Windows Vista Strikes Again…

And I don’t mean that in a good way. I am so very fortunate that I have choices and that I’m not stuck with it as my primary OS. My philosophy on Operating Systems can be summed up in this statement: “an OS should enable you to do your work, go about your business and just stay out of your way.” Windows Vista, in my admittedly biased viewpoint, does just the opposite. It keeps jumping in front of you, throwing up obstacles to getting your work done. My XP box just keeps plugging along — everything, and I do mean everything, I throw at it, it seems happy to tackle with a minimum of fuss.

What prompted me to write this post were several recent experiences I had with clients that had Windows Vista PCs.

Client #1: Just got herself a BlackBerry and wanted to sync it with her Microsoft Outlook. Not so fast, BlackBerry Desktop Manager has a bunch of issues with Vista. Granted, you can download the latest version of the BB Desktop Manager software from the support site, but there will still be some lingering issues even once you get it synching.

Client #2: I was trying to remotely install and configure Outlook 2007 for one of my clients that I have set up with Hosted MS Exchange. I use Fog Creek’s Copilot remote control system for this, and Vista’s User Access Control kept preventing me from doing what I needed to do.
Perhaps somebody from Microsoft would look at this and declare this is what Vista was designed to do — this is a core security feature. Core security feature or not, it prevented me from doing what I needed to do, and now I’ll have to go do it in person.

Client #3: This one I felt particularly bad for. She had just splurged on a shiny new HP Pavilion dv6451us laptop that had Windows Vista Ultimate. I think that the “Ultimate” part stands for Ultimate Pain in the Ass. I was instantly reminded of that TV spot from Apple with John Hodgman (aka “I’m a PC”), poking fun at Vista with the guy in the dark suit and sunglasses doing the “allow or deny” bit for every single action he took. It seemed like everything I did would result in a dialog box questioning my actions. I know all about the security concept of “Least Privileges.” But come on… how annoying can an operating system get before you feel like getting out the circular saw? I got the impression that Microsoft was merely overcompensating for all the security shortcomings of previous versions of Windows, and the end user was left with the short straw. The other issue with this client was that he had purchased some very expensive digital embroidery software that was simply not compatible with Vista. For those unfamiliar with this type of software, you create all sorts of elaborate embroidery designs that can be written to a special type of memory card, which then gets placed into a special sewing machine that then stitches the design directly into your material. Think of it as CAD/CAM for sewing machines. I think the software cost around $500. It utilizes a special USB dongle (HASP) that acts as a copy protection mechanism. And this is where Vista reared its ugly head — when the software ran, it failed to communicate with the USB Dongle. Personally, the client should have done more research, but she was actually aware of the potential issues, and she simply couldn’t find any place to buy a brand new laptop with Windows XP (not without significant hassle and expense). This client lives in the same household as her daughter and son-in-law, so I am considering suggesting that she swap her new laptop with her son-in-law’s Windows XP laptop. My other impression was that Vista was S.L.O.W. I mean, this was a pretty beefed up laptop, and booting up and logging in was a horribly slow process.

I will be the first to admit I am probably not the best judge of Windows Vista. I personally have limited exposure to it… but from what I’ve seen, I am in no hurry to make my main workstation a Vista box any time soon. My livelihood depends on my PC’s productivity. The more an OS gets in the way, the less productive I am.

I played with various pre-release versions, but purely on a tinker basis. Now that I have clients with Windows Vista, any pain they feel becomes my own pain, and let’s just say we could all use some Vicodin. Perhaps when Vista SP1 is released, the pain levels will drop.