In Defense of Microsoft Windows Vista

So get this, I work in the Information Technology industry. I’ve had a computer since I was 14, which means I have twenty-seven years of real experience with PC hardware and operating systems.

DOS 1.0, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, 98, XP… I’ve used them all. And on day one when each of these operating systems were released I always wanted the OS to do more or there was something I didn’t like about the OS.

Think about it for a minute. The OS never exceeded my expectations. I think that is the way we think as humans. Yes, sometimes products exceed our expectations, but for the most part products never meet our expectations on day one. Even the highly touted Apple iPhone had people wanting more feature and Apple is responding with a new and improved version of the device.

I admit that Microsoft doesn’t execute very well on version 1.0’s of the software they put out. I admit that Apple seems to execute very well on 1.0 products.

But honestly, the real problem isn’t that Microsoft sucks, it is that Microsoft has a totally different platform strategy than Apple. Apple has total vertical integration ownership of the devices and software they sell. They build and sell the hardware and they program the software that drives that hardware. Hence, they have everything at the tips of their fingers to execute out of the gate properly.

Microsoft, on the other hand, doesn’t design or build most of the hardware that their software eventually runs on. When Microsoft releases a new operating system like Vista it has to run on at least twenty different manufacturers hardware, which Microsoft doesn’t have control of. Additionally, people who want to upgrade from XP must have hardware that is currently supported by their manufacturers who in turn must write new drivers so their hardware can run on Vista.

So any new OS from Microsoft comes out of the gate with two issues: living up to expectations and broad hardware support issues.

Microsoft can’t make it all work. Hardware vendors like HP, Dell, Gateway, IBM have to chip in on the deal.

For me, personally, there are things about Vista that I scratch my head and say “what the hell were they thinking when they did that.” I recently purchased new hardware and made the decision that I’d go with Vista Ultimate 64 Bit. Now when you talk about moving to Vista 64Bit there are more than hardware issues. Software support becomes an issue as well. But since the majority of my work based software would perform better under 64 bit I decided it was time to make the leap of faith.

The result is that all my old add-in cards are fully supported with new Vista drivers and all my new hardware works flawlessly under Vista.

For me, Vista hasn’t been a bad transition. But then again I remember the days of running Windows 3.1 and upgrading to get network support to work with it. I remember Windows 95 and the issues with older DOS applications running correctly.

So, I guess there are two options for the average user. Believe the naysayers  who want to bash Microsoft at every turn or go with Vista on your next, new machine and you be the judge.

My cousin, who doesn’t know squat about computers, took my advice and purchased a Dell with Vista pre-installed. She loves it and thinks it much better than XP and the setup only took about an hour, which included the time to take the machine and monitor out of boxes and connect everything up.

I’m not in love with any computing device. All I want is for it to work for me every time I turn the machine on. For Vista I can honestly say that it does this and a whole lot more.