Just what every beautiful mountain view needs: icons floating in the air and a large black bar filled with crap on the side. Thanks, Microsoft!
I bought a new computer with Windows Vista pre-installed and in the first few days I’ve learned quite a few things:
1. Windows Vista Hates Old Programs: Sure, it looks nice, but just about every piece of software I have from June 2006 back has had problems installing and running. I’ve been able to patch a few, figure out odd work arounds for a few and simply given up with a few others. I’ve found that running most older programs “As Administrator” and with “Windows XP Compatibility Mode” turned on seems to usually work. Sometimes you have to do this even for the installation programs.
2. Windows Vista Loves Having Stuff All Over The Screen: There are now buttons and gadgets and shortcuts and doodads and widgets and doohickeys and wizbangs all over every window and screen you come to. Some of them are duplicates of commands you can find elsewhere, some are not. I have at least four different ways (desktop shortcut, Quick Launch Bar, Programs menu and a Gadget) where I can launch most items from. After installing any program I find myself then surfing around the screen deleting shortcuts.
3. Windows Vista Hates Making Decisions: I’m constantly being asked if I really want to do relatively simple tasks such as moving files or running installation programs after dropping in a CD. And it isn’t just a gentle reminder: the screen practically blinks, everything else goes dark and I’m given a question like “An unverified program is attempting to run. Do you wish to allow it?” Golly, with that kind of detailed information I can definitely make an informed decision. I’m sure there’s a way to prevent Windows Vista from trying to protect me from myself, but I haven’t stumbled into it yet.
4. Windows Vista Loves Showing Off: There are all sorts of silly graphics and animations that really don’t need to be there. Windows Vista comes with about a bazillion programs for doing a little bit of everything, but for each feature and neat program I discover I find myself saying, “That’s really nice. I wish it could do just a little more…” I can’t, for example, figure out a way to easily put shortcuts to the programs I use on the Start Menu. So I just turned off the Windows Vista version and stuck with the “classic” Start Menu.
5. Windows Vista Hates You: No matter how you think things should work in Windows Vista, they never really do. There are some nice features, but there are just as many little quirks and burps that if you’re used to using an older version of Windows then you’ll surely be frustrated and perplexed for the first couple weeks. And though there have been a lot of improvements, there are still some usual Windows “what the hell?” moments like how it sometimes freezes up when you move shortcuts around on the program menu.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m glad I upgraded because it does look kinda nice and there are plenty of features that I’m sure I’ll learn to love. Most of these features used to need third party applications, but now they’re built in for better or worse.
And, besides… it’s not like I really had a choice.