Shattered Dreams
& Broken Promises
We sat down with Microsoft to hear the company’s side of
the Vista story. What lessons have been learned following
the worst Windows launch in the company’s history? Is
Microsoft doing enough to regain PC users’ faith?
by will smith
http://www.maximumpc.com | oct 08 | MAXIMUMPC | 29
W
ay back in January 2007, after years of hype and anticipation, Microsoft
unveiled Windows Vista to a decidedly lukewarm reception by the PC
community, IT pros, and tech journalists alike. Instead of a revolutionary
next-generation OS that was chock-full of new features, the Windows community
got an underwhelming rehash with very little going for it. Oh, and Vista was plagued
with performance and incompatibility problems to boot.
Since then, the PC community has taken the idea that Vista is underwhelming
and turned it into a mantra. We’ve all heard about Vista’s poor network transfer
speeds, low frame rates in games, and driver issues—shoot, we’ve experienced
the problems ourselves. But over the last 18 months, Vista has undergone myriad
changes, including the release of Service Pack 1, making the OS worth a second look.
It’s time we determine once and for all whether we should stick with XP for the next
18 months while we wait for Windows 7. But before we answer that question, let’s
review exactly what’s wrong with Windows Vista.