One of my favorite professors in college once said, “Computer experts were those who had put up with windows long enough to get used to it.” He couldn’t have been more right. Recently, Microsoft has done a great job of pantomiming the Apple operating system but in understanding the rationale behind the design decisions is where they lack.
I’ve had to put up with Vista because some of the applications that I use require it. If I could extricate myself from the hell that is the latest Windows iteration I would. The root of my frustration is in the lack of common sense. Seriously, I know this sounds blunt but please hire a god damn interaction designer.
If I had to point out the biggest flaw it would be that while copying OSX, Microsoft has forgotten that it is designing software for human beings. The looming ghost of “Clippy” lives on. For example while being logged in as the admin if I open an app the screen grays out and I’m asked to confirm that I want to proceed. Seriously. So nice of you to notice… I clicked on it didn’t I? Sometimes I have to go through two, even three, confirmations before something that I requested loads.
Confirmations aside, not one thing about Vista makes any sense. I find myself telling prospective Apple converts that the hardest part about the conversion is retraining yourself to trust your instincts. Imagine what would make sense and that’s how it works in OSX. In Vista it’s the complete opposite. Imagine the most illogical execution and you’re probably right.
I don’t want to come off sounding like just another Apple fanboy. Believe you me, I started my digital life on a PC and I’ve given it try after try. Microsoft hasn’t just failed me it’s failed its loyal user base. The reason that so many people are reinstalling Windows XP is because Vista is a pretty step backwards.
April 10th, 2010
16 Comments at "Windows Vista is Shit"
i am curious about what specifically were you trying to do that was so much different. was it finding files, printing, finding apps?
all in all, it’s definitely better than previous versions, but like all systems, it has flaws. i know nothing about macs and i find their user interface hard to handle because they hide so many things from you. i am a software engineer, so i want access to everything, i don’t want an OS hiding things from me. and i work with a dude that hates windows, and praises linux because he can customize everything and do most anything from a command line.
my original background in computers started with graphics, and now that i write software, i keep that stuff in mind. when i am designing a system, i think in terms of user workflow and the general purpose of the system. what is it you are trying to do? what do you do most often and how can that be streamlined? what is the end result, or goal when using this system?
with an OS, you are targeting everyone and everything. you need to accommodate all users, all apps, all settings, etc. so, who wins out? i think microsoft made the mistake of moving to a media driven customer base and added too many bells and whistles that made things confusing.
so, i agree that some things about vista suck… performance? huge resource hog (which is being addressed in upcoming releases) defaulting every explorer view assuming that you are looking at music is annoying as hell. but my mom likes this because each view shows album artwork and all that fun stuff.
(and the confirmations can be turned off in the user settings)
I agree. Not a Vista fan. Also a blantantly proud Apple fangirl. Extremely so.
Hey Jim,
thank you for taking the time to write a comment on my blog. Especially one so well thought out and succinct.
The source of my enmity is surely with the lack of a focus on usability. I’m aware that humanistic interaction design is a relatively new concept in the industry. After all there are only a handful of companies that evangelize their gospel. But Vista goes well beyond my frustration quotient with truly terrible design.
As I mentioned earlier in my post the problems I’ve had are really in the minutia. For example I was using a voice communication program. It requires that I press a button to talk. I was in another application trying to use the voice chat but realized that nothing was going through. The source of the problem? Apparently, for the push to talk key to work while in another app I have to right click the voip program icon and select “open as admin” then proceed to go through the dialogues. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that this is mighty 1995 of them.
I’ll reiterate my other major issue. There are just way too many confirmations in Vista. If I’m logged in as the admin does it make sense that I have to confirm up to three times that I want to open an application? You mentioned that you can turn this feature off. As an administrative user I should not have to do this. I’ve also gone through the motions to turn it off and I’ll tell you that it isn’t a simple task.
When Apple made the transition from OS9 to OSX they scrapped everything and started over. This lead to some great innovations (that Microsoft has taken upon itself to copy poorly.) I can see where Vista got it wrong. Sure there are use cases where one might want to run as an admin or hide features from general users but you can not treat these as the majority scenarios. If you level everything and neglect prioritization you come up with a general mush. These are handicaps that Vista is riddled with throughout.
Lastly, I’ve heard the “everything is hidden”argument before and honestly if we were discussing OS9 I wouldn’t hesitate to agree with you. OSx doesn’t hide much and what it does hide is only a single click away.
I had the opportunity to interview at both Microsoft and Apple campuses. Being submerged in the culture of both companies I could see how Apple created OSx and Microsoft made Vista. At Microsoft there was a fixation with killing Apple. At Apple there was only a focus on making hot products.
Regardless, this was never meant to be a post about which operating system is better. I just wanted to vent my stress with Vista. I’m probably more sensitive, with a shallower frustration quotient, than most users.
Ubuntu FTW!
But I still have the pre-installed Vista on my laptop, for when being Borg has its advantages.
the idea is called privilege authorization http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_privilege_authorization_features and is used by many operating systems including os x and linux.
you can get your voice app to run as you’d like by right clicking and selecting run as admin.
rtfm, or in modern times use google.
Most of the people will probably now this, but I can’t help it, gotta say it- WINDOWS VISTA IS SHIT!
wait Mike, so you say Vista sucks yet you’re suggesting people use OSX? Apple can afford to radically change their UI as the fanboys will always follow… and so will I, as they make pretty hardware.
Most the design choices on Mac OS are stupid and not very intuitive. Apple consistently places “cuteness” and “coolness” above usability. Please spend some time with some of the other hundred OSs and you’ll understand.
OSX is cute, functional, and gives you that warm feeling - but far from being intuitive or robust.
…this comes from a regular mac, linux, and windows user.
Microsoft is Shit- I have worked in IT nearly all my life, and i can honestly say that Micro(spy)soft, - Vista is another piece of Micro(spy)soft, as bad as all the other shit before it, - i f***ing loathe Microsoft and its shitty products.
- Bill Gates and his software are an active member part of the scheme for the New World Order,
that is why you should never buy or use Micro(spy)soft.
PS:- Jim i think you should go and work for Micro(spy)soft - Bill would just love you.
it makes you think that vista was a big money making scam when the flock of sheep, oops i mean people bought vista, got sick of it, bought xp again, and now queing up to buy Windows 7. The whole system is powered by money, not for “our costomers” as Microsoft has put it ohh soo many times.
Errr… ok. Sorry to register a minority view here, but Vista really isn’t all that bad. It’s very easy to figure out how to disable UAC (which is what seems to be causing you so many problems). Far easier, in fact, than coming to grips with the amount of reboots I have to go through at work every day in OSX. For some reason, my employer heard that running professional music software on a mac was somehow better than on a PC. A few months of testing this assumption has proven it wrong. Programs seem to stop working and require a full reboot. Macs, as it turns out, don’t “just work”. Also, I still haven’t figured out if there is a tool as handy as task manager in OSX. I presume not, or at least Apple have decided it’s best to keep it hidden.
I really don’t understand why people have such problems with Windows. It is far more intuitive for people to learn than OSX. If I’m being fair, both Vista and OSX have major design flaws. Vista’s taskbar can easily become too cramped (though the preview windows go some way to rectify this problem), while working with multiple files in the same program in OSX is a joke, especially if the files have similar names. Similarly, in terms of responsiveness and speed both seem evenly matched (so long as you aren’t running Vista on sub-standard hardware). So why the hate? Sure, there are plenty of things that Vista can’t do. But there are probably more that OSX can’t do.
Yes, but has it ever occurred to the idiots who write all the meaningless software that what most professionals want is a basic system that does only what you want it to do, forget all the stupid dashboard, drop shadowed windows, sounds - JUST MAKE IT A PROPER USABLE TOOL. I don’t have tinsel on my screwdrivers or a glow in the dark saw or spanners that make a ’system noise’ when I use them so why should we have to put up with children-written software? I want to get on with the job, not watch an hourglass or whirly rainbow thing whilst all the crap is sorting itself out when I am supposed to be on a deadline. I can work faster on a 1990s machine running 350Mhz than I can on a 2Ghz dual processor… its an absolute JOKE.
Windows Vista is absolute shit. And I don’t expect much better from Windows 7.
Its not just Windows, Microsoft could fuck up a wet dream. I don’t know how many times I’ve downloaded a Microsoft developed program to find that its a complete piece of crap to use. I install the program and it gives me no option of where to install it, of creating a desktop icon, etc. I have to dig through 10 directories to find the icon that launches the program. It installs the program all over the god damn place instead of keeping everything nice and tighty like alot of amateur written freeware.
Whoever writes this stuff is a moron. They have no intuition or comprehension of how to create something that is even remotely user friendly.
I agree, Windows Vista is the shitest system ever. seriously its utter dregs of the gutter.
i have re installed XP why the FxxK is it so ram hungry? i guess it is because hardware has become so fast and cheap that they needed to slow it all down with a shit operating system.
i have a high spec pc with massive cpu more ram than you could ever want and it fan slower with vista than my daughters laptop with xp and 1200mhz cpu and 512 ram. and its not like i dont know what im doing on my pc, as soon as i reinstall xp, it runs as fast as you like.
what have i done with my licenensed copy of vista? teacup coaster.
Michael,
Couldn’t agree with you more - I’ve just printed out 4 pictures from our Vista machine - it’s taken me 50 mins and a reboot to get it to work. When I open a browser to look at a directory I usually have to wait whilst it reports that the windoiw is not responding before finally refreshing the directory.
I bought this machine the week Vista came out and I was nervous about getting iut with Vista pre-installed. could have bought XP for an extra £150 but thought i’d better now. Well what a mistake to make. The machine has always been slow. It hangs for no reason, shuts down randomly and seems to have hundreds of random processes running on it choking the life out of it.
Personally, I think Vista is an embarassment for Microsoft and the speed with which they have throws Windows 7 out of the door is testament to that. However, is W7 going to be any better considering Microsoft’s track record.
At work we have appx 2000 PCs (we have a call centre and IT dept) and we have been expressly ordered to stay on XP because they see Vista as potentially screwing up the business - evidence enough I feel, to show that Vista really is One. Big. Pile. Of. Shit!!!
wha ay man. Its a bag o shite!!
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