Vista Annoyances - or are they ??

Having used Windows Vista Ultimate as my primary OS since March this year, I'd have to disagree with most of the "annoyances" in TechRepublic's "Top 10 Windows Vista Annoyances" document:

1. No more Boot.ini
So ? How much longer do you think Microsoft should use a boot process that's already 10-ish years old ?? Change has to occur at some point and it's just a case of getting used to the new way of doing things. If you don't like Vista's built-in bcdedit program, there's plenty of free alternatives - I used one called EasyBCD to edit mine. Besides, how often did normal (ie. non-techie) users need to edit boot.ini in XP ?? Hardly ever - not many "normal" users dual-boot, and those that do don't tend to be afraid of doing a bit of reading to find out how to do it.

2. Buried Display Settings
Oh, and the display settings were so much easier to find in XP were they ? The only change is that in Vista you click on a link rather than a tab - not really that hard is it ! Again, why be so afraid of change ? I remember a massive fuss being made about the changes in XP when that first came out, but apparently XP is now the best design for an OS ever !

3. Control Panel
Again, the same fuss was made when XP came out with its changed default view for the control panel. If you didn't like it (as I didn't), you've always got the option for the Classic View. Same in Windows Vista. Oh, and you can now put an icon for the Control Panel on the desktop in the "Customize Desktop" options in Vista - didn't have that option with XP did you ?

4. Shutdown Options
What ??? I've been using Vista since March and have never been even mildly flummoxed by Vista's shutdown procedure. It's actually easier to perform a normal shutdown (ie. power off) than it was in XP - click the "power" button and presto ! Vista shuts down. Remember when you did the same thing in XP, you were prompted to Restart, Shutdown, Hibernate/Switch User. That's two clicks to shutdown as opposed to Vista's one.
I know there are a number of extra shutdown options, but these are hidden in the pop-up menu next to the "power" button, so most normal users need never see them. And if you did want to do something other than power off, you've got more options available to you than the old sleep-mode or hibernate. I've never thought that having a large number of available options was a problem - you get exactly what you want rather than a compromise.

5. Application Support (or lack thereof)
Did you make the same assumption when you moved from your old OS to Windows XP ? Don't you remember the useless compatibility mode in XP which rarely, if ever, made your old legacy applications work ? Thought not. So what did you do ? Yes, you upgraded your software. Same rules apply to Vista. Besides, you can get an easy to use Upgrade Advisor to run to prepare you for the upgrade to Vista.
And yes, it is up to the application vendors, not Microsoft, to provide updated software to run in Vista, or instructions as to how to make it work under the new OS. Personally, all of my software runs without a problem under Vista, and Second Life (which is not even supposed to work with Vista according to the website) actually works better (due to the Vista drivers for my graphics card) than it does running on XP.

6. Aero Hardware Requirements
So you have to have a fairly decent graphics card to run the Aero Glass theme - again, so ?!! Is it really a problem to use a different theme if your graphics card won't support the admittedly nice-looking but ultimately pointless Aero Glass theme ? And if it is really important to you to have translucent windows and the 3D-flip alt-tab alternative, go and buy a graphics card which WILL support it ! Besides, even the cheapest sub-£100 modern graphics card will support it so you don't have to pay a fortune. And as for the feature not being available in the Home Basic edition, well maybe you should've paid that little bit extra for an edition which has the theme included if it's so important to you ! As the old saying goes "you get what you pay for".

7. Too Many Flavors
I'd maybe agree with this one - there are a LOT of different choices when choosing a Vista edition. But again, Microsoft haven't done this for fun. They've done it because people moaned about having to pay for features that they never used. Fair enough.

8. UAC Prompts
A good idea in principle, as the article says, but I think they shouldn't have this enabled by default for accounts which are members of the Administrators group. If you're an administrator you tend to know what you're doing, and be willing and able to fix something if it goes wrong (in principle at least !), so having to say "Continue" when wanting to change anything is going a bit far. Thankfully Vista allows the feature to be disabled if you have the appropriate rights.
For an account which is a member of the Users group, however, it's probably a good idea, but again, it should be up to the Administrator of the machine in question to decide to enable the option.

9. Budget Breaker
Yes, Vista is definitely a rip off. Especially in good old rip-off Britain where we're charged a good 50% more for the OS than our US counterparts. It is a good idea to offer the cut-down version of Vista (Home Basic) as there are a lot of people out there who only use their PC to browse the internet and send a few emails. Why force them to pay more for a load of features that they'll never use ?

10. Usability Issues
"I am a fan of simplicity and this is something Windows Vista lacks". Oh, come on !! Have you SEEN how easy it is to set up a home network in Vista ? Far more easy than XP ever made it ! It almost does it without you needing to do a thing !
WXP News currently has an article titled "Will Vista Make You Dumb and Lazy?" arguing that because Vista is so easy to use, it removes the need to learn the "nuts and bolts" of an operating system - a bit different to TechRepublic's view !

So in conclusion then, I think that TechRepublic's article is very reactionary, painting XP in a light which it really doesn't deserve (remember all those BSODs ?). I'm not saying Vista's perfect - nothing ever is - but it's nowhere near as annoying as TechRepublic portrays it to be. Once the software vendors get their act together properly, the main problems with Vista (software not working under the new OS, 3rd party drivers being unavailable) will disappear. And when Windows Vienna comes out in a few years time, it'll be Vista that TechRepublic will be all nostalgic about - mark my words !!