The top five reasons why Windows Vista failed

On Friday, Microsoft gave computer makers a six-month extension for offering Windows XP on newly-shipped PCs. While this doesn’t impact enterprise IT — because volume licensing agreements will allow IT to keep installing Windows XP for many years to come — the move is another symbolic nail in Vista’s coffin.
The public reputation of Windows Vista is in shambles, as Microsoft itself tacitly acknowledged in its Mojave ad campaign.
IT departments are largely ignoring Vista. In June (18 months after Vista’s launch), Forrester Research reported that just 8.8% of enterprise PCs worldwide were running Vista. Meanwhile, Microsoft appears to have put Windows 7 on an accelerated schedule that could see it released in 2010. That will provide IT departments with all the justification they need to simply skip Vista and wait to eventually standardize on Windows 7 as the next OS for business.
So how did Vista get left holding the bag? Let’s look at the five most important reasons why Vista failed.
The top five reasons why Windows Vista failed | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

 

[dinesh]

people says Vista sucks . . . but still they use it ! ! !
So who's the sucker?

 

[atl530i]

people says Vista sucks . . . but still they use it ! ! !
So who's the sucker?

Hypocrites!

Vista really failed with a lot of business users. With so many businesses using computers that work fine for what they use them for, why upgrade? Then again, with the hardware requirements that Vista has, it is not worth upgrading something that is not broke. A lot of businesses (like mine) use computers that get the job done, but are more then 3 years old.

 

[gazz496]

buisnesses will always be the last to upgrade as they have to weigh the overall costs of additional software develpoment and hardware upgrades which for alot of company's is not a viable solution so they shore up for bigger changes over a longer period of time with support for xp being continued for some time it will be the next version of windows after 7 that people change to or if microsoft pull there fhead out of the sand long enough and realise they would be better building an os purely for buisness that could be supported by them in a more streamlined manner that had absolutly nothing to do with there comercial os's apart from being able to run the same apps like graphics and photo editing as well as office apps and lose the support for games and other such things they could generalise less and make that system perfect for buisness.

just a thought for microsoft though

 

[SCSIraidGURU]

None of my vendors are supporting Vista or 64-bit currently. They require DEP and UAC be disabled. Users must have local administrator rights to run their software.

 

[swarfega]

I get the feeling they rushed to get Vista out hence the driver issues at the start. Since service pack 1 it has been much more stable. Vista really likes to have lots of hardware and if your lucky enough to have that then vista is nice and smooth. I personally wouldn't go back to XP after having used Vista for 6 months.

 

[atl530i]

buisnesses will always be the last to upgrade as they have to weigh the overall costs of additional software develpoment and hardware upgrades which for alot of company's is not a viable solution so they shore up for bigger changes over a longer period of time with support for xp being continued for some time it will be the next version of windows after 7 that people change to or if microsoft pull there fhead out of the sand long enough and realise they would be better building an os purely for buisness that could be supported by them in a more streamlined manner that had absolutly nothing to do with there comercial os's apart from being able to run the same apps like graphics and photo editing as well as office apps and lose the support for games and other such things they could generalise less and make that system perfect for buisness.

just a thought for microsoft though

I agree with your statement. Businesses really only upgrade when they must. Usually that is after their current computer is dead, dying, or just doesn't work will with newer software.

 

[Suny]

well the reason its not doing well is because for your average PC user like me there are too many problems so we dont want to risk buying it.

i did take that risk for my new pc which arrived yesterday, went with windows home premium 64bit and im regretting it straight away

i have so many problems as soon as i booted the pc.
1. cant open AVG as it says "side by side configiration incorrect"
2. cant delete AVG (was going to reinstall to see if that fixed the above problem) and other files.
3. cant download anything at all (finishes the download then nothing is actually downloaded to the desktop, or if i run instead of save it finishes the download then nothing happens)

This as made the pc basically useless since its a brand new pc and i have to download the needed programs, files, patches etc

That is why XP is so much better for your average Jo like me since i didnt have a problem with that for the 6+ years ive used it.

 

[skunksmash]

well the reason its not doing well is because for your average PC user like me there are too many problems so we dont want to risk buying it.

i did take that risk for my new pc which arrived yesterday, went with windows home premium 64bit and im regretting it straight away

i have so many problems as soon as i booted the pc.
1. cant open AVG as it says "side by side configiration incorrect"
2. cant delete AVG (was going to reinstall to see if that fixed the above problem) and other files.
3. cant download anything at all (finishes the download then nothing is actually downloaded to the desktop, or if i run instead of save it finishes the download then nothing happens)

This as made the pc basically useless since its a brand new pc and i have to download the needed programs, files, patches etc

That is why XP is so much better for your average Jo like me since i didnt have a problem with that for the 6+ years ive used it.

Hi Suny.....

what you should have said was...

''well the reason its not doing well is because for your average (older) *PC* there are too many problems so we don't want to risk buying it.''

Vista is a new animal, XP cant really be compared as they work completely different.
older tech was always gonna struggle with Vista regardless of what M$ said.

you say your machine is brand new ?? what are the specs ??

also any pre built machines....HP, DELL, GATEWAY, EMACHINES with its own pre determined partitions & manufacturers bloatware will have no end of problems while installing a new OS, b/c they're crap weaves its way into everything.

install SP1 if you have not already done so...

SK

 

[Suny]

hi,
its a custom built pc (i bought the components but someone else put it all togther for me).
everything included was brand new

Quad core 2 Q9650
EVGA Nvidia Nforce 750i SLI FTW
Corsair DDR2 4GB
EVGA 896mb Geforce GTX260 superclocked
Windows vista home premium 64bit

i will be asking the guy who built the pc for me to come around on monday to fix these problems but thought i would look around the net first to see if i could find answers for myself

UPDATE
i deleted the files that i could in the AVG folder. most of the ones that i as not able to delete were .DLL files. that seems to have fixed the downloading problem as i just downloaded AVG from the net with no problems at all

should i open up a new topic asking for help instead of talking about it here since it is going off topic a little

 

[skunksmash]

yes open a new thread ...unless there is an existing one which pertains to the problem.

SK

 

[mike-cow]

people says Vista sucks . . . but still they use it ! ! !
So who's the sucker?

That's not really true. most of the people who complain don't use it. Specially since those with legit problems can get a XP downgrade.

I roughtly estimate that 80% of all people who complain have no idea whatsoever about how well vista actually works today. (I have nothing to back this number with, it's just my own personal impression. That means if there is such a number it probably isn't as bad as I think. )

 

[SCSIraidGURU]

Most I know who tried Vista switched back to XP.

 

[dmex]

Most I know who tried Vista switched back to XP.

I know people who tried XP and switched back to Windows 2000...

Nothing will change when Windows7 gets released, they better smarten up and start leaning Vista because Windows 7 will have all the same features and many more so if they Fail at using Vista they will defiantly Fail with Windows 7

 

[mansrm81]

I still use XP and I'm so used to Vista I forget where everything is at in XP.

 

[NormCameron]

I think it's that people want to stick to that which they are most comfortable with. And are prepared to criticise the new. I remember XP when it first came out. It was sooo buggy, it took 2 service packs to get it to where it wasn't a bad little operating System. Vista is a good system, certainly less buggy and much more powerful, at this stage of it's life, than XP ever was. And, lets face it, anybody who thinks Windows 7 isn't Vista SP3 could be in for a shock.

 

[deandallen]

I have come to really appreciate Vista. It came on my new laptop, and I thought "oh, boy, here we go, now I need to go buy another license for XP while I still can", but I waited and worked with Vista and I really love it. I have not encountered any difficulties using it that were the operating system's fault. Once I got used to it, I very much appreciated the new security built in. Vista really is an improvment on something that was great. How much more can we ask? Sigh, now I need to go out a buy another Vista licence for my desktop PC while I still can. Ha! It never ends
D

 

[S.SubZero]

Most I know who tried Vista switched back to XP.

If the people you know have old, decrepid machines with little RAM, slow processors, and junk video cards, then yeah I can see them going back to XP.

Since all of my computers are newer and have decent specs, Vista runs nicely on them. I actively avoid XP whenever possible.

 

[.Joe]

So far, I've got two computers running with Vista. One with home premium the other with ultimate. Other than some minor issues, Vista has worked well for me on both computers. Looking forward to the future OS Windows 7.

 

[SCSIraidGURU]

The problem is most can't afford to upgrade software for Vista. Older software does not always work well in Vista.

 

[abuburair]

i have two new computers one is running with vista home and the second which belongs to my daughter is running with xp. we are both happy and i hope you, too, must be happy!!