Hasta La Vista...Vista– it’s a dead man walking

As far as channel partners in the US are concerned, Vista will soon be gone and buried.

Despite Microsoft’s insistence that Vista is one of the greatest Operating Systems (OS) to have ever been developed, partners and users have been reluctant to switch their allegiance from Windows XP.

Previous articles have stated that the User Account Control (UAC) feature in Windows Vista hasn’t exactly been a picnic for some users

(https://www.techpartner.news/News/87132,microsoft-pledges-to-fix-uac-in-windows-7.aspx.)

According to an article on the UAC issue, the feature in Windows Vista was responsible for generating a significant amount of anti-Vista anger, mainly because of the large number of alerts it can generate.

So desperate have users been to not install Vista, the software giant gave Windows XP a couple of stays of execution.

Last anyone heard, the OS was to be killed off at the end of July 2009

(https://www.techpartner.news/News/86002,microsoft-grants-xp-another-stay.aspx)

a six-month extension from the original date of January 2009.

Now users and partners won’t have to stress over that January deadline.

Nope, the software giant has recently announced it is releasing a new OS to rival Vista

(https://www.techpartner.news/News/88117,windows-7-smaller-than-vista.aspx).

Dubbed Windows 7, the product is “a bit lighter than Vista and the pre-Beta is now available to developers and whoever has an Internet connection”.

Microsoft has been literally giving it away at its Professional Developer Conference, in the US, and people couldn’t “get enough of it”.

Early users claim the product is “a bit lighter than Vista, sucking up just under 512MB of RAM”.

Although the Vista feel is there, there are a few new features that benefit UMPCs such as the new and improved Network Manager.

A CRN online reader made his feelings clear, playing an anonymous comment on the site saying, “Vista is a ‘dog’s breakfast’ rite on!!! ‘eye candy’”.

Those sentiments have been shared by channel partners in the US, although not in those exact words.

Resellers in a CRN US article unanimously declared a sigh of relief at having resisted the Vista temptation.

Brian Williams, president of Advantech NW, said he was very glad he tread cautiously with recommending Windows Vista – if he hadn’t done so, he would have lost the faith of his clients.

“Microsoft is eventually going to have to come to terms with the fact that people hate Vista, and it looks like they’re starting to do that,” said John Kistler, principal at St. Louis-based system builder J&B Technologies.

“I don’t really understand how it has taken this long for them to come around.”

But some resellers feel that Windows 7 won’t be much better. Ken Wallewein, a partner with K&M Systems Integration, isn’t optimistic that Windows 7 will be adopted en masse by businesses.

“Microsoft seems to think Vista’s problems stem from a poor marketing job, and that a new name will make it all better,” said Wallewein. “Businesses want simple, reliable, get-your-job-done features. What I see in Windows 7 so far
is more eye candy – sexy GUI stuff.”

Despite Vista’s shortcomings, some believe the OS has been given a bad run by the media. No, they aren’t all Microsoft employees.

CRN guest columnist, Ian Yates, believes that despite the endless coverage on the woeful security in Windows XP and the terrible patch upon patch upon patch being slapped over the gaping holes, barely a word about Vista’s seriously enhanced security surfaced.

He stated that the way Vista was handled by the software giant bordered on the criminal and somebody surely must pay, and the tech media must surely share a slice of that punishment.

Was Vista so bad that resellers could’ve lost their reputation with clients by installing it into their client’s network?

Email me at lguan@techpartner.news

a dead hardware hasta its la man vistavista walking