Microsoft Succeeds in Making Vista Even Worse

Windows Vista is already perhaps the most frustrating product Microsoft has yet heaved onto the computing public. But now its Service Pack 1 update, which is supposed to FIX holes and squeaks in the Vista code, seems to be making things worse -- so much worse that venerable publications like Computerworld are running stories about how to get SP1 off your machine. InfoWorld has a piece about how Vista users are blasting Microsoft on Microsoft's own Vista blog. The headline on The Washington Post's story says a lot: "Vista SP1: Threat or Menace?"

For what it's worth, for Microsoft's much-ballyhooed power, its stock traded at around $25 a share five years ago today. Last I looked, it was at $29, with some relatively minor ups and downs in between. You'd have gotten just about the same performance from an electric power company, like Con Ed.

Vista, the stock price -- something's clearly not going well in Redmond. Think buying Yahoo will help?

Comments

[PreludeSi]

Microsoft has always been an interesting creature. I think they intentionally create terrible products to legitimize their enormous worldwide tech teams who slave away at endless patches and updates. Why is it that their competitor (Mac) is able to create an OS that works well with or without the updates? Perhaps this is something Microsoft should look at seriously, they are loosing massive market shares due to their horrendous software. I would not buy a PC again... would you?

[nScout]

Microsoft makes excellent software which is of great help and I have absolutely no complaints!

[Duh]

I hate how you threw in the MSFT stock into your article. If you look at the PE of MSFT 5 years ago it was much higher that it is now (From the bubble). They have grown earnings each year. GE is similar to MSFT. GE has grown earnings the past 5 years and their stock has gone nowhere. You can't base how smart a company is from their stock price.

[Sell_Everything]

"If I were a Microsoft employee".....

Yeah, nice try. Only a Microsoft employee or a large investor would be so defensive of a company with so many recent troubles between its Xbox 360 repair bills and monumental operating system failure. I seriously doubt that a person with the grammar of a retarded chimpanzee would be a large investor or a high-level employee, so you must be a brainwashed mailroom clerk.

Regarding MSFT's P/E being different five years ago, I believe that a publicly traded corporation's mission is to increase shareholder wealth. The fact that they are paying an average dividend (1.58% projected for 12 mos) with a stock price appreciation of 3.01% annually for five years does not prove to me that they are increasing shareholder wealth more so than they would have by investing in risk-free securities. Stock price is all about future cashflows, and it appears the market doesn't believe Microsoft can produce those future cashflows at these valuations.

[blah-blah]

I've tried SP1 on some lab PCs/Laptops at our company here and it's fine - we did not encounter any driver issues on the models we deploy but then again we buy all Dell and not el cheapo crap hardware so I can't talk for everyone.

This article is really lame Microbashing with no substance.

Vista's biggest problem has nothing to do with SP1 - it has to do with MS listening to critics. They went too far with security to the point of making it annoying not to mention ramping the eyecandy up with too much bloat.

They should have built an improved version of XP with the same security as SP2 - nice eye candy and some cool features and it would have sold like hotcakes. Companies need to understand what politician's have known for years. Give people what they need, not what they complain about - people will whine about MS no matter what they do.

Unfortunately MS will be paying for this for years to come, if SP1 can be blamed it's for not speeding it up to the point where it's a compelling choice.

[MarcelMcSweeney]

"Companies need to understand what politician's have known for years. Give people what they need, not what they complain about - people will whine about MS no matter what they do."

Interesting point. I heard a similar point from a MSFT employee who said he pays little attention to headlines because they swing all over the place and can change on a dime. Regardless, an interesting point. The subtext is what are they actually saying when they complain.

[Mbuna]

The Company I owned and ran for 10 years was an authorized Intel dealer and an authorized Microsoft OEM. Remember when the Microsoft WGA (Windows Geniune Advantage) program first came out? Well Microsoft loaded software that didn't even approach beta (!) onto millions of computers with appalling results. One of my own techs documented Microsoft via its WGA software downloading information off of a company computer for up to 8 hours a day, 3 days in a row. The ensuing dialog I had with Microsoft convinced me that I would never do business with Microsoft again.

[jojobeing]

"Windows Vista is already perhaps the most frustrating product Microsoft has yet heaved onto the computing public..."

Yeah WindowsMe, 98, or even 3.1 were soo awesome compared to stupid Vista. I just hate how the interface is the nicest of any version of windows, how it actually runs very well on my 1GB DDR T5200 Duo laptop. I can't stand how it's never crashed, and networks better than ever!

SOh sorry MSFT stock isn't at a trillion $ market cap yet. Why can't MSFT create 1/10th of the GDP of america?? It's only 1/50th now??? wahh

NOTE FROM SA EDITORS: THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN EDITED TO REMOVE ABUSIVE LANGUAGE. THE COMMENTER IS ON WATCH TO HAVE COMMENT PRIVILEGES REMOVED.

[.crazylegs.]

What I can't figure out is why people put up with this stuff when there is a clear and superior alternative out there that gives you the option to run windows if you need it.

[glawrie]

"I have installed and removed Vista twice since I purchased the software when it first came out ... I loaded it again (Basic Edition) upon reading about SP1 being released ... Don't see what all the fuss is about."

Err... choosing to reload the operating three times to try and get it to work might be a clue. :)

[Stormbringer]

This unending melaise in techno-journalism is so tiresome.

Nothing to write about, bash Microsoft. Kevin clearly ought to be bagging groceries or mopping out restrooms.

America hates nothing more than an undeniable success story that's not one's own. I've been beating the hell out of Vista since a year before it's release and it's clearly their best effort to date inside and out.

Yeah, I have a Mac for my kids, but I find it a hideous annoyance. I suppose it's okay as a toy, like Apple's other technology trinkets for the unwashed masses, but other than excellent marketing, Apple's got little to offer.

Walmart attempting selling Linux PCs. What happened? Killed the initiative. Why - no one cares - and when even Walmart can't sell something, you know it's worth little. Linux - software written by drunks who can't meet women and live with their parents.

Google? Hype. The passing fad, like lower back tattos on women.

Online advertising? Yawn...

Why aren't there companies on ever street corner building wildly popular OSs? Because it's very difficult work, managing the evolution of massive complexity. Unless you've done the work, people just don't get it...

[EAllen]

Hey Blah, Blah, you wrote "we did not encounter any driver issues on the models we deploy but then again we buy all Dell and not el cheapo crap hardware so I can't talk for everyone. "

Say what? Dell---well sir, those are "el cheapo crap hardware", so if SP1 works on your hardware, it should pretty much work on any hardware that was built for Vista. I believe most people having issues with SP1 are those trying to run Vista on outdated hardware or those too cheap to upgrade (the types of people that buy Dell products, for example.

[User 168088]

So, what exactly are the issues that "EVERYONE" is having with SP1? We've installed it on over 40 machines and haven't had a single issue at the moment and the users we've tested it with, and machines, are heavily used for vastly different purposes.

Yes, some people are having issues installing it (its not appearing in Windows Update for various reasons) and some isolated people are having crashes (I would promise you cash its related to a third party driver or application in most cases) after install or during install.

This is different how from any company rolling out a fairly massive update to a massively different userbase and machine setup? I frankly am amazed at how pathetic the tech media's (and media in general) coverage of Vista has been. Similar issues crop up with every major OS release yet in the case of the various *nix (Ubuntu in particular) or Apple (10.5 was hardly "perfect") they're ignored. Windows? Oh hell no, open the flood gates.

[Spectruman]

glawrie

Err... choosing to reload the operating three times to try and get it to work might be a clue. :)


Thankyou glawrie for your personel comment directed toward me. But for what it's worth to you, my second load was after updated drivers for some of my hardware had been released but still had bugs. Now all is well, same hardware, same browser, no more problems. Why not try making a valid comment on the subject at hand, your a Director o-of a c-company for christ sake.

[Wildmagic7]

I'm a Mac person, because task are easier to perform on a Mac, even so I found XP stable and dependable and my only complaint against Vista including SP1 is the UAC is too restrictive. While not as intuitive as a Mac. XP is a good OS and Vista has promise.

[VMSZealot]

I have to say that I'm almost impressed with Vista. It's far better than any other Windows. I like the security features - okay, UAC goes too far but better too far than nothing at all. The CLI is still rubbish, which is deeply annoying because the beta versions (monad) showed so much promise. The filing system sucks too - but screw it, I've come to expect that. We all know that Windows isn't the best. It doesn't need to be, because Microsoft has no real competition - people will buy it anyway. The surprise is that Vista is as good as it is. I write Windows software for a living, but I don't drink my own kool-aid. I write in virtual environments on the machines I like - a ThinkCentre and a ThinkPad with Ubuntu, a MacBook and a PowerMac with Leopard and, occasionally, a SparcStation. I look forward, with hope, that one day Microsoft will come to the conclusion that all other true geeks arrived at years ago - the future of computing is a competitive standard with cross-platform programming tools. The name of the standard is Unix.

[Tcid]

Very nice article there:
utvv.blogspot.com/2008...

[Anim8me2]

Stormbringer: "Yeah, I have a Mac for my kids, but I find it a hideous annoyance. I suppose it's okay as a toy, like Apple's other technology trinkets for the unwashed masses, but other than excellent marketing, Apple's got little to offer."

Really? A hideous annoyance? In what way is it an annoyance? I am trying to understand how a UNIX based OS that offers everything Windows does and more on well designed hardware with absolutely no threat of viruses or malware can be deemed an annoyance.
At the very least when Apple implements a feature it is well thought out and applied ie; Expose vs. Flip3D.
I don't think that Vista is the abortion that it is being portrayed as and the complaints I have about it have more to do with it's actual use/implementation rather than lacking drivers etc. Microsoft makes UI choices based on research that is passed by committee and eventually "managed", not by solid usability research that is adhered to. Go read some of the posts over at minimsft.blogspot.com and you will see the employees complaining about this very subject.

[markdauvid]

i dont know what it takes to make a bonehead comment with a stock price comparison. i guess someone doesnt remember microsoft had a stock split. as far as sp1 it did me no harm but it also didnt do me much good.

[blah-blah]

@EAllen

The Dell hardware we use is the business class stuff, not the $300 PC specials you see in the paper. And yes it's as good as anything out there in it's class but nothing a consumer would get to use.

[GODERF]

@blahblah: "Companies need to understand what politician's have known for years. Give people what they need, not what they complain about"

yea, since when have politicians ever understood what people actually need? Watch CSPAN for 5 minutes and you'll realize congress is so disconnected and clueless it's amazing anything actually gets done. wait, nothing does actually get done....

On another note, I have a friend who works for M$FT (not a brainwashed mail clerk) and he's told me before that their biggest problem is having to conform to what their large business customers want, which isn't always what consumers want. That, and the place is run by marketing monkey's so it's no surprise here. I switched to mac a few years back and will never go back....

...sorry for the rhyming...

[Noelle]

Vista is a disaster I spend more time giving my clients the XP upgrade
from Vista & if you want eye candy for XP just go to crystalXP.net
& they have some groovy eyecandy tweaks for xp

[tomax7]

...soon and very soon, we will have Windows 7.

If that doesn't fly, bye bye Microsoft.

[Arlea]

Ahhh I must have one of those el cheapo computers, (compaq evo n1000c) I do have a couple of other custom built but do not run microsoft on them) The laptop had vista and upon upgrading to sp1 my ethernet died, my DVD player died (toshiba product). I finally bought a ethernet card and got it working albiet slowly. Within a few days it crashed again (no ethernet etc). After some looking around the internet (confirming what I already knew) I reformatted the hard drive and loaded Linux (Ubuntu). Wella I had my ethernet back and my DVD. Not really trying to bash microsoft as I really liked xp and used it for years (switched to linux upon the initial vista release). As for Dell computers (which are my favorite) I have to ask one poster why does Michael Dell use Linux (Ubuntu) on his personal laptop!