Daley Ponderings

I was recently asked by a Microsoft engineer why I am still asking questions about Windows XP when I should be using Vista, since it is better for various reasons.

My response is below, which he called, "stunningly clear", and said that he had already forwarded it onto his executive management.  I don't know that it will have all that much of an impact, but it is nice to hear that he thought it was a good explanation.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?  What do you think is the primary reason your customers are still buying Windows XP?  Windows Vista has a MUCH better MUI model that offers full-localization, not the partial localization the Windows XP MUI provides."

Sure.  Basically, our hardware doesn't support Vista.  Our applications runs so slowly on Vista on our hardware that Vista pops up a dialog saying the application has stopped responding, and asks the user whether he wants to shut it down.  We will have to upgrade our CPU, RAM and video chip in order to achieve equivalent speed, but at a higher cost, and lower battery life.  So, Vista is not at all attractive to us.  We had assumed MS license cost would be higher, so it was nice to hear that it is the same as XP, so that makes it a little easier to swallow.  The shortened battery life is a big one for us.  Our XP devices get around 5 or 6 hours, compared to the previous generation of the product that went 8 or 10.  Due to the increased size of the battery in our XP device, the current device weighs a ton, and everyone complains about how their arm is going to fall off carrying the thing around.

Our devices are different than a standard laptop because they get used while people are holding onto them, as opposed to a laptop, that tends to be set down when you are typing.  I personally can't carry our device around for more than an half hour before I start shifting it around, switching hands, etc.  To make it even heavier with a battery that can support Vista would be crazy, and I don't think we would be able to sell it, unless we simply stopped selling the lighter products to force people to buy the Vista device.  And since our profit margin is lower on the Vista device, no one is interested in that route.

I have seen the Vista documents that help people like me, so that is nice, but I don't see any benefit to the customer.