Microsoft took a bunch of XP users on a supposed test of the Next Version of Windows.

The punch line is they were actually testing Windows Vista and Microsoft duped them.

If some of the early reporting is correct Windows Vista got a high approval rating.

This does raise an interesting point that the negative PR that vista gets has tarnished it’s brand name.

Take “Vista” out of Windows and people have a different point of view.

There is one glaring problem with this experiment. They chose one hardware candidate the HP Pavilion DV 2000.

More than 99% of Windows Vista Users use something other than a HP Pavilion DV 2000.

It would have made for a much better experiment if they got those 120 users to bring their own machines in for the test. Then the approval rating would be more realistic.

I suspect this campaign may backfire. Lets wait and see.

I have learned something new….if you want a Windows Vista laptop get the HP Pavilion DV 2000.

Link: http://www.mojaveexperiment.com/

Sometimes I get paranoid that my own experiences with Windows Vista may be jaundiced.

I have installed it about 25-30 times and cant get passed a week without a severe crash even on SP1 on brand new hardware.

But it would appear Intel is giving Windows Vista a wide berth.

From the article

Intel, the giant chip maker and longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided against upgrading the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft’s Vista operating system, a person with direct knowledge of the company’s plans said.

This is significant for the following reasons

1) Intel make the CPU’s that run Vista.

2) Intel make the motherboards and chipset’s that run Vista.

3) Intel make the network cards both wired and wireless that keep vista connected.

Even with so many hooks into how a system will operate even they wont use it.

They quote

“This isn’t a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista,” the person said.

Pretty damming really.

Link: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/et-tu-intel/index.html?ref=technology

This update released yesterday addresses a number of areas.

From the support documentation:

This update improves the performance, responsiveness, and reliability of Windows Vista in various scenarios. This update includes the following improvements on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer:

•This update improves the stability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by addressing some crashes that may occur when you try to check e-mail by using a POP3 e-mail client such as Windows Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird. The crashes may occur on a Windows Vista SP1-based computer in the following scenario:

•Incoming POP3 and outgoing SMTP traffic monitoring is enabled.

•Both a third-party antivirus application and an antispyware application are installed, such as the following applications:

•ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

•SpySweeper by Webroot Software, Inc.

•This update improves the reliability of the Windows Vista SP1 based-computers by addressing some problems that occur when you delete user accounts by using the User Accounts item in Control Panel. When this problem occurs, the system may stop responding (hang).

•This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers that experience issues in which large applications cannot run after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time. For example, when you try to start Excel 2007 after the computer is turned on for extended periods of time, a user may receive an error message that resembles the following:

EXCEL.EXE is not a valid Win32 application

•This update improves the reliability of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing the number of crashes that may be caused by the Apple QuickTime thumbnail preview in Windows Live Photo Gallery.

•This update improves the performance of Windows Vista SP1-based computers by reducing audio and video (AV) stuttering. Such AV stuttering may occur when the audio or video component is streaming high definition content from a Windows Vista SP1-based computer that has a NVIDIA network adapter nForce driver version 67.5.4.0 that is installed to a Windows Media Center Extender device.

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=952709

I have Windows Vista in a clean SP1 install running on 3 machines (2 laptops and 1 desktop).

This is so I can simulate real world issues. All the equipment is Vista Compatible.

Windows Vista has a nice feature that lets you easily see the serious errors encountered (see pic above).

My main work machine is a Dell XPS M1210 laptop I reformatted it on the 27th of April with Windows Vista Business SP1 and applied all the patches. I use this laptop 8 to 10 hours a day.

The good news

The install was a breeze, the performance has improved and overall a much better experience than Windows Vista RTM.

What about stability?

OK I have 20 days usage data, So lets look at each one

Converter.exe: (this is the open source PDF ghostwriter, this installed successfully but Windows Vista came up with a prompt saying it wasn’t sure if it did) It had, so this is not a real problem.

Driver Software Installation: This is to be expected on a new build and does not indicate any real problem that isn’t solved by installing some drivers.

Internet Explorer: IE7 has crashed on me 3 times in everyday use. Now he have multiple tabs in IE this is even more of an annoyance.

Windows: Blue screened once, coming out of sleep mode.

Windows Explorer: Stop responding.

Summary for the Dell XPS M1210 used over 20 days

So basically Windows Vista SP1 has caused a problem that effected the user 5 times in 20 days. (3 x IE, 1 x Windows and 1 x Windows Explorer). The most serious of these being the blue screen.

Next machine: Dell Latitude D630

This machine shipped with Windows Vista Business, I then downgraded to XP and reasons too complicated to explain decided to re-install Windows Vista SP1 in a clean install for testing.

This machine has only blue screened once (one is too many), A couple of days after the build I turned it on, it blue screened and rebooted. The problem hasn’t reoccurred but the machine is out on loan  at the moment so I don’t have access to the Problems and Solutions Log.

Next Machine: Dell Optiplex GX 755 

This machine gets used about an hour a day and has been running Windows Vista Business for about 40 days (so the usability is 40 hours). Firefox is its main Internet browser. To date this machine hasn’t encountered  a single problem.

Overall Summary – Are we there yet?

No.

Windows Vista SP1 is way, way better but based on my own usage testing Vista is still not ready for prime time. 

Obviously my results might be skewed by the choice of hardware (all Dell) and the limited number of machines and time I have to test.

The truth is I am testing for myself as I am the one providing Director level support. I just don’t want the phone call “Hey I just plugged into a projector and it blue screened on me” or “I just lost an afternoons work due to a crash”.

What next?

Try this experiment again in 3 months there should be a bunch of post SP1 drivers around and SP1 factory installed hardware.

Stage1: This is what it looks like when DHCP is turned on, the Default Gateway should be blank (it isn’t) The address is correct for my site so it works.

Stage 2: Then  I enter my Manual IP addresses settings and click ok.

Stage 3: Now I cant route traffic to my router/default gateway, so I check the settings again and find the previous Default Gateway setting has been lost.

Stage 4: I have to manually enter in the Default Gateway again, this time the setting is retained.

This happens consistently every time. The connection is wireless.

This is more of an annoyance than a real problem but if this happens to someone with little network experience this would likely trip them up.

I had another Windows Vista SP1 issue, it was sort of my fault, I removed a USB device without using the safely remove hardware icon  in the taskbar.

Windows 2000 used to gracefully give you a message when you removed USB devices but my  Windows Vista ultimate SP1 laptop just blue screened and rebooted.

Boot times are painfully slow and this is on a machine with a Core 2 Duo 2.0Ghz, 7200 RPM hard disk and 2gig of ram and only core applications like Office and Anti-Virus installed.

A couple of positive things.

1) Microsoft are offering free technical support to customers with SP1 issues. the number in the US is toll-free and is (866)-234-6020, I will try and locate the UK equivalent.

2) Windows Vista SP1 has made some changes to Remote Desktop that are nice. Nice for anyone who uses Remote Desktop/Terminal Services as much as I do.

When I get a spare couple of hours I am going to install Windows Vista on another machine in a clean install, as I don’t seem to be any more stable now that I was pre SP1.

Well I took the plunge, I backed up my laptop and and installed Windows Vista SP1 on my Dell XPS M1210 running Windows Vista Ultimate (32 Bit).

The entire install took about 70 minutes in total and about 40 minutes into the process I get a Blue Screen of Death the faulting file was ks.sys The laptop automatically rebooted and continued the service pack install.

ks.sys is associated with video and kernel streaming, but beyond that I am not really sure how significant the error is.

All I can tell you you is a blue screen isn’t the best start in life for Windows Vista SP1.

Thankfully the rest of the install completed without a hitch.

I have installed Windows Vista SP1 on my main computer so I am going to find out pretty quickly how stable Windows Vista SP1 is. Bookmark the link at the bottom of the post for future SP1 Coverage

The first good news is the file copy bug seems to be fixed and accurate times now show when coping files.

Before SP1

After SP1

The install required several reboots, the onscreen indicator gave me a good sense of what was going on. Example Stage 3 of 3 70% complete.

Screen shots from the install

Summary.

I would have a lot more confidence in Windows Vista SP1 if it didn’t blue screen on me. So I am holding back from recommending people install Windows Vista SP1 at least for several weeks. Lets see some other anecdotal evidence of the success or failure of the in place upgrade.

So now the real testing begins by actually using it.

Link: View all posts in Windows Vista SP1

Sample data taken from Steam (Sample Size 1,331,330 13-11-2007 to  28-02-2008)

This survey is pretty much consumer PC’s, Gamers in-fact.

A class of user usually known for having having high performance computers and latest in  PC technology.

So Windows Vista is running at about 16.5%, Ouch, with this crowd it should have been 25-30% at least.

The corporate/business numbers for Windows Vista vista must be considerably lower. I’m guessing 5 to 7 percent.

Take this week for example. I have deployed 5 desktop PC’s and 2 Laptops all running Windows XP Pro. Happily I might add.

Microsoft may shout “hey we sold 100m vista licenses” but its still a drop in the ocean comparatively speaking.

I wish Windows Vista SP1 would hurry up, it was supposed to be public in February but a last minute problem delayed its release.

Bookmark the link below if you want to read my future Windows Vista SP1 stuff. Things like my deployment experience and what I think about it.

The biggest questions of all is it ready to deploy commercially?

Link: View all posts filed under Windows Vista SP1

The default behaviour after you install Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is to visit the link show in the above image. http://runonce.msn.com/runonce2.aspx

But what if as in this case the site is down or experiencing problems?

Every time I open IE7 on a machine I have just reinstalled Windows XP on it keeps trying to get to the same page and it cant.

At first I got Server is too busy.

Then just the error page as shown below.

But what can you do if you are stuck in the IE7 first run loop.

Well on the Microsoft support link below they tell you to copy and paste a registry command into notepad and save the document with a .reg extension, then you run the reg file to import it directly into the Windows Registry.

That seems to work however I suppose the real question is why on earth do we have to visit the runonce link in the first place.

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945385

Please note the following observations are based on my own usage scenarios.

Microsoft Windows is a bit like a car, it starts off running well but 50,000 miles down the road and it begins to creak a bit.

At a recent event Microsoft announced that they have sold 100m Windows Vista licenses.

My own Windows Vista Ultimate install is just one year old this month.

Current Niggles

1) Cant print locally to a shared resource by IP Address, but can on UNC path.

2) When moving between my own Wired and Wireless network my pop3 e-mail will sometimes fail to connect. Although all my other Internet access works. So basically traffic on a port.

3) My Num-Lock key seems to come on at every opportunity.

4) The Remote Desktop Connection Credentials box can take about 40 seconds to appear. This is very frustrating when you are in a rush to help a client.

5) General performance seems sluggish. Those Hundreds of Windows Updates can’t be helping.

6) VPN connections sometime fail to connect for no discernable reason. I can jump on a Windows XP machine and connect in right away.

7) Copying files across the network is very slow. This is a well known problem.

The Promise of Windows Vista Ultimate Extras was just that a promise and an undelivered one.

9) In the real world no one uses Flip-3D after the first couple of days.

Windows Vista Observations

Power is everything. I thought my Core2Duo 2.0Ghz 2gig of Ram machine was powerful. However when I recently used Vista Ultimate on a Core2Duo 2.4Ghz it did run much smoother (naturally).

The advice here is buy a machine with plenty of power with a good video card.

For the past year I have running two computers: Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista Ultimate side by side and I am of the opinion I would have been more productive running Windows XP.

Looking to the future

I am looking forward to rebuilding my Windows Vista Ultimate machine with Service Pack 1 in the hope of a more reliable and better user experience.

If I can’t make my own Vista install run smooth what hope do my clients and end users have.

Summary

A lot of what is wrong with Vista can be classed as an annoyance. Things that used to work in earlier versions of Windows now don’t (reliably). A slightly less demanding user will have a much better experience but the fact remains this isn’t good enough.