1 00:00:01,460 --> 00:00:10,640 Few things strike fear, or perhaps loathing, into the hearts of PC enthusiasts more than 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:15,930 the words Windows Vista. 3 00:00:15,930 --> 00:00:26,370 That operating system's notoriety as a buggy, slow, bloated mess reaches far and wide, even 4 00:00:26,370 --> 00:00:31,390 to the land of the Apple faithful Vista was aboard. 5 00:00:31,390 --> 00:00:34,930 Its successor, Windows 7, adored. 6 00:00:34,930 --> 00:00:40,310 But was Vista's heart truly evil, or simply misunderstood? 7 00:00:40,310 --> 00:00:46,140 Pushed out into a world that wasn't ready, one can say. 8 00:00:46,140 --> 00:00:54,410 It is a terrible tale, but perhaps its telling may reveal new secrets. 9 00:00:54,410 --> 00:00:58,290 After this word from our sponsor. 10 00:00:58,290 --> 00:01:02,450 Memory Express is the go-to place for your electronic needs and services in Canada, and 11 00:01:02,450 --> 00:01:03,450 they're opening a new store in Victoria, Canada. 12 00:01:03,450 --> 00:01:03,490 And they're opening a new store in Victoria, Canada. 13 00:01:03,890 --> 00:01:04,890 And they're opening a new store in Victoria, Canada. 14 00:01:04,890 --> 00:01:18,120 They're hiring for all positions, so check them out at the link in the video description. 15 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:22,600 So I was reading a post written by Glassbomb on our forum, and it inspired a fairly lively 16 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,240 debate in our weekly writers' meeting. 17 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,280 Was Windows Vista really that bad? 18 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:30,940 You ask a dozen people, you'll get a dozen different answers. 19 00:01:30,940 --> 00:01:35,740 The one thing we all agreed on, though, was that to answer the question fairly, we would 20 00:01:35,740 --> 00:01:40,820 have to get our hands on an ISO and actually install it on a system. 21 00:01:40,820 --> 00:01:41,740 And we chose the 145. 22 00:01:41,740 --> 00:01:46,680 Usesonerongo is a $450 gaming PC, that Riley and I put together. 23 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:48,120 Mostly because it's from 2007. 24 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,340 The year that Windows Vista launched. 25 00:01:50,340 --> 00:01:52,410 And, how is it? 26 00:01:52,410 --> 00:01:59,120 Well, surprisingly, it works pretty well. 27 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:08,820 There's some GPV mobilised programming, but it tasks for jail i assume. 28 00:02:08,820 --> 00:02:09,860 The fixing process is not as high end. 29 00:02:09,860 --> 00:02:10,860 The software doesn't work that well either. 30 00:02:10,860 --> 00:02:11,860 Both systems are a sticky bit. 31 00:02:11,900 --> 00:02:14,060 exactly like Windows 7. 32 00:02:14,060 --> 00:02:18,380 So how is it different then from Windows 7? 33 00:02:18,380 --> 00:02:20,120 And what's so bad about it? 34 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,580 Well, the answer requires some history. 35 00:02:22,580 --> 00:02:24,920 Development of Windows Longhorn, 36 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:27,460 actually named after the Longhorn Saloon and Grill 37 00:02:27,460 --> 00:02:29,500 in Whistler, BC, represent, 38 00:02:29,500 --> 00:02:33,540 began in 2001, the year that Windows XP was launched. 39 00:02:33,540 --> 00:02:37,640 Longhorn was supposed to launch in 2003, 40 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:39,440 but a number of issues during development 41 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:41,540 left Microsoft conflicted 42 00:02:41,540 --> 00:02:43,400 about which features to include 43 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:44,920 in the new operating system 44 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,780 and which ones to add to Windows XP and Windows Server. 45 00:02:48,780 --> 00:02:51,800 Things got so complicated that in 2004, 46 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,660 development was effectively reset 47 00:02:54,660 --> 00:02:56,180 as team leaders changed 48 00:02:56,180 --> 00:02:59,780 and much of the code was scrapped and repurposed. 49 00:02:59,780 --> 00:03:01,880 This was also when Longhorn's product name 50 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:03,760 was finalized to Vista 51 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:08,340 with a tagline of clear, confident, and connected, 52 00:03:08,340 --> 00:03:11,380 none of which had described Vista's development so far. 53 00:03:11,380 --> 00:03:13,240 Perhaps they were trying to ask the universe 54 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,480 to throw them a freaking bone. 55 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,200 There's actually a lot more I could say 56 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,180 about the development, but frankly, 57 00:03:19,180 --> 00:03:20,760 we could make a whole video about that. 58 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,940 So let's just leave it at the launch was delayed 59 00:03:23,940 --> 00:03:26,620 a few more times, bones were not thrown. 60 00:03:26,620 --> 00:03:29,880 And then finally, on January 30th, 2007, 61 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,360 Vista made its public debut. 62 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,040 And that's really when the excrement 63 00:03:34,040 --> 00:03:36,520 hit the air circulation unit, so to speak. 64 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:40,640 You see, Vista had a ton of new tricks up its sleeve, 65 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,860 including the graphics intensive arrow UI 66 00:03:43,860 --> 00:03:46,060 with translucency effects 67 00:03:46,060 --> 00:03:48,500 and elements of the Windows backend 68 00:03:48,500 --> 00:03:51,400 that had been completely redone. 69 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:53,900 So the hardware requirements were higher 70 00:03:53,900 --> 00:03:56,040 than probably anyone expected, 71 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:57,440 which meant that at launch, 72 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:02,440 Vista was slower than its predecessor on equivalent hardware. 73 00:04:02,900 --> 00:04:07,900 So users accused Microsoft of packing the OS full of bloat 74 00:04:08,020 --> 00:04:10,520 as part of a conspiracy to force them 75 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,580 to upgrade their computers. 76 00:04:12,580 --> 00:04:14,240 Not that that would necessarily lead 77 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,080 to a better experience anyway. 78 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:20,080 Making its own foot more full of bullet holes than necessary, 79 00:04:20,080 --> 00:04:24,500 Microsoft allowed many prebuilt PCs, brand new ones mind you, 80 00:04:24,500 --> 00:04:27,280 to be sold with Vista capable branding 81 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:29,520 on the front that they created. 82 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:32,440 But these PCs only met the requirements 83 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,440 for Vista Home Basic, the second of these six different 84 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,140 and very confusing editions 85 00:04:40,140 --> 00:04:41,960 of this software that existed. 86 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,640 And because of this particular misstep, 87 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:48,120 Microsoft actually got served a class action lawsuit 88 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,120 for misleading marketing. 89 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:51,980 On top of everything so far, 90 00:04:51,980 --> 00:04:54,760 many component and peripheral vendors 91 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:58,020 didn't release updated drivers for Vista 92 00:04:58,020 --> 00:05:00,360 for their older, or in some cases, 93 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,680 even their existing products. 94 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:04,800 So many users having experienced 95 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:06,960 the relatively seamless migrations 96 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,420 between various versions of Windows 9X 97 00:05:09,420 --> 00:05:13,420 or 2000 to XP, where drivers could in many cases 98 00:05:13,420 --> 00:05:15,960 be used interchangeably were outraged 99 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,460 when particularly their wireless cards 100 00:05:18,460 --> 00:05:22,180 and printers just didn't work anymore. 101 00:05:22,180 --> 00:05:24,720 As for the hardware components that did work, 102 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,700 well, because the drivers were so fundamentally different 103 00:05:28,700 --> 00:05:31,920 from the XP versions requiring extensive rewrites 104 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:35,200 in many cases, even key system components 105 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:38,860 from reputable vendors like graphics cards from NVIDIA 106 00:05:38,860 --> 00:05:42,100 were prone to causing whole system crashes. 107 00:05:42,100 --> 00:05:44,120 Even when it was running normally, 108 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:46,500 Vista managed to generate user ire too. 109 00:05:46,500 --> 00:05:48,820 While the new user account control feature, 110 00:05:48,820 --> 00:05:52,360 which prompted users for permissions to run programs 111 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:54,940 and change settings was a great step forward 112 00:05:54,940 --> 00:05:58,620 for system security, it appeared far too often 113 00:05:58,620 --> 00:06:01,220 and took control of the entire Windows interface 114 00:06:01,220 --> 00:06:02,760 until it could be dismissed. 115 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,720 Annoying and confusing regular end users 116 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:08,640 who just wanted the annoying pop-ups to stop, 117 00:06:08,860 --> 00:06:10,860 they could get their work done. 118 00:06:10,860 --> 00:06:12,760 And this is only a fraction of the complaints. 119 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,140 It truly was a horrible launch. 120 00:06:15,140 --> 00:06:17,520 And you could argue that it directly resulted 121 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,020 in Apple increasing their OS 10 market share 122 00:06:20,020 --> 00:06:24,200 thanks to their wildly successful Mac versus PC commercials. 123 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,080 Now, some of the issues were addressed 124 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:27,880 in Service Pack 1 for Vista, 125 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,320 which launched a year later in 2008. 126 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:32,980 But you know what else launched in 2008? 127 00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:35,560 Service Pack 3 for Windows XP, 128 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,680 which understandably left users confused 129 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:43,120 about whether they should upgrade or just stick with XP. 130 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,160 April 2009 then saw the release of Service Pack 2 for Vista, 131 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:49,120 which addressed even more issues. 132 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:51,620 But by then, we were five months away 133 00:06:51,620 --> 00:06:54,560 from everyone's favorite OS, Windows 7, 134 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,160 which whether you want to admit it or not, 135 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,440 is very similar to Windows Vista. 136 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,720 With many of the improvements in performance 137 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:04,960 and driver compatibility coming about 138 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,500 simply because hardware in 2009 was better, 139 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:08,440 and the software was better. 140 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:12,000 And driver developers had gained a lot of experience 141 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:13,800 working with Windows Vista. 142 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,840 And 7, which were far more similar under the hood 143 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,080 than XP and Vista were. 144 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:21,440 Because like it or not, in some cases, 145 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,940 Vista wasn't bad as much as it was misunderstood, 146 00:07:25,940 --> 00:07:27,700 and maybe a little ahead of its time. 147 00:07:27,700 --> 00:07:30,260 It was the beginning of a lot of really good stuff 148 00:07:30,260 --> 00:07:31,940 that we take for granted today. 149 00:07:31,940 --> 00:07:34,740 For example, its all new memory management model 150 00:07:34,740 --> 00:07:36,920 used free RAM to load frequently used programs and files, 151 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:38,100 and it was the beginning of a lot of really good stuff 152 00:07:38,100 --> 00:07:41,620 and files in the background to smooth out operation. 153 00:07:41,620 --> 00:07:43,340 Users didn't understand this. 154 00:07:43,340 --> 00:07:45,880 They just thought that Windows was hogging up 155 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,260 all of their RAM for no apparent reason. 156 00:07:48,260 --> 00:07:51,260 And arguably, Microsoft could have done a better job 157 00:07:51,260 --> 00:07:52,660 of representing this. 158 00:07:52,660 --> 00:07:55,980 As for Windows Aero with its cool translucency effects, 159 00:07:55,980 --> 00:07:58,380 well, it ran on the system's GPU. 160 00:07:58,380 --> 00:08:01,040 So if you had a discrete graphics card, 161 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:02,860 and you weren't experiencing crashes, 162 00:08:02,860 --> 00:08:05,480 which not everyone did, by the way, I didn't, 163 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:07,460 it ran very smoothly and looked so good. 164 00:08:07,460 --> 00:08:11,940 That going back to the old way with Windows XP 165 00:08:11,940 --> 00:08:13,840 felt like caveman stuff. 166 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,400 Fun fact, today, elements of Aero's translucent effects 167 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:19,280 can be seen in all sorts of other UIs 168 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,060 from Windows 10 to macOS to iOS. 169 00:08:22,060 --> 00:08:24,920 And as for the sidebar with its gadgets, 170 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,120 well, that looks pretty laughable 171 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,180 with our modern design sensibilities, 172 00:08:29,180 --> 00:08:31,400 but it was pretty trendy at the time. 173 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:34,940 Apple's OS 10 Tiger also had widget mini apps, 174 00:08:34,940 --> 00:08:37,080 although they were kept on the dashboard, not the desktop, 175 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,540 and live updating UI elements are now ubiquitous 176 00:08:41,540 --> 00:08:43,900 in modern OSs, including the live tiles 177 00:08:43,900 --> 00:08:45,280 in the Windows start menu. 178 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:47,140 So those were kind of cool, 179 00:08:47,140 --> 00:08:49,360 until a critical vulnerability was discovered 180 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:52,340 that could leave your PC open to hackers, oops. 181 00:08:52,340 --> 00:08:53,960 And guess what else Vista added? 182 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:55,880 Instant search from the taskbar, 183 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,760 built-in Windows Defender, built-in Windows Update, 184 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,040 user-friendly data backup, BitLocker drive encryption, 185 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,660 user account control, which in its modern, 186 00:09:04,660 --> 00:09:06,760 more refined form, is an essential part of Windows 10. 187 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:07,920 It also added Windows security, 188 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:10,480 and what's funny is that OS 10 these days, 189 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:13,480 or macOS, excuse me, has something pretty similar. 190 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,500 It also added DirectX 10 and games for Windows Live, 191 00:09:16,500 --> 00:09:19,840 which for all its faults, was one of the first ways 192 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,360 to enable gameplay between a console and a PC. 193 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:27,300 Not to mention the completely redesigned print, display, 194 00:09:27,300 --> 00:09:29,860 peer-to-peer networking, and audio subsystems 195 00:09:29,860 --> 00:09:33,840 that laid the foundation for Windows 7 and its successors. 196 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:35,240 Though I do have some issues 197 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:36,560 with the changes they made to audio 198 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:39,140 that effectively killed hardware-accelerated sound. 199 00:09:39,140 --> 00:09:41,520 That's kind of a separate note, though. 200 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:47,340 So, was Vista that bad? 201 00:09:47,340 --> 00:09:52,700 Yes, and also no, which together makes yo, 202 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,620 because yo, man, for real. 203 00:09:55,620 --> 00:09:58,160 For all its faults, and there were many, 204 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:01,420 Windows Vista was a huge, if wobbly step, 205 00:10:01,420 --> 00:10:02,700 in the right direction. 206 00:10:02,700 --> 00:10:06,000 And once it had settled in and received proper support, 207 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:07,800 users seemed to appreciate it. 208 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,120 In fact, in 2008, a few months 209 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,300 after releasing Vista Service Pack 1, 210 00:10:12,300 --> 00:10:16,100 Microsoft ran an ad campaign called the Mojave Experiment, 211 00:10:16,100 --> 00:10:18,060 in which they invited users to vent 212 00:10:18,060 --> 00:10:19,980 about how much they hated Vista, 213 00:10:19,980 --> 00:10:22,160 and then try out Windows Mojave, 214 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:23,820 the next version of Windows. 215 00:10:23,820 --> 00:10:26,180 And surprise, surprise, people actually loved it. 216 00:10:26,180 --> 00:10:30,020 And then cue the reveal, Mojave isn't Mojave, it's Vista. 217 00:10:30,020 --> 00:10:31,510 Really? 218 00:10:31,510 --> 00:10:32,970 Are you serious? 219 00:10:34,590 --> 00:10:36,150 This is Windows Vista. 220 00:10:36,150 --> 00:10:38,090 Now, were people's reactions cherry-picked, 221 00:10:38,090 --> 00:10:40,440 to only include the good ones? 222 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:42,200 Duh, of course. 223 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,620 But based on my experience running Vista from day one, 224 00:10:45,620 --> 00:10:47,980 on what was at the time a high-end system, 225 00:10:47,980 --> 00:10:50,000 I don't find it hard to believe at all 226 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,460 that some people genuinely liked it, 227 00:10:52,460 --> 00:10:54,140 or even really liked it. 228 00:10:54,140 --> 00:10:56,380 Its main issue, I think, is that by the time 229 00:10:56,380 --> 00:10:58,780 it had really gotten to the point where it was usable, 230 00:10:58,780 --> 00:11:00,700 Windows 7 was right around the corner, 231 00:11:00,700 --> 00:11:03,780 and Vista's reputation had been irreparably damaged. 232 00:11:03,780 --> 00:11:06,100 So despite the tech and feature advancements, 233 00:11:06,100 --> 00:11:08,300 Vista will, and should, 234 00:11:08,380 --> 00:11:10,520 continue to go down in history 235 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:13,240 as the worst Windows launch ever, 236 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:14,400 other than Windows ME. 237 00:11:15,820 --> 00:11:18,820 Just get colder in here. 238 00:11:18,820 --> 00:11:22,080 By the way, guys, just in case this story has convinced you 239 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,580 to try to install Vista and use it, 240 00:11:24,580 --> 00:11:26,600 perhaps out of pity, please don't. 241 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,640 Microsoft's support for the OS ended last year, 242 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,420 and while we were using it, 243 00:11:31,420 --> 00:11:34,580 like pretty much everything was covered in these like, 244 00:11:34,580 --> 00:11:37,540 scary, gigantic, end of support messages. 245 00:11:37,540 --> 00:11:40,500 So it's not a secure thing to do. 246 00:11:40,500 --> 00:11:42,560 If you're a small business owner or a freelancer, 247 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:46,060 FreshBooks is the accounting solution for you. 248 00:11:46,060 --> 00:11:48,380 It's a simple way to be more productive, 249 00:11:48,380 --> 00:11:51,100 more organized, and to get paid faster. 250 00:11:51,100 --> 00:11:53,760 So you're spending less of your time fussing over 251 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:57,780 your expenses and your accounts receivable, 252 00:11:57,780 --> 00:12:00,380 and more time actually doing your work. 253 00:12:00,380 --> 00:12:02,660 You can create and send professional looking invoices 254 00:12:02,660 --> 00:12:03,980 in less than 30 seconds. 255 00:12:03,980 --> 00:12:06,340 You can set up online payments in just a couple of clicks 256 00:12:06,340 --> 00:12:07,480 to get paid up to four days, 257 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:08,320 faster. 258 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:10,080 You can see when your client has seen your invoice 259 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:11,480 to put an end to the guessing games, 260 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:13,760 and you can take the whole experience with you on the go 261 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:16,640 with their fully featured iOS and Android apps. 262 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:18,540 For an unrestricted 30-day free trial, 263 00:12:18,540 --> 00:12:22,440 go to www.freshbooks.com forward slash tech tips. 264 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:23,900 We're gonna have that linked below, 265 00:12:23,900 --> 00:12:25,400 and enter Linus Tech Tips 266 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:27,260 in the how did you hear about us section. 267 00:12:27,260 --> 00:12:28,560 So thanks for watching, guys. 268 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:30,900 If you disliked this video, you can hit that button. 269 00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:34,790 But if you liked it because you love Windows Vista, 270 00:12:34,790 --> 00:12:36,150 hit the like button, get subscribed, 271 00:12:36,150 --> 00:12:37,770 or maybe consider checking out where to buy the stuff 272 00:12:37,770 --> 00:12:40,590 we featured at the link in the video description. 273 00:12:40,590 --> 00:12:41,850 Also down there is our merch store, 274 00:12:41,850 --> 00:12:43,390 which has cool shirts like this one, 275 00:12:43,390 --> 00:12:48,050 and our community forum, which you should totally join. 276 00:12:48,050 --> 00:12:50,930 Maybe it was a little bit of fondness.