64-bit Windows Vista A Largely Empty Promise

For the last several months I have been using a laptop computer designed for Microsoft's new top-of-the line operating system, Windows Ultimate 64-bit. I have actually ended up using the system more than first planned because of a concurrent hardware failure in a Windows XP laptop.

Doing so has given me more of a taste of Vista than I first imagined, and as a long-time Microsoft Partner, I wish I could say the news is better. In all fairness, it is not.

When Microsoft launched Vista almost one year ago, expectations were high that PC users were about to enter a world of vastly improved multi-tasking, multimedia, security, and computer performance.

The unfortunate reality is that Vista has mostly failed to deliver on all of those fronts, with 64-bit computing and all it promises largely left behind, while Microsoft pushed forward an operating system that failed to capitalize on nearly every advantage originally touted.

I spoke with Microsoft representatives in Redmond several months ago about what the realities of 64-bit Vista in fact were, and then decided to give Vista 64 more of a chance than what my original conclusions had led me to believe.

The interim period has in fact only affirmed what I first concluded – that nearly all the promises of 64-bit computing, the original reason a switch to Vista made potential sense, have been left behind to be adopted at some unknown point years away in the practical future.

Let me be frank here – a viewing of the User Support Forums at any of the major PC manufacturer Web sites will show hundreds, if not thousands, of people desperately seeking Windows XP drivers for new machines in the hope of returning computers to a more usable state. The number of persons seeking help in this area borders on staggering.

The reality is that many new machines only have Vista drivers available, and users are scrambling to make systems work with older applications.

One PC tech in a major office supply store I spoke with reported a customer buying a new top-end desktop was incensed after being quoted a $300 charge to load XP onto his new machine, with no promises everything would in fact work properly after same.

Microsoft claims that the vast majority of Vista users are in fact very satisfied with their new computers. While that may be true for many basic users, more sophisticated users have often found Vista lacking.

What's more remarkable, and less reported, is the fact that, according to Microsoft, less than 1% of machines being sold at the retail level are loaded with 64-bit Vista.

Let me repeat that – less than 1%.

There is nothing inherently safer about 32-bit Windows Vista than 32-bit Windows XP. While Vista may do a better job of using more RAM, its touted Aero interface, especially when used with the Sidebar feature, is a tremendous resource gobbler in and of itself.

My experience with most users is that they are far more concerned with having a system that is usable, reliable, and easy to maintain than they are how pretty the interface might be. Microsoft lost the pretty interface crowd to Apple years ago, and Aero isn't about to bring Mac users back.

What Microsoft should have done, rather than spend a fortune touting Vista as the "next big thing", which it only can be in a true 64-bit environment, was to devote some of the gigantic marketing budget to providing developers incentives to write native 64-bit applications, and then sold users on the idea of truly enhanced performance, rather than a prettier shell.

What should have been the next major advancement in computer performance has instead become the latest, and by far the largest, empty promise in the recent history of personal computing.

Tom Meek is a computer and media consultant working with businesses and individuals on high-tech needs. Another Day In Cyberville is published weekly in print and online via The Gainesville Voice, a weekly publication of The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. You can reach Tom Meek at adayincyberville@gmail.com.