MaximumPC 2008 03

We tackle tough reader questions on...

Vista’s Versatility Photo Sharing

Speaker Suggestions Captions

VEHEMENT ABOUT VISTA

I have been what I consider a pretty loyal reader

(this being my fifth year of reading Maximum PC )

and I’ve always been a huge fan of the magazine. I

was, however, very unhappy with the January 2008

article “Make Vista Liveable.” I have used Vista

since it came out, and while I did see some prob-

lems with it at first, it was still liveable. Since then,

Vista has become extremely stable and extremely

fast. I absolutely love it and every time I have to use

XP I get a bit frustrated because I’ve gotten used to

things in Vista that are quite nice.

You claim that Vista is “bloated, pokey, buggy”

but fail to actually explain why or how. I mean, if

you really hate all the effects and the GUI, then

you can revert to the traditional Windows 9x/2000

theme. My point is that nearly everyone who

doesn’t use Vista has the impression that the OS is

terrible because the media is saying so. Yet most

people that actually use Vista love it. Stop “going

with the flow” and get off the “Vista sucks” band-

wagon. Vista is fine for home use, and if it truly

isn’t then please back up your hate. And I don’t

want to hear the excuse that “Vista lowers gaming

performance.” Yeah, it does. But you still get good

FPS. Just because you go from 200 to 180 doesn’t

mean the OS sucks. Other features make up for it,

and 180fps is more than playable.

—Rafael Lopez

EDITOR IN CHIEF WILL SMITH RESPONDS: You’re

right, we haven’t actually spelled out what we

don’t like about Vista lately. Here it is, bulleted

for your reading pleasure:

**- Vista suffers from a basic 10-percent perfor-
mance hit in games and many apps. Simply put,
Vista is slower than XP at virtually everything
we’ve tested.

• Windows Genuine Advantage is neither genuine
  nor an advantage. When it works, it’s just mildly
  annoying. When it doesn’t, your bought and paid-
  for copy of Windows is worthless. That’s bad.


• UAC is the worst feature ever. In fact, it’s so
  annoying that most users turn it off after mere
  moments.
  - Even though 64-bit Vista is a great improve-
  ment over the x64 version of XP, it’s still basically
  unusable. Your iPod won’t sync, it’s unstable with
  common hardware, and basic functionality like
  suspend and resume don’t work.
  - A year out, we still have no value-adds for
  people who purchased Ultimate for $400.
  - A lack of 3D hardware audio APIs is bad for
  gaming.**

By fractionalizing the features included

with Vista, Microsoft has added to customer

confusion. There needs to be only one version

of Windows, and it should include all the func-

tionality that’s currently spread out over seven

different SKUs. This differentiation might be a

good business choice, but it’s bad for the end-

user experience.

The sad thing is that Vista does a few

things well; despite the failures of UAC, Vista is

a more secure OS than XP. The redesigned Start

and Nav menus are good enhancements, but

the overall Vista experience isn’t significantly

better than what XP offers. The things Vista

Speaker

Recount

It’s great that you provide

us with a Best of the

Best list (In the Lab), but

I’m wondering why the

GigaWorks S750 is listed

under the 5.1 speaker

category (February issue).

This system is very rare,

expensive, and a 7.1 (seven piece) setup.

On Amazon.com, it says the Creative Labs GigaWorks S750 7 Piece THX 7.1 Speaker System is

“currently unavailable” and “We don’t know when or if this item will be back in stock.”

—Sergey Samarin

EXECUTIVE EDITOR MICHAEL BROWN RESPONDS: Yeah, we goofed by listing the GigaWorks

THX S750 under the heading 5.1 Speakers—it is indeed a 7.1-channel system. The dif-

ference, of course, is that the system includes two side speakers in addition to the front,

center, and rear channels. The main reason we added the S750 to the list was that we had

selected the system for our 2007 Dream Machine (September).

Few things irritate us more than crappy speakers, so the fact that the GigaWorks S750

is selling for $500 doesn’t bother us. The system’s performance warrants the price. The fact

that Creative’s system is becoming difficult to find, on the other hand, means we need to

seek out a new Best of the Best pick in this category. In the meantime, you might consider

Creative’s GigaWorks ProGamer G500 ($250), which received a 9 verdict in February 2005, or

Logitech’s Z-5500 Digital ($400), which received a 10/Kick Ass way back in November 2004.

in outYOU WRITE, WE RESPOND

94 MAXIMUMPC | MAR 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com