OF ALL THE MYSTERIES IN THE UNIVERSE, THE MOST MYSTERIOUS OF ALL...

...is Windows Vista.

Dave,
I swear this personally happened to me, that it's an actual message from my actual computer.
Windows Vista did not expect, apparently, that a program could actually be successfully installed. (see attached)
'Brainy Jello'

Comments

[Edgar Greenberg]

OK, NOW humanity is doomed.

[Punkin Poo]

Actually, brainy, that IS an error, as programs are not programed to run successfully. You have a "rogue" computer....run!

[Mike Antonucci]

Better get Chloe to open a socket.

[daisymae]

...but...but...I don't *get* it...

[Annie Where-but-here]

The operation was a success.
The patient died.

[PJ the Barbarian]

see, but it was the WRONG OPERATION!

Like when you go to the doctor to have your tonsils out and he successfully implants a pacemaker. That's an error, too.

[Annie Where-but-here]

PJ - not if he implants it successfully. He can't help it if you don't need a pacemaker.

[Annie Where-but-here]

Did I mention I'm writing this on a Vista system?

h e l p m e .

[The Dread Pirate Chris]

Eradicate the Windows™ virus.
Use Linux.
Problem solved.

[judi]

i'm shopping for a laptop, but all the dells have the evil VISTA on them now and i refuse to pay money for that cr**. any suggestions?

[blurk]

judi,
Have one custom built. Put whatever ya want on it.

[jon]

Judi... Dell now sells desktops & laptops with Linux on them....
=)

[KOW]

Judi: depends on how adventurous you are. You can try Linux, I hear ubuntu is nice.

Also, check with the purchasers as to what version of Vista is on it. I think that Business and ultimate, they are givine people a a recovery CD that allows you to install XP on it. But this is not the case for Home, Premium and Basic users.

Or buy your own copy of Windows XP if you can find it and format that bad boy yourself.

I must say though that the latest Windows makes me want to break out a typewriter and an abacus.

[jon]

And make sure you get a large hard drive, Judi.
Because size really does matter ;-)

[KOW]

and by 'givine' I of course mean 'giving.'

[jon]

KOW,
I hear that Judi loves formatting bad boys, if ya know what I mean!

[David Gian-Cursio]

My University's class-registration system works the same way. Even when it works, it tells you in the form of a vaguely threatening error message. It makes it difficult to tell whether you've really signed up for a class or not.

[Mad Scientist Weasel]

Judi get a Macbook. Then install windows XP on it if you can't leave windows behind. You can have the best of both worlds.

[lilrascal]

Vista message creators

[Mr. Completely]

Judi,

So many problems have been reported by users about Vista that many retailers are no longer supporting Vista and offering their wares with XP installed instead. Call the vendor and ask if they can install XP - if they say no, go elsewhere.

Microsoft has released a new "block" of license keys for XP - meaning that MS itself is expecting more XP installs.

Do NOT install Vista until AT LEAST the second Service Pack is released. Maybe not even then.

Ubuntu (Linux) is nice, but there's a learning curve that many may not want to tackle, and many popular programs are not available for Linux. (To be fair, though, there are plenty of programs, like OpenOffice, that are designed for and work great with Linux.)

Hell, for that matter, I can build you a custom computer with whatever you want on it.

[lilrascal]

read carefully

[The Dread Pirate Chris]

If you want to play with Linux without losing the Windows™ virus that you paid through the nose for are already comfortable with, you can get a live distro. Drop the image on a CD, reboot and enjoy a problem-free computing experience.

[marytheblogkidsmom]

judi,

Speaking as someone who tries to know as little about computers as possible:

In the last four months, I have for my business/family purchased 2 Vista systems, followed up by 2 XP laptops to compensate for all the things the Vista systems can't quite do. (I got the XPs at a local computer store, but I think Dell is now selling them again because of a customer uprising.)

Our newest XP laptop, an HP, was a Vista that the computer store had reverted back to an XP. This way, the computer guy explained, it can easily be upgraded to Vista when/if the bugs are worked out.

Personally, I do most of my work on a Vista and really like 1) its much improved search capabilities, 2) Word 2007 and 3) the fact that I haven't had to have my 16-year-old fix something on it in over a week.

[Steve (The 24 Guy)]

Judi,

I bought an Acer laptop a couple of years ago from Circuit City, and it's worked well for me during that time. They might still sell it with XP. Just be sure you have enough memory in it (1 gig or more) when you buy it.

[lilrascal]

Install Vista 64 Ultimate or Business editions. Microsoft Virtual PC is free. Virtual PC allows the user to Install Win XP 'inside' Vista 64 Ultimate and allows the user to run your old xp software as an XP virual machine inside of Vista 64 Ultimate if need be. I would never go back to XP.

Never go back to XP

[jon]

A new computer is all well & good, but I hear that Judi works for some tight-wad miser who probably wouldn't put out the dough for a shiny new machine anyway ;-)
Local governments & universities regularly have auctions of all kinds of surplus items (and I hear that it's a great place to meet men, too)... .

[Brainy Jello]

Oooh! I'm a (late) contributor! The post cheered up my morning considerably.

[Siouxie]

LOL very funny, lilrascal!

[Mr. Sadist]

judi, if you buy a MAC, then you can install Windows Vista and Ubuntu on it. You'll experience the joys and exhilaration of having all three operating systems. You'll never feel so free. Heh heh.

[CJrun]

That seems to about cover it, except for the MacBook part of it. The MacBook comes with an evaluation copy of Microsoft Office, good for 30-days, but it also comes with something pretty cool called "WorksWithWindows." I have struggled trying to help my brother with his new MacBook, then discovered that little gem for using Windows documents and spreadsheets.

[Punkin Poo]

*finishes chiseling stone tablet to send to judi*

[Suzy Q]

judi, I've heard from many people: Once you go MAC, you never go back!

[lilrascal]

I built this in Apri. I've been building computers for a long time. Guitars, Cadillacs, Hillbilly Muusic and computers. Waiting for Penryn to be released.

Q6600
ASUS P5B-Deluxe
G. Skill PC6400 4GB 4-4-4-12
EVGA 7900GTO 512 MB
WD 150 SATA RAPTOR Vista HP 32
WD 74 SATA RAPTOR Windows XP PRO
WD 250 SATA storage
ASUS DVD-ROM
ASUS DVD-RW Lightscribe
Thermaltake 700 watt quad 12v rail PSU
Thermaltake Mozart tower
Thermaltake media Lab Led Remote control
Zalman 9500 Led HSF
Audigy 2 Soundblaster
Boston Acoustics
Pinnacle Studio 9 PCI
Slingbox Pro Digital Sattelite
BenQ 22” LCD

Vista Experience rating is 5.9.

[Siouxie]

Mac.

UGH.

[fivver]

Huh, maybe that's my problem. Instead of WD74, I used WD40.

[Brainy Jello]

"Vista Experience rating is 5.9."

Unfortunately, the scale goes from 0 to 100.

[Siouxie]

VERY impressive! um..but does it have "spell check"???

*sends the extra 'l' to lilrascal*

[lilrascal]

Screen shot of my Vista desktop

[Annie Where-but-here]

Yay, Brainy!
Suzy Q- they're talkin' kilted MACs.
Vista is just different - I honestly don't have any problems with it. Some people are skeered of change. They are obviously on the wrong planet.

[The Geek Squad]

All your operating systems are belong to us.

[lilrascal]

Thanks. Sorry about the spelling errors. It makes appear more comical you have to admit.

[lilrascal]

'me' (embarrassment never mattered before?)

[Me6)ie the Blu+]

    V
   i       ?
s             s   m
   t               e  l
      a           b
                o
              r      p

[Siouxie]

Meanie's showing off again.

what's smelborp?

[Cheryl Howard]

True story. I have a brand new Toshiba notebook to replace my current (alas, but verrrrrrrry slooooow) Toshiba Notebook. The new computer has Vista. Nothing works. Nothing will transfer over. I started to sound and awful lot like I had Tourettes, which is a bad thing when one has small children present. So the new computer is in a drawer-where it may remain indefinately.

[trillian]

what's smelborp?
try reading backwards

[Siouxie]

I was joking, trillian. I knew it spelled out Vista problems? ;-)

[Meanie the Blue]

gnidaer?

Sorry, I'm confused.....

;)

[DimWitte]

The only problem I've had with Vista so far is that DreamWeaver is not compatible with it, so I had to switch back to FrontPage. I hate all those friendly little Microsoft programs that assume the user is an eedjit.

[Richard the Weasel-Hearted]

I just love FrontPage! Looking at the source for pages it produces is good for hours of sheer hilarity.

[Federal Duck]

My DataBooger 9000(tm) seems to accept Vista, except when I type the word "foment" $%3fo!.,m.,409
dkasjs9p8W$@#%0 9a
error )A$"@#$lasi03

[Eleanor]

Congrats, Brainy!

judi, stay away from Vista. Look how weird lilrascals posts are posting. ;)

[daisymae]

snork @ fivver's WD40

(daisy who tries to remember as little as possible about how to do anything on her sonyvaio laptop, including how to turn it on)

[Kathybear]

I got Vista free for playing hours of word games at Live Search - not as many hours as are necessary now, but it took a while. I got Vista Ultimate and wouldn't go back to XP. Linux looks too much like Mac stuff which I find repulsive. It's a good system, judi - ya just gotta get used to it.

[Marty Fried]

Much as I think Vista should be avoided for now, this is not Vista's fault (sorry, I have to insert this serious note) The program that was installing (Apache), asked Vista to put up the dialog, and told it what to say, and told it to use an error dialog, rather than an informational dialog. Vista was simply following directions, as it should.

If it ran on XP, it would be the same dialog, but just a different "skin".

If it didn't display that dialog, it would be a bug.

[Annie Where-but-here]

daisy - that's exactly what I have...with Vista running. And I love it. (But it made me type that.)

[rahnia]

I use an Apple MAC computer at home, and a Dell VISTA running machine at work. I much prefer the computer at home, because it always works. That said, there are some things that you need windows to do...those things are decreasing because with new intel nativity, most software providers are starting to gear their programming towards that. But I hope to have a new Mac coming into my home soon, the kind that runs both systems.

[Guin]

You can still order a Dell with Windows XP.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/winxp_inspn?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=anavml

[Wavey]

I refuse to upgrade to Vista until I can see a true reason for spending $200 to $400 dollars on an OS that offers nothing much more than better eye candy and some altogether unnecessary new features. Along with less stability and more demands on hardware in order to run the same programs. Not even close to being worth it, in my opinion.

Meanwhile, the quad-core Mac Pro is looking darn good to me. (And yes, it's Mac, not MAC, since MAC is an acronym for Media Access Control.) It seems to me that OSX has currently got its act together infinitely more than Vista -- but even so, if I'd want to run XP, Vista, or even Linux on my Mac box, I could simultaneously run those and OSX using Parallels. Or I could boot natively into them using Boot Camp. Sounds good to me, and I'm traditionally a Win PC guy.

[Tim]

You have to pay extra for a dell with linux. Yes, you are paying extra money to exchange something expensive with something free. Though thats better than paying extra money just to have a fruit on your laptop.