PC Magazine, the publication Jim Louderback has helmed for the last couple of years, has always been a staunch supporter of whatever Microsoft’s been doing lately. Now, Jim’s leaving, and as he changes roles he’s writing about a change in opinion. He doesn’t like Vista. I have to say, I agree with him on his major points, and have several of my own to add.

I moved to Vista on my Gateway laptop as soon as the OS became available. After using Microsoft’s latest for most of 2007, I’ve come to a solid conclusion: This software isn’t ready. I’m not positive I’d put it into final beta status, but it certainly isn’t a general release candidate. Promised features don’t work (see: sleep mode), drivers from key hardware and software partners don’t work, and the overall experience is much closer to rock climbing than rock steady. My latest adventure came after the most recent Vista updates, when my machine took to blasting off into blue-screen hell at every boot. It took several days of wrestling with Vista and ATI to return to something like normalcy, and I know that another Patch Tuesday is coming.

Microsoft became so fixed on making a ship date that they released software that isn’t consumer-ready. They shouldn’t have done it, and the fact that so many computers continue to be sold with Windows XP installed illustrates the extent to which customers and hardware partners recognize the very real limitations of Vista.

The truly frustrating thing is that it’s an OS with promise. There are many features I like (or, at least, I think I’d like if they worked), and the interface tweaks between Vista and Office 2007 make for an acceptable way of working. A few folks are looking at Linux as an alternative to Vista, but Linux remains an operating system with a high-geek perception. I know that recent distros have made great strides in ease of installation and use, but the general perception is that Linux is “too hard” for most consumers to try. I still think it would make for most interesting times in the computer industry if Apple were to release the next version of MacOS as a retail product for installation on pretty much any Intel-based computer. I know I’d install it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people who ask for my input on computer purchases. That’s something I can’t do with Vista right now: I will not recommend it to anyone who needs a computing platform that’s reliable and business-ready. I truly hope Microsoft can fix the myriad problems sooner, rather than later, but so far they’re giving few signs of moving in that direction.

Technorati Tags: Vista, XP, linux, MacOS

Categories: General computing, Enterprise, Consumer