Windows Vista's biggest problem
Mon, 06/18/2007 - 09:00 — Ciprian
In the last few weeks we ran a poll on our site, asking our readers to point out what is Windows Vista's biggest problem. Due to the fact that our site does not have high traffic we managed the gather only 534 votes. However the results are pretty conclusive.
Our readers pointed out that, after approximately 6 months, Windows Vista has two main problems: the lack of proper drivers (36% of votes) and lots of application compatibility issues (36% of votes).
We have been using Windows Vista since it was launched and, based on our experience, we agree with our readers.
Driver problems
Since Windows Vista's launch, the drivers have been a big issue. Lots of hardware components (old and new) had no drivers for Windows Vista or, even if they had, their quality was very poor. One of the most prominent examples is Nvidia. When the GeForce 8800 graphic cards were launched, they were labeled as "Designed for Windows Vista". It is only natural that many people asumed the graphic cards would work well with this operating system. Unfortunately that was not the case, as the Nvidia drivers had lots of issues. There were numerous posts on Nvidia's official forums commeting the bad state of the drivers. Some users even built internet pages such as nvidiaclassaction.info to gather evidence for a class action suit.
Since then, Nvidia worked hard on the Windows Vista drivers and released many new and improved versions. However, their latest driver - Forceware version 158.24 - still has plenty of issues. For example, popular games such as World of Warcraft have low frame rates while others crash during play or have corrupted textures.
Nvidia is not the only company that has these issues. Other big hardware manufacturers such as Creative, renown for their sound cards and sound systems, have similar problems. When Windows Vista was launched, their drivers were mostly in beta stages. Even though they released so called "final versions", their drivers had plenty of issues. Lots of users complained on the official forums and, after a while, Creative announced the ALchemy Project - a project that aims to offer complete DirectSound3D support for Sound Blaster X-Fi products in Windows Vista. Unfortunately, old sound cards such as the Audigy 2 series are not yet supported. Due to lots of users' request, they started the development of ALchemy for Audigy sound cards. However, according to Creative, this products will be offered as a "low-cost" upgrade.
Having bad drivers is always better than having no drivers. Even today there are companies that do not offer Windows Vista compatible drivers for their hardware. For example, Mustek - a company famous for their scanning solutions, has still no drivers ready, not even in beta stages. Since the launch of Windows Vista and until today their driver download page has remained unchanged. The only thing they bothered to do was to state that "Currently we don’t provide drivers or updates for Windows Vista". They have no forums and when we sent an e-mail asking for some feedback regarding Windows Vista drivers we received no answer.
Unfortunately Mustek is not the only example. There are other companies doing the same thing and lots of customers suffer.
Application compatibility
Drivers are not the only problem. Lots of applications do not work either on the new Microsoft operating system. That's because many software developers created applications that function only if the user has full administrative privileges. With the introduction of UAC (User Access Control) and other system changes, lots of old applications have problems. The most prominent example of an application that was incompatible with Windows Vista is iTunes. Whenever the Windows Vista "Safely Remove Hardware" feature was used, it corrupted the user's iPods, requiring a full restore. Also, iTunes text and graphics had display issues with Windows Vista. However, upgrading to iTunes v7.2 or higher solves these issues.
Lots of other applications had or still have problems. Most of these problems are encountered with applications that install legacy drivers in order to function. These applications can be CD/DVD burning utilities, VPN applications, virtualization solutions or even security suites. Other applications just refuse to install even though they could work on Windows Vista. This problem is due to the poor design of their installer. For example, some applications ask for the installation of Microsoft.NET Framework version 1.1 or 2.0. They won't install even though Windows Vista has a newer version of .NET Framework.
Conclusion
Just like with any other new operating system, problems are inherent. What matters most is that both hardware manufacturers and software developers act in a proactive way and offer the required support to their customers in a timely manner. Unfortunately, Windows Vista's launch revealed many problems even though Microsoft released it to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels, months before it was released worldwide to the general public.
Hopefully, both computer hardware and software manufacturers will fix their issues as soon as possible. And, maybe, they will learn from their mistakes so history won't repeat itself with every new release of a major operating system.
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Comments
Hardware Support Nightmare
I currently recommend Vista to my friends ONLY if they will be purchasing new hardware to go along with the operating system. I have plenty of hardware that is currently not compatible with the operating system. To date:
- My 2-year-old Tablet PC from Acer does not have a powerful enough video card to run Vista's AERO user interface, althouth the computer rocks in every other spec.
- My HP Scanjet 6300c with auto-doc feeder has been abandoned by HP. No Vista support will be available for my scanner. Go search for a Vista driver on the HP website and you'll see what I mean about "abandoned".
- My Belkin Pre-N wireless PC Card adapters will not be supported in Vista.
- My Netgear Prosafe VPN firewall has a VPN client that is currently not supported by Vista. Netgear refuses to give an estimate on the availability (beta or otherwise) of an updated client.
- My HP printer does not have native drivers for Vista. They tell me that it is compatible with a DeskJet 990c, which means that the truly awesome photo capabilities of this printer are lost until a driver is released.
- My wife's HP photo printer has a driver, but prints garbage. The quality of the printout from the computer is worthless. She now has to copy the image file to a flash drive, transfer that to the printer, and then print directly from the printer interface. Worthless.
In my opinion, the hardware vendors are viewing Vista as an opportunity to increase sales. They are basically forcing me to discard MANY pieces of perfectly functioning equipment and purchase new equipment replacements. I find this tactic unscrupulous and unacceptable. But as a consumer what can I do?
New hardware purchased along
New hardware purchased along with Windows Vista will not solve problems with the new operating system.
I purchased a new Acer 5920 about a month ago (it's 12/26/07 at the time of this writing) with Vista Home Premium pre-loaded on it and after about 2 weeks of using it, the time it took to transfer from my old laptop to the new one, the Vista operating system has introduced more problems than it's worth!!! Acer didn't even bother to provide CDs so the operating system could be be re-intalled, as if any idiot would really want to. But, it would at least be the best option without purchasing a full blown version of Windows XP serperately.
Anyone who has ever purchased a new computer to replace an old one, more than once, can understand the inherent problems with doing so without the added problems of dealing with a beta version of an operating system represented as a proven version. Windows Vista is obviously still a beta version. Unproven. Untested. Released, without being responsible for, and without a warning...USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!
Acer, as well other computer manufacturers (and/or assembly companies) are as guilty, if not more so, in providing their product with such beta software. It's given to them free of charge from Microsoft, without support, to perpetuate the software as a marketing scheme. Take note the word "scheme". Check your dictionary, as a consumer the word "scheme" is NOT to your benefit.
Will Acer OR Microsoft address these issues to their consumers satisfactions.............they never have!
SO....buyer beware!!! Do not pay money for any computer with Vista installed and no means to downgrade the operating system to a time tested proven version or a CD, or other reliable storage source not requiring an internet connection, to re-install the operation system supplied with the hardware.
"Hopefully, both computer
"Hopefully, both computer hardware and software manufacturers will fix their issues as soon as possible. And, maybe, they will learn from their mistakes so history won't repeat itself with every new release of a major operating system."
This is all very well to say in the windows world - but look, for example, at Ubuntu. Ubuntu generall has a few issues when it is first released but within several weeks most major issues have been patched. Mac OS X hit the mainstream with very few issues - admittedly issues are still being found but on a far fewer scale than the 30 or so security updates that hit my Windows Update last week.
I'm not a Mac or Linux "fanboy" but I can see why so many are, and why the feeling with Microsoft for the majority of "alpha geeks" is boredom.
--- In my opinion, the
---
In my opinion, the hardware vendors are viewing Vista as an opportunity to increase sales. They are basically forcing me to discard MANY pieces of perfectly functioning equipment and purchase new equipment replacements. I find this tactic unscrupulous and unacceptable. But as a consumer what can I do?
---
Of course they do. A lot of hardware companies were looking for increased sales from the Vista release. But most people don't fall for it and stay with XP as long as its supported.
So what can you do? Try out Linux (e.g. www.ubuntu.com). It's free and you can get a Live-CD that boots and runs from CD/DVD, so you can have a first look without installing anything permanently. I have a 10 year old scsi scanner (Microtek ScanMaker 330) here, as well as a 10 year old isa soundcard (althoug I rarely use it anymore), that are still supported by the latest Linux-Distros. XP refused to work with these two. There are no forced upgrades in Linux-land.
Ubuntu - same problem
You recommend people to try Ubuntu. I very much like Linux distributions but with it you have similar problems.
If you go to the Creative website you will notice that they do not offer any drivers for Linux. Both older sound cards such as Audigy 2 ZS and new ones such as X-Fi Fatal1ty have absolutely no driver support for Linux.
The same story regarding Mustek - no drivers for Linux.
What should the consumers do? Start writing their own drivers? :)
I think my mother will choose not to migrate to Linux nor Windows Vista.
Where The Drivers Are
For Linux, looking at the hardware manufacturer's site for drivers is looking in the wrong place.
Most hardware manufacturers do not create the driver's for Linux -- people in the Linux community volunteer their time to do so, despite the fact that the hardware vendors frequently refuse to tell the people who already BOUGHT the hardware how to actually program for it.
The major reasons hardware manufacturer's to hide how to actually access their hardware are simple: money and control. The hardware manufacturers want to maintain control over their hardware "interfaces", so they can make oodles of cash "licensing" these "technologies" to third parties. Microsoft encourages this by building in special features that make certain hardware work better than others, and secrecy deals so the hardware maker can be assured MS won't tell anyone how things really work.
Once "trusted computing" starts really being swindled into every desktop, you will see this become a much more pronounced problem as the trusted computing gang begin dictating exactly who can even get in the game... pay up for the "licensing" and "testing" and "certification" and whatever else it takes to be "trusted", or your hardware won't work. Drivers won't run. You're hardware or software company won't exist.
All of this nonsense doesn't help the end user/consumer one bit, it it does prevent rival manufacturer's from building compatible competing products, which would help everyone else a LOT.
The Linux community generally doesn't bother with such under-handed nonsense. Someone spends the hours, days, weeks, or more, of their own time experimenting, hacking, or "reverse-engineering" how a piece of crippled hardware or software works, and writes an open source driver from scratch for it. Since it's open source, others can add their contributions.
Before long, you have projects like OSS or ALSA where hundreds or thousands of like-minded hackers have collaborated to discover and build a general purpose sound system that can talk to hundreds of sound cards, yet makes it easy for sound programmers to write new programs for.
You don't go to Creative for Linux drivers for Creative cards. Creative won't write the driver because its not in their best interest, yet. You go to the Linux community around your version of Linux. In most cases, for sound, you end up at ALSA, which probably already came with your version of Linux. On RedHat Linux and many other variants, the sound card is detected and configured during install of the base OS itself, and you never have to install "the driver" yourself in the first place. The same goes for video, printers, scanners, drives, etc. You go to the Linux community for Linux support.
And, as the numbers of free/libre' users increase, the market impact is being felt too: hardware vendors who are open with their users about how to hack on the hardware find their hardware being supported, and more importantly: purchased. More and more people are basing their hardware buying decisions on whether or not that hardware works with Linux. If not, there is probably an alternative that does, and still works with Windows, which they buy instead. Video companies like Nvidia and ATI have already learned that lesson and produce drivers for Linux, or give out the information that the Linux community needs to write their own driver.
Plus Linux guys spread the word on their grapevines: "hey, I called these guys about hardware X, and they are Linux friendly. Hardware Y hung up on me." That word of mouth ends up on webpages and is having global impact.
And yes, ultimately, since the hardware manufacturer's don't tell people HOW to actually access and use the hardware they already bought, the Linux community did exactly what you said: the [hardware] consumers wrote their own drivers.
And, as a personal note, if my 4-year old twins can use Linux, then I think your mom will be okay with it. Check out the One Laptop Per Child project to see how its possible.
Ubuntu: incorrect
My Creative Audigy 2 ZS works perfectly under Ubuntu. But the reason is indeed that not the hardware manufacturers write those drivers, but the community does, like someone else wrote before me.
nVidia writes drivers for Linux, Creative doesn't. But that doesn't mean that your soundcard doesn't work under Linux.
Seems like a lot of hardware
Seems like a lot of hardware and software company got too comfortable with not having to write drivers or software for a new operating system in the past 7 years. Lots of companies just completely abandoned drivers for their older hardware and software and started working on their new stuff.
I didn't have really any issues with drivers for the hardware that I have. The only minor problem I had is that ATI doesn't make Vista drivers for anything older than the 9550. I had SLI set up but wanted to use 2 monitors so I thought I could use my old ATI 9200SE for that, but wasn't able to get proper drivers from ATI.
Drivers and Mustek.
Mustek have lost a customer in me forever! I wonder how many more there are like me?
I emailed them several times about scanner drivers and had no reply whatsoever, not even an automated one! I gave one scanner away and have another cluttering my room. I bought and Canon and although I had to download the Vista drivers I am delighted with it.
My main issue is the
My main issue is the constant wireless drop offs I experience in online gaming. Every few minutes there is a lag spike which affects me, effectively making me a sitting duck. It is due to the automatic polling for wireless networks that Vista performs (its equivalent of the wireless zero configuration in XP). I have downloaded a tool called Vista Anti Lag as well as batch scripts that alter the netsh settings for AutoConfig on the WLan but these have not been much help unfortunately. If I had not bought a new computer I would never have gone with Vista.