Vista problems? . . .It is not your fault!

Well, the Vista support issues have started rolling in. We expected that there would be an adjustment period as users learned their way around the new interface and then weeded out hardware and software that was incompatible. No surprises there.

The problem is that computers have a way of making people feel stupid. We are programmed to accept that things just work. Turn the car key it works. If it doesn't work the car is broken. We apply that mentality to most of the items in our life. The TV, the dryer the clock radio; if it doesn't work as expected, if it doesn't work like advertised we know it has failed and we either call a repairman or we ask for our money back.

Why do we give computers, specifically software, such a free ride? How can software be sold with a label that says, "if this doesn't do what we say is does, if you are not happy, or if it breaks other stuff, you are stuck with it?" You can't just take it back to Staples and get something else.

This should have consumers marching in the street. We should be boycotting companies and forcing accountability. Instead what do we do? We automatically assume that if it doesn't work, we have done something wrong. We are not smart enough, or skilled enough to make it work. We think that because they are COMPUTERS they are somehow right and we are wrong.

Granted, people do make mistakes, people do break things. (But that is another post.) The problem is that people will try to figure out what they did wrong, or not hold the manufacturer accountable assuming that it is our own incompetence that is keeping it from performing as advertised.

Computers are incredibly complex, but so are cars, and HVAC systems and microwave ovens. If you are going to sell them wedged between the copy paper and the three hole punches then you really have an obligation to make them work as simply as everything else.

So here is the point of this post. Each day that goes by we are discovering more and more "issues" with Vista that should never have made it out the door. They should be cause for a nationwide recall or actions by Attorney's General for deceptive practices. But once again people assume that THEY are at fault and the software gets a free pass.

Here is one glaring example. There is a bug, (feature?) of Vista that prevents it from connecting to some networks. Some routers and wireless networks it just won't connect to. Just won't do it. You can take your Vista laptop to a cafe and try to jump on the wireless and it just won't do it. Until we figured out that it was Vista and not our networks we assumed that we were doing something wrong.

The moral of the story is this. Don't beat yourself up. If you can't get it to work as advertised, you may not be able to get it to work as advertised. There may be a patch, or a setting or something that you don't know about and we have to dig for to make it do what it was supposed to do right out of the box. With Vista, we keep finding these everyday. I am sure that eventually Microsoft will find and close all the holes and patch all the bugs but until then just remember that 9 times out of 10. . it is not your fault!

Here the Microsoft article on Vista not connecting to some networks. Though I have reports from the field that this patch doesn't always solve the problem.