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Consumer Vista Upgrades Moving at Snail's Pace

Chester Freeze writes "During the holiday season, many shoppers bought PCs with the promise of quick, free Vista upgrades. The reality has been something else entirely: many Dell and HP customers are being told that they won't receive their copies of Vista before April. 'One source at a major OEM who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the real issue is that OEMs are still not sure which PCs are really ready to support Vista, and which PCs aren't... Customers who qualify for an Express Upgrade also qualify for OEM support for Windows Vista, even if their machines came with Windows XP. The last thing a Dell, Gateway, or HP wants to do is start sending out upgrades to customers who might have video cards that do not have particularly stable drivers yet (or sound cards, or RAID controllers, etc.). This could be a support disaster.'"

11 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. really? by President_Camacho · · Score: 4, Funny

    The last thing a Dell, Gateway, or HP wants to do is start sending out upgrades to customers who might have video cards that do not have particularly stable drivers yet

    They haven't had qualms about that in the past. What's stopping them now?

    1. Re:really? by koh · · Score: 1, Funny

      I had Vista running on my old R51, which died a few weeks ago.

      Priceless. Thank you.

      --
      Karma cannot be described by words alone.
  2. Dammit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used up all my good Vista jokes on the last article! :-(

  3. Re:Real Question by Volante3192 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Believe it or not, some people are just brainwashed.

    We had someone (not a techie, but a user with a silent L) verbally call Vista the "latest and greatest." (Personal aside, I want to find whoever coined that term and just beat them to a bloody pulp.)

    Never mind we're having nothing but problems getting it working for them; they seem oblivious to this. (And no AV support until May...)

    MS should just cut to the chase and call the next Windows what it is... "Windows Shiny Car Keys" *dingle, dangle* You like the new shiny, don't ya? Shiny shiny!

  4. Re:they sold it. by timeOday · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know if I sold a promise to upgrade and received payment for it, I am pretty sure I am obligated to provide it!
    Lawyer: calm down, we have granted you an OEM upgrade licence to Vista, just as we promised.
    You: So where is it?
    Lawyer: It doesn't have a location, it's a license.
    You: So what does that mean?
    Lawer: It means we fulfilled our legal obligation. Good day.
  5. Re:But isn't this what they planned for? by rvw · · Score: 2, Funny

    Vista will run just fine on older hardware. I have a 4-5 year old 2.8GHz P4 with a 256MB nVidia 5700 video card and it runs Aero and Vista Business just fine. I wouldn't consider that old, just premature.
  6. Slogan Shouldn't Be "Wow!" by canfirman · · Score: 3, Funny

    With all of the logistical/upgrade/support problems in this release, Microsoft should change the Vista's slogran from "Wow!" to "Doh!"

    --
    It is not our abilities that show what we truly are... it is our choices.
  7. Re:Real Question by MadMidnightBomber · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was compiling and running 64-bit apps in 1998. That's like listing "doesn't decapitate driver in the event of crash" in the list of safety features in a modern car.

    --
    "It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
  8. PB by Thaelon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Upgrade...
    You keep using that word. I do not think that means what you think it means.

    --

    Question everything

  9. Of course, this is Slashdot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Who am I kidding? I can just post old, clichéd jokes instead.
    No one will be the wiser! :-)

    Post bad DOS^WVista jokes to Slashdot?
    [ Abort ] [ Retry ] [ Fail ]
    *click*

  10. will create jobs by rajafarian · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ah, I see now what Microsoft meant when they said that Vista would create over 100,000 new jobs in the US and in Europe: Support desk jobs for the resellers.