Who’s to Blame for Vista Incompatibility?

By most estimates Windows Vista sales have reached well over 20 Million by now, and many of these sales were bundled as the preinstalled operating system on new computers. A large number of new Vista users have encountered issues running their favorite software programs and hardware devices, the same products they depended upon as a Windows XP user. Most industry experts accept that there is a period of maturity that must be afforded to new OS releases, one that allows software application and hardware/peripheral manufacturers to ‘catch up’. Understandably, most end users want everything to work correctly right away. With this notion in mind, who is to blame for Windows Vista compatibility issues: Microsoft or the other hardware/software companies (manufacturer partners) out there?

On one hand, manufacturer partners complain that Microsoft didn’t make the necessary tools as readily available as they could have. This is a thought that can be quickly dismissed as most major industry players (Symantec, Trend Micro, and Adobe) had no problem offering Vista compatible versions in a timely manner. In fact, the launch of Vista was delayed a number of times, affording even more time for the manufacturer partners to prepare. SDK’s and other materials were available for months and years before the big release. Those who have been caught with their pants down can be easily divided into two categories:

1- The Complacent: Simply didn’t realize the significance of the Windows Vista release, or didn’t devote enough time and effort to it.
2- The Needy: Simply didn’t have enough resources to devote to ‘hurried’ Vista compatibility. Major players have no excuse, but many smaller ones cannot be faulted.

Microsoft’s fault may lye in communication more than any other area. Perhaps they can exert more time and energy in contacting their manufacturer partners about available resources and expected release dates. They should also spend more time injecting a sense of urgency into the manufacturer partners.

One thing is for sure: most of your computer hardware and software will offer versions or drivers for Vista soon. Let’s hope we don’t face the same issue when the next big OS is released down the road!

Talking Point: What do you think? Who is to blame and how can we avoid this in the future?