Dell Challenges Microsoft on Vista

Steve,
Bad press continues for the Vista Express Upgrade program. Based on what I am seeing, Dell & HP purchasers are getting their disk, but problems remain for many of the smaller nameplates. I personally have yet to see my upgrade arrive. The fulfillment provider, Modus Link, claims 'it's in the mail', their web site says not, and my local Postal Service authorities say no way are they *that* slow in delivering even bottom class (4th-media) packages.

The Federal Trade Commission is logging complaints in its law enforcement database on this topic (including mine). Folks who have waited an unreasonable time might want to add their complaint (www.ftc.gov).

I don't think Vista is all that bad. The problems themselves are no worse than my move from a Win9x environment to XP. However, Microsoft, OEMs, software houses, and especially Modus Link, botched the introduction from end to end. False expectations have created some serious negative attitudes in the public eye.

No surprise to me. I purposely purchased a new PC in late January so that it would have an XP OS. I paid the extra $10 to get the Vista upgrade, but haven't installed it, and when I do it will be on its own partition and I'll dual boot (actually tri-boot as I already have Linux installed on its own partition . . .).

I don't know if 'Dell challenges Microsoft' is accurate. A month ago I practically begged Dell to sell me an E1505 notebook with XP Pro loaded instead of the Vista Business o/s I was 'forced' to accept. Now they're patting themselves on the back for doing what I initailly asked for. Maybe 'Dell sees the light, after a few idiots are forced to shell out $300 extra for XP' would have been a better title for the article.

Hey Microsoft-- don't rush on the Vista service packs, okay? Take your time and do a good job-- we'll switch over when you're ready.

Good, but Bad! I work for Dell and we get a lot of customers that call and they are kinda mad because of the fact that we couldn't give them Windows XP as a option. So that is another example of Dell paying attention to the customers and what they need. Kudos to Dell.

I can't believe how much PC World seems to rail on Vista. It's actually a terrific OS. There are many people out there that are not having an awful experience with Vista. I'm one of them. I'm a hardcore gamer and I run a lot of music software and I'm not having a problem with any of it, especially now that Nvidia has released some good drivers. I personally love Vista. I don't blame anyone for waiting for a service pack first. I'm just saying there is a good chance you will love Vista when you get it.

I would just question a magnate like MS and the way their thinking works...I would think that they had plenty of time and great bunch of experience on hand to be able to make an OS that would be at least 99% good. It's not like they had some cut-backs and needed more money...I personally think that it is a shame - releasing Vista before they are definitely sure that it works good.
On the other hand, some people are expecting that the computer should work perfectly without any effort from the user. Maybe they are right?

I think much of the dissatisfaction with Vista is because retailers are selling their stock of models designed for XP now preloaded with Vista Basic. After a brief trial, All our machines now run XP again. An up-to-date, well protected XP setup outperforms Vista on every machine I've tried it on. With MS commited to supporting XP until 2014, and Vista only until 2012, my current plan is to wait for MS's next offering to upgrade our office. XP running on a P4 or equitalent machine with a couple meg of RAM will serve our needs for the forseeable future. Some of the techies I've talked to are calling Vista Microsoft's 'Edsel.'

Here is my input, for what it's worth. I am the owner of a nicely rounded Dell XPS 410, that I purchased in October of last year with XP installed.I had the oportunity to purchase Vista Home premium and after a lot of soul searching decided to install it, fresh install without partition (bad mistake!!). Immediately I realized the error of my ways, when after the reboot there was no sound from my Xfi soundcard and the Video was sub-optimal with an NVIDIA 7900 GS. Two emails to Dell did NOT resolve the problem. Drivers are not available. Finally after my own research and 2 nights worth of browsing, found a Beta driver for the sound card, but the quality of the sound sucks and can barely be considered stereo.
All of my FPS games, MOH, COD and so on are unplayable, some won't run at all. A true Vista driver for the video card can still not be found. Am seriously considering wiping HD and reinstalling XP.
Cudos to Dell support, no answers there. Cudos to MS for dropping the ball again!

I purchased a gateway laptop that cam with windows Vista installed. I quickly removed it and put XP on. But then i put Vista back on just in case. Now my only problem is that gateway won't help me to obtain drivers for XP since "We no longer support windows XP for your la[top" Ridiculous, now i can't find drivers to work, and I'm stuck with choppy video, it's like I'm being forced into Vista

Purchased a new Dell computer for my Dad. Sister is very good at installing machines and software. She started and then called me. The machine was locking up with Vista saying it had "incompatable drivers" This was from software and accessories FACTORY INSTALLED. kinda got it working and my father with a Doctorate in Pschology tried to do his normal writing and emailing and was totally frustrated by the obstacles VISTA put in his way.

We sent the machine back to Dell. They even paid the shipping.

bought a machine locally made with XP. Father is now happy and has told his 6 brothers and sister and 42 cousins NOT to buy a machine with Vista.

Vista is not market ready.