Many people don’t like Vista. They have given it a bad reputation online, which has spread into the real world to the point where people I know say Vista sucks “because it does”. There has been a lot of misinformation about Vista online. I believe these are the top reasons why.

Rumors

People have been telling their friends and family that Vista sucks because they’ve read about it somewhere. Yet these people have never tried it for themselves, or have had one or some of the experiences below. Then they go and say bad things about Vista, based on no facts.

Tried it at first, didn’t like it

The key word here is “at first”. When Vista first came out, it did actually suck. It was buggy, lots of software and hardware didn’t work. Then a few months went by, and updates were rolling out periodically. After about 6 months on the market is when I’d say Vista became stable, quick, and the way it should be. But these people that only tried it near release refused to try it again after these 6 months or even a year have went by. Then they go and spread the rumors that it still sucks.

Not giving it a week to optimize itself and for you to get used to the new user interface

Vista needs time to optimize itself. This takes at least one week. It uses a service called Superfetch to pre-load your most commonly used applications in the background. But it takes time for it to find out which applications you most commonly use. You also need to get used to the new UI. Things have changed - menus have been renamed, replaced, or completely removed. It can take a week to get used to where everything now is, but after that you will find it easier than XP to do basic tasks.

Getting an illegal version that didn’t work right or couldn’t be updated

If you downloaded Vista illegally, that might be why you didn’t like it. The download could have been corrupted, or you could have downloaded a broken version. A lot of illegal versions can’t be updated. The updates are what made Vista good, and without these updates it does suck. People who know what they’re doing online will make it work right, but most people who do this don’t know what to do and end up with a bad copy, and then spread the word about Vista being bad.

Not having a good enough computer to run it

If your computer has less than 2GB of RAM and a single-core processor, you shouldn’t be running Vista. Yet people do and then they complain that Vista lags and is too slow. Technology is moving forward, you can’t expect a new operating system to run well on 5 year old hardware. You wouldn’t put XP on a Pentium 2 system, would you? Most pre-built computers up until half a year ago shouldn’t even be running Vista. And don’t forget your graphics card.

Not being able to or wanting to spend the money for it

Some people complain that Vista costs $400 and it sucks because XP is cheaper. Then they either tell people that it costs this much or go download a broken illegal version. Vista Home Premium will cost you $80 if you know where to look (I suggest Newegg). The versions that cost a few hundred are the corporate and Ultimate versions. Most people do not need Vista Ultimate. It does not have enough extra features that the average user will take advantage of to be worth the price premium. People don’t know this, everyone seems to think Vista is $400 or $500.

Having old hardware or software that is incompatible

If you have a seven year old printer or a 10 year old video camera, you shouldn’t expect them to work out-the-box with Vista. As I said in this post, you need to check the hardware manufacturer’s website to make sure your hardware is supported in Vista. Don’t tell people Vista sucks because the hardware manufacturers decided not to support such old hardware. It’s not Vista’s fault, it’s the hardware manufacturer’s fault. Same thing goes for software. Some software will just not work in Vista, even through compatibility mode. Check before buying Vista to make sure it works. Once again, it’s the software vendor’s responsibility to release updates to their software, but many will choose not to support old software.

And now some legit reasons

If you really have a good version of Vista that’s fully updated, you have given it a week or two to optimize and for you to get used to it, your computer is fast, and all your stuff works, only then should you tell people that you didn’t like it. And say why you didn’t like it, don’t just say it sucks. People are too quick to bash Microsoft products these days.

If you think you know some other reasons why people have given Vista a bad reputation, or why it didn’t work out for you, feel free to comment below.

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