CNet rates Vista one of "worst products in history"


Recommended Posts

Windows Vista

Any operating system that provokes a campaign for its predecessor's reintroduction deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that quietly has a downgrade-to- previous-edition option introduced for PC makers deserves to be classed as terrible technology. Any operating system that takes six years of development but is instantly hated by hordes of PC professionals and enthusiasts deserves to be classed as terrible technology.

Windows Vista conforms to all of the above. Its incompatibility with hardware, its obsessive requirement of human interaction to clear security dialogue box warnings and its abusive use of hated DRM, not to mention its general pointlessness as an upgrade, are just some examples of why this expensive operating system earns the final place in our terrible tech list.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/0,39029552...3700-10,00.htm#

i realize cnet is jumping on the vista bashing wagon for hits, however...

what is the last software product that has received THIS much negative attention? it seems as though the bashing has some valid points. i am using, and will continue to use vista x64 since i prefer all 4 gig of my memory to be usable (over xp pro x86) but have to wonder if there are some serious issues ms needs to fix. i haven't found anything major (windows live installer won't run on 64bit yet, pretty sad imo) but that's not exclusive to vista.

just adding my comments, so that i feel important in my own mind.

what is the last software product that has received THIS much negative attention?

Windows XP.

If you don't believe it, go read the early reviews, through XP SP1 being a sore disappointment, and even the claims that SP2 was so bad that it would bring about the apocalypse.

Let's face reality folks. Vista was not what we expected it to be. The OS needs a lot of work. It has a lot of bugs, the system requirements are simply ridiculous and abusive. You basically need a new PC to run the darn thing. Trying to find things in Vista takes forever. XP is way faster and easier to use than Vista. Why do you think Microsoft is releasing Windows 7 in 2010 instead of 2013 or 2014? (remember Windows ME?) They know they messed up big time and they know most people are not happy with Vista, especially companies such as Acer and Dell. I have tried many times to upgrade to Vista but I seem to keep going back to XP everytime just because I can't find anything on Vista and I simply hate the way it runs...slow.

and its abusive use of hated DRM,

huh? what DRM? you mean the DRM built into WMP? That's been there for ages! I want to know where there is more DRM in Vista then there is in XP?

anyways... CNet originally called Windows XP one of the worst products in history also... so much has changed since 2001 huh?

Why do you think Microsoft is releasing Windows 7 in 2010 instead of 2013 or 2014? They know they messed up big time and they know most people are not happy with Vista

Might want to remember when Vista was projected for and when it ended up getting released. It had nothing to do with MS thinking they screwed up. Windows 7 will be delayed.

Xp was bashed just as much when it came out. In one of the other topics somebody else linked to an old article claiming that people should stick with windows 2000 over xp when xp was released.

Xp was not widely adopted till sp2.

Right now vista is going along just like xp was when it was released.

huh? what DRM? you mean the DRM built into WMP? That's been there for ages! I want to know where there is more DRM in Vista then there is in XP?

anyways... CNet originally called Windows XP one of the worst products in history also... so much has changed since 2001 huh?

"CNet originally called Windows XP one of the worst products in history also"

True. Very true, but like I said before in other posts, Vista wasn't ready for prime-time yet. MS should have waited at least one more year before releasing it to the market. Do more testing and work the bugs out. Vista was an unfinished product (remember Windows ME?). Same fate. Windows ME was never tested properly and was unfinished when it was released. I am sure that if MS would have taken more time with Windows ME, it would have been a good OS but they hurried it out the door just like Vista and bad criticism, unhappy customers and bad reviews are the consequences of such an act.

The beta did not, the final version does: https://www.neowin.net/news/software/07/11/...ler-12014711025

Not on XP 64-bit, only Vista 64-bit I guess. I just tried.

In terms of Cnet their reviews aren't that great, they said bad things about my Sony digicam and well I didn't find it bad at all.

Them rating Vista as a "terrible tech product" I wouldn't call it terrible, but I wouldn't call it great. It's ok I guess, I wouldn't buy or recommend it tho. I still prefer XP at the moment. I've tried SP1 and it is making improvments but not enough to make me switch over to the free copy I got for testing the OS.

And I agrree with Scorbing, they were pressured as it was late already and they had to throw it out the window to make people happy, yet in the end the majority of people I know hate Vista and went back to XP.

Any operating system that quietly has a downgrade-to- previous-edition option introduced for PC makers

Gee, I wonder why. Ah, it's giving customers a choice to use either operating system, which equals... more sales for MS!

Any operating system that takes six years of development but is instantly hated by hordes of PC professionals and enthusiasts

Change "of development" to "on the Web" and "operating system" to "site" and that describes them perfectly, like how they do their reviews, i.e. pitting Internet Explorer 7 to Firefox 2 using the 'knockout' metaphor.

not to mention its general pointlessness as an upgrade,

Personal feelings count as factual reasons? :blink:

I suspect the reviewer in question figured a smear article like this is a perfect way to get more hits => extra salary => free hardware upgrades.

MS just wanted to release their OS before Apple did theirs and it turned out to be a mistake as many people I know are considering either to stay with XP or jump to a Mac. Vista sales have been nothing but dissapointing.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Does anyone here know if these updates are integrated into the UUP dump isos?
    • Motrix Next 3.9.4 by Razvan Serea Motrix Next is a modern, open-source cross-platform download manager built as the official next-generation successor to the original Motrix project. It has been completely rewritten using Tauri 2, Vue 3, TypeScript, and Rust, while still relying on the powerful Aria2 download engine for high-speed multi-protocol transfers. The app supports HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, BitTorrent, ED2K and magnet links, offering advanced features like multi-connection acceleration, task scheduling, bandwidth control, and batch download management. With a significantly reduced install size (around 20MB), it focuses on being lightweight, fast, and resource-efficient compared to traditional Electron-based download tools. Designed for Windows, macOS, and Linux, Motrix Next delivers a clean, modern UI inspired by Material Design 3 principles, with smooth animations and a minimal workflow. It improves usability through better download organization, system tray integration, and enhanced torrent handling including selective file downloads and tracker management. Motrix Next features: Multi-protocol downloads — HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent, Magnet, .torrent, ED2K, and Metalink tasks BitTorrent — Selective file download, DHT, peer exchange, encryption controls, metadata caching, GeoIP peer flags, and tracker probing Browser extension integration — Embedded Extension API with independent authentication, download confirmation, smart auto-submit, filename hints, referer/cookie forwarding, and real-time controls (Chrome Web Store · Edge Add-ons) Safe filename handling — Content-Disposition, RFC 2047, non-UTF-8, percent-encoded, and extensionless URL resolution with path traversal sanitization Download organization — Favorite and recent folders, optional file-type categorization, stale-record cleanup, and completed history backed by SQLite Concurrent downloads — Independent controls for active tasks, HTTP connections per server, segments per file, and BT peer limits Speed control — Global and per-task upload/download limits with day-of-week and time-of-day scheduling System integration — Tray operation, optional tray speed display, macOS Dock badge/progress, protocol handlers for magnet://, thunder://, and motrixnext:// Lightweight mode — Destroys the WebView on minimize-to-tray while Rust keeps the engine, task monitor, notifications, history, and extension routing alive Notifications and power options — Native task start/complete/failure notifications, keep-awake during downloads, and optional shutdown after completion Network controls — Scoped proxy support for downloads, app updates, and tracker updates, plus system proxy detection Auto-update channels — Stable, Beta, and Latest Across Channels policies with separate download and install phases Diagnostics — Structured logs, exportable diagnostic ZIPs, database integrity checks, automatic DB rebuild, and Linux GPU rendering fallback Personalization — Light/dark/system theme, 10 color schemes, 26 languages, and first-launch system language detection Motrix Next 3.9.4 changelog: Motrix Next 3.9.4 promotes the 3.9.4 beta cycle to stable. This release refreshes bundled engine binaries, improves task detail readability and copy actions, expands link handling for magnet and ED2K workflows, polishes responsive navigation and text wrapping, updates browser extension documentation, and refines network preference controls. New Features Task Detail copy actions — Added copyable values for task metadata and reusable render functions for long text fields. Magnet and ED2K lifecycle support — Added task lifecycle handling for magnet and ED2K links. History cleanup for deleted tasks — Deleted tasks can now remove matching history records. User-Agent management — Added user-agent management and improved related network preference controls. Browser extension documentation — Added the Firefox Add-ons link for the Motrix Next extension. Improvements Engine binaries — Updated bundled binaries for supported architectures. Task Detail readability — Long task names, URLs, tracker values, and copyable metadata now render more clearly. Deletion messaging — Refined localized task deletion text for clarity and consistency. Text wrapping — Improved URI input wrapping and task name multiline display. Navigation layout — Improved sub-navigation responsiveness. Disk allocation default — Changed the default file allocation method to trunc. Proxy controls — Improved proxy button styling in network preferences. Download: Motrix Next 64-bit | ARM64 | macOS ~20.0 MB (Open Source) Links: Website | macOS / Linux | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • NVIDIA officially supports Ubuntu, as linked above with the GeForce NOW Hands on I did in collaboration with Paul Hill.
    • TO be clear I am not running linux today, however I keep thinking about it. And I want to make sure there are minimal obstacles if I decide to make that switch in the coming months.
    • Yes, I actually glossed over the Linux part from the OP. You could always go for a 9070 XT and if you really want to play Ray Traced games in the future, GeForce Now is pretty damn good on Linux https://www.neowin.net/news/nvidias-native-geforce-now-app-for-linux-bridges-the-gaming-gap-hands-on/
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      479
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      252
    3. 3
      Steven P.
      72
    4. 4
      +Edouard
      69
    5. 5
      Skyfrog
      67
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!