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Microsoft Admits That Windows Vista Was Not Ready for the World in January 2007

Time: 04:51 EST/09:51 GMT | News Source: Softpedia | Posted By: Kenneth van Surksum

Microsoft's latest operating system Windows Vista was launched to business on November 30, 2006 and to the general public on January 30, 2007. After the operating system hit the shelves, the first reactions pointed out shortcomings in application, device and hardware compatibility. The end of July is synonymous with six months of availability for Windows Vista, and Microsoft acknowledged that the operating system was not ready for the world back in January. However, the Redmond company twisted the confirmation so that Vista wouldn't be at fault.

"Compatibility is now at critical mass with Windows Vista. You know, when we introduced this product on January 30, like all platform introductions, we had introduced it to a world that wasn't quite 100 percent ready for it. There were compatibility issues that remained, there were driver issues that remained. And I can tell you that five and a half months in, that situation has changed, and changed materially," stated Mike Sievert, Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Marketing during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007.

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#1 By 21203 (76.27.192.67) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 05:57:58 AM

Softpedia is now The Inquirer v2!

In any case, MS didn't admit anything. Drivers were to blame, and they still are. The OS isn't at fault if the only fundamental change that has happened is that drivers are more readily available.

The even more funny element is that this "report" always happens with the same amount of rhetoric about 3-6 months after every new Microsoft client OS.

#2 By 2201 (194.205.219.2) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 07:55:11 AM

#1 spot on. Softpedia's "report" is bad reporting at best.

#3 By 2960 (24.254.95.224) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 07:56:34 AM

To quote the great R. Lee Ermy...

"Well now. No shit."

TL

#4 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 08:14:02 AM

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our next episode of "Blame The Messenger!" Today's contestants are mram and testman who can't refute the content of the article and so, instead, will disparage its source.

#5 By 81926 (69.154.120.134) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 08:58:12 AM

The Microsoft Corporate VP was quoted as saying, "...we had introduced it to a world that wasn't quite 100 percent ready for it."

The headline of the article says, "Microsoft Admits That Windows Vista Was Not Ready for the World in January 2007"

Absolutely totally opposite statements. Wow, even a 5th grader knows the difference in those two statements.

#6 By 13030 (198.22.121.110) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 09:19:54 AM

<pyle>Surprise, surprise, surprise!</pyle>

#7 By 8556 (12.207.97.148) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 09:29:46 AM

The world (okay, some laptop users) is still waiting for ATI/AMD to release mobile Radeon drivers for Vista that don't crash. Just because Vista fixes the crash on the fly isn't a reason not to fix the video driver. ATI's mobile Radeon, and many other drivers, still need work. As with Windows XP, I expect it to be ten months into the general release before the driver base is solid. I personlly no longer sell notebook computers that have ATI video cards and will not do so until they wake up and service the customer fully.

#8 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 09:40:07 AM

The actual and better story here is how quickly effective driver coverage for Vista has evolved as compared to previous versions of Windows. Comparably, it has been much faster, and speaks to how Vista was built and how it can be built upon - both more quickly and at less cost.

Let's take video drivers for example, the new driver model [the WDDM], allows multiple applications to utilize the GPU simultaneously by implementing the following:

GPU memory manager-arbitrates video memory allocation
GPU scheduler-schedules various GPU applications according to their priority

"With these technologies, applications no longer have to cede the GPU when another application requiring its services starts-up. Instead, the GPU is scheduled in a more efficient fashion."

Perhaps the most significant change comes with the understanding that under the WDDM and Windows Vista [with properly crafted WDDM drivers!], the need to include code for the support of various device driver interfaces introduced over many years, has been removed [again, ref MSDN and MS TechNet]. Thus, Windows Vista implements only a single interface while ensuring that all the older drivers are recognized and function optimally.

It is proper to compare Vista to previous versions of Windows - including initial driver coverage and the rate at which new and better drivers have been developed and delivered. In both cases, Windows Vista has been far better than XP was and even more so than for earlier Windows operating systems.

****To a large extent, consumers can influence the rate at which drivers evolve - GAME as much on your PC's as you do consoles and you'll see better and more rapid driver evolution. Aggressive, high performance drivers begin with Video and drag all else behind them - to support gamers and gaming rigs. We lose the gamers and it's over for all of us - we'll be stuck in the low speed, high drag world of "Good enough, is Good enough" for lame assed web based Google and Live apps... I mean I like toast when I have nothing else, but I still LOVE to eat the bread I bake myself [which I still do, BTW].

#9 By 135 (216.17.26.137) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 09:44:25 AM

I just built a new desktop last night. E6600, 4 Gigs ram, nvidia 7900gs, put into an Antec P180 case. and installed XP on it. When I get time, I'm going to rebuild my laptop with XP instead of Vista.

It's not drivers that makes Vista not ready... it's everything. It's buggy, slow, goes off to lunch at times.

To be honest, the same thing happened with XP when it was first released. it wasn't until SP2 before they fixed the majority of the issues.

#10 By 37 (76.210.78.134) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 10:18:52 AM

Once you go Mac, you don't go back :-)

#11 By 135 (216.17.26.137) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 10:29:46 AM

#10 - you don't go forward either. :-)

#12 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 10:49:30 AM

#5: I seriously doubt that the average 5th grader knows how to interpret corporate spin into reality-speak. Yes, it's not that Vista wasn't ready for us, it's that we weren't ready for Vista. Our bad, I guess. Sorry Microsoft, we'll all have to do better next time. Hope we didn't let you down too much. Silly us.

#13 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 10:50:05 AM

#10 Apple and Megapatch go together so well.

Another 8 security holes in Quicktime.

"Apple has addressed eight security vulnerabilities with the release, which was made public on Wednesday.

Four of the flaws are due to memory corruption or integer overflow bugs that could cause the viewer to crash if QuickTime were used to view maliciously crafted movies or files. Another three critical flaws relate to design issues in QuickTime for Java. Attackers could theoretically exploit these flaws by posting malicious Java applets on a Web site, where they could then compromise a victim's computer.

A final QuickTime for Java bug could "lead to the disclosure of sensitive information," Apple said in its security alert on the update. "

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/11/Apple-fixes-serious-QuickTime-flaws_1.html

#14 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 10:51:14 AM

#10, Isn't that because one has to put one's brain in an empty mayonnaise jar first?

#9, Nice RIG. I use that case for my office WS.

#15 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:17:59 PM

#9 Vista works really well for me on a much cheaper PC.

#12 When you try Vista we'll spend a couple of seconds considering what you said before laughing at you - instead of 1 second.

#16 By 37 (76.210.78.134) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:18:13 PM

The thing about Mac is that it just works. I don't have to worry about drivers for internal hardware, including the monitor. In fact, I haven't had to install a single driver...not for my new printer, not for any of my hardware, nothing. I haven't even seen a driver CDrom since I bought my Mac.

I bought my first Mac in April (never used one before that), and never would go back to Windows. It literally takes a couple seconds to start up, it's smokin' fast, and I don't get the countless and endless balloon popup notifications.

Switching users is instant...with a 3D cube rotate right to the other user. No need to log off, switch user, wait for load. Spotlight is amazingly fast, and there is no need to setup folder hierarchies, as everything can be found in a second.

Tiger OS X is so incredibly smooth, fast and well laid out in high res everything.

I remember back when I installed Vista on one of my higher end home PC's....talk about a nightmare. I had to find the network card driver on another PC because Vista couldn't find it. Lucky for me I had a second computer to search for the driver on the internet and burn it to a CD so I could install it on the Vista machine. Vista notification pop ups galore...it was pathetic.

What's even worse with Vista is now they have a PROGRESS BAR for every window! You can see the progress status when opening the Documents window, the Computer window. How pathetic is that. The only progress I see on my Mac is that when I open the window, it just opens...no need to see the progress....it just opens instantly.

Installing and uninstalling on the iMac....it's so crazy simple, it's not even funny. Drag and drop to install, and drag and drop in garbage to uninstall.

Man, I could go for hours.

Not Parker.....Vista = the ultimate patch in of itself. Vista is just a patch to XP with a new WindowBlinds skin. And at least Apple fixes their patches. It's easier and faster for Apple because they know the hardware that their OS is on. With PC, Microsoft never knows the environment, which is why things take so long for them to address. They have endless testing they must do before they are certain they won't break to many apps or PC's before pushing out their fixes.

Tiger is already leaps and bounds ahead of Vista....and the Leopard is coming, which is just crazy cool....Time Machine is one feature that I am looking forward to on Leopard that Vista doesn't have (without combining multiple processes).

I love that I have never received an illegal operation, send error report or application crash with my Mac. As I type this on my work PC (Windows XP SP2), my Windows Live Messenger 8 just closed out on it's own and asked me to send an error report (which is why I just added this last sentence).

This post was edited by AWBrian on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 12:22.

#17 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:32:45 PM

#16, That has to be the best switch ad/testimonial I have ever read. Thanks for sharing it - entirely valid and most welcome perspective. I don't get to spend nearly enough time in various OSes any longer - so it is especially useful to read such posts. Thanks, L

#18 By 37 (76.210.78.134) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 12:46:51 PM

Any time L. Don't get me wrong though. I like Windows. I work for Hilton, and we are entirely 100% Microsoft with IBM Servers and workstations world wide, running Windows XP SP2 and Office 2003 on all workstations. Servers are Windows 2003, and we are running Exchange 2003. All this worldwide over hundreds of thousands of computers. I was also a Microsoft MVP for 8 years for Microsoft Office.

I have plenty of Windows experience.....but Mac changed my computing experience for the better.

This post was edited by AWBrian on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 12:47.

#19 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 01:17:42 PM

#16: Good review. I would try out a Mac if I could play with one for free for a month or two. I used to own an Apple ][ (an original ][, not a ][+) back in the day and still have a soft spot for Apple.

#17: Cut down on the 3-4 hours daily posting here and you'll have more time to play with new OSes ;)

#18: Say Hi! to Paris for me.

#20 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 01:32:35 PM

"And at least Apple fixes their patches."

Apple = one big megapatch.

Leopard = a bad Vista clone.

"It's easier and faster for Apple because they know the hardware that their OS is on"

No. They just get a lot of practice. Isn't that 7 sets of Quicktime patches this year alone?

#21 By 37 (76.210.78.134) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 01:36:27 PM

Nice excuse NotParker. You are cute when you get defensive.

#22 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 02:07:38 PM

#19, But then I'd have to lessen my commitment to the hosting of this platform and the development of its new software - not things I do [doing less, I mean - I do something, I do it all the way, or not at all].

#23 By 8556 (12.207.97.148) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 02:42:50 PM

#10: I don't know why it took me so long, but I installed Parallels this morning and virtualized Boot Camp running XP Pro. This is awesome stuff. Running Coherance, where XP and Mac are merged, is very cool. Copy and paste between OS's is a breeze. Moving files between OS X and Windows is simple now. Wait, wasn't this about Windows not being worldly, or something?

#24 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 03:28:27 PM

#21 You give up so easily.

#25 By 23275 (172.16.10.31) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 05:39:07 PM

#24, Excellent point - entirely valid.

If you knew how long I had been doing this you'd already be assured - despite vigorous debates, and occcasional, "you suck bad lketchum" attacks.

I tell you how far I have taken it, though I could, I have not, and by intent, even looked, so who is what, or actually whom, remains unkown to not only myself, by all in my company and it will remain that way. I come from a time when men quite literally died rather than violate their honor in any way. It may seem trite and out of place, but that is how it was and still is.

I know people don't often accept another's word these days, but I don't offer mine lightly and I don't break it. If you want to know, I started assisting because I respected the young people that built this and I wanted to help - them and perhaps others that come here. Respect alone would be enough to ensure that any/all information be treated with just that, respect. I hope in some small way, not so much what we end up doing, but how we do it, will matter most. I don't take a thing from this at all - except the most important thing one might, that is new friends I may never actually meet. So any/all alters are in my opinion, as welcome as any other. I think the guys that make those kinds of decisions aleady know just how "real" we are. Thanks for listening. Lloyd.

This post was edited by lketchum on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at 17:39.

#26 By 11888 (67.71.152.96) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 06:30:28 PM

Parallels is a fantastic package. I don't use it every day but for that site that works better with IE it's great. If Civ4 ran in a virtual machine I wouldn't need the Boot Camp partition at all. I just discovered that I can use Windows Live Messenger in Parallels and have it access the iSight built into my MacBook.

#27 By 16797 (65.95.9.143) at Thursday, July 12, 2007 07:15:39 PM

#16 Time Machine is one feature that I am looking forward to on Leopard that Vista doesn't have (without combining multiple processes).

What is wrong with 'Previous Versions' in Vista?

One more thing - Vista does incremental backup on cluster level while Time Machine requires separate drive/partition.

#28 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at Friday, July 13, 2007 01:57:14 AM

maybe its me, but for the past year... i've felt that AW comment sections have been dominated by about a dozen people. But in the past week, I've noticed at least a dozen new folks stepping up with very intelligent comments. I won't name names, but it is appreciated.

ps... I've also noticed a whole new crop of people that clearly see into the souls of bullshite artists like latch, ch, and kabuki. Not that it takes a genius to see their hate, given that they embarrass themselves on a daily basis... but still nice to know other's are paying attention too .

#29 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Friday, July 13, 2007 09:23:16 AM

I tell you how far I have taken it, though I could, I have not, and by intent, even looked, so who is what, or actually whom, remains unkown to not only myself, by all in my company and it will remain that way.

This is the single greatest sentence I have ever read. I have no idea what it means, but it intrigues me like the Da Vinci Code or something.

#29: Pretty strong statements from you, considering it's only been in the last 6 months that you've come out from under Parkker's skirt. Sometimes I wonder if I'd be happier if I was like you and the other ideologues here. Put on the blinders and worship Microsoft. But my morals, ethics and personal values keep getting in the way, and I don't subscribe to the belief that might makes right. I don't believe that MS should be able to screw whomever they please because they can. I don't like how they subvert the evolution of technology based on profit motivations. You've heard it all from me before, but you just don't care and that's the real shame here.

#30 By 13030 (198.22.121.110) at Friday, July 13, 2007 09:23:38 AM

#29, Just because you don't agree with the views (expressed by some of the posters here) doesn't necessarily diminish their value or pertinence.

#31 By 13030 (198.22.121.110) at Friday, July 13, 2007 09:24:49 AM

#26, I think that went without saying based on my experience here.

#32 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Friday, July 13, 2007 10:02:56 AM

#31: Just ignore that as it's a common criticism deflection technique. You see, it's not that MS is an unethical, morally bankrupt company that would literally do anything for a dollar, it's that you're consumed with irrational hate. And it's even more to be ignored, considering it's coming from someone who rarely offers a relevant opinion and instead just snipes from the sidelines.

#33 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at Friday, July 13, 2007 10:14:13 AM

Latch, you and kabuki are consumed by irrational hate.

The whole OSS cult is consumed by irrational hate. Its what defines you.

You don't actually stand for anything constructive.

#34 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at Friday, July 13, 2007 11:08:51 AM

#34, I believe that they are simply as passionate about their views as we are about our own.
While it has a definate negative side to how they present it, I think that is just how people are these days and where we'd go to war over certain words [literally, one spoke certain words and someone was going to lose some teeth over it], it is not that way any more. People have heard so many that two things have happened - 1) They don't trust or believe any thing, or any one and 2) they don't take to heart much of what is said - bad, or good.

#35 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at Friday, July 13, 2007 12:36:33 PM

"I believe that they are simply as passionate about their views as we are about our own."

Nope. They aren't for anything. They just hate.

#36 By 23275 (24.179.4.158) at Friday, July 13, 2007 04:01:46 PM

#36, It sure feels that way sometimes - perhaps I should have written, "I have to believe..." Like I said, it is just as things are. Mooresa is right though, we are seeing a lot more [and good] perspectives - agree with them or not, that is a great thing. I think it is good to have one's views challenged - the more the better.

#37 By 135 (216.17.26.137) at Friday, July 13, 2007 04:18:34 PM

#38 By 135 (216.17.26.137) at Friday, July 13, 2007 04:27:17 PM

Nope. They aren't for anything. They just hate.

You know, this whole argument was kind of pathetically funny back when it was used by Bushies to explain away people pointing out the failings of our drunken leader.

Now it's just pathetic.

It's clear from reading your comments, that you are the one who is consumed by hatred. So why not just embrace your hate, and become one with the dark side of the force?

#39 By 11888 (67.71.152.96) at Friday, July 13, 2007 08:45:01 PM

Hmmm. . .no one has mentioned Hitler yet.

#40 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at Saturday, July 14, 2007 02:39:44 AM

Now sodablue, you know I could never lump you in with any group. You stand alone. I just wish you'd finish up whatever you're doing that takes all your time... and frequent the site a bit more. I loved your comments (except when they ventured into politics).

And I MUST say... your comment #39 is obviously some word association you have with me and Bush. You respond to me... and then you go right into beating on Bush. (something your last two candidates couldn't do, I might add).

I wish I could find those old election night political arguments. Such fond memories, gloating over sodablue on a tech site. lol.

#41 By 32132 (66.183.203.110) at Saturday, July 14, 2007 10:08:20 AM

#39 poor sodablue. Still bummed about Wesley Clarks crash and burn.

The fact that is, I do like many Microsoft Products and I detest the Microsoft haters who hang out here who never have anything positive to say.

Are you so demented these that days you choose to redefine liking Microsoft products as "being consumed by hate"?

Why don't you crawl back under your rock with your "I Surrender" T-Shirt.

#42 By 135 (75.73.90.215) at Saturday, July 14, 2007 07:32:16 PM

Now sodablue, you know I could never lump you in with any group. You stand alone. I just wish you'd finish up whatever you're doing that takes all your time... and frequent the site a bit more. I loved your comments (except when they ventured into politics).

LOL! Next time, vote using reason rather than blind emotion. Maybe we won't end up with a drunken moron for President.

#43 By 135 (75.73.90.215) at Saturday, July 14, 2007 07:40:49 PM

The fact that is, I do like many Microsoft Products and I detest the Microsoft haters who hang out here who never have anything positive to say.

Why do you detest? Why not just get a life?

Why don't you crawl back under your rock with your "I Surrender" T-Shirt.

Who do you hate more? It's remarkably pathetic that for the sake of a political battle back home, you would advocate giving the battlefield to our sworn enemy.

Or don't you understand what is really happening? Are you so caught up in the rhetoric of Pravda, that you fail to see reality?

#44 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at Monday, July 16, 2007 10:30:50 PM

"Maybe we won't end up with a drunken moron for President."

Thats the wittiness I remember. It only makes people see that the democrats are devoid of ideas, and only sling mud. Case in point... just look at the new democrat congress. Have they accomplished any democrat ideals? nope. Have they used the pulpit to sling mud? yep.

I paraphrase, from 5 years ago... 'saying no to everything the republicans say... is not a platform'

#45 By 135 (216.17.26.137) at Tuesday, July 17, 2007 10:46:01 AM

#45 - The whole "devoid of ideas" argument is so like 2004. It's time to face the reality of a 26% approval rating.

I read a lot of political blogs, right, left, all over the place. The former Republicans have begun referring to it as the Bush Crime Syndicate, especially after this Scooter Libby deal. Except they are less competent than the Italian mob.

Peggy Noonan, who has always been somewhat delusional, is now writing about how she'd just wish the bastard would go away.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/forms/printThis.html?id=110010326

It's interesting, how Clinton's approval rating at this point was 66%. Polling on the question of Impeachment shows greater support for the impeachment of Bush today, than there was of Clinton back in 1998.

Welcome to reality, mooresa56. I remember back in 2003, your nuts were arguing how wonderful the Iraq invasion would be. Bet you wish you could take that back, don't ya?

#46 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at Wednesday, July 18, 2007 12:54:05 AM

"26% approval rating"

Again, reference my comments about "mud slinging" being the demos only accomplishment. Your preferred stat, only proves that point.

Impeach Bush? If they thought they could, they'd start the preceding tomorrow. Fact is, the demos would botch that as well as they've botched their first 6 months as majority.

"Bet you wish you could take that back, don't ya? "

Not at all. But why are you asking me? Ask the iraqis if they want to go back to the saddam dictatorship. Don't fret though soda... just because you and your kind asked for an interventionalist policy for eons (reference bosnia, reference sudan, etc) and when you get a taste of it... you don't have the stomach (some would say the "balls") for it. In other words, the demos are all MOUTH and no ACTION. Again, reference the past 6 months. All MOUTH, no ACTION. Reference the impeachment "talk": All MOUTH, no ACTION. See the pattern yet?

This post was edited by mooresa56 on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 00:55.

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