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Man Gets Windows Vista to Work with Printer

blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com — This headline looks like it came from The Onion, but it didn't. It's the real headline of an article posted on SeattlePI.com in the blogs section. The core of the story is that a man couldn't get his printer to work with Windows Vista, and ultimately, with the help of a Microsoft test manager, solved the problem warranting an article about it.

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  • Cryptocracy, on 08/17/2008, -11/+128it wasn't a wireless network printer, however...
    • theandy1, on 06/19/2008, -8/+29So should I feel lucky because my wireless network printer works with my vista machine?
      • inajeep, on 06/19/2008, -3/+45Yes, my MacBook Pro doesn't work with my wireless network printer.
        • MikeSD34, on 06/19/2008, -6/+3@inajeep
          Mine worked fine... Lexmark Z1420
        • etement, on 06/19/2008, -0/+5mine took hours to set up and works, but doesn't scan. Works with XP though.
        • diothar, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2What printer is it, inajeep? You'll find a lot of success using GIMP drivers, especially with HP printers.
        • zeabu, on 06/19/2008, -7/+2Obamaisanagger: Computer is still written with a c, as far as I know.
        • cojerk, on 06/19/2008, -1/+8zeabu: it's "keyboard and chair". There is no "computer" in the acronym.
        • Phatt138, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1inajeep, consider waiting when you're adding the printer for the HP (or whatev) network driver protocol to show up, rather than choosing the Bonjour name like you normally would. Bonjour in Leopard is having major issues with wireless printing.
        • TheReport, on 06/20/2008, -0/+4PC Load Letter? What the ***** does that mean?!!!
      • ElbertF, on 06/19/2008, -16/+9You should never feel lucky with Vista. :)
      • Dgen_X, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2I too can print wirelessly to a networked printer, with the vista

        I've never felt lucky before
    • telepheedian, on 06/19/2008, -2/+23Mine installed without and additional drivers, I just gave it the printer's network name, it found and installed it. Much better than XP, which required HP's bloatware drivers to make it work.
      • Tenoq, on 06/20/2008, -3/+1Required? No, it didn't, you just double-clicked on the 'uber-install-from-hell-for-n00bs' button. Extract the drivers, install as usual. Just like Vista actually, but you know the driver is going to work. :p
      • telepheedian, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Actually, I did do minimal installation under XP, the only option because HP packed it into some stupid installer rather than just giving me the stupid INF files.
    • humperdeath, on 06/19/2008, -0/+16I think he connected to MY printer, as I had recently been getting some strange prints coming out of my printer.
    • 4d669, on 06/19/2008, -1/+27It's amazing how hard it is for average people to install a ***** driver.
      • mrBitch, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Looks like Ubuntu is the "Halo effect OS" (similar to the iPod / iPhone Halo effect ).

        From the comments section of the linked article :
        " I said to heck with Microsoft and have been living happily ever since. I gave Vista my all. A REAL try. I WANTED to love it. The fact is, I didn't love it. I was more frustrated than ever and was not getting my WORK done. My computer time was spent figuring out all of the little issues, rather than being productive. I'm not a noob, and I'm not one of those "issue prone" folks. I didn't even have that many struggles with WinME, just a couple things I had to work around. Vista was fighting me every step of the way though. I couldn't work with it - I was feeling I was being stymied at every corner. Franky, I was getting more and more angry every time I had to sit down at the computer.

        So. I wiped it and installed Ubuntu. I was IMMEDIATELY productive. All of my peripherals were automatically detected, drivers were installed (even WiFi!), and I was able to do everything I was doing previously in Windows XP in about an hour. ONE HOUR! I was dumbfounded. Still am.

        So then I decided it was time to open my eyes. I'd been with Microsoft since DOS 2.00 and really never questioned the alternatives. So I bought a Macbook Pro (hey it'll run Windows if I get stuck, or I can always sell it because they don't seem to drop much in value). It was an eye opener -- it works as well as Ubuntu did, and it's "prettier" to boot.

        It was a pretty scary switch, but I'm so incredibly happy I've made the move away from Windows. Ubuntu on my desktop, Mac OS X on my laptop. I love them both, and I'm not going back. "
        • Justice101, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3Wow, ubuntu never works with my WiFi card :'(

          p.s. But besides that it's amazing!
        • CGA1, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2Same here, always the wifi card, especially if you want WPA.
        • 4d669, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2IF THE CARD DOES NOT WORK, INSTALL THE ***** DRIVER!
    • Nudar, on 06/19/2008, -3/+3I can't get my frigging Windows Vista computer to recognize my Windows XP on my network. I can still connect to the internet from it but I can't transfer files or connect to my printer so I have to email myself from Vista to XP to print.
      • J3Holaday, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I had a similar problem. You most likely need to change the user group on one or both machines. Also, make sure neither has a firewall running.
      • Gizza, on 06/20/2008, -0/+5IIRC the default workgroup on XP is MSHOME on Vista it is WORKGROUP, so you may want to look into that.
    • Archer007, on 06/19/2008, -0/+8This sounded like the Onion. When "real" news starts to sound like the Onion, be afraid.
    • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -0/+4"Here's what White figured out: When Mr. Walling bought his new Windows Vista machine, he initially used the installation disc that came with his Dell 942 All in One printer that he had been using with his previous PC. That disc was meant for Windows XP. The problem: Dell's printer driver for Windows XP did install on Windows Vista. But it didn't work. And it couldn't be easily removed."

      I've been saying ***** like this for ages. The problem here is Dell did a ***** job coding and packaging the 942 drivers. This happens, by the way, ALL THE TIME. HP drivers are notorious. If you know what you're doing you can either avoid or fix issues like this (for yourself or others), but for most people, the fault almost always seems to lie with the obvious choice: I upgraded to Vista, now my printer doesn't work.
    • harveywalbanger, on 06/20/2008, -3/+2ALWAYS DOWNLOAD THE LATEST DRIVERS MR WALLING!

      The fact that Microsoft had to hire a PR firm to 'leak' this story makes me smile inside. Money well spent (sarc)
  • militarycoup, on 06/18/2008, -17/+651He's only 20 years old.Problems with your computer really can stress you out and put years on you.
    • dynacrylic, on 06/19/2008, -33/+46Which is why a cutie like me uses Mac 10.5 and Ubuntu. I only age when I'm at work using XP; I stop "aging" when I get home.
      • meltingrobot, on 06/19/2008, -4/+43So... want to get together sometime and trade pubkeys? Seriously, girls that run Linux are too rare.
        • francis7, on 06/19/2008, -3/+37priceless nerd line... can use it sometime? :-)
        • Disease, on 06/19/2008, -0/+77This is why we can't have nice things.
        • intekra, on 06/19/2008, -1/+41Chicks that claim to be "cuties" are usually gross. Linux user or not, be careful out there!
        • Rizzler, on 06/19/2008, -1/+22Usually gross, or a dude.

          I'm a cutie, tbh
        • Tyrghast, on 06/19/2008, -11/+20Mac OS = a travesty on all accounts.
        • prophetpimp, on 06/19/2008, -11/+2am i the only one who read it as Transvestite?
        • Rammy912, on 06/20/2008, -1/+3Looks like it.
      • MrVeal, on 06/19/2008, -7/+15We need pics or you are still ugly.
      • jawagas, on 06/19/2008, -4/+1Haha, you could come up with a line of OS products that are Age-centric beauty treatments.
      • digitaldivinci, on 06/19/2008, -4/+10After you make that comment, you added a profile picture.

        I say to you: NO; would have been best to make people wonder...can't unsee..
      • m1zl3d, on 06/19/2008, -9/+10You guys are all jerks for making fun of her. Like any of you have a perfect body.

        I would MUCH rather date someone who wasn't as attractive but is smart and into computers, *nix, gaming, etc. You can keep the stuck up, rich and bitchy snobs who order you around. I'll take the down to earth and fun to hang out with girl.

        Jackasses, this is the very thing that turns females away from Digg...or any social news site for that matter.
        • zeabu, on 06/19/2008, -1/+8I can't see why there wouldn't exist smart AND beautiful girls...
        • dustout, on 06/19/2008, -2/+5I'd sooner date someone that is dumb but attractive
        • m1zl3d, on 06/19/2008, -2/+5@zeabu I'm not denying that. There are lots of smart and pretty girls but just because you think someone is an uggo you immediately have to make fun of her? You would think a lot of the diggers in this thread were in grade school.

          Grow up IMO.
        • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -1/+8All girls can be sexy. Not all girls know how.
        • specialK16, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Dugg for usage of uggo.
        • cheeselord, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1NO U WHITE KNIGHTING BASTARD
        • telepheedian, on 06/21/2008, -0/+2If you put a personal picture up on Digg, you automatically lose all rights to complain it got out.
      • Jack0Neill, on 06/20/2008, -9/+3A cutie like you? Which explains the dark picture. It's as though you're trying to hide the zits that cover your face. Anyone with a little Photoshop skill can brighten the picture to show all that acne.

        Honestly, you remind me of someone from the movies though. No joke. Let me see, who was it. Where's the picture... ...found it!
        http://www.movieprop.com/tvandmovie/reviews/spaceb ...
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQh60V48WI

        So I guess I set you up for a date huh? Judging from that YouTube clip, it'll be a hot one, maybe spicy too!

        Enjoy!
        • m1zl3d, on 06/20/2008, -3/+2Wow you are a douche bag.
        • Jack0Neill, on 06/29/2008, -0/+1So sorry you find the truth offensive, m1zl3d. You might want to stay indoors for the rest of your life, cancel your tv, Internet, newspaper and magazine subscriptions. :)
    • Lucas123, on 06/19/2008, -10/+2Yeah. I'll believe it when I see a video of it.
    • yodasama, on 06/19/2008, -13/+8Vista'll do that to you.

      Live longer and better, use Linux (it really doesn't suck).
      • bdbr, on 06/19/2008, -2/+23Give me a break. I've been using Linux for about a decade now, and while its stable and free, ease of use and peripheral compatibility are NOT its strong suits.

        (and no, I'm not using the same version I installed a decade ago)
        • Planets, on 06/19/2008, -0/+7"(and no, I'm not using the same version I installed a decade ago)"

          Wasn't even thinking that, but it gave me a good laugh. =)
        • earthforce1, on 06/19/2008, -2/+1Actually, it has gotten a *lot* better with every release.

          I was amazed that xsane on Ubuntu 8.04 detected my networked HP 3055 and everything just worked - printing and scanning. No special drivers to install.
          Between Windows getting worse (especially with Vista) and Linux getting better, I think as of now Linux has a slight edge on devices working out of the box.
          Granted, there have been a few problems with certain graphics cards and I hear of some hibernate problems with laptops, but I think that is comparable to some of the problems I hear about with Vista.
      • alpha88, on 06/20/2008, -3/+2You know that when describing the OS you use, and you feel the need to use the line "it really doesn't suck"....

        It sucks.
    • martin1981, on 06/19/2008, -8/+2That was the funniest comment I've seen in a long time. Thanks! :)
    • saisumimen, on 06/19/2008, -12/+4Vista gave me erectile dysfunction :(

      Also, it caused my wife to leave me. DON'T INSTALL IT!
      • DarkShroud, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1If my wife found gay and worse on my PC she'd leave me to.
    • tokyocrunch, on 06/19/2008, -6/+0Put your punchline at the end.
    • hitoshi, on 06/20/2008, -5/+2That was the first digg comment that ever made me literally laugh out loud. I salute you!
    • djholybolt, on 06/20/2008, -2/+2Dude, if anything a printer shouldn't stress you out or 'put years on you'.
      Believe me, I'm a printer techie and I deal with people all day with printer problems and the majority of them have such a sour attitude the second something goes wrong and start going on a blame game(most the time it's an ID 10 T error or Self-User Interface error). The issue is that people have no patience and expect too much.

      I'd also like to add that vista is the biggest P.O.S. I''ve encountered besides ME considering OS's and there's nothing but compatibility issues( Like uninstalling printer drivers for no good reason.. randomly!).
    • tulanian12, on 06/20/2008, -1/+0I see what you did there.
  • Fangsinmybeard, on 06/19/2008, -48/+11Gee, this windows Vista must be some kinda piece of crap. A poorly configured app that has barely-there-drivers. What is windows doing, trying to bankrupt all the IBM PC industry?
    • dpcamp, on 06/19/2008, -13/+11yes. because microsoft is the one who makes drivers for printers...
    • VoxRatio, on 06/19/2008, -4/+18In other news... still no cure for stupid.
    • bratterscain, on 06/19/2008, -2/+6No, teeth needed to be pulled. In an effort to increase default security in Windows, MS had to do something that was going to be initially painful to some users but in the long run, better from a security standpoint. And because MS is everyone's favorite whipping boy, blame gets put on MS because in some people's eyes, they can do no right.
    • theOster, on 06/19/2008, -0/+6isn't fangs being sarcastic?
    • jabberwolf, on 06/19/2008, -4/+8Its a simple driver -
      As for macs, about 80% of the hardware simply wont work with it because there are no drivers!

      But then mactards kinda flame anything they dont understand... which is alot!
      • DanMcGuinness, on 06/19/2008, -1/+3Hahahaha.... "Mactards".
      • PinkChicken, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1The difference being:
        When something says it'll work with a mac, it usually will.
    • goph, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2You do realize IBM sold off their PC division many years ago to Lenovo, right? idiot.
  • LilBambi, on 06/19/2008, -41/+1Yeah, just listen to Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie do their Internet Help Desk comedy bit.
    http://www.deadtrolls.com
    8 Months on an Internet Help Desk is like 25 yrs!
    LOL!
    • jabberwolf, on 06/19/2008, -2/+2Dealing with mactards only makes it seem like 25 years.
  • estvir, on 06/19/2008, -81/+580So.. people are Digging up a story about a printer that wasn't working 'cause someone installed the XP versions of the drivers?

    Wow, I mean, slow news day and the incessant, stupid hate many of you have for Microsoft but even for you fellows this is a bit pathetic.
    • Fartag, on 06/19/2008, -55/+14Hatred for Microsoft isn't blind and it's certainly not "stupid", it stems from a simple but deep ideological difference between these two groups:

      1) Those that primarily favor opportunistic gain even at the expense of everything else
      2) Those that primarily favor improving things even if harm is more profitable

      For those that shill for Microsoft, some may fall into category #1, but most don't seem to know the harm caused by MS over its history, or think the immediate benefit gained from Microsoft (providing for their families by Microsoft related jobs, etc.) is worth the high and long term cost to everybody else.
      • Dalrek, on 06/19/2008, -2/+16False dichotomies are awesome.
        • Fartag, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1Well it was certainly simplified, but I argue against it being a false dichotomy!
          I still think it's correct even in its simplified form, and would like to argue it here.

          Let me know which assertion(s) we disagree on here so we can get into supporting examples for it:

          1) Microsoft's history and influence has been counterproductive to software and other tech versus another hypothetical company in their place that _didn't_ utilize anti-competitive tactics as a monopoly (i.e. anti-competitive monopolies are harmful, especially to critical infrastructure)

          2) Microsoft has very often wielded anti-competitive influence on other technologies, companies, protocols and standards. e.g. embrace extend & extinguish competing soft tech, anti-intercompatibility, product tying, software bundling, and many other things.

          3) Microsoft OS division survives on vendor lock-in, DRM, closed source software and other forms that remove choice and control from the user

          4) by 1 & 2, Microsoft has presented themselves in a harmful fashion to competition,
          and including 3, there is a tendency to push for profit at the expense of users, open
          standards and other technology.

          Alright, so let's say you believe those assertions (or if not, then let's dive into those and we can to some actual evidential support for them), but if you do then we _finally_ get to the above post.

          The above post simplified is that hatred for MS isn't blind or stupid, and if the above assertions are true then there are a number of things to hate about Microsoft which isn't blind or stupid.

          The rest was a diatribe against Microsoft shills (who are plentiful on Digg -- Digg sadly chose MS for its ad provider, and there is a significant Microsoft defense league presence on Digg not found to this degree on many other sites to my knowledge like Slashdot or Reddit).

          I argue that the shills either do so not knowing MS's history, or they believe the short term gains overrides the costs to society. I believe after people educate themselves on the specifics then the _only_ remaining groups fall into categories #1 and #2 in the first post.

          Please let me know any points where we disagree though, and if I'm just spinning my wheels here!
      • tcpip4lyfe, on 06/20/2008, -3/+4Blah Blah Blah. Free market. Don't like it? Move to Cuba.
        • Fartag, on 06/20/2008, -3/+1Who lead you to believe the U.S. has a free market? This is a false presumption, and there are controls in place over unfettered market actions. There is _extreme_ harm that comes from any anti-competitive monopoly sitting atop critical infrastructure (in Microsoft's case software OSes and product tying to hardware among many other things).
        • SupaDawg, on 06/20/2008, -0/+4Product tying to hardware? Sounds like apple. Yaaaaay apple.
        • Fartag, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1@SupaDawg

          Absolutely! Except, Apple doesn't have a monopoly over any critical infrastructure (iPods probably don't count here, and iPhone isn't currently essential even though it's attemptedly tied to AT&T, etc) to my knowledge, so this is inherently far less harmful.

          (Disclaimer: I don't use any Apple products and would probably never voluntarily support them unless there were significant changes!)

          What's harmful is if the market is so skewed that support for a company is nearly guaranteed (e.g. product tied to majority of assembled machines on the market) while making barriers to entry difficult for even significantly superior products using _numerous_ anti-competitive tactics. That's the stuff that should piss everybody off because it affects everything technologically, pushing standards by force and forcing everybody else to work around every artificial roadblock thrown up, dealing with compatibility issues if they try to use anything else, etc.

          But if there are similar conditions I'd be out railing against Apple too, so I'd be interested to hear it!
    • Sirocco, on 06/19/2008, -28/+16Sure, and Microsoft BOB was a great product.
    • lekahe, on 06/19/2008, -23/+24The problem is that there are no drivers!!! I have not been able to print with my laser printer because the drivers will be updated sometime soon, whatever that is...
      I think this is hilarious!!!!
      • ender7074, on 06/19/2008, -14/+38Funny, every piece of PC equipment that I had on XP works no problem on Vista. And Im not the exception, Im the norm.
        • bigkeeperrabbit, on 06/19/2008, -1/+32Hi Norm!
        • billysmusic, on 06/19/2008, -16/+9Wow, you can speak for everyone? Can you then tell me how everyone feels about generalizations?
        • raydeen, on 06/19/2008, -2/+6"Hey Norm, how's the world been treating you?"
          "Like a baby treats a diaper."

          "What'd you like Normie?"
          "A reason to live. Give me another beer."

          "What's new Normie?"
          "Terrorists, Sam. They've taken over my stomach & they're demanding beer."

          "What's the story Norm?"
          "Boy meets beer. Boy drinks beer. Boy meets another beer."



      • dragonmantank, on 06/19/2008, -8/+72But wait, why is it Microsoft's fault that you don't have drivers for your printer? Microsoft gave hardware manufacturers plenty of time to come up with Vista-compatible drivers, and one of two things happened:

        1) The hardware manufacturer dropped the ball, plain and simple. They screwed up, but who cares since MS will be the one that gets blamed or

        2) It wasn't profitable to update the drivers. Why update drivers for free (which will net a negative profit by the time you pay a driver developer, have the website guys add it, and then pay bandwidth to serve it) when you can 'upsell' the customer to a better, newer printer with Vista drivers?

        I'm not one to go around touting Microsoft for how great they are, but in this case, they went above and beyond to help a customer because Dell/Lexmark screwed up.
        • sq2shooter, on 06/19/2008, -15/+2Because Microsoft did a ***** job of selling the printer manufacturers the idea to support their product. That is part of their job when marketing a new OS. So they horrifically failed to do this and the result is you have a bunch of printers with no drivers.
        • estvir, on 06/19/2008, -8/+1Microsoft could get by with saying NOTHING aside from "The next version of WINDOWS is coming out in ~ 3 years" and all hardware companies should RUSH to update their drivers.
        • dragonmantank, on 06/20/2008, -0/+9@sq2shooter:
          I don't think this is due to a 'marketing failure'. What printer company in their right mind would decide "You know what, let's not support Windows Vista. It's a flop, regardless of the fact that all new PCs will be shipping with it for the next two+ years whether we like it or not. I don't want Joe Sixpack to buy a new PC and have his stuff work. No!"

          The fact is that up until Vista a ton of drivers did things that they really shouldn't have. Does your printer driver really need hooks into the kernel? Not really. Is there any benefit to using that nifty undocumented API that your devs found just to get a slightly more intrusive print dialog? No. Does your printer driver really need to be 50+ megs just to print out a friggin' photo of a baby? Hell no.

          Developers of drivers up through XP had a ton of freedom on the system when they should have been more careful and more judicious over what they were doing. It's a printer, its primary job is to put text and graphics on a sheet of paper. The fact that printer manufacturers couldn't/wouldn't write drivers for Vista isn't a problem due to Vista, it's a problem with the devs who write the drivers based on idiotic specs designed by project managers who want everything to be flashy (Yes, I'm looking at you HP). A basic, simple driver will work perfectly. Hell, all the commercial drivers I've tested work great on Vista since that is all they are, drivers. None of this extra crap that comes along with low-end consumer printers.

          Now, just to cover all the bases, I completely understand the 2nd reason I gave in my original post. When you sell a printer for $25-$50 in the hopes that you will make it up on ink cartridges it's hard to justify spending the money on developing a new drivers for a printer that was developed and sold BEFORE Vista was nearing completion (I'll be generous and say that any printer greater than 1 year old from the date Vista RTMed). Any new printer that was coming out within a year of Vista's ship date should have worked and probably did, but they were the silent majority.
      • JayG25, on 06/19/2008, -6/+24Wouldnt that be your hardware makers fault and not M$ for not giving you drivers?
      • k7jeb, on 06/19/2008, -1/+6Yeah, but if he had been living in Hole-In-Wall Arizona, he'd still be looking for his lost Vista driver...
      • duckyinc, on 06/19/2008, -9/+2ASDF!! ROLFLMAO11!11!
    • trying2hide, on 06/19/2008, -20/+8Uhm that is because microsoft just sucks so much. I mean if everybody in the US ran their businesses like microsoft... this would be 70's era Russia.
      • dagamer34, on 06/19/2008, -3/+3Russia didn't exist in the 70s? O_o
      • Murdats, on 06/19/2008, -2/+2He would have so much more luck getting drivers for mac OS wouldnt he?

        try installing some non apple-god approved hardware and tell me that microsofts non-infinite driver support sucks.
      • awesomecleric, on 06/19/2008, -0/+0Based on the common cliche... we might thing say Microsoft would be better...

        In the US, Microsoft controls your products.

        In Soviet Russia, your products control Microsoft.
      • raydeen, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1In Soviet Russia, Printer installs you!
    • dood, on 06/19/2008, -5/+19I'm surprised this is something that wasn't caught in Vista testing. Surely they had to know that someone's going to use the CD they have on hand to install the drivers for their printer, once they switch to Vista.

      The problem, as I understand it, was that the driver files were redirected somewhere else, and the installer had no way to know where they went, and then the uninstaller couldn't uninstall 'em. The real WTF (to borrow a phrase) is that the user, apparently, is not notified about this redirection, and uninstaller wasn't also redirected the same way as the installer.

      And the double-real WTF is that it took onsite technicians to resolve this.
      • bratterscain, on 06/19/2008, -0/+4I'm sure MS knew some drivers may still be compatible but not knowing which ones exactly, out of the thousands there are, the most user friendly thing to do may just be to install them by default since there's no way of knowing ahead of time if they'll work. And this guy just happened to come across an incompatible one.
      • posure, on 06/19/2008, -0/+5That would be the printer manufacturer's fault. Windows installers can check this easily, but its up to the people creating the installer to enable that version check.
      • Dgen_X, on 06/20/2008, -0/+5This isn't something that should have been thought of in testing...when you plug in a Sega Genesis, do you immediately try to pop an NES game in it?

        I use vista daily, and I use the same networked printer, camera, MP3 player, and software that I used (and still use) on my Windows XP desktop machine. And I didn't have to buy any new peripherals. Also, get this...it all works flawlessly.

        I must be having some sort hallucination though....because I'm using a laptop with vista and enjoying it.
        • Memnochxx, on 06/20/2008, -1/+4No, but when I bought my Xbox 360 I put an Xbox game in it.
      • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3These are all very valid points. Apple never deals with this ***** because they control what hardware and what drivers you get, period. Microsoft can't really do that given they don't actually decide what hardware goes into a platform, and there's too much hardware out there.

        In my opinion Microsoft gives OEMs and hardware manufacturers too much free reign. I say tighten up the ***** a little bit and let them squirm, they've ***** us over too many times going from XP to Vista, when they had a full 6 years of uninterrupted profitable sales with the same OS platform. It took NVidia a full ***** year to get some kind of stable drivers after Vista shipped.
    • quomen, on 06/19/2008, -15/+52lol. Every time I see a Windows Vista topic there is always an estvir comment that defends it. And I always digg him up. I also like Vista.
      • Murdats, on 06/19/2008, -2/+29I also share this appreciation for rationality.
      • Technohamster, on 06/19/2008, -15/+3And how many gigs of RAM do you have to run vista.
        • crimsonnblue, on 06/19/2008, -2/+74Gigs but ram is cheap these days...
        • slowmotiony, on 06/19/2008, -2/+102GB. RAM is cheap, can't you think of a better reason to bitch?
        • Myonosken, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2I have 512mb and turned Aero off. Its perfectly fine since SP1.
        • Murdats, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1laptop with 1gb desktop with 2gb.
        • DarkShroud, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I run fine on the same 1gig I used under XP MCE. I'll be upgradeing to 2gig soon since I like HD video.
      • estvir, on 06/19/2008, -1/+16It's not so much that I 'defend' Vista and am a incredibly 'M$' fanboy it's just that I dislike the hypocritical nonsense here and throughout all the anti-MS camps. If I'm wrong, succinctly correct me and I most likely will not mind, I actually prefer people to correct mistakes I mistake.

        Like, the FSF will pull off shady, FUD filled campaigns like the BadVista one and the same people who clamor about how Microsoft using FUD is bad will lap it up.

        I use what I like the most and what is the best solution for me. At the moment, that's Vista though I boot in Ubuntu at least once daily, for my browser it's now Opera 9.5, it used to be FF3, for my server OS, it's Linux or OpenBSD if I'm feeling dangerous.. and so on.

        But I appreciate you Digging me up. ;)
        • brian9000, on 06/19/2008, -1/+7"I actually prefer people to correct mistakes I mistake."
          uh I believe that should be "mistakes I make."

          I have Mac, Linux, and Windows at home and all three also at work. Each does its job.
          FTA: I don't see how this was a MS problem and not a Dell problem.
        • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -2/+3Well, the real question is, how many Vista bashing Diggers probably did the same ***** thing this guy did, then came on here angry as hell and vented in some Vista thread about how much it sucks?

          Also, how many other Diggers pointed and laughed and continued to use their decked out Vista rigs because they didn't make that newbie mistake?

      • lukas88, on 06/19/2008, -2/+3I like vista too. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
    • jlcotton1968, on 06/19/2008, -7/+1LMAO!!!!
    • wTheOnew, on 06/19/2008, -1/+5This made it to some bigger news outlets even. I don't understand why something that wasn't Microsoft's fault is getting such ridiculous amounts of press.
      • DarkShroud, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Probably because MS sent a guy out to fix it even though it was their fault. I guess Dell couldn't aggord to fly one of their techs out from India.
    • p1nn4cl3, on 06/19/2008, -2/+9It's funny because it seems like an Onion....but it's not.
    • shoook, on 06/19/2008, -6/+1/sarcasm
    • mattcoady, on 06/20/2008, -3/+1I just liked the title
    • f54280, on 06/20/2008, -0/+8It is funny because the guy bough a printer, a computer, installed vista, installed the drivers from the disc that came with the printer and couldn't print.

      And Dell couldn't fix the problem.

      And it took months to fix the issue.

      And the guy in charge of testing printing at Microsoft had to go personally in the house of the guy *several times* to finally fix the issue.

      Maybe you don't find this funny, but most of us do. It definitely reads like a real world Onion article.

      Note that I also find the fact you downplaying the whole thing funny. So maybe, it is my sense of humor...
    • Radica1Faith, on 06/20/2008, -2/+1I dugg it because I thought it was an onion article
    • l800LEMMINGS, on 06/20/2008, -1/+3i dugg the story because of microsoft's dedication to follow up on a problem and even making house calls. This isn't typical microsoft customer service but a welcome change and hopefully they continue to run their business in this manner.
    • shrewduser, on 06/20/2008, -2/+2why do you assume this has anything to do with hate for microsoft estvir?

      its just an oddity (an article in print about getting a printer working) , which seems the norm to me on digg.....
    • Slayer166, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1My mom has Vista and I got her fax machine to work.
    • ilgaz, on 06/24/2008, -0/+1Believe or not, you can install Mac OS X 10.1 Printer driver to OS X 10.5.3 (that is 4 major versions up!) and it will still work if you run PowerPC.
      Why? Because Apple doesn't re-invent wheel, they use industry standard CUPS, postscript and pdf in printing subsystem. That is even if user has $40 inkjet.
      Of course, better keep up to date :)
  • kmotiv1, on 06/19/2008, -14/+47Please share you secrets with the rest of the world!
    • PabloMac, on 06/19/2008, -1/+5"Tom White, test manager for documents and printing in Microsoft's Windows Experience group, visited the Walling household on multiple occasions, figured out what was wrong, and ultimately got the printer to work."

      Schedule an in-home tech support visit with this guy and shoot video of the whole thing.
    • sebnewall, on 06/19/2008, -6/+4He told me on his deathbed... get a mac.
  • Waskonator, on 06/19/2008, -17/+3Lollerberries all over the title.
  • elvis699, on 06/19/2008, -43/+319Dugg for the title... I haven't and won't even read the article...
  • stephenhacking, on 06/19/2008, -14/+6If you can get Halo2 to work on 98 thats an achievement.
  • dynacrylic, on 06/19/2008, -4/+7Seems like title of this should go into PC's NewsWire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJBUJRWGY3g
  • smacksaw, on 06/19/2008, -8/+70I want to know what his Crysis settings are.
  • seraph582, on 06/19/2008, -25/+4IN BEFORE HILARIOUS APPLE FANBOIS

    ... or am I?
    • santaliqueur, on 06/19/2008, -2/+10You're worse than the Apple "fanboys" that you are trying to mock. They are also staying out of the thread so far.
  • jonnyuoit, on 06/19/2008, -11/+69slow news day(s)?

    from the same people who published "I Really Suck at Rockband Drums"
  • theandy1, on 06/19/2008, -6/+15I thought this had to be a story from the onion when I read the title. It would be much better than the stupid Mac vs PC ads all over their site.
  • MasterThief117, on 06/19/2008, -7/+277I was hoping he got his printer to run Vista. That would have been impressive.
    • Simonft, on 06/19/2008, -2/+27Well, according to the RIAA they can download music, why not run xp.
    • skaspud, on 06/19/2008, -0/+3that's what i thought it said :P
  • boerema, on 06/19/2008, -9/+25hahaha. I am working on a software bug right now where our software can't print in Vista. I'm currently befuddled.
  • Slovenian6474, on 06/19/2008, -6/+19Now try sharing the printer without some sort of spooling error.
    • qwertydvorak, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1you would think that as easy as sharing printers was on xp it would be the same on vista. try sharing a printer on an xp machine to vista. pain in the ass.
  • HCviolence, on 06/19/2008, -10/+49That old man fixed his printer on Vista. He must be a l33t H@x3r
    • Simonft, on 06/19/2008, -5/+9The fact that i could understand that made me want to cry. I have no life.
      • xsquirrel378x, on 06/19/2008, -0/+9the only people who wouldnt understand that is anyone who connected to the internet for the first time last week and even then there's a good chance they learned some pseudo 1337 lingo along the way.

        Dont be so hard on yourself
      • thundacracka, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2w00t
    • PabloMac, on 06/19/2008, -7/+2No, "Tom White, test manager for documents and printing in Microsoft's Windows Experience group, visited the Walling household on multiple occasions, figured out what was wrong, and ultimately got the printer to work."
    • htan, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1733t h4x0r*

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fkYmO2B-sM
    • nationalist, on 06/19/2008, -5/+2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _________
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  • a1cd, on 06/19/2008, -13/+23Hell has just frozen over.
    • Chebsi, on 06/19/2008, -0/+3Great news. I guess that means the Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup next season.
      • AnarkeIncarnate, on 06/19/2008, -0/+5They and the Cubs can celebrate their championships.
    • ssavoy, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1On Mars
      • Uberinuka, on 06/20/2008, -0/+0Dugg for use of another article that was actually interesting
  • kinghajj, on 06/19/2008, -8/+19Not really related, but I recently installed CUPS on my Arch Linux installation, and it auto-detected a network printer shared by my Mac, so it shows up in the printer list. I was happily surprised.
  • Makaveli5022, on 06/19/2008, -20/+10This story is kinda lame. Drivers are just plain easy to figure out by just using google. But I guess people like John McCain have never used a computer so they wouldn't know.
  • Mudcrutch, on 06/19/2008, -8/+133I thought this was going to be an Onion article.
    • Mrdudeperson, on 06/19/2008, -5/+3Which would have been fine either way. Onion Rulz!
    • m60dude5, on 06/19/2008, -3/+13And I quote the first line of the description:
      "This headline looks like it came from The Onion, but it didn't. It's the real headline of an article posted on SeattlePI.com in the blogs section. "
      • tdogg241, on 06/19/2008, -0/+3So what you're saying is that it's from the Onion?
        • georgemason01, on 06/19/2008, -3/+2No, he's pointing out that Mudcrutch just repeated something in the description but still got 66+ diggs.
    • SSJiffy, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2If this was an onion article it would read "Area man gets Windows Vista to work with Printer".
    • ChrisLondon, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1Me too.
  • Todash19, on 06/19/2008, -7/+25Dugg for the title :)
  • aliguana, on 06/19/2008, -10/+21funny, my HP printer has been working with Vista, using XP drivers too, since day one of Vista release. I should have written an article and got on Digg!
    • Kuroneko, on 06/19/2008, -1/+6Same, I have an ancient Laserjet 4L that has always worked flawlessly. I really missed out on my chances to be on the front page D:
  • cyclades, on 06/19/2008, -12/+5This reads like a headline from The Onion, ha!
  • NuclearTomorrow, on 06/19/2008, -17/+28Most of the complaining I hear about vista is from people who didn't take the time to check compatibility with their programs/electronics. They jumped right into Vista and joined the FUD wagon when they couldn't figure anything out. Because, you know, I've never had a problem with a Linux driver? And oh, I've never had a compatibility problem with OSX, even though Mac makes both the hardware and software?
    • superkendall, on 06/19/2008, -6/+3All my old equipment still works with Leopard thanks.
  • JayG25, on 06/19/2008, -18/+40Why in the hell do people think that Microsoft should support every piece of hardware that was ever made. That is what I dont understand. I really cant feel sorry for someone when their 12 year old webcam wont work with Vista. The company who sold it isnt going to make money by giving you drivers for and they never get blamed when it dosnt work on a new OS.

    Same thing goes with people who want M$ to support XP for free, for ever.
    • deaftly, on 06/19/2008, -7/+16haha, a dollar sign used as an "s" , genius!
    • antdude, on 06/19/2008, -5/+2Why even upgrade to Vista? :P
    • bahamuto, on 06/20/2008, -2/+0If you think this old man had a 12 year old printer I doubt it. It was a all in one kind of deal. Scanner, printer, copier. I bet the printer was 5 years old max.
    • MindTouch, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3I couldn't agree more. As an mobile computer tech I constantly hear people saying that they heard Vista sucks. I always say o really I have it running on three machines and it works perfectly, what have you heard that "sucks" about Vista?. The answer is always I know this guy who couldn't get his printer/graphics card/legacy program to work. My question is what does that have to do with Vista? Microsoft doesn't, and shouldn't be expected to develop drivers for any of this hardware. It's the manufacturers job to do that. People seem to forget that we had all these same problems when the beloved XP came out, there were no drivers and poor application compatibility. Manufacturers/Vendors need to step up to the plate here. One of the worst offenders is HP, they just decided they were not going to develop Vista drivers for a large chunk of their printers, too bad so sad. That is fine for me, I had a $200 photosmart, I will just buy another printer (and it will not be an HP), but I was at a corporate clients office the other day. They bought a new high end machine that had Vista preinstalled and HP decided they didn't need to develop Vista drivers for his $30,000 plotter. I had to install XP on his machine in a dual boot situation so he could use Vista 64 to do what he needed in CAD, then boot into XP to print it. HP and the other manufacturers that haven't stepped up and written solid Vista drivers should be ashamed, and the media/less than savvy public needs to learn that these problems are not the fault of Vista or Microsoft.
  • MadOgre, on 06/19/2008, -22/+14The fact that this is a news story in Seattle and just made front page on Digg... evidence that the Vista OS is worth avoiding.
    I'm going to buy a new laptop here in the next week or so. The options are Vista Ultimate, or XP Pro. I think I'm taking the XP Pro... just for the CD Key/ License... I'll use that on another machine. I'll be putting SUSE on the laptop. Er... would the latest SUSE be the best for a laptop? I know Ubuntu is good... but I like how clean and clear SUSE is. Is there a better Linux distro that feels so... how do I say it... complete?
    • GuyHersh, on 06/19/2008, -7/+11Unless you're completely computer illiterate, you won't have ANY problems with Vista. I've used it since the beta days, and while there were problems for me back then, I haven't had any problems, especially since SP1.

      Just get Vista, if you hate it that much go back to a copy of XP that you have lying around. I'm pretty confident you'll stay with it though.
      • MadOgre, on 06/19/2008, -9/+4I worked with Cisco Systems and Nortell Networks some years ago... so I'm going to say I'm not computer illiterate. But I will say that I really don't like Vista. It sucks. It sucks longer and harder than Grahm Norton on Windows M.E.
        • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2Those credentials really don't make your opinion any more or less noteworthy. What exactly did you do there? Security? Sales? Janitor? But in all cases, I still would have liked to hear your opinion on why exactly Vista sucks, so I can reason why my humble IT consultant self might actually have taken a liking to it, and gotten similar responses from the others I've had the opportunity to work for.
      • digitaldivinci, on 06/19/2008, -6/+3You won't have any problems, I do agree there, but I still think it should be noted that there are enough unnecessary features of it that cause a lower battery life on laptops, at least with my experience.

        I would say that XP on a Laptop, or SUSE, would be a better mobile OS.
        • DarkShroud, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1You can always disable those to save power.
    • AnarkeIncarnate, on 06/19/2008, -3/+6OpenSUSE 11.0 just got released. I'd give it a whirl.
      • MadOgre, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1I was just looking at that... It looks good. Very good indeed.
    • InvisiBill, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2Vista Ultimate includes a downgrade license to XP Pro. Get Vista and you can use whichever one you prefer.

      http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/2/3/d23b9 ...

      "Rights to OEM versions of systems software are granted in the OEM License Terms. The OEM License Terms for most OEM versions of systems software do not grant downgrade rights. The exception is the OEM License Terms for the Windows® XP Professional operating system and the Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate operating systems, which grant downgrade rights. See the full text of the OEM License Terms for the specific downgrade rights."
    • Technohamster, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2openSUSE 11 is very good, especially with KDE. Ubuntu is better at configuring wireless though. What's the laptop gonna be, maybe I can help.
      • MadOgre, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Toshiba M200 with 2 gigs RAM and a 100 gig HD.
      • Technohamster, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1tabletPC huh. Don't know much about toshiba but tablet's can be tricky - wacom doesn't release a linux driver and the open source linux driver's imperfect. I have a usb tablet (wacom bamboo). openSUSE can use YaST to configure it for you but it doesn't always work perfectly. nvidia's great tho, enjoy your spinning cube.

        Also all openSUSE users add the pacman repository. It has all your codecs and most of your software.

        Also this doesn't hurt:
        http://opensuse-community.org/Restricted_Formats/1 ...
    • jabberwolf, on 06/19/2008, -3/+4and using SUSE with your computer and finding all the drivers will make it work MUCH better!!!
      HAHAHAHAHAHA
      OMG what a reject!
      The best thing you can do have a dual booth of both!

      At least windows actually allows you to be useful on a computer.
      • MadOgre, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1Are you kidding? SUSE is one of the top Linux distros out there... Reject? Go back to your Vista, you tit.
      • 1310nm, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1If you're not gaming or creating graphical content (such as CAD drawings or detailed animation), I don't see why you would need Windows. I've been using Ubuntu on my home laptop for several months now, and haven't really found it lacking in any way. In fact, my battery life has increased, and standby/restore works just like it should. My ONLY gripe is having to manually add so many apt sources just to get repos with decent CODECs.
  • Vessol, on 06/19/2008, -5/+65Holy *****. People work at Microsoft Tech Support!?
    • samwisegange, on 06/19/2008, -0/+7No, you only get help if you are in the news...
    • LaserBen, on 06/19/2008, -3/+3Well, they do at the India offices of Microsoft
    • staplez, on 06/19/2008, -0/+11Did you RTFA? A test manager != Tech Support. It's clear no one works at Microsoft's Tech Support.
    • Greg2k, on 06/19/2008, -2/+7I love it when people with no personal experience whatsoever with Microsoft think they don't give a crap about their customers. Microsoft Tech Support is awesome. I was on the phone for 3 hours with a guy (yes, in India, who gives a damn he spoke English) until my problem was solved. Very helpful, very attentive, great experience.
      • popfrogs, on 06/19/2008, -8/+4Problem: computer won't boot
        Solution: press the power button

        3 hours for that? What a damn shame.
      • drakia, on 06/19/2008, -0/+2There's not many software problems I can think of that would take 3 hours to sort out...
        • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1Let's say you had a catastrophic failure of the quorum storage device on a fail over cluster network, leaving you with 5 nodes fighting tooth and nail for control over your SAN, and because the new replacement quorum drive has a different LUN and the Cluster Administrator was being a little bitch and wouldn't actually show the device as a Physical Disk resource type on any of the nodes, you had to call Microsoft support to get a guy who knew exactly the right registry key you needed to change and boom, fixed the problem in under 2 minutes, then that would be some bad ass support.

          Of course none of this ever happened to me but I did come across this scenario while researching Windows Clustering using Google. Also, I think Microsoft does charge out the ass for that kind of Enterprise level support, even if you are just a big nerd playing Enterprise IT director with a bunch of home built Playskool Server 2003 Enterprise Edition servers in your own kitchen.
      • kingtobo, on 06/19/2008, -0/+4My only dealings with Microsoft tech support have been with Xbox and I could charitably describe it as painful.
      • flashingcurser, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1I hate to admit it, you're right. Every time I've had to call them, mostly for corporate licensing issues, their techs have bent over backwards to help.

        This is coming from someone who is hosting a LUG tonight.
      • elephantsgerald, on 06/20/2008, -4/+1I was on the phone with microsoft tech support in India who asked what my operating system was. OS X. I said. "no, she said, is it windows 98, or xp?" "It is a mac." I said. "It doesn't use windows." Yes, but what operating system is it?" hoo boy. finally I got an 'expert' in the states. I'm not xeno phobic, but at least tech support should know which systems they don't know!
        • lacronicus, on 06/20/2008, -0/+5"but at least tech support should know which systems they don't know!"
          wut
        • Myonosken, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3Yeah you've never worked in a call centre you see. The politics are such he probably wasn;t allowed to even mention macs in any way.

          Also you have a sad life if you spend your time doing that.
    • ssavoy, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Nah, just one.
  • Xihix, on 06/19/2008, -19/+7In other news, a man who was unable to turn his PC on switches to a Mac.
    • jabberwolf, on 06/19/2008, -1/+2Ever need to turn off a mac? i mean REALLY turn it off?
      Look for the battery and yank it out.

      If you have a MacBook Air- goodluck!
    • ACiDGRiM, on 06/19/2008, -2/+4And a pompous Mac prick makes another pompous Mac comment, more on that at 11.
      • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2I think you should read his comment again. He's saying that Mac users are the ones that couldn't find the power button on their PCs. Ouch!

        Seriously, I've been using Windows for years, on Vista now and love it, but I've also got Ubuntu on my laptop and I'm gonna load OSX86 on my Quad Core rig to try it out. Might even buy a MacBook one of these days if I take a liking to OSX. I've been a little tempted to try my hand at the iPhone SDK, and there's plenty of useful stuff out for Mac right now, to each his own.
  • OSuX, on 06/19/2008, -16/+9It just goes to show, if you can't get something to work with Vista, you don't know ***** about computers.
    • PabloMac, on 06/19/2008, -9/+5It just goes to show, if you work with Vista, you have to know a lot of ***** about computers.
      • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2It just goes to show, if you can't get your Dell 942 printer to work with Vista, you probably have the Dell 942 XP driver disc in the drive. Also, read CD labels more often, and learn how to do basic maintenance like driver updates. And don't buy Dell printers.

        In fact, don't buy Dell.
  • heavystone, on 06/19/2008, -8/+16So this all comes down to the users fault. No surprise there. I used to work at a electronics store and 90% of all complaints and repairs were due to user mistakes. Its amazing how many people just don't read instruction manuals or actually read the installation wizards guide.
    • benbrooks101, on 06/19/2008, -6/+1Do you?

      Thought not...
      • mphree, on 06/19/2008, -0/+4I bet none of us here on Digg read the Wizards or installation guides. However the is very good reason: most of us know what we're doing. I work in PC Support, and there is an absolutely ridiculous amount of people that I end up telling "If you would have read the directions, this would have never been a problem." So, yes, I do blame almost every computer problem on the end-user. In my experience, a computer very rarely just "breaks." It is almost always down the a stupid mistake by the end-user.
        • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -2/+1Say what you want, but in today's world this sort of problem would be a combination of both Dell and Microsoft's fault. Dell for ***** software and driver packaging and installation, and Microsoft for allowing that to happen in the first place.

        • mphree, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Not specifically Dell. Dell, HP, Acer, Sony and numerous other companies. I spent a good percentageof time removing 'crapware' that comes preinstalled on almost every new computer. This crapware has become bad to the point that a well configured computer is always more stable and has better performance that the brand new machine with two to three times the power. I will grant you that the industry is what ***** up the end-users perception of technology though. Which is why I generally offer to remove that junk.
    • BRODEL, on 06/20/2008, -4/+1Actually it started with a mistake on the users part, but the Vista OS had to be patched in order to correct that mistake as simply installing the correct Vista drivers didn't work with the new "security model".
      • DarkShroud, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3Try reading the article again. Vista did not need a patch. The dell driver needed a patch to remove the XP driver that was messing up the Vista driver because the XP driver couldn't be uninstalled. Sounds like it's the user & Dell's fault to me, and MS was nice enough to see someone out to fix it at no cost.
      • mphree, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3That not related to the "security model" you refer to at all. It's simply that incompatible software was installed on the wrong operating system. This would happen if you tried to install Windows NT drivers on a Windows 9x machine, but it would be damn near impossible to fix. And, the security in Vista does work, you overbearing troglodyte.
  • zmigliozzi, on 06/19/2008, -19/+7Vista... haha.

    Most distro's of linux/unix I have used is easier than Vista.
    • Greg2k, on 06/19/2008, -1/+3Please tell us which ones because I don't think that's true at all. Sure, Linux is getting user friendlier, but it's still nowhere near Windows or OS X.
    • ZeRux, on 06/19/2008, -2/+6...as long as you don't have a wireless Internet connection...
    • telepheedian, on 06/19/2008, -0/+3Geeks love stuff like apt-get, but the second you tell the average luser to open the command line, they run away. Sad, isn't it?
      • Elshar, on 06/19/2008, -1/+1Theres alot of guis for this. The adept or synaptic package managers are two of the more common ones that take care of it. Try using ubuntu sometime, it's using apt as the package manager with one of those two depending on if you're using ubuntu or kubuntu.

        It's actually easy enough to use that I built a computer with ubuntu on it recently and sent it to my not at all technical mother in law who lives about 2300 miles away.
        • telepheedian, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1OK, true, there is synaptic. I knew about that.

          But most tutorials for stuff like graphics drivers and stuff go straight for the CLI, for good reason. The side effect is that people see it and immediately turn away.
        • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -0/+2There's a reason we developed GUIs. I know my way around a command line, but ideally I shouldn't have to use it unless something is horribly wrong with the innards of my OS configuration that I can't fix with the GUI. It seems with Linux, I hate to say it, almost everything is always going horribly wrong and it's a continuous fix, which is sad to say, very fun sometimes but also very time consuming.

          So, sudo airodump-ng -w DUMP -c 6 aside, you can't beat a solid GUI.
    • jabberwolf, on 06/19/2008, -0/+3So does a blackboard and chalk ... still cant do much with it though.
  • m60dude5, on 06/19/2008, -9/+12All sarcasm aside, this truly is quite an accomplishment.
  • tobikow, on 06/19/2008, -5/+34Shocking headline!
    In other news: Man finds printer that dosesnt work with Ubuntu!
    • aliguana, on 06/19/2008, -2/+4it doesn't? Wow, lets all jump on an "Ubuntu is a terrible OS" bandwagon. You should all stick with the Shell, and just upgrade to Ubuntu when they sort out the bloat and fix everything. /sarcasm
      • GliTCH82, on 06/20/2008, -0/+3I was just thinking, really, what is Hardy but a crappy, laggy and bloated version of Gutsy that really sucks ass. Gutsy FOR LIFE. YOU CAN TAKE YOUR HARDY AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS
    • frogstomp19, on 06/19/2008, -1/+8And later tonight: Man finds that the printer which was difficult to install on Vista won't work at all on OSX! Stay tuned.
  • andretii, on 06/19/2008, -2/+5Its the internet, anythings possible
    • Dylson, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Can you create another internet on the internet?
  • usingpond, on 06/19/2008, -18/+12People can white knight Vista all they want, but the bottom line for every successful software developer (besides Microsoft of course) is this:

    Can it be used by someone who is not tech-savvy?

    If your grandpa can't figure out how to use it, it's ***** in my opinion. Everything should be intuitive and easy to use; of course without the sacrifice of usefulness. That's why the Macintosh and (easy-to-use distributions of) Linux marketshares are increasing and Windows' is decreasing.
    • theberlindoctor, on 06/19/2008, -2/+16Linux.. really?

      I'd love to see someone's grandpa try to connect to a WPA wireless network..

      and by your standards, any OS where you have to command line install a wireless handler is *****. give me a break
      • Elshar, on 06/19/2008, -8/+2It's really not hard. At most you just need to make sure the restricted drivers are enabled (Mostly for Atheros support). In Ubuntu it'll show you a list of wireless networks available very much like the wireless network dialogue in XP. Just connect, tell it the WEP/WPA key, and you're good to go.

        I actually think the wireless/network interface management is easier to get to and use in OSX than XP or Vista.

        Seems like alot of settings in Vista they changed to purposefully make it more painful to use.
    • telepheedian, on 06/19/2008, -1/+9Not to mention add additional repositories for flash, dvd playback, and mess with X settings to get the graphics driver to work.
    • Technohamster, on 06/19/2008, -5/+1When you talk about grandpa using it, it's gotta be pre-installed. He's right, mac marketshare is increasing and the ultra-portable linux market (eee-pc) is increasing.

      Installing your own OS is hard, whether linux or windows. Actually I think it's much harder to install windows.
      • theberlindoctor, on 06/19/2008, -0/+6from my personal experience installing vista, osx and linux on a laptop: vista = painless, linux = ***** nightmare, osx = pretty much as easy as vista.

        if you have a hard time installing (32 bit) vista, yikes..
    • aliguana, on 06/19/2008, -0/+10did you just say : "if your grandpa can't figure out how to use it, it's *****. Thats why ... Linux marketshares are increasing and windows is decreasing" ??

      think about that for a moment.

      Don't know about your grandpa... mine can double click an .exe to install a driver in Windows. Editing conf files via the shell? getthefeckouttahere.....
    • usingpond, on 06/20/2008, -0/+1Wow just because something is in parenthesis, it doesn't mean "don't read this." Come on people.
  • Witchboy, on 06/19/2008, -20/+15Our office printer isn't even supported by Vista. Plus Vista is super slow. I regret "upgrading." I miss XP.
    • aliguana, on 06/19/2008, -4/+7get a better computer. and a better printer.
      • BRODEL, on 06/20/2008, -1/+2Yeah, because a better OS is just CRAZY! The only computer I have used that Vista runs on at decent speeds on is my work computer with a quad core Xeon and 8GB of RAM. Vista SHOULD run perfectly fine on a 3.4 GHz computer with 2GB of RAM (my prior machine), but no, it's slow as hell so now I have a damn huge heater sitting under my desk so I can use Vista at acceptable speeds.
        • aliguana, on 06/20/2008, -1/+1I'm running Vista on a Pentium 4 2.66 with 1 gig of ram and an cheap-ass Radeon 9550 gfx card. Runs as fast as XP. Runs for weeks without a reboot. Runs with Aero, on two monitors, with comodo, avg, launchy, rocketdock, vista sidebar, and whatever-else software I want, such as watch fullscreen h.264. I've NEVER had a bubble popup saying "Memory is too low..." like I used to all the time in XP (on the same machine).

          Thats why, when people say "I have a dual-core and 4 gig ram and Vista is so slow I'm going back to XP" I'm like.... yeah right.

          (Of course, the processor IS showing its age now, especially when I do stuff like Handbrake encodes. But in day-to-day web/office/photo use, it's equal to or better than XP).
  • GuyHersh, on 06/19/2008, -21/+40Stupid! Terrible article and only submitted to start a flame war against MS. So an old guy has problems with XP drivers that are incompatible with Vista. SO F'ING WHAT! With every OS advancement some old ***** wont work. Jesus, get off your high horses already.

    I'm gonna get dugg down, but I don't care. Buried.
    • johnomaz, on 06/19/2008, -0/+8Not dugg down by me...you are right. Maybe the old fart should get 14.95 DSL instead of using AOL dial up still so he can actually download the new drivers. Either that or wait the few hours for them to download.
    • PabloIV, on 06/20/2008, -0/+4It wasn't even Microsoft's fault it had something to do with the way that the Dell installer was set up.
  • ElectricKetchup, on 06/19/2008, -9/+7As someone who works in the software industry, I would like to apologize for the horribly designed and engineered software that's been released in the past decade. We should be more careful to details like other professions out there. I'm sorry.
  • Scorch44, on 06/19/2008, -4/+7So since this is not an onion article and therefore not funny, who the heck cares?
  • MrViklund, on 06/19/2008, -20/+12JUST GET THE APPROPRIATE DRIVERS AND IT WILL BE NO PROBLEM. IT'S NOT VISTA'S FAULT.
    • ElectricKetchup, on 06/19/2008, -3/+8The problem is, the driver that comes with the product does not work in vista, butt erroneously installs in vista.
    • itsbob, on 06/19/2008, -5/+4Some operating systems already have the drivers built in, no download and research required.
      • telepheedian, on 06/19/2008, -2/+7Like vista, I didn't need to install anything to get my network printer or wireless card to work.
    • whatsgoodike, on 06/19/2008, -0/+4No need to yell, please use your inside-voice next time.
    • jabberwolf, on 06/19/2008, -3/+3"The problem is, the driver that comes with the product does not work with Vista"

      In vista, software doesnt install itself unless you ask it... unless you have a mac and then it does ***** for you whether you want it to or not.

      Now if the manual said, this driver does not work with vista, you can still install it. It will do or NOT DO exactly what it says - in this case NOT WORK WITH VISTA.

      Input stupid = output stupid !

  • mizike, on 06/19/2008, -10/+14non working peripheral hardware is a newsworthy event for vista, business as usual for linux...
    • Elshar, on 06/19/2008, -0/+1Most hardware that works OOTB in XP generally seems to work with most newer linux distros (FC9, Ubuntu 8.04, OpenSuse 10.x, and I'm sure 11..). I haven't had alot of experience with Vista drivers, but considering it doesn't ship with working drivers for much of anything, it seems like it would be as big of a pain if not bigger to get stuff to work in it than linux.

      Most decent linux hardware has simple point-and-clicky precompiled kernel modules, and most linux distros even have package repositories which will go fetch, install and configure said packages without any user intervention.

      I'd even go so far as to say you're more likely to get your hardware working OOTB with a fresh linux install than a fresh XP/Vista/Server install because at least the various distros can and do update the prebuilt kernel modules that ship with it.

    • ilgaz, on 06/24/2008, -0/+1pick your printer from http://www.linuxprinting.org list. Even if you switch to Mac, check that list for possible/future Gnome-Print (Gutenberg) functionality.
  • rpeters, on 06/19/2008, -2/+6I got Vista working with a network printer connected via Bonjour...

    Perhaps he's using an early beta.
  • pixelatedsoul, on 06/19/2008, -1/+31The headline should actually read "Man Gets Printer to Work With Vista" ...for a second I thought he installed the OS onto his printer.
  • diggtochina, on 06/19/2008, -7/+11dugg for headline
  • MozzieTS, on 06/19/2008, -14/+8itt vista apologists
  • angusm, on 06/19/2008, -7/+18Reported as implausible.
    • sockpuppets, on 06/19/2008, -1/+6Print with vista? That's unpossible!
  • leerayIG88, on 06/19/2008, -12/+7Me must bash VISTA! *slams ground with fist*
    • robthom, on 06/19/2008, -6/+3Wrong. We must DESTROY vista. Its domestic terrorism.
    • AutoTom, on 06/20/2008, -2/+1allow me to do everyone a favour

      MCP: End of line.
  • doshindude, on 06/19/2008, -8/+7Holy *****. something actually worked on Vista?
    • GuyHersh, on 06/19/2008, -3/+6i don't understand you guys. Everything works fine for me on Vista. WTF is wrong with digg? Full of biased assholes who've never tried something else.

      Besides, we heard the same joke 7 years ago. "Holy *****, something works on XP? I'll stick with Windows 2000, thank you"

      Seriously, look it up. Search "windows xp sucks" and you'll find a bunch of people complaining in '01 and '02. Yet now XP is praised because people grew up.
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