Why Does Vista Suck? (Update: Yes, I Use Firefox, But ....)
I have to ask this question, because for the dozenth time in two days, I have to restart Internet Explorer after it locked up, on a brand-new Compaq desktop system. I dutifully have Vista check for a solution before restarting the program, and when it restarts, it locks up again when I try to maximize it for display.
Nor is this the only problem Vista has. Its DNS tables have a weird habit of suddenly getting very stupid. It forgets how to connect to various blogger sites, sometimes for quite a while, then just as suddenly rediscovers them. Occasionally, when I lose my patience, I flush the DNS -- a process that involves several steps, including opening a command window in a special manner that requires me to answer a useless Vista prompt as to whether I really want to do this. About half of the time, the DNS flush solves the problem, while the other half, I just have to wait for Vista to get over its bout of Alzheimers.
Bear in mind that my XP system remains connected to all of these sites without fail, running on the same network. And my other Vista system -- my spare laptop -- has all of these same issues as well.
I'd write more, but unfortunately, IE just locked up for the third time since I started writing this post. I have to reboot the computer in order to correct the problem. Those Apple commercials start to sound like a good description of Microsoft's competence these days. One would think that a flagship product like Vista might have been subjected to a little more quality testing than obviously went into it.
ADDENDUM: I should also point out that their Outlook 2003 doesn't work very well with the system, either. I added the Microsoft Exchange Server account in the initial set-up wizard when I installed my copy of Office 2003, and it won't connect properly to the account. Thanks to that issue, it won't run at all now, and even de-installing it and re-installing it won't eliminate the problem. The de-installation doesn't remove the account information, as it turns out.
Just FYI, I have been using Microsoft systems since CPM DOS on the Apple IIe, and used to build my own computers from scratch until it got so cheap to buy pre-constructed systems about ten years ago. I worked as a net admin for a Fortune 100 company for a few years as a second hat during my call-center days. I'm not exactly a novice at this. I'm figuring that this will be my last Microsoft based system ever. The low price simply isn't worth the hassle any longer.
UPDATE: I should also mention that I do use Firefox, but Vista won't easily allow Firefox to become the default browser in the system. When I click links from my Omea or Sharpreader feedreaders, they invariably open an IE window rather than a tab in my Firefox browser, regardless of the settings in my Internet options in Vista. I manage my blog screens and management functions in Firefox and browse in IE as a result. And no, that doesn't happen on my XP laptop, where I use Firefox exclusively.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on November 29, 2007 9:44 AM | Comments () | TrackBacks (0)
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