Windows VISTA - Do these customers have SUCKER written on their forehead?

[Luna]

My old puter was on it's last legs. My new MP3 player wouldn't play on it, and that would have been a $300 loss of a player. We do so much on our puter - we decided to get a new one.

No store in my area offered anything without Vista. So Vista I have. It's okay. I hope SP1 comes soon to fix some annoyances. I'm annoyed at having to buy memory so I don't FEEL like I'm on dialup even though I'm not.

As far as customers, their questions and stupidity - they hear what they want to hear. I told a customer today we were sold out of a new product and we'll have some Wednesday & they proceeded to ask the other 2 workers right in front of me. Then the customer came back to me and said, "So you'll have them Thursday?" No Wednesday, they'll most likely be sold out by Thursday. "So you'll have them tomorrow?" No, tomorrow is Tuesday, we'll have them Wednesday. "So you have them?"

ARRRGGGHHHHH! Now that's just a simple question about a toy. I can't imagine having to deal with people and computers. You all have my prayers and sympathy going into work daily.

[DesignFox]

Vista sucks. Most computers don't let you downgrade because the hardware that ships with it isn't compatible with lesser OS's. I'm not looking forward to replacing my laptop. I liked XP (and actually, I hated THAT when it came out compared to Win2K)

Oh and if you have a Sony Vaio...Vista breaks some of the features.

[Kusanagi]

The only good reason I can think of ugrading is that Halo 2 is coming out on PC soon, and (from what I've read) it will only work on Vista systems.

Bastards

I'm in the same boat as you. Do you have more than one hard drive?

Install Vista on the second one and you can choose what version boots up at startup. That's what I'm going to do when I upgrade, ONLY for Halo 2.

[Lord Ludicrous]

I just wiped Vista off my machine a couple of days ago and went back to XP. Vista is pretty, but it gobbles memory like no tomorrow. To make things worse, everything felt sluggish (I had one 1GB of RAM and lost over half of it to Vista), and took ages to do. Of course, my computer games ran like a sedated person waist deep in mud, especially the Source engine games (Half Life 2, Day of Defeat Source, etc). Went back to XP and its all been silky smooth.
Of course, XP was like Vista back in its early life, I reckon in about 2 years or so Vista will be rather good.

[HawaiianShirts]

I cannot speak for everyone in my position, but I do my best to fit the right computer to the customer. Not everyone needs the most expensive computer, and unless you're over the age of 70 or computer inept, the cheapest computer isn't going to cut it for you either--especially with Windows Vista. I will honestly tell people that the cheapest computer will be slow, the most expensive computer will have more longevity when it comes to upgrading but may be overkill for their needs, and that yes, spending the extra 50 bucks for twice the ram is without a doubt worth it. But people who don't understand computers for the most part shop by price and assume that just because they don't play games the slowest computer is going to last them for several years without needing an upgrade.
(snip)
The point is, I get paid the same whether someone buys a thousand dollar computer system or the 300 dollar system--screwing people over for money that I'll never see isn't worth the time or effort.

I'm with you on this one. I've never seen a customer and thought I could milk them for more money than they needed to spend. In fact, since managers at my store are rewarded for my hard work, I try to get the customers the best deal I can (which means managers get minimal rewards, and lately, they don't even deserve that much).

When it comes to Vista, I'll be as straightforward with my customers as I can. I tell them up front that:
1 - Vista is a memory hog. Don't even think of having 512mb RAM and trying to run more than one program at a time.
2 - Vista has some compatibility issues. If the software or hardware you have doesn't work, you may be able to get it to work with a driver or patch download or with "compatibility mode," but I won't make any promises.
3 - Vista is a reasonably stable and secure OS by itself. But because it is new and hasn't been tested with everything, some programs may make it unstable. Having a professional set it up for you will help reduce the occurrence of this kind of problem.

For many customers, this isn't a big deal. They usually take at least some of my advice. Most of the customers I work with are only using their computer for internet, email, word processing, playing music, and editing and storing photos. They can usually get by with Vista with minimal problems. Any time a customer tells me they need a computer to run AutoCAD, I immediately tell them that they'll need to either custom-build a system with XP or buy the 2008 copy of AutoCAD because (according to what I saw on the manufacturer's website about a month ago) all previous versions of the program are not Vista compatible, and those customers, though not happy, usually thank me for saving them some extra hassle and frustration.

One of my co-workers, on the other hand, is just what greensinistro described in the OP. A couple came in wanting a "gaming laptop" for a specific game. This is one of those games that is not Vista compatible and currently cannot be made Vista compatible. They told him they needed an XP system. He said he could special order an XP laptop through our companies small business supply arm. They liked that idea. Then he sent them home with a Vista Home Premium HP laptop, a copy of the game they wanted, and a dozen other things he claimed they "needed." The next day, I got to deal with their frustration when they came back to return the laptop because it "came with the wrong operating system."

So, yes, there are some unethical sellers out there. I work with one. But, for the most part, I think it's just a matter of what's available to sell.

[Mr. Rager!]

Have Vista, wanted Vista, love Vista. Really... for me, it's a lot easier to use than XP. It took some time to get used to it, but once I got the hang of it, it's easier to navigate through everything than XP is.

Plus, I love the Aero... it's total eyecandy, and I like eyecandy. So far, Vista has been a lot easier to diagnose and fix problems I've had than XP was. Eh, just give Vista some time, and I'm sure it'll be bigger than XP ever was.

[JustADude]

Today I did as detailed a comparison of Vista to XP as I could using a store's demo system and, honestly, the only major difference I found was in the 'pretty' factor.

There are some cool gizmos and stuff, but none that can't be duplicated with some 3rd party freeware apps, like Weatherbug and one of the better GUI-Mod programs out there, so I've decided I'm not shelling out the $400+ for Vista until they can come up with a more compelling reason than looking like they have 3rd party software already installed that I didn't find worth paying the $20 for to begin with.

[Alephcat]

First let me say this is not an advert, just some, hopefully, friendly advice.
For those of you that do not like vista, or have older hardware and want to run the latest software and cannot afford/do not want to upgrade your hardware you could try running linux mint. While I realise that this may not be everyone's cup of tea you can at least try it without installing it and without touching your current windows setup. It will do pretty much everything the average user wants it to, including having all the eyecandy of vista. The only notable exception is it will not play windows games natively, but there are ways to get them to play. If you do not like the idea or do not feel you are up to setting up a new operating system, you do not have to try it, but it is a way of getting the latest software for free.

[CanadaGirl]

My new computer has Vista on it and for some reason the stupid graphics card driver likes to fail a lot. Sigh. Must be all that shiny translucent shit. I'll probably switch it to XP once I get around to it. But that means downloading World of Warcraft all over again.

[symposes]

I had windows 2000 until i couldnt get a game to play, and was told it was because of my OS. It turned out though, that it wasnt my OS, it was my video card.

So i ended up with xp pro, and i have had it for awhile now.

Until XP is no longer supported, and none of the games will work on it. I will be using it. I hate how MS releases half finished products, and lets its consumers beta test it.
Some of the things they find after release, you would think they could find before hand.

[jb17kx]

I've heard a lot from a lot of people about Vista. And I think most of the biggest trashtalkers are the ones who have never tried it.

So my plan for next month when I have my full download limit back is to install Virtual PC or whatever they call it, then download and mount the Vista demo VHD (Virtual Hard Drive). It won't run perfectly, as XP and VPC will be eating their share of memory, but I'll have an idea of what Vista is actually like to use.

Oh, and I'll d/l a demo of Office 2007 for the complete experience.

[technical.angel]

I had a lady this week who, after I urged her to look at the papers her PC came with, told me she had "HP Ink Jet" as her operating system.

Okay, I'm sorry, but this really doesn't make sense to me. If you're helping someone set up a dial-connection on their computer, the computer would have to be on. If the computer is turned on, why are you directing a user to her paperwork to determine the OS? Even the most inexperienced of users can be directed to the system properties. Heck, the color of the start button gives you a clue as to the OS.

And, yes, most people don't care. I don't know what processor I have in any of my computers. But, for what I do, it's not necessary for me to know. (I'm more software side of tech support, rather than hardware).

If you just want to play on the internet and use Word and such, there's not much need to know your OS, as long as you can click whatever the nice techie tells you to click.

[LostMyMind]

I've heard a lot from a lot of people about Vista. And I think most of the biggest trashtalkers are the ones who have never tried it.

Well, I've tried Vista. I hate it. However, I will say this. If you're a techie or gamer (beyond simple card games) don't get Vista. If you really don't have much experience in computers go ahead and get Vista. I got it on my dad's new computer, but he barely remembers where the power switch is. So he's fine with it.

From a programmer stand point, Vista sucks. It's bad enough that XP takes up around 250mb of memory (without streamlining). But Vista takes the cake, you need 500mb just for the OS. The OS is suppose to be just a interface for the hardware to the user, not a bloated mess Vista is. You can't find any other OS that requires that much memory just to operate. All the eye candy of World of Warcraft (before the expansion) required less than 500mb.

But because Microsoft is the major player in the OS game, Vista is here to stay. Just like Windows ME, Microsoft will screw up now and then. But I think there will be another release of Vista within a year or 2 that will "fix" all these problem. For without these problems, you can't sell a new version of OS

[Naaman]

But that means downloading World of Warcraft all over again.

You can transfer the entire WoW folder to a backup device (an external Hard Drive for preference*) and chuck it back to c:\Program Files after re-install. The updater may fix a few minor files but most of your configuration data is held in .lua files within the folder


* I tried a couple of weeks ago to fit the folder on my 8GB USB key - no such luck and they've just had another 325MB patch

[Dreamstalker]

My new laptop has Vista. So far (knock on wood), the only issue seems to have been the network adapter deciding to kill itself for a few days (booting into Knoppix, trying to detect the network device, and then rebooting into Vista fixed that....bizarre). I'm currently working on tweaking the thing so it does what I want. I'm considering dual-booting w/Ubuntu with WINE for games (if it'll even work with Vista...not that many of my games do anyway).

OpenOffice installed without a hitch, surprisingly...

I'm with you on this one. I've never seen a customer and thought I could milk them for more money than they needed to spend.

Ditto...I just can't sell people crap I (and they) know they won't need.

CanadaGirl, your machine doesn't have an Nvidia chipset/graphics card by any chance? I've heard of Vista issues with that one.