sure, there are articles on the Internet dating back to the early days, but then is not now. The majority of people with whom I have spoken are surprised that I run Vista considering that it is crap. Have these same people used Vista? Nope, but they heard from a friend of a friend that it sucks. Something is not right here. Vista works well on the right hardware, so why the problems?

I have a Compaq machine open at the side of me. It is 2005 vintage, Windows XP Home, had 256mb RAM fitted and it ran like a piece of crap. With 64mb being taken for video, the resultant 192mb saw the machine wearing itself out swapping with the pagefile almost continually. I have installed a 1gb RAM module and, for the very first time in it’s life, it will work as it always should have. The client will now be able to watch his ‘subscription paid’ baseball matches on line and it will feel like he is there in real time. It can now also run with a full XP theme in place, Weather Network’s weather eye, and WinPatrol. It boots like a good ’un and applications have a spring in their step. It is a thoroughly usable machine now, capable of delivering a good computing experience to its  official owner. I wouldn’t personally install Vista or Windows 7 on it, and will advise the client accordingly, but it is a great XP computer.

It is time for the OEM’s and Microsoft to come clean. Windows XP upped the hardware game more than the industry was prepared to admit. Nobody wanted to lose sales, but the fallout is still coming down on Vista and most likely will on Windows 7 too. Windows NT required more power than DOS based Windows Anything and, as XP and its offspring are derivatives of NT, we have no right to expect them to run on present quoted minimum specs. While they may boot to desktop within the same 24hr period as the power button is pressed, running on a level surface only is to be recommended.

So, guys, can we have some changes please?

1. Quit it with silly performance claims
2. Revise minimum specs to allow for running stuff other than just Windows, that is to say, be realistic re installed memory
3. Quit blaming each other and work together for a change
4. Put customer satisfaction on the same level as financial gain