Vista replaced by windows 7.... why?

[Octopuss]

That's mainstream support. Mainstream support for XP ends in 2009. And support doesn't end there, it goes on for another 5 years (extended support ends in 2014).

So extended support for Vista will end in 2017 at the earliest.

Care to explain? What are the key differences in different kinds of support?

And um... Don't remind me of ME. I only saw it once with my own eyes and... yuck!

Reminded me of a joke I dig up from deeps of my documents.

Here goes:

"DO NOT EVER USE ME AS OPERATING SYSTEM.

I have repaired many computers and worked on all sorts of models and whatnot. If i had to choose two OS' id either use 98 or XP. ME is like the bastard child of 98 that was dropped on its head a few times. "

Actually there's one more, somewhat general:

"You saw the new OS coming? its a mix of Win CE, Win ME and NT - called Win CEMENT (hard as a rock and dumb as a brick)"

Edited June 17, 2008 by Octopuss

[cluberti]

Care to explain? What are the key differences in different kinds of support?

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy

[joe43wv]

Because Windows Vista is Windows Millenium Edition Reloaded :)

A'men!!

[CoffeeFiend]

I always find it funny how most people who complain about Vista never actually tried it.

Most experts and geniuses I know and trust seem to be running Vista nowadays without any real complaints -- I'm talking about people like Mark Russinovich, Bryce Cogswell, Matt Pietrek and Scott Guthrie (aka ScottGu), as well as long timers and editors like Paul Thurrott, the better MVPs like John Barnett (mind you they seem to hand those out to anyone these days, or some ppl found theirs in a crackerjack box), and most of the more knowledgeable MSFN forum members, like cluberti, puntoMX, Zxian and geek. If it's good enough for them...

Edited June 18, 2008 by crahak

[joe43wv]

Since you brought up a good point crahak I'd like to bring up a counterpoint. I've ran Vista as soon as it hit store shelves and here's what I've experienced. From the get go I had problems for two months my system just dropping network connection, both network and dialup. After a patch I haven't had a problem since. I had a driver issue with my modem which STILL isn't resolved today. I booted up my system one day and it just loaded a default profile over my profile for some odd reason, luckily a reboot cleared that up, and I'm running Vista at the office and I still can't get SP 1 to install. I understand your opinion and don't deny it a bit I just want users to know that there are some of us that have worked with it since day one and have issues.

[dlsayremn]

The only reason is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

[CoffeeFiend]

Since you brought up a good point crahak I'd like to bring up a counterpoint. I've ran Vista as soon as it hit store shelves

I never tried the RTM, might have been awful, no idea!

my system just dropping network connection

Sounds like driver problems, which is very plausible, especially for RTM (early stages of drivers, I heard loads of them sucked hard). Could have been a bug with RTM, no idea.

I still can't get SP 1 to install.

Some incompatible drivers are known to block the SP1 install. Check the service pack installation log files, you should be able to find exactly why it failed -- just like for a SP on any version of windows.

I'm not saying no one had issues, that it's perfect or anything like that. But Vista with SP1 works great for a LOT of people... It's certainly not half bad as a lot of people make it out to be (i.e. ME 2)

[joe43wv]

I agree with you crahak on the SP1 part, since I installed SP1 on my home laptop I have noticed a difference, it does seem to be more stable than before, so hopefully with enough time Vista will be made a user friendly OS and not turn into the next ME incident like it looks like right now.

[Zxian]

I agree with you crahak on the SP1 part, since I installed SP1 on my home laptop I have noticed a difference, it does seem to be more stable than before, so hopefully with enough time Vista will be made a user friendly OS and not turn into the next ME incident like it looks like right now.

It's pretty gutsy enough to compare Vista to Windows Millenium... I've been running Vista on my laptop, which is over two years old now. Pentium-M 1.86Ghz, 2GB DDR2-533, 160GB 5400RPM hard drive. For what I do with it - the system flies, and works far better than XP did. The only troubles I've had are with my university WPA network, but that thing has been buggy since day one, so I'm not about to place the blame on Vista.

All the people comparing Me to 2000 need to learn their facts. Windows 2000 was a branch from Windows NT (which is where XP and Vista have come from as well), while Windows Me was based off Windows 98. You people are comparing apples and oranges here.

Does nobody here remember all the discussions 7 years ago when XP was released? "Aww... boo!!! XP is slow compared to 2000. What a piece of crap... boo Microsoft!"

[joe43wv]

Yes zxian I remember that, that's why I said hopefully over time it will be more user friendly, meaning it becomes more stable and easier to operate like XP did, and Microsoft not push it under the rug and forget about it like they did with ME.

[Witt3439]

It's not only gutsy to compare Vista to ME, it's also a nice "cop out" to help some people justify not trying it in the first place. No, I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone here, I assure you!

I personally have ran Vista as my sole OS since it went RTM and Microsoft gave me a key for beta testing it for them. I have had one crash that wasn't my fault, and it was a bad driver early on, but otherwise, I have never had any problems out of it.

I also have never considered going back to XP.

I realize that a lot of people have had problems with Vista and I'm not going to deny that, but EVERY single operating system has had problems at one time or another, regardless of whether it was a Windows version, Mac or even Linux, it's just unfortunate that Vista has been the one to catch the brunt of the bashings! For those people that had problems, was it actually the OS or something else such as a driver issue, or something along those lines?

Hardly anyone can seem to remember when XP first came out with it's ridiculous minimum specs requirements, or when XP would crash on a regular basis, and nobody remembers the shoddy driver support that XP had when it first came out.

It took quite a few years for Microsoft to get all of the bugs worked out of their (then) premier operating system, and while Microsoft was working on getting XP right, everyone was bashing it right and left because there was nothing wrong with 98SE or 2000. (Sorry, even I can't take up for Windows Me!)

Bottom line is, if you like Vista, or if you want to try the latest OS then get it by all means, and if you are happy with XP or even 2000, and you like the way things work with those OS's then stick with them, but if you have never personally tried Vista, then please don't go putting it down. Don't rely on a "friend's" experience to make a judgement for you either.

Every computer is different, and the way every person uses their computer is different.

Win Me WAS a flop, but Vista does have potential to be an excellent replacement for XP. Vista is absolutely by NO means "Me Reloaded" or "Me Second Edition", or whatever else you can think of to call it.

[Octopuss]

Witt3439, the problem with Vista is not crashing. That seemed to be year ago and further (from my experience at least), but not anymore. No, stability is not an issue at all. "Everything else" is!

[Zxian]

Octopuss - what is this "everything else" that you talk about?

[MAVERICKS CHOICE]

A point was mentioned re XP has been around for a long time now. Everyone has got very used to it & tweaked it to their needs.

Guess that's why there's some hesitation to change.

[Tripredacus]

Also, @ThreadOP, you don't NEED to buy Windows 7 the instant it comes out!