I installed VISTA last week end and I am amazed that I cannot use Acrobat reader to read PDF files

I couldn't believe that iTunes doesn't work correctly in Vista and there's no update for it yet. What did Apple spend all this time doing?

I did upgrade - but not to Vista, rather to Windows 2000 from Windows Me. So as of right now, I have three PCs: One standalone with Windows XP; one dual boot Windows 2K and Novell/SuSE Linux Desktop 10; and one dual boot Windows Me and Conectiva 10. Not really sure why anyone would upgrade to Vista considering its replacement OS is due out in less than two years. Vista is the most completely useless and bloated POS OS out there right now. For the record, Windows XP is my last Microsoft OS. No thanks to Vista at any price including FREE I'm afraid.

One of Epson's premier printers, Stylus Photo R1800, does not yet have a printer driver for Visat although the XP version can be reinstalled for most functions. Adobe has released new Acrobat Reader for Vista. However, Adobe has released only a patch for its Photoshop Elements 5.0, newest version, which does not correct all issues. Toshiba has released updates for Qosmio laptop hardware for Vista. The Vista configuration corrects stalls and lockups experienced in XP.

MacBook Pro + Vista + hair-pulling = greatest combo, best of all worlds.

Should have mentioned that Conectiva 10 is an older Linux distro (which is no longer available) that works great on legacy PCs.

Updated to Vista from XP. Vista "OneCare" Firewall will not work with Cox high speed cable. Can only connect to the Internet with any protection with the Windows Firewall "On" and the "OneCare" Firewall off. Cox says they are not configured to handle it. Had the same problem when I upgraded to "XP" and tried to keep my Norton "System Works". Cox could not handle the Firewall and still cannot.

Are all the problems the fault of the other companies? Did MicroSuck 'neglect' to give ALL the technical specifications to ALL the other vendors that they needed to make sure their software and hardware would be compatible?

I can't believe that there are so many 'negligent' vendors out there. The common theme is the software won't work with Vista. Everyone is implying that the entire blame is the other vendors, but there is one commonality: Microsuck's Vista. Therefore MicroSuck should also be on the list of suspects for failing to make sure the other software works.

What would MicroSuck gain? ZoneAlarm is having problems. ZoneAlarm is a competitor to MicroSuck's firewall software.

AOL's AIM is having problems. AIM is a competitor to MicroSuck's IM.

Not an issue with Vista, but msm.com and Hotmail (both subsidiaries of MicroSuck) are constantly rejecting emails from Yahoo and Yahoo Groups. Yahoo Groups is a competitor to MicroSuck's Groups.

How many anti-competitive legal challenges has MicroSuck faced in the last decade? Does a tiger change it's spots?

When was the last time that the entire hardware and software industry unanimously and concurrently sang the praises of MicroSucks, and totally agreed with what something it did? I don't think it has ever happened, and I doubt it ever will.

Some of the vendors might be at fault, but the list is waaaaaaaay too long for it to be their problem alone. Too long for me to not discount that part, or even most, of the problem just might lie at MicroSuck's feet.

Can we, as a society, at some point move past the juvenile puns on the word "Microsoft"? It's painful and embarrassing.

You've mentioned software, how about some major hardware producers missing the Vista boat (submarine)? Creative has released beta drivers only that provide partial functionality, for their entire line of audio cards. ATI has released working drivers for their video cards, but not a single All In Wonder TV Tuner driver has been released. I've also heard Nvidia video drivers are still a beta release. How could so many manufacturer's be this slow in supporting their flagship products?

Where do I start. Roxio's new easy creator 9 announced that was vista ready. That was a lie. I contacted them directly and posted problems in their discussion groups. That was two weeks ago. None of their video programs work with vista making the application worthless. Nero has a patch as does Adobe. Itunes also has a patch. Roxio does not seem to care or has nonfunctional tech department. stay away from Roxio.

Adobe has a long history of ignoring opportunities to do proper beta-testing for Acrobat working properly with Office and Windows. They screw up the Office integration so much each release that it's a long running plague on newsgroup volunteers in those areas.

Acer has been lagging on driver support for its machines. Unlike other OEMs it wouldn't provide any beta releases for volunteers to hammer on before Vista came out, so they will likely have post-release problems for a longer period.

If your child likes to play on online game called MapleStory, you will find not only that the game doesn't work properly under Windows Vista, but that it makes Windows Vista think you are using a non-genuine copy of Windows. As a result, you can be locked out of your brand-new Vista computer. This happened to me and the response from Microsoft on its bulletin board was that it's the user's responsibility to make sure the software you use is compatible and I was lucky the computer was still new when I would have to run the recovery program to regain access to it. (Luckily, it turned out I didn't have to run the recovery program, but for a while I thought I might.) I agree that it's up to the people who make MapleStory to come up with a compatible version, and maybe the user is responsible for checking compatibility, but it certainly seems to me that it's Microsoft's fault if its "Windows Genuine Advantage" software mistakenly accuses the user of incompatible software of using pirated software AND locks you out of your machine. (If you doubt this can happen, check the MS boards -- it has happened to a lot of people already.) If using software you haven't paid for is "theft," as Microsoft likes to say, then is preventing someone from using a computer they have paid for not "theft" as well? And by the way, where is the Washington Post in reporting the extent to which bugs in the Microsoft verification and activation software are depriving legitimate users of access to software and machines they have bought and paid for?

Re: "these companies have had years to get ready for Vista!" - it is true that Microsoft has made beta versions of Vista available for several months (not years), but to expect that tech companies should already have updates available to address compatibility issues with Vista is a bit much if you understand the work that goes into such updates. Some companies do not start working on compatibility upgrades until the final version is released to the public because Microsoft sometimes makes changes that end up breaking the upgrades, meaning that work was wasted and has to be started over again. Some companies have their own development cycles that do not synch up with Microsoft's, and because of this they may not address Vista compatibility until the next version. In order to address Vista compatibility RIGHT NOW means devoting developer resources, performing QA testing, etc. All of this costs time and money and takes away resources from other projects. It really comes down to a tradeoff - do consumers want companies to devote their resources to immediately addressing Vista compatibility at the expense of new/improved features in future versions (or even at the cost of higher prices)? Do they want to have their cake and eat it too?

If lack of compatibility for specific hardware / software is a big deal for you, then do what IT admins do - WAIT. In 6 months or so the situation will be much better (and Vista will probably be a better OS as some of the bugs are patched).

Why should the humble home computer user upgrade to Vista? My 2002 model Dell with XP works great with my antique software. If I change OS's it will be to Apple.

iTunes works fine for me in Vista. So far the only application(s) I have had problems with are Adobe products. Dreamweaver doesn't save my username/passwords for FTP connections and Adobe Premiere doesn't install. At this point, I'm simply waiting for CS3 to come out, then I'm moving to a PowerMac, I think.

I have Vista and am surprised that DVD and MP3 programs are so slow. My Radeon 9700 has a 5.1 rating in the program -which should be plenty. But I am really surprised that it types so slowly. Keystrokes should not slow a system. Even the mouse is slow and when it is on its own as in a freecell game - it can be really slow.

I guess I need a new computer, but this is a surprise. I expected slower, but not glue on the shoe slower.

You say:
I realize that a new operating system is a complex thing to adjust to, but c'mon--these companies have had years to get ready for Vista!

I am an ISV that has an application that is not ready for Vista. This is the first time we were not ready, before the release of a new Microsoft operating system.
The reason? Simple, Microsoft waited until the last minute to finalize critical API changes that they were making in Vista.

Earlier posters say that Microsoft had release beta versions to developers. Well, certainly Microsoft called those releases betas... but traditionally, beta releases were "feature complete", meaning that APIs were believed to be finalized. By that standard, Microsoft's released version barely qualifies as a beta... and as more and more people use Vista, well see just how buggy it is.

Please do not blame ISVs for Microsoft's failure to properly test and make available proper beta releases.

Just change to a different OS and forget MS all together.It's not like you don't have a choice.

Unfortunately, the major manufacturers won't sell you a computer with XP since the launch.

So today I wrestled with a Vista computer for a client.

Major issue so far: Avanquest/VCOM's System Suite 7. There's an update for Vista, version 7.1.1.3, and it installs, but then it can't update itself. It says it can't see the internet. Even if you turn off the Windows firewall -- as noted, the Zone Alarm products, my favorites, are not Vista-ready -- it can't get there.

Sent off to Avanquest tech support. We'll see what they say.

Vista itself is okay on a new computer, but I'm bothered by the fact you can't buy XP off Dell's website, or Toshiba's, for 2 examples. So you need to up RAM to 2 GB and get a good video card. I call that the Vista Tax: $200 or so. Blech.

Win 2000 Pro is the best cool OS. No validation required. With SP4, it's most of XP's security goodness.

Vista does do nice eye candy, ya gotta give them that. But the rest is painful, esp. for those of us whose livelihood involves keeping these machines alive.

-- stan

I'm confused. You mean Quicken runs on earlier versions of Windows than Vista? Really?

Just kidding of course. But Intuit is about as brain-dead as Palm. Every Quciken release is buggier than the previous. I'm now running 2007 and on Jan 1 it lost all of my payees and scheduled transactions. 2007 R2 would totally mess up payroll transactions. Quickent 2004 would often crash and was the last version I used before 2007. But prior to 2004 I never had a bug in Quicken. So it's a steady descent into becoming an unstable, unusable program - something I can't tolerate in financial software

My wife's laptop died so being a dutiful husband, I (thought) did the right thing by purchasing a dual core, 2x the RAM, 17 inch monitor, etc. PRETTY COOL laptop as a replacement. Yep, came with Vista Home Premium.

Main thing is that she does scrapbooking and has a specialty printer called a Xyron Wishblade Personal Cutter System. Damn thing pretty much acts like a printer but cuts any paper into graphics, letters, shapes, whatever....

Seems Vista does not support Kernal Printing (whatever the H*ll that is) and the Xyron folks basically will not commit to when or IF they will upgrade their drivers to be Vista compatible.

Now, this printer is not even a year old and is still under warranty but will not work with Vista.

What to do?

MS says they told printer companies two years ago that Vista would not use Kernal Printing and the company continues to sell this machine for $400.

Ah, the next generation of Wishblade was announced on the Xyron website last week.... Guess what, it says it now supports Win 2000, XP and now MACs (but now which version of Mac...this could get really interesting) but not a word about Vista....

Just which operating system is now being shipped on 90+% of all computers out there? Well, if I were a Xyron stock holder, I'd sell now before they try to roll out a new product that won't work on 90% of the new computers being sold...

Just my 'insider trading' thoughts...

As for their existing customer base, the replacement PC percentage is only going to get bigger and bigger until they no longer have a customer base to sell to. (Hey Xyron, just how many Windows Millenium machines are still in operation?)
:-(

Re the comment by gr8rdane, above, complaining that Vista had "locked" his new computer because he tried to run a program that "Microsoft Genuine Advantage" computed was stolen. He suggested that this action was equivalent to "theft" by Microsoft.

This is, of course, not true. Just read the Vista EULA, where you agree that Microsoft can do anything it wants to do with any computer on which you run your licensed copy of Vista. In other word, by installing and running Vista, you have, by accepting the EULA, given your system to Microsoft, and you can only thereafter use it as Microsoft allows you to do so.

So, gr8rdane, "Hi, sucker."

I have two new Vista computers from Dell.

I have two HP inkjet printers and 1 HP Scanjet scanner. All three installed with all of the bells and whistles.

I do have an Epsom scanner which, while their web site said it was Vista capable, would not install.

Firefox 2. installed on one computer as the default, but not on the other.

My favorite all time 16 bit program, Judy's Tenkey (calculator)runs fine.

It looks like I will finally need to give up on my favorite scanner, a Logitech(Storm)Pagescan USB, that I bought for Win95B, and which ran fine in WinME and WinXP.

On my two new Vista computers, Adobe Acrobat Reader runs fine. I needed to kill the 7.X that came installed and install 8, but, no problems.

I was thinking about buying a new computer soon. I think I'll wait a few months until things work with Vista.

Sounds to me like "upgrading" to Vista amounts to rolling the dice. For those with extensive software catalogs, you can almost be assured that some of it will not make the transition, at least not for years to come. What surprises me is that MS continues to makes cooperation so difficult. Why should vendors have such a hard time updating software to match the new OS requirements? As mentioned above, the only common denominator seems to be MS protecting what it thinks is its own turf. If you're foolish enough to use only MS software, then Vista might work. Otherwise, wait. If you absolutely need to upgrade, and you have the money to spend, then i don't see why one wouldn't by a Mac. OSX works fine for 99.9% of what home users and creative workers do, and Bootcamp or Parallels will run your Windows fine if you absolutely need it. That way you won't have to worry about your hardware becoming obsolete at the whim of MS. Apple seems to care more about interoperability and compliance to industry standards.

I was investigating updating to Vista. Ran their Upgrade advisor. Informed that there might be a problem with my HP 5300C flat bed scanner driver. Went to the HP site (as advised) and was told flat out that HP would not be supporting that scanner with Vista drivers. Sounds to me like Vendors are using Vista as a scapegoat to force the sale (excuse me...licensing) or new products. Make Redmond the Bad Guy....again.

I bought an HP laptop with Vista Home Premium so you'd think that the accompanying software would work properly with Vista. Well Norton Internet Security is very buggy. It's crashed my laptop twice now after getting stuck while installing updates. The first time it corrupted Norton and it took about an hour to reload it from the recovery partition. It also seems that Norton cannot automatically acquire updates because it requires the administrator password. I guess I'm supposed to be a Norton beta tester!

Thanks to the comments here, I'm staying with Windows XP on my computer. I feel for you folks that are having problems with Vista, but many thanks from us that have been waiting to here from Vista users. gr8dane your comments on the vita EULA will have me purchasing products without Windows Vista. Be sure and run the Window Vista update Advisor for Vista you'll probably need to up grade computer components and then have all of the headache's after paying for the software as well. NO THANK MS.

Adobe is indeed dragging it's feet. The very necessary Distiller, part of Acrobat Pro 6 and PageMaker does not work, and no upgrade seems to be coming. They should be nurturing their faithful old customers, not throw them into Microsoft's arm. Beware the new Expression series!

Like one of the previous commenters, I just bought a new PC (HP) to replace a dead one and it came with Vista Home Premium.

Other than minor nuisances (th paper clip indicator of mail attachements is to dim to notice!), the most significant problem so far is a failure on the part of just one software provider--the Help no longer works. Unfortunately, that provider is, ta da!!, Microsoft. In their benevolent wisdom, Vista no longer includes WinHlp32.exe, which means that even Microsoft software (such as Office 2000, my mainstay) no longer can access help!

To read about this, go to Microsoft's Knowledge Base article # 917607 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607/en-us.

The problem I've had is not with compatibility but that Vista won't fit on my computer. I ran the Update Advisor and it told me that my computer memory was too small for Vista to fit. I've only had the machine since October 2004. I don't fancy having to buy a new PC just to make room for this new operating system but I will have to when WindowsXP becomes obsolete like Windows98 et all have. (Sorry for using non tech words, as I am a total techophobe, but I'm sure you understand what I'm getting at.)
Thank you.

I intend to use my current PC with Windows XP for as long as I can, then jump over to Apple. Microsoft has only managed to make upgrading difficult and expensive and most times the upgrades only provide things that Apple has had for years, or correct problems that should never had existed if they had done it right the first time. If they are going to force me to upgrade memory, graphics, hardrive, etc... I might as well get a new PC! At least I avoid the hassel of installing this beast. Since I'm already being forced to look at new PCs, I might as well make it a Mac. Microsoft may end up doing more to increase Apple sales than Apple ever has!

I'm delaying moving to Vista as long as I can. I don't like it. I could enumerate reasons -- I hate all the eye candy of the new shell for one -- but it boils down to "tried it, didn't like it."

But the same machine with 1GB RAM that runs XP Pro swimmingly with several open apps will barely run Vista at all. On 512MB it's cripplingly slow; on 1GB you can't run much more than a browser.

MS has never been more vulnerable to Linux, which suffers now from nothing more than its obscurity.

You have got to be kidding?

Look at who is NOT ready! All the competitors that MS would like to defeat.
What better time to get users off of AIM or iTunes or Palm or QuickBooks?! And what will they choose on Vista?!? Hmmm? Duh!

Microsoft has competing products in EACH of these areas. Whenever MS releases a new product it is just an excuse to push out competitors. They are a marketing company first and only. Software is just a means to an end.

This is just one of their standard anti-compeat tactics. One that the Feds got paid to ignore.

The biggest surprise here is how the majority of all of you so-called informed techno-geek experts were suckered by the Microsoft improved-security and improved eye-candy PR blitz hype wagon and just had to rush off and go get Vista. Just like any informed person knew that when Bush got into office there'd be War, Some of us just knew that Vista= bloated, buggy Trouble. Myself, I'm still using Windows 2000 SP4 and still considering XP. I do plan to eventually go back to Mac, which is what I started on. Again, why do so many of you feel compelled to upgrade to new-and-improved before all the dust has settled. You only have yourselves to blame for volunteering to Pay to be a Guinea Pig and Bill Gates Wallet Fattener.

To Columbia Heighs [sic], DC:

Since I'm sure your comment at February 14, 2007 05:20 PM was aimed at me for using the word MicroSuck instead of Microsoft, I'm only giving Bill Gates' company the same respect that it gives consumers and the other software and hardware companies, i.e., absolutely no respect.

When that company gives everyone at least a minimum of respect, then I'll start to give it some respect. I don't expect that day to occur in the near or intermediate future, though. In fact, it might BEGIN to happen 10 to 15 years after Bill Gates is no longer associated with, and has no connection to, the company.

What I've never figured out is why this country's private sector has ignored, and continues to ignore, the extraordinary waste of labor (and thus money) when it comes to making Windows-based systems operate in a business environment. The distributed processing that has come about in the PC age doesn't mean that IT labor costs have dropped; it just means that so many people are involved now that most of the labor costs are hidden...they become part of every worker's routine work day.

Because I use about 12 different applications for work, getting a new computer means I spend 2 work days just installing and configuring the computer so I can be operational again. And one of my biggest frustrations in the process is the need to restart after every move. I require a new Windows version to be on the market for at least a year before I make the switch, and that's strictly out of self-defense. I want to waste the least amount of my time as absolutely necessary.

The preinstalled Norton Security was just as buggy with Windows XP. I don't know what it was conflicting with, but when I bought my new Toshiba laptop with XP Home (two years ago), I had a lot of crashing/freezing until I uninstalled Norton. I replaced it with Sygate Personal Firewall, which had worked well for me for a year or two on my desktop Dell.

Several months after I bought the laptop, my mom bought a Dell with Windows XP Home, and it worked okay except that it had no parallel port, so I bought and installed a USB printer for her. Then began a series of problems (including not being able to connect to the Internet) until I uninstalled Norton. Since then, she's had no problems.

There are good freeware programs (Sygate, AVG) for most or all of whatever's in the Norton suite. Whether they have upgrades for Vista, I don't know and hope never to have to find out.

Oops, on the laptop I have XP Tablet PC Edition, not XP Home. Norton didn't play nice with that *or* XP Home.

Windows Vista wasn't ready for Windows Vista!
At home I use a Mac, at work it the 'ol MS. We decided not to switch until we get new machines. I don't want to waste weeks upgrading and then find out this or that program doesn't work. While my boss bought a new computer over the holiday season, I told him not to upgrade through a download. It's just too hard!

The people posting in this blog should get up out off there seats and thank the Microsoft gods for Vista. For years you people have begged for an OS that was as easy to use as the MAC's, so here it is folks. The only people who are being ripped off by windows Vista are the ones who are convinced to buy a Macintosh because of it. Macintosh's are 4 times the price of PC's and have been suffering from incompatibility issues for years. Now Microsoft puts out a comparable product and the Mac users come out in groves to complain about it.
Give Microsoft a break, do you know how utterly difficult it is to produce a new OS ? There have to be a trillion ways any one PC could be configured, Microsoft can only throw out a net and hope they catch the majority of the configurations on the market.
For those who are complaining about upgrading, I say up and out folks. The computer industry is an extremely fast growing one, and I love it. Just think where we were only 15 years ago, if the industry didn't upgrade i'd be writing this comment in a letter and you would be reading it in the newspaper.
Vista has it's issues, but if Microsoft supports Vista like it supported XP we have no worries. Microsoft probably has the best customer support then any company in the world. You may not have noticed but they sent upgrades to XP almost on a daily basis since its conception. What company do you know supports it's products better then that? Everyone makes Microsoft out like it was some evil empire, ousting this company and that company, I think it's the catalyst that keeps the computer industry moving upwards. Only those companies that wish to sit stagnant and not move with the industry are falling behind and I say good riddens.

I play online In Nascar racing 2003 I connect with about twenty others.My quality will not run better than 60 out of 99.The server we connect to starts out green then orange then red with spikes every second so I cannot connect properly.I know this is Vista because my old computer still here with XP has no trouble connecting and never dropping the server on my connection.With Vista i havent beeen able to play any games online with multiplayer software.Like AA or Wolfendstien enemy territory.

just bought a spanking new laptop today, problem is that Sygate Personal Firewall obviously isn't supported for vista. So...what to do ? I have no idea. It seems good working free security is from the stoneage and won't be a part of Vistas new agenda slash our future. So far I will have to do with the built in firewall but I do NOT feel secure. Am not a happy camper.