As I mentioned over on my WebbyOnline blog last month, I began using Windows Vista on my main computer. Some may think I am stupid for doing it, but given the circumstances at the time (a hard drive crash), I figured then was a good time to do it. I have now been using Vista as my primary OS on my main computer for about a month now. It’s time to make my list of gripes official. Here goes, in no particular order:

1. Very picky driver support. Due to some inner reworking with Vista, drivers for your hardware need to all be re-done. And some of the manufacturers are not issuing solid drivers quite yet. Namely, Nvidia. Nvidia drivers on Vista suck, last time I tried them. ATI, on the other hand, works beautifully.
2. Some software doesn’t work. Some of the software I was using on Windows XP had to be upgraded because it would not work on Vista very well. Paperport 11 had to be upgraded. Camtasia Studio had to be upgraded. So, I spent a few hundred bucks over and above this operating system just so I could continue to get my work done.
3. Some programs don’t work with Aero. Aero is the name for the eye candy interface built into Vista (not Vista Basic). But, some software doesn’t work with it. For example, I am using Paint Shop Pro 9. It works, but every time I start it up Vista has to revert to the basic interface.
4. Annoying permissions confirmations. In order to do almost anything system related, you get bugged constantly about permissions. This is Microsoft’s attempt to make the operating system more secure, when if all you need to do is click OK to get past it, it’s little more than an annoying feature. Luckily, you can turn it off (which I have done).
5. “IIS Worker Process Stopped Working and Was Closed”. I get this message all the time randomly throughout the day. I have IIS7 installed, which is the newer version of Microsoft’s web server software. It came with Vista. This error is annoying and, unfortunately, there seems to be little documentation out there on how to fix it. Plenty of people experiencing this problem, but nothing from Mickysoft on how to fix it yet.
6. Task Manager is a screen-flash away. With Windows XP, you can view the task manager by simply hitting CTRL-ALT-DEL and up it comes. With Vista, when you give it the three finger salute, your screen totally flashes blank and you have to choose “task manager” from a list of options. I don’t like that.
7. Big and Beefy. Windows Vista is a computer hog. At any given point, I have about 1 full gigabyte of system memory in use on this computer. That is absolutely incredible. My Gateway computer here has a variable speed fan on the processor that speeds up when the CPU is under load and quiets down when not. With Vista, that fan is spinning more loudly simply because the processor is kept so much busier. And, I mean, face it - Windows Vista comes on a DVD! If an OS needs a DVD to fit it, it’s bloated.
8. Sometimes the screens lose their resolution settings. This may be due to #1 above, but sometimes when I reboot Vista, my screens will revert to the basic, smaller resolution. If I do another immediate reboot, then usually the screens will come back on in the resolution they should be at.
9. Windows Update freaks me out. Twice now, I’ve used Windows Update from Vista and had the installed update BREAK my computer! Once, I installed an Office 2003 update and all of a sudden Outlook could no longer download email. Another update caused all my video drivers to stop functioning and I had to re-install all of my video drivers. This is a catch-22. Vista is new and I want updates to fix some of these annoyances. However, every time I run Windows Update, I tread lightly for fear of messing up the computer. And, as of now, Vista is one of those operating systems that, once it works, you don’t mess with it.
10. It’s too new. Not really the fault of the OS itself, but because it is so new, I have ran across instances where people don’t know what the problem is and they just blame Vista. And they probably have a point.

All in all, I am not unhappy with Vista. However, it has kinks. I am hoping that Microsoft will issue some solid updates to this operating system that will make it faster, leaner and as stable as Windows XP. XP is and was tried and true. XP is a solid operating system. The thing I keep in mind is that there was a time when early adopters were complaining about XP as well, mostly with the same complaints we here now with Vista. My hope and expectation is that Vista, with time, will evolve into the solid solution that XP is today.

At least as solid as we usually expect from Microsoft.