I normally avoid software reviews like the plague. This goes both ways, I cannot be bothered to read a 3,000 word essay on the efficiency of Generic Video Player #19 nor do I find writing about said program particularly thrilling. Today I make the exception for the cancer that is Vista, the latest operating system from the Microsoft Corporation.
But why am I making an exception for this abomination? Very simple. The direct reason is that Vista has decided that my fun time with Microsoft Office is up in the goddamn middle of an assignment (again I might add). One moment I was merely typing away in Word, saving and closing to go do something else. I come back later and poof, suddenly there is an error in setup.exe (que?) and I can no longer save any changes to my work. Now why am I convinced that this is Vista’s doing? Because this has literally never happened (to me) before and I’ve abused Office for quite some time now. Also note that both my Vista and Office versions are completely legal.
Even though that was the main reason for my upcoming downgrade to Windows XP, there are more things that bug me ever since I got Vista as an unwanted gift with this otherwise fine laptop. To illustrate I have compiled a list comparing Vista with XP:
Microsoft Windows Vista,
+ Awesome graphics.
- Less than awesome memory usage, and I don’t really want half-transparent windows anyway.
+The in-build games have awesome graphics.
- This is not actually useful though.
- Annoying map-tree thingy. For some reason Vista insists that I have a permanent shortcut to a map I deleted roughly half a year ago. Of course if I click it it crashes.
- Speaking about crashes… Anytime I cancel a download it crashes. This only applies to Internet Explorer downloads though.
- More crashes. Roughly half the time I want to copy/cut and paste a file by dragging it with my mouse Vista crashes.
- Quite often, ‘calculating time remaining’ for copying or downloading a file ACTUALLY TAKES LONGER THAN DOWNLOADING/COPYING THE FILE. I’m not exaggerating here.
- This deserves reiteration; Windows Vista drains enough memory to actually make my new laptop perform worse than my 3 or 4-year old personal computer. Note that my laptop is technically superior in every other way.
- I still haven’t figured out how to show file extensions goddamnit.
Microsoft Windows XP,
+ None of the above.
+ I have never had any actual problem with XP.
The conclusion is clear, this weekend I’m downloading XP and revel in my joy.
Fuck you Vista for making me write something about software which I promised myself I would never do.
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