15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
PC World has a list of the 15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007 posted today that has Microsoft’s latest OS sitting in the number one spot. Even though most tech sites, including us, weren’t impressed with Vista at first, the company sold 20 million copies the first month and had the best quarter since 1999 thanks to strong product sales. I wish I had a product that was that disappointing.

From on-demand video services that were overly demanding, to underwhelming operating-system updates, 2007 was full of disappointments. We surveyed the landscape and polled some old friends to come up with the 15 products, companies, and industries that left the most sour taste in our mouths.
Click to expand...
 
I'm calling BS on that article, it makes for interesting reading, and brings up some interesting valid points, but they're too absolute in their statements.

MySpace, Facebook gone in 2 years? I don't think so...

ditto for

iPhone, Leopard, Office 2007
 
Despite its hefty hardware requirements, Vista is slower than XP.
Click to expand...

Yeah ...that doesn't make any sense. I mean, obviously it's slower because it's bulkier therefore the higher hardware requirements.
 
I disagree on the Vista. Yeah it has it's downs. But it doesn't deserve to be #1. I haven't had on problem with it yet.
 
Ugh terrible article. I think the one that annoys me the most is the Office 2k7 its so much more intuitive than the past interface. It took me only 2 minutes of trying it the first time to get everything i needed down. I guess I can't comment on macros as I don't use them.


I guess this confirms my view of pc mags that even online they are completely irrelevant due to incompetent staff
 
I think their list is pretty stupid, as many of those items are good products that people enjoy using.

Hell even vista isn't that bad. I haven't bothered to swap back to XP except to use some old apps / games that I haven't installed on Vista since I'll be reformating it as 64bit soon.
 
top 15 things we felt like bitching about with very few valid reasons? awesome!
 
vista is deservingly on the list

after 5 years of development it literally has nothing new when compared to XP

aero looks the same like XP interface ( i couldnt care less about that 3d effect while switching programs )

hmm, icons are bigger?

dx10 games look like dx9 games

there is no point in upgrading to vista

oh btw
my PC got 5.5 vista score (every component got 5.9 except CPU with 5.5)
so no, i dont have a shitty PC and thats not the reason why i am flaming vista

i honestly dont see any improvment over winXP [security is not an issue for me, i am behind 3 firewalls and use common sense while surfing, so i dont need an 400$ upgrade just to feel safer]
 
pazhman said:
I disagree on the Vista. Yeah it has it's downs. But it doesn't deserve to be #1. I haven't had on problem with it yet.
Click to expand...

Oh yes it does. Microsoft released a MPAA version of Windows XP called Vista. I don't watch HD content on my PC. Why should my PC be slowed down checking to make sure I am not 'hacking' the video or audio signals. What benefit does their new driver architecture provide the consumer?
The changes from NT4 -> Win2K -> WinXP always provided the consumer with greater functionality. Vista provides the MPAA with a DRM invested OS to slow your computer down and computer manufactures with increased costs to support this new OS which are passed down to the consumer.
 
This article is not surprising considering how little water PC World holds with the enthusiast crowd. How many [H] readers subscribe to PC World? I bet the numbers are pretty small.

One thing that continues to annoy me is the claim that the MacBook was the fastest Vista laptop reviewed. Obviously they need to start reviewing more hardware. Apple computers generally stink when it comes to videocards. What benchmarks were they running? Office 97? PC World continues to target an older less informed crowd.

Where is the Phenom? That was an actual disaster and it still makes me cry at night.
 
So THIS is what you get when you let a technologically retarded chimp write tech articles based on what they saw spammed on a forum.
 
Shitty fucking list. They tore apart one flaw of a great product that was released this year fifteen times. Heres an example of my PC World Top 5 worst games of 2007:

1. COD4- It's a good game but with only a 6 hour single player campaign your paying almost 10$/hr to play it! Bullshitz!

2. Crysis- Our receptionist waz suppose to play this but it made the computer crash. Gaaayy.

3. UT3- Wherez my phizicks?

4. Orange Box- I already paid for theese gamez!

5. Bioshock- How cumz you can't you can't shoot honey if you can shoot beaz?
 
I'm not going to say the article is dead on. However, it's not that far off the mark.

Vista does deserve to be on the list. I don't really care what place it's on, but it should be there. Considering Vista is aimed at impressing the general public, it's mostly the general public I have found complaining about Vista. You know, the people that don't really know anything about computers or operating systems. The people that were supposed to be able to jump right into Vista and enjoy it's intuitiveness. Those are the people I run into that have complaints about it. Besides, it does seem like a lot of the "fun" or "interesting" stuff was ripped out of the OS.

Social networking sites. I don't know if I agree with their prediction of 2 years before they are down the drain, but they will go down the drain. The majority of the social networking sites will go the way of Geocities before too long. That's not to say that someone else won't come along that can do it better. The current iterations, while popular now, are going to die a quick death sooner or later.

Remember, just because something is popular doesn't mean it isn't a disappointment. Sometimes it just takes a little while for disappointment to start showing on a grand scale. Anyone remember disco?

 
I hate people who compare Facebook to websites like Badoo, Bebo, Catster, Dogster, Faceparty, Flixster, Hi5, Hyves, Imbee, Imeem, MySpace, Mixi, Pizco, Pownce, Takkle, Twitter, Virb, Vox, Xanga, Xing, Zoomr, etc.

Facebook is very different and in a totally different league than all the other websites listed there. They don't even serve the same purpose really, and you'll know what I mean if you've had a Facebook account for a while and have tried crap like MySpace and Xanga.
 
I agree with the broadband industry being on there. When the hell do we get speeds fast enough to stream 1080p content like on my university campus? When I lived on campus at Georgia Tech I sometimes saw download speeds of over 12MB/sec (yes, megabytes, that's 96Mbps). Ahhhh, the joy of downloading 700MB movies in about a minute (legally of course ;)). Then I moved off campus and realized how crappy regular old broadband is. Comcast's 8Mbps seems slow now that I've been spoiled. Come to think of it, have broadband speeds increased ANY in the last few years?!?
 
Fanu said:
vista is deservingly on the list
Click to expand...

after 5 years of development it literally has nothing new when compared to XP

aero looks the same like XP interface ( i couldnt care less about that 3d effect while switching programs )

hmm, icons are bigger?

dx10 games look like dx9 games

there is no point in upgrading to vista

oh btw
my PC got 5.5 vista score (every component got 5.9 except CPU with 5.5)
so no, i dont have a shitty PC and thats not the reason why i am flaming vista

i honestly dont see any improvment over winXP [security is not an issue for me, i am behind 3 firewalls and use common sense while surfing, so i dont need an 400$ upgrade just to feel safer][/QUOTE]

Aero is a significant increase over XP. You just havn't seen all its features.

There are currently no DX10 games, there are seldom DX9 titles too. APIs are a tricky business.

so your whole argument against vista is the lack of DX 10 titles (im sorry how old is DX10? do you understand a game takes 3+ years to produce?) and the little difference in looks?

Im tired of people telling me I hate vista. I think its a significant improvement over XP, and as an IT guy, I like it.
 
Office's interface is a step backwards? Are the fucking joking? Maybe if you're a regular office user it sucks to learn something different, but as a casual office user, I find the new interface much MUCH easier to do things that are a PITA to figure out on the older interface.

And can these whiny babies shut the hell up about apple dropping the iPhone price? My GOD, are these really tech writers? Did they REALLY think that the iphone was going to stay anywhere close to 600.00 for the rest of the year? It's a phone PCWORLD. Their prices drop like rocks all the time (and often faster than the iPhone has). Get over it.

And what's with the ibrick whining? It's not like people weren't warned (and in the mainstream press at that).

HD Wars? I've said ti before, I'll say it again....in the next year or 2 we'll find dual format players at reasonable prices. This is DVD-R vs DVD+R not vhs vs beta.

I'm not sure how they could have been disapointed about vista losing WinFS, given that we knew it wouldn't be there at least 2 years before vista came out.

And finally, what's with this Mac Book is the fastest laptop they've tested? They tested
this one and it sure looks like it has faster benchmarks (though I'd get the Mac over it given the Eurocom's price).
 
And an HD 2900XT? It brought HUGE disappointments due its AA bug, power consumption, unbearable noise, lackluster performance, etc...
 
Vista is a mess. I bought my wife a new computer a few months ago, and her programs were not compatible. I slapped a copy of XP on it for her so she could at least USE her new computer.

BTW it has been hacked already, (actually, about 6 months ago.) I just installed a test copy of ultimate on my system this week. Not like I am going to use it, I put my XP drive back in as soon as I finished installing the 39:eek::eek::eek: security updates from Windoz update. The little I did use it on a dual 2.66 Xeon system with a gig of ram it was sluggish.

As far as the social network stuff, they were simply saying that of the 30 or 40 out there now, there might be 3 or 4 in a couple of years. I wholeheartedly agree with that.

Zune is not going away. They will gradually integrate the best of Ipod and just keep plodding along, kinda like the Xbox. I don't think it deserves to be on this list though.

The AMD/ATI dissaster is notoriously absent.

Don
 
DonDon said:
Vista is a mess. I bought my wife a new computer a few months ago, and her programs were not compatible. I slapped a copy of XP on it for her so she could at least USE her new computer.

BTW it has been hacked already, (actually, about 6 months ago.) I just installed a test copy of ultimate on my system this week. Not like I am going to use it, I put my XP drive back in as soon as I finished installing the 39:eek::eek::eek: security updates from Windoz update. The little I did use it on a dual 2.66 Xeon system with a gig of ram it was sluggish.
Click to expand...

Don't know what apps they are, but generally it seems like apps that bomb out in Vista are due to the companies not writing programs that adhered to XP coding specs (Intuit is the biggest name in that group).

as for patches, is 39 patches since the RTM really that much. I have to believe that XP has had far more.

I still use XP, but all of the Vista complaints sure reminded of me of the first year or so of XP vs continuing with Win9x/2000
 
panhead said:
Oh yes it does. Microsoft released a MPAA version of Windows XP called Vista. I don't watch HD content on my PC. Why should my PC be slowed down checking to make sure I am not 'hacking' the video or audio signals. BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Click to expand...

Note to self: buy stock in aluminum. Foil hat sales up.

Can you document this slow down? Didn't think so.
 
DonDon said:
I just installed a test copy of ultimate on my system this week. Not like I am going to use it, I put my XP drive back in as soon as I finished installing the 39:eek::eek::eek: security updates from Windoz update. The little I did use it on a dual 2.66 Xeon system with a gig of ram it was sluggish.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I'm doing a new XP install right now. Number of "high priority" udpates downloading: 91.

Vista is a bit doggy. Then again so was XP when it came out and everyone was whining about how 98 ran so swell on their machine with 256MB.
 
Vista, iphone, Wii library, PS3 library, 2900XT, wireless carriers, the internet.

I must say though that Office 2007 pisses rings around previous incarnations.
 
Vista is mainly on the list because people don't think it offered too much because a LOT of what vista offers is hidden from the user. A much stabler driver system, superfetch, and based off a proven rock solid Kernel. Just because programmers are lazy as hell and love taking shortcuts and not testing their products, does not mean vista fails because it cant fix the programs code. DRM as been stated many times. Is never on unless you are streaming HD content. Not ever. And for vistas memory usage, I dunno what planet you all are on that considering 1gig ram okay. I can't stand even using XP at 1gig ram, let alone Vista. 2gig is the new standard. If your pc isn't up to the standard, well tough cookies for you! :D

As for Office 2007. I started using it at the beginning of this school semester. I found it at first to be very confusing to find what I wanted. About a week after, I noticed that everything just makes damn sense for once. Shit isn't just thrown all over the place. It's actually where avg Joe would go to look for it.
 
Vashypooh said:
Vista is mainly on the list because people don't think it offered too much because a LOT of what vista offers is hidden from the user. A much stabler driver system, superfetch, and based off a proven rock solid Kernel. Just because programmers are lazy as hell and love taking shortcuts and not testing their products, does not mean vista fails because it cant fix the programs code. DRM as been stated many times. Is never on unless you are streaming HD content. Not ever. And for vistas memory usage, I dunno what planet you all are on that considering 1gig ram okay. I can't stand even using XP at 1gig ram, let alone Vista. 2gig is the new standard. If your pc isn't up to the standard, well tough cookies for you! :D
Click to expand...

Good call, this is what I've been saying for AGES to the people who just bash Vista because it's cool and they know nothing about it!

Vista is NOT simply "XP 1.5" (someone on Digg actually called it that...) or something equally stupid. Yes, they removed WinFS, but it's still a completely new kernel, new network stack, new driver protocol, new graphics engine, etc. Just because the only obvious difference is a skin doesn't mean it's garbage or offering nothing new over XP.

It should be on the list for sure (it WAS a disappointment, not a failure, but a disappointment), but definitely not #1.

And I second the lack of any real PC hardware flops. Phenom I can understand (it was released less than a month ago), but c'mon, ignoring the R600? Now THAT was a disappointment if I've ever seen one. I was seriously waiting since this January for a new GFX card from ATI that would compete with the G80, and all I got was delay, delay, then finally, CRAP. I've just recently sold my desktop because I don't need it, and I'm REALLY hoping for some better options when I build a new one in May.
 
February 2007: Sony declares its Blu-ray the winner of the hi-def format wars.
April 2007: Toshiba announces its HD DVD player is the first to sell more than 100,000 units.
July 2007: Blockbuster Video says it will carry only Blu-ray discs in more than 1400 of its retail outlets.
August 2007: Paramount and DreamWorks announce exclusive support for the HD DVD format.
September 2007: God help us, a third HD format has emerged: HD VMD (Versatile Multilayer Disc).
Enough already.
Did we learn nothing from VHS vs. Betamax, CD-R vs. CD-RW, DVD-A vs. SACD, and so on down the line? At least the warring DVD camps worked out a compromise in the mid-90s that allowed everyone to profit from the new movie format (though it took them a while). Not so in HD land, where a take-no-prisoners attitude on both sides has left consumers cold. It will be a snowy day in Video Hell before we'll put our money down on either format.
Click to expand...



Im sorry but this is soooo true. That one definitely belongs on the list. Im so glad they mentioned that. Im sure everyone else feels the same way. All these dumb ass companies need to get together and pick a format. Its getting ridiculous.......I myself definitely dont plan on spending a single dime on either format(and havnt) until we can decide on ONE.
 
My take on Windows Vista - yeah, its an upgrade over XP - maybe code wise its a substantial one. Still - I look at what apple does feature wise with OSX (which is basically a platform for selling apple hardware) and the open source community (who work for free and in their spare time) and I wonder what Microsoft have been doing with their bread and butter product.

As for sold 20 million copies - I wonder how many non OEM copies they sold...

Stability is meh - seen no difference between it and XP
Networking again dosen't seem much improved - the fact that I have too go an fiddle with settings too get it too talk too an XP machine and macs, and that the easiest way too get a network printer working is too install bonjour for windows is hardly encouraging.
The UI is pretty - thats pretty much it. The 3d file scrolling view is pretty and thats basically it, I don't find myself using it like I do expose on my mac at work, not too mention that it deigns too rearrange itself every time I actually do use it.
Its slower the XP, the fact that I revert too an older version of an OS too play games on just sucks.
Microsoft are releasing windows vista only games - this idea that I have too upgrade too their latest software too play someone else's software is just irritating.
DirectX 10 - big performance drops, no visual improvements, dosen't come for windows vista - whats the point. Not being able too develop for XP strikes me as a whole load of marketing bullcrap.
Dosen't support more than 4gig's of ram in 32 bit more - but Tiger (which is primarily a 32 bit OS with a few 64 bit extensions) did. 64 bit mode has all sorts of dysfunctional drivers that make me reluctant too upgrade.
No WinFS - Which from my point of view was one of the larger selling points of the OS (NTFS is how old now?). If (when....) it gets released, its going too entail a complete reformat too get it working.
Product differentiation - there are 9 different versions or something - I mean what the hell... As far as I can tell your better off installing linux than you are home basic. Not too mention home premium is $200, which is expensive enough that I'll just stick with my copy of XP.
The OEM version is locked into a single motherboard, and theres no easy way too change this...
 
Fanu said:
vista is deservingly on the list

after 5 years of development it literally has nothing new when compared to XP

aero looks the same like XP interface ( i couldnt care less about that 3d effect while switching programs )

hmm, icons are bigger?

dx10 games look like dx9 games

there is no point in upgrading to vista

oh btw
my PC got 5.5 vista score (every component got 5.9 except CPU with 5.5)
so no, i dont have a shitty PC and thats not the reason why i am flaming vista

i honestly dont see any improvment over winXP [security is not an issue for me, i am behind 3 firewalls and use common sense while surfing, so i dont need an 400$ upgrade just to feel safer]
Click to expand...

Here is another goon that believes that all Vista has over XP is Aero. Right. Please read some more.
 
stoney_titan said:
Shitty fucking list. They tore apart one flaw of a great product that was released this year fifteen times. Heres an example of my PC World Top 5 worst games of 2007:

1. COD4- It's a good game but with only a 6 hour single player campaign your paying almost 10$/hr to play it! Bullshitz!

2. Crysis- Our receptionist waz suppose to play this but it made the computer crash. Gaaayy.

3. UT3- Wherez my phizicks?

4. Orange Box- I already paid for theese gamez!

5. Bioshock- How cumz you can't you can't shoot honey if you can shoot beaz?
Click to expand...

Are you kidding me? They had the Orange Box on that list? They should really hang their hands in shame for bashing some of the most innovative gameplay in a while, all bundled in a nice and affordable package.
 
Cyrilix said:
Are you kidding me? They had the Orange Box on that list? They should really hang their hands in shame for bashing some of the most innovative gameplay in a while, all bundled in a nice and affordable package.
Click to expand...

LOL. Sorry for confusing things. No, the Orange Box was not on the list. It was merely an example to show the extent at which they were meaninglessly bashing things. Simple flaws.
 
ianken said:
Note to self: buy stock in aluminum. Foil hat sales up.

Can you document this slow down? Didn't think so.
Click to expand...

One really doesnt need to document this slow down. Just do a search of gaming websites and you will see just about everyone one of them state time and time again that Vista is slower at running games then XP. Hell, I even took the time to find a few websites to "document" this slow down.

"Overall, applications performed as expected, or executed slightly slower than under Windows XP."
"Windows Vista clearly is not a great new performer when it comes to executing single applications at maximum speed." tomshardware.com http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/29/xp-vs-vista/page11.html#conclusion_ko_for_windows_vista

"the almost constant 5-10% drop in frame rate suffered under Windows Vista compared to Windows XP is a very disappointing one" elitebastads.com http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=467&Itemid=29&limit=1&limitstart=5
I will comment that they did a very thurough testing of Vista, and if you read article 3 of the series, ATI did alot better with Vista, than Nvidia did. Vista and XP were by and large tied in framerates and real world apps.

"This article is not to slam Vista and label it as a poor gaming operating system. However, we will say that at the current time, gaming is not what it could be on Vista." as per [H] may 2007. http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTMzNCw2LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

But on the flip side, I will agree. This is XP vs. 98 all over again. I was around for the 98/ XP conversion and thats all you heard for years and years, was how much better 98 was over XP and how crappy XP was. I bought the hype and stayed with 98 for three years after XP release. But once I made the switch, I could not have been happier. Vista will be the same thing. Give the OS some time to mature, then make the switch. Let "lazy" programmers catch up. Let the hardware get good mature drivers. Let M$ get the first of many patches and SPs out, then it will be time to make the great leap.

As for the HD content, I cant comment. I dont know alot about vistas capabilities and until I see more then fanboys cry or rave, I will leave that to the experts.


Now on to the HD vs. Blue ray, this is again a repeat of DVD-R and DVD+R. It will settle in time and more then likely end in either one winning or there being a combo drive that will read both. We just need to huddle down and wait for the wars to end. Let the people with the money to buy thehigh end, fight it out.

I am not sure where alot of you have been in the past ten years. But this last year of Blue-Ray/ HD-DVD and Vista/ XP, is nothing new. Nothing the industry hasnt seen before and we will almost certainly see more then a few more times in our life. Its business as usual. Just too many people listening to the commercial hype and letting forums make up their minds.
 
They call vista's networking an improvement?? Without SP1 its useless.... I've had to refresh 5-10 times before my XP laptop shows up on the networked computers screen. Send more than 5 files between computers and it'll be permanently stuck in calculating time..
 
MrWizard6600 said:
Aero is a significant increase over XP. You just havn't seen all its features.
Click to expand...

and that would be?

the only difference i can see between aero and XP interface is different start menu shut down/restart/log off buttons, 3D tab switcher and using explorer as default tool for browsing thru folders

MrWizard6600 said:
There are currently no DX10 games, there are seldom DX9 titles too. APIs are a tricky business.
Click to expand...

Crysis is a DX10 game
my comp can run crysis at 1440x900 with high details and above 30FPS

i can honestly say that COD4 looks much better then crysis [well, the only part where crysis looks better is in the water department, water in crysis is almost flawless]

MrWizard6600 said:
so your whole argument against vista is the lack of DX 10 titles (im sorry how old is DX10? do you understand a game takes 3+ years to produce?) and the little difference in looks?
Click to expand...

i did not state that i have problem with lackness of dx10 titles
games are not my priority - i did not even install any games on my copy of vista
i just stated that dx10 games dont look any better then current dx9 games, nor do dx10 games perform any faster then dx9 games (everyone said before dx10 was to be released how dx9 games would run faster with dx10 installed)

yes, the little difference in looks is my argument against vista
they are using the same formula they have been using for a decade now
slap on a new windows theme, add new icons to control panel, use new wmp and ie and thats it

everyone is just mentioning the improved security - but i think security with xp sp2 is already really good

Cyrilix said:
Here is another goon that believes that all Vista has over XP is Aero. Right. Please read some more.
Click to expand...

and where did i state that all vista has over XP is aero? i said aero looks the same like xp interface, not that aero is any better

you go and read some more
 
#1 Failure of 2007: PC World

oh and Crysis is still a DX9 game with very little DX10 elements implemented (NOT MAKING IT DX10!)

this thread is really full of retarded comments
 
That list is pretty out of control.

As has already been said, Office 2007 is amazing. This discredits the list instantly. It may be different, but even the most computer illiterate users realize after a short time that it's incredibly intuitive.

I personally have no issues with Vista, but there are others who are /tinfoilhat and just hate change, so knock yourselves out. Microsoft isn't losing sleep over it. They're having no problem moving copies. Last time I was at Best Buy the entire Windows section was empty except for one copy of Vista Business. Rant away while MS employees roll in their money; what you say isn't changing the fact that it sells.

With that said, I run a mixed environment at work. New machines are Vista, old machines are XP. No problems. If a user is upset by change, then they can use the classic interface. However, even the users who hate change the most still like Office 2007.
 
ahh I will pretend to care... I will try... trying... ah... screw it I can't...

anyway, ENJOY WHAT YOU ENJOY.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top