Consumers and businesses have had all kinds of problems with Vista, and in a panic, all they want to do is go back to XP. Some of the reaction and fear is irrational, but some is a rational reaction to disruptive change, according to InfoWorld on Tuesday.
Part of the problem, according to Galen Gruman at IW was that Microsoftis over ambitious need to replace XP and tout the success of Vista was too rushed and violated basic human nature - resistance to change. A petition has been circulating asking Microsoft to continue selling XP along side Vista beyond the original December 31, 2007 cutoff date. Microsoft has relented, after 75,000 signatures, and the new date is now June 30.
Another reason for the distaste for Vista is due to how IT managers think of an operating system. They start to identify with an OS as part of what they do every day. "When technology becomes part of you, you donit want people to mess with it," said Burton Group executive strategist Ken Anderson.
Another factor is that senior executives get sold on the advantages of a new OS like Vista, but the hands on people have to suffer through the forced migration. Michael Silver, a research vice president at Gartner agreed that Microsoft was overzealous in its desire to replace XP rapidly.
Of course, there have been Windows migrations in the past, but none were so dramatic. Mr. Silver characterized the change from Windows 2000 to XP as "straightforward."
Some users are so averse to the pain of a new OS that theyire thinking of waiting for Windows 7, scheduled for the 2009-11 period.
When people are forced to change too fast, a variety of emotions come out, and not all the feelings are based on the technical elements of an OS. "Right now I have a laptop with crap Vista and Iim going to downgrade to XP because Vista sucks," one reader wrote to InfoWorld.