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Microsoft Exec Says, "You'll Miss Vista"

Posted by samzenpus on from the cold-day-in-hell dept.

Oracle Goddess writes "'Years from now, when you've moved on to Windows 7, you'll look back at Windows Vista fondly. You'll remember its fabulous attributes, not its flaws.' That's the opinion of Steve Guggenheimer, vice president of the OEM division at Microsoft. 'I think people will look back on Vista after the Windows 7 release and realize that there were actually a bunch of good things there,' Guggenheimer said in a recent interview. 'So it'll actually be interesting to see in two years what the perception is of Vista.' A dissenting opinion comes from Bob Nitrio, president of system builder Ranvest Associates, doesn't believe organizations that skipped Vista will ever regret their decision. 'I don't think for a second that people are suddenly going to love Windows 7 so much that they will experience deep pangs of regret for not having adopted Vista,' said Nitrio. If I had to bet, I'd go with Bob's take on it." My first thought was, Steve meant Windows 7 is designed to be virtually unusable as payback for all the complaints about Vista, but I might be biased.

52 of 273 comments (clear)

  1. Windows 7 is Vista SP3 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So you won't have to look far to see Vista...

  2. Secretly... by vertinox · · Score: 5, Funny

    I miss Windows ME.

    What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?

    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    1. Re:Secretly... by Ynot_82 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Never miss again, with the RJX-21 Laser Scope
      http://xkcd.com/101/

    2. Re:Secretly... by peragrin · · Score: 2, Funny

      if it runs Windows ME you just might.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    3. Re:Secretly... by Flea+of+Pain · · Score: 3, Funny

      What about the best Windows version of all...Windows CEMENT!!

      --
      Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
    4. Re:Secretly... by easyTree · · Score: 2, Funny

      Bah, it's not about the OS, it's about the apps: Word, for example

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
  3. Do they mean... by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that Windows 7 will be horrific enough to make us miss Vista? Wow.

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
    1. Re:Do they mean... by Bigby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That was my impression of the summary. What a stupid comment for an Executive to make.

    2. Re:Do they mean... by sakdoctor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Same. I took it as a threat.

    3. Re:Do they mean... by NotBornYesterday · · Score: 2, Funny

      You'll remember its fabulous attributes, not its flaws.'

      Maybe he is mocking and deriding his end users by implying that they forget faster than an amnesia-stricken goldfish, and is counting on their short attention spans to distract them from ... OOOH! Look! Something shiny!

      --
      I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
  4. Miss? by The_church_of_funzie · · Score: 3, Funny

    That will only matter if we don't buy more ammo!

  5. "You'll miss Vista" by mayberry42 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wait! So, they're saying Windows 7 is actually going to be worse?

    1. Re:"You'll miss Vista" by Cstryon · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I agree. If I am going to miss something from the last product, than I can assume that the new product is missing it?

      Makes me think, "I miss my old car, it had power steering." I probably got the new car because something was wrong with the old car. And I would expect the new car to have the good things like, power steering.

      --
      Indoctrinate : to instruct especially in fundamentals or rudiments Educate : to develop mentally, morally, or aestheti
  6. Threat by gambit3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You know, that sounds like a threat to me...

    --
    Watch the Teaser Trailer for "The Lightning Thief" Her
  7. I may miss Vista by mcmonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    But just give me time to reload.

  8. I missed Vista by spun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And I plan on missing Windows 7, as well.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  9. Alas, poor Vista by Anonymusing · · Score: 5, Funny

    (holding the empty remains of a Vista Ultimate package)

    Alas, poor Vista! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent eye candy: he hath booted me on his disks a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rims at it. Here hung those dialog boxes that I have clicked I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your MP3s? your flashes of BSOD, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?

    Now get you to Windows 7's chamber, and tell her, let her Photoshop an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that.

    --
    Liberal? Conservative? Compare perspectives at Left-Right
    1. Re:Alas, poor Vista by failedtoinit · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sigh, I find this after I've already spent all my mod points. Excellent parody, well played!

    2. Re:Alas, poor Vista by gbarules2999 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      This is quite possibly the best Slashdot post I've ever read.

  10. Coaster by sgt+scrub · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe occasionally, but my Vista coasters are used way more often then the WindowsME ones.

    --
    Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
  11. How? by goober1473 · · Score: 3, Funny

    How exactly will I miss something that I have never used?

    1. Re:How? by ArsonSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, sounds like you missed it to me.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  12. Title misleading, er, totally wrong by devleopard · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This proves how incompetent the /. story moderators are. The actual quote says nothing about MISSING Vista. It only says you'll appreciate it. The idea is this: Vista has an overall bad user experience, so all new features of Vista are generally lumped into the "bad" category. With an operating system that corrects those flaws, yet keeps what are supposedly nice innovations, you'll eliminating "guilt by association", and people can appreciate them for what they are.

    --
    The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
    1. Re:Title misleading, er, totally wrong by recoiledsnake · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is the problem with anti-MS zealotry. There are a LOT of cool improvements in Vista which any geek would appreciate, many of which are not present in Linux. For example, per application volume control, network and disk access priority levels for processes, superfetch etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_features_new_to_Windows_Vista All those have been swept under the carpet of twitter style 'lalalala M$' discussion and moderation. This is not really a news for nerds site.

      --
      This space for rent.
    2. Re:Title misleading, er, totally wrong by db32 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I am sure there are plenty of great improvements in Vista. That doesn't change the fact that MS behaves like a giant asshole shitting on everyone they can. What you are saying here is that despite their abuses of monopoly power, their strong arming of governments, their "open" standard shenanagins, their treatment of hardware vendors, and pretty much all around bad behavior...they have managed to hire some pretty technically competent people that are able to put together neat things from time to time. However, I can't seem to find the new great features because every time I turn around Microsoft has redesigned their entire interface while droning on about how no one should switch because the cost of retraining users to use a different interface is so high. Again...this goes back to their shitty behavior more than their technical ability.

      Here is a feature that MS seems to be leading the pack on...Serial keys for the OS coupled with online activation tied to the hardware and a call home mechanism to disable the computer if it is suspected "pirate". The limited reactivation thing and the inability to activate on mismatched hardware is a great feature. I just love being unable to boot a drive from an OEM machine using different hardware. I have BSD, Linux, Solaris, and OS X machines...none of which require serial keys, let alone call home activation crap. That is another great new Vista feature too...the corporate Vistas still require activation even though corporate XP and Win2k3 Server stuff does not.

      There is hope for the future...IBM used to be the big asshole, they lost their stranglehold on the industry and had to learn how to be good neighbors. With Linux and OS X on the rise...Google tearing things up...and Firefox gaining speed... Well...MS either will have to learn how to really compete instead of just throwing their weight around and treating the consumer like a suspected criminal...or they will go away. Either way it will be better for everyone involved.

      --
      The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
  13. The only improvement I've found in Vista by JSBiff · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Having used Vista for awhile, there's only 1 improvement I can actually think of: the sound mixer/volume control thing in Vista will let you mute or control volumes of individual applications.

    Not the most earth-shaking thing in the world (most apps have a mechanism built in to do volume control or mute the sound, but not all, so it is nice; and some apps bury sound control in layers of menu that make it a pain to quickly mute them).

    Also, I see no reason why that couldn't have been done in XP, other than MS wanted to have something to tout as an improvement in Vista.

    1. Re:The only improvement I've found in Vista by jzhos · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yup, I second that. I've used Vista and 2008 server, and the volume control is the ONLY improvement.

      Then you guys are not paying to much attention the features. My favorite feature is the new video stack, which got further improvements in Win7. The video memory is now virtualized, just like what people have been doing to the main memory. No more fighting for video memories between two directx applications. You don't even have to reboot after installing the video driver. Aren't that an important improvement to server especially? Also the UAC IS an improvement over XP/2003, which makes running as lower privileged user much less painful. For server 2008, hyper-v is the most important improvement over virtual-server, let alone new IIS and terminal server improvements. Talking about volume control is the ONLY improvement!? And that is not possible in XP, which requires the new sound stack.

    2. Re:The only improvement I've found in Vista by PuckSR · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I hate it when people try to make this argument...

      "There is no reason they couldn't have added that feature to version X, rather than waiting till version Y"
      Of course there is a reason, nobody thought of doing it until version Y!!! The creators of version X lacked either the technology, the vision, or the creativity to add that feature.

      How about we just say: " There is no reason that the ancient Egyptians couldn't have built spaceships"
      They could have built amazing spaceships, if only they had the technology, the vision, and the 3000 years of human experience to decide that we needed to build spaceships.

  14. "Years from now..." by brennanw · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Years from now, you'll look back at Vista and realise how horribly you wronged it. If only you'd known! If only you'd seen the truth! But it's too late now, because Vista is dead, it died alone and unloved, spurned by the coldness of your heart and your disdain for it's ungainly sincerity. Now you find yourself wedded to an operating system that is capable but distant, it's caresses mechanical and devoid of warmth. You'll spend your nights lying in its cold embrace and think 'oh! Vista! How I wish I'd stuck with you instead of reaching for the stars!' But it will be too late. Vista is gone, and all that remains is an echo of a memory that could have been."

    --
    Eviscerati.Org: All Hail the Eviscerati
  15. Yes, some will look back fondly by stox · · Score: 4, Funny

    Vista has done more to promote the use of Linux in the Office than anything yet. We can only hope that Windows 7 continues this fine tradition.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
  16. SOBs don't get it. by MarkvW · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As an end user, I don't want to notice my OS at ALL.

  17. Hes right!!! I will miss vista by smd75 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I missed it alright. I didn't upgrade to vista, but went from XP to 7. Damn.

    --
    Im a troll because I disagree with you.
  18. Thanks to Vista's crapiness by zymano · · Score: 2

    No ones older hardware works anymore.

    pretty sure some of the corrupt companies went along for the ride.

    Thanks HP. My scanjet scanner wont work anymore. have to use the XP live cd.

    Fuck Ballmer. Fuck Gates.

    1. Re:Thanks to Vista's crapiness by greatica · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yep, two of my scanners died in Vista. At work we can afford to order new ones. At home, Microsoft lost a customer to Linux.

      A customer who happens to be an IT manager with a newfound respect for FOSS and a dislike for complex licensing.

    2. Re:Thanks to Vista's crapiness by erroneus · · Score: 2, Informative

      The number of people such as yourself is growing in surprising numbers. It is getting to the point, however, that IT pros without some Linux knowledge/experience are viewed as somewhat limited in their scope and skill set. After all. Linux is FREE. Get a book or two, read some forums, install it on a machine somewhere. The knowledge is as free as the software.

    3. Re:Thanks to Vista's crapiness by erroneus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It costs more, much of the time, to stagnate your career and narrow your opportunities. This "adage" is not reason it shouldn't be done. It is the U in uncertainty and the D in doubt. Why don't you say what you REALLY think? Should people not learn to use Linux? If no, why not? If yes, then why do you feel the need to point out the ridiculous?

      "Nothing is free if you spend time doing it." Okay, we get it. Stop having sex with your wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, left or right hand... it's TOO EXPENSIVE because it's not free... don't sleep because it's such a waste of your time. In fact, never stop moving and definitely don't learn anything new because it's not free.

      Seriously, what are you trying to say exactly?

    4. Re:Thanks to Vista's crapiness by mysidia · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not really a true 'cost' of learning Linux, because that time will be consumed regardless of whether you use it for something productive like Unix or not, time will pass, and you never get it back.

      Just about everyone has some free time. The people that don't have free time are under high stress, and the ultimate health costs of being under high stress in the long term exceed the cost of some wasted free time.

      Oh yeah, and it's called "Free Time", because (you guessed it) it's free. You weren't going to do anything productive with it, you weren't expected or required to do anything with it, you can allocate it however you like.

      It's also a renewable resource; you may use up your free time this week, don't worry, there will be free time next week to do what you want to do...

      But even if you don't do anything with it, the time will be consumed.

      This is basically why learning Linux doesn't cost you anything. You lose an opportunity to do something else, MAYBE, if you have many things contending for your free time, but that's not b/c Linux cost you anything.

  19. Miss Vista ?? by Archfeld · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yeah I've been shooting at it for like 3 years now and still haven't hit it, so I guess I will just keep on missing it. Seriously I've never even installed it on a system, and have ripped it out of like 30. I really doubt it will be missed anymore than say polio, or whooping cough.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  20. "You'll miss Vista" by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Only because we haven't been practicing our aim enough.

    And what sort of idiot comment is that really from someone at the company? "You'll miss the old product we're replacing." I mean his entire comments are ridiculous. We'll miss the "good things" implying that Windows 7 has removed them.

    Surely saying "All that DRM crap that stole your resources and restricted you in Vista... That IS missing from Windows 7" would be the only GOOD thing to miss.

  21. This can only mean one thing... by phillymjs · · Score: 3, Funny

    Microsoft has finally succeeded at copying the Apple Reality Distortion Field!

  22. Business schemes of an effective monopoly by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A profitable business scheme for Microsoft is calling an update to a product by an entirely new name.

    Another profitable scheme is charging the full price for an upgrade, as though it is a totally new product.

    My understanding is that releasing versions of products that aren't finished is also profitable for Microsoft, because then most customers buy new versions immediately. Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows ME, and DOS 3.0 are three examples I think of immediately.

    1. Re:Business schemes of an effective monopoly by Creepy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A profitable business scheme for Microsoft is calling an update to a product
      by an entirely new name.

      like Apple.

      Another profitable scheme is charging the full price for an upgrade,
      as though it is a totally new product.

      like Apple

      My understanding is that releasing versions of products that aren't
      finished is also profitable for Microsoft, because then most customers buy new
      versions immediately. Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows ME, and DOS 3.0 are
      three examples I think of immediately.

      You missed Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, and Windows 3.0. 3.11 was the first usable version of Windows IMO, and the most people would have skipped 95 if it wasn't a huge improvement (and was). I used DR-DOS and GEM mostly, so I didn't really follow the MS-DOS until 3.11 when it was hard to avoid. NT was always pretty solid, even 3.1 and 3.51. Windows 7 rc1 seems very solid, so I expect the release to be, as well.

      Apple has pissed me off too much hardware-wise to upgrade, especially in graphics cards, so I can't compare them anymore, but usually their OS is rock-solid. I can't even run my computer as a hackintosh because my nearly year old graphics card is better than the one you get in their $3000+ machine. I will not buy a machine that can't be upgraded that isn't called a laptop or notebook, and that means a sticker shock $2499 starting. If I ever buy another Apple, it will be a laptop.

      There were numerous bad Linux releases, especially in the early years (for instance, Softlanding sucked unless you had very specific hardware - thankfully the Slackware fixed most of the problems), too, so it isn't just Microsoft, but most of the trusted Linux vendors are pretty solid. I still hear of a slip-up here or there causing problems on mostly cutting edge distributions (like GenToo).

  23. and I miss VT-100's by hawk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Their text was such a pretty green color, and they could scroll text pixel-line by pixel-line instead of by text rows (or was that just the VT-102?).

    I suppose that one could have a similar reminiscence for the vista background color . . .

    hawk

  24. George W. Bush by hey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, and history will redeem George W. Bush too.

  25. SAVE VISTA! by David+Gerard · · Score: 2, Funny

    Microsoft has said it may ditch Vista the moment Windows 7 comes out! They've since backtracked - but we need to make sure they know our feelings.

    Windows 7 is CASTRATED APPEASEMENT to soy latte-sipping girly-men who wish they owned a Mac. We want a REAL operating system. An operating system that PERSONIFIES America's INDUSTRIAL MIGHT. That makes you feel AWE at the MAJESTY of the progress of its operation. VISTA is a monument to everything that makes us the country we are!

    Like Chrysler, like Hummer, like Edsel - "Vista" is a name that will be remembered as the greatest operating system in Microsoft's history.

    Just Say "No" To Seven -

    SAVE VISTA!

    Original blog post - Facebook group

    "I fully support this initiative. My computer business employs 200 people; the best possible thing for it is to make sure Vista continues and goes forward." - M. Shuttleworth, London

    "I can't tell you how much Vista has done for my business. So many people depend on it." - S. Jobs, Cupertino

    "Vista is the one thing that will keep people seeking out and using systems that are at the forefront of technology. It's been the best thing for all of us." - L. Torvalds, Portland.

    "I'm ... I'm touched. *sob* I didn't think anyone cared. You guys. Developers! *sob*" - S. Ballmer, Seattle.

    --
    http://rocknerd.co.uk
  26. Good luck... by bashibazouk · · Score: 3, Funny

    Good luck running your computer with Windows on it...

  27. It's a Delusional Thing To Say by NeverVotedBush · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why does this guy think people will miss Vista? Because he expects Windows 7 to piss people off worse than Vista?

    The guy sounds like a jilted ex - "You'll miss me when I'm gone!"

    News flash Microsoft - there's a bunch of us that won't miss you if the whole company folds, let alone you phasing out a product that was nothing but an interim money grab to please your stockholders while defrauding your customers.

    1. Re:It's a Delusional Thing To Say by Chabo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have a feeling that the opinion of Vista will stay largely static forever; it may have introduced new features, but it still wasn't that good. This is already how the public feels about WinME -- it added useful features like System Restore, but it wasn't until XP that those features were incorporated in a good OS.

      --
      Convert FLACs to a portable format with FlacSquisher
    2. Re:It's a Delusional Thing To Say by JoeRobe · · Score: 2, Informative

      I suspect that what he means (and I know this'll probably be modded down) is that Vista does have some positive aspects to it, which are totally overwhelmed by the crappy aspects. They're trying to make Windows 7 essentially Vista where they've cut back on the crappiness so that one can (hopefully) appreciate the positive attributes. So they think once we're all happy with Windows 7, we'll look back on Vista and identify all the nice things about it (which are also in Windows 7), magically forgetting that it ever had huge, whopping, enormous problems.

      --
      The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
    3. Re:It's a Delusional Thing To Say by iamhassi · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "I have a feeling that the opinion of Vista will stay largely static forever; it may have introduced new features, but it still wasn't that good. This is already how the public feels about WinME -- it added useful features like System Restore, but it wasn't until XP that those features were incorporated in a good OS."

      I couldn't say it better myself. Going XP to Vista feels like 98 to ME. ME was absolutely AWFUL. It took Windows 2000 and finally XP before M$ finally got it right (w2k was good but didn't play the games XP could).

      I have a feeling Windows 7 won't be there either, I think it'll be Windows 2000 all over again, a big improvement but not XP. But I really think this might be Microsoft's last chance, I think if anyone could topple M$ it'd be Google's Chrome OS. I know you guys are all linux lovers, but I've tried redhat and ubuntu and it's just not there, not enough to switch. If anyone could convince me to switch it'd be Google. Reviews of Android software have been positive, some calling it the open source iPhone so that shows Google knows what they're doing.

      I'll have to get Windows 7 for the laptop because it already has Vista but I'll dual boot into Chrome OS when it's released.

      --
      my karma will be here long after I'm gone
  28. Friends, Linux Users, Slashdotters by NeverVotedBush · · Score: 3, Funny

    I come to bury Vista, not to praise it;
    The evil that Gates does lives after him,
    The BSOD is oft interred with Windows' bones,
    So let it be with Vista ...

  29. Reality distortion field polarity by hoggoth · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I find it interesting that the Apple reality distortion field works outwardly on others, while the Microsoft reality distortion field works inwardly on themselves.

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)