The first time I saw Vista, I shot it down
By Charles Miller

A quote attributed to one of my American heroes Chuck Yeager has come up in several of my recent conversations. General Yeager said, “The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down.” This little witticism has come up in the context of discussing Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista. The first time I ever saw the new Windows Vista; I erased it and installed the older Windows XP in its place.

In last week’s column I enumerated several of the reasons why Vista is in fact better than XP, and it really is. The fact remains that there are some growing pains associated with Vista and one of the worst is that it is most painful in the area of the pocketbook.

Folks who go out and purchase a new computer loaded with Vista are discovering that it works well, but does not work well or at all with older software.

Any user who purchases a new computer with Vista, then also spends several hundreds or thousands of dollars more on all new software is going to be very pleased with the result. All of this year’s software releases are optimized for use with Vista and they work better than the older versions.

Realistically, the typical user does not usually buy new applications and software all at once. What the buyer of a new computer invariably does is to load the computer with their existing word processor, spreadsheet, bookkeeping program, etc.

Here is where the troubles begin. Vista is not backwards—compatible as was its predecessors Windows 98 and XP. Any software more than six months old is likely to have “issues” when installed on a new computer running Vista. These “issues” run the gamut from minor annoyances to software that will not function at all.

The Microsoft Office suite of Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. retails for several hundred dollars. The buyer who paid for this just two or three years ago might be tempted to continue using that older version on their new computer. If they do, then they will find that they cannot save their email passwords; Vista’s improved security makes this impossible. To fix this password-saving issue requires nothing more than spending several hundred dollars for the current edition of Microsoft Office 2007.

Older versions of the popular bookkeeping software QuickBooks will not run at all on Vista. The improved security of Vista is absolutely incompatible with any version of QuickBooks older than 2007.

One of my clients who uses QuickBooks was “disappointed” to learn that their new computer would not work with their existing accounting system. They had just paid thousands of dollars last year to upgrade everyone in their office to the 2006 version of the program. They had used the previous version for three years and planned to use this version until about 2009. For them the choice was to either spend thousands of dollars all over again, or to not use Vista.

Getting back to “the first time I saw Vista, I shot it down.” A client with a new laptop found Vista would not work with the software needed for a piece of medical equipment. The equipment manufacturer was out of business and that left us with no choice but to erase Vista and install the older Windows XP on his new laptop.

These are some of the growing pains associated with any new computer operating system. Windows Vista is a big improvement over Windows XP, but if you get it you need to budget for new applications software too.

Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 044-415-101-8528 or email FAQ@SMAguru.com.