The Notebook Company in Pretoria says the new software is generating problems for laptop users, and advises customers to stick with the older Windows XP operating system until the technical issues are resolved.
CEO Christopher Riley says one big issue is that a lot of software drivers needed to run Vista correctly are not available. “Finding the drivers is a problem,” he said. “So far, at least three Acer notebooks which we have sold do not work because the drivers we downloaded just don’t work.”
Installing the additional software needed for one of the Acer notebooks involved downloading a 600MB file, he says.
Users of the locally produced and highly popular Pastel accounting software find that the product does not support Vista. Installing antivirus software from McAfee or Symantec on laptops running Vista also creates serious problems, says Riley, as the machines restart and go into a “loop”.
Software from other suppliers also has trouble running properly on top of the new operating system, he says, as “Vista is just not stable on notebooks”.
The technology website The Register also reports problems with Vista, which Microsoft released with a fanfare in January. Vista suffers from a bug that causes many machines to stall while deleting, copying and moving files, provoking consternation in online forums, The Register says.
According to Microsoft’s TechNet site, Microsoft has issued a fix for the problem, but that has failed to quell the outrage.
“I simply cannot believe that I updated to a new computer and put Windows Vista on it to find that it’s not even capable of moving and deleting files in an efficient manner,” one user posted on the Microsoft forum. “Microsoft must be kidding! The most basic of features that I use all the time is a slow train wreck.”
Frost & Sullivan analyst Shomik Banerjee agrees Vista still needs improving despite five years of development. “It is true that Vista has some issues, notably around menu latency and file deletion,” he says. Not all its drivers are robust yet, he says, and the performance quality differs on computers upgraded from a previous Windows operating system compared to computers running a fresh installation.
“Vista demands respect for its system specifications,” Banerjee says. “Tests conducted by CNET suggest different laptops offer differing experiences. Saying so, Vista is a great improvement from Windows XP in features, system crashes, security and support. However, it still needs some updates to be ready for prime time.”
George Ou, who writes a blog on technology website ZDNet, says a long list of Vista bugs will keep him off the system. “I still can’t get Vista stable on my primary computer yet. It locks up every hour or two and forces me to hard-shut the system to reboot. This same PC has worked with and continues to work with Windows XP just fine. I can’t or won’t use Vista on any of my computers full time until these serious issues have been fixed.”
Jonathan Hatchuel, Microsoft SA’s business group manager for Windows, acknowledges technical hitches, but largely blames this on noncompliant hardware.
Customers who want to adopt Vista should look for a Windows Vista logo on their PC or make sure the PC they are buying conforms to the technical specifications it requires, he says. Those specifications can be found on the website windowsvista.com. The same website can be used to download software to check a computer and specify which operating system will run most efficiently, Hatchuel says.
People upgrading computers may also run into troubles. “The biggest challenge is potential non-compatibility, but this really simple download will analyse the current environment and tell you which is the appropriate version of Windows to run. That’s a low risk way to see if Vista is right for their current hardware.”
Vista contains many innovations to make it easier for consumers to use computers and to make mobile computing more secure and more power efficient, but it demands more advanced hardware. Nonbranded computers and laptops may be built from components that do not meet those specifications, Hatchuel warns. People should test software in the shops before they buy a computer that does not specifically state it is Vista compliant.
Microsoft is working hard to iron out the glitches, he says. One reason for launching Vista to corporate clients last year before making it available to consumers was to give manufacturers time to upgrade computers with components that handle Vista properly.
“We are working with hardware manufacturers locally and internationally to ensure their PCs are windows certified, but it’s not an overnight thing,” he says.
Microsoft describes Vista as “the most significant product launch in company history since Windows 95 and Office 95,” and as the de-facto standard for managing business information. Since 90% of desktop computers run Microsoft software, its potential sales are enormous, although Jupiter Research believes 50% of companies will wait at least 13 months to install Vista, giving it time to overcome the initial glitches, or will not install it at all.
About 1200 large companies, including MTN and Sasfin in SA, were involved in lengthy testing for Vista before its launch.
