Brickbats for Vista
In the high stakes environment that companies like Microsoft operate, it is but natural that any perceived flaw in an offering as ambitious as Vista will receive a lot of negative feedback. The criticisms are broadly related to the amount of time it took for the product to come out, the licensing terms and conditions that are considered to be restrictive, and of course security.
Vendors of security software, particularly Symantec, have pointed out that there is a huge amount of new codes that have yet to be tested in the mass market. The Advanced Threat Research Team of Symantec has raised concern about the new network stack, which in its opinion could lead to system instability and loopholes in the security. In developing Vista, Microsoft has done away with a lot of proven codes and substituted them with fresh and untested ones that could lead to problems when multiple parameters reach levels that are beyond normal working conditions.
Other security issues are regarding P2P collaboration technologies and the Patch guard feature that critics feel can be broken by hackers. Microsoft has taken pains to protect its product from unlicensed use but already people are making claims that they have managed to install Windows Vista on to their machine despite Windows Genuine Advantage and the anti-piracy program put in place by Microsoft.
The Digital Rights Management systems integrated into Vista are drawing particularly heavy flak as they are seen by critics as being a manifestation of Microsoft's desire to further its hegemony. The Digital Rights Management system will not allow hardware to play content that has been deemed premium or protected by Microsoft. Detractors of this policy point that are adding such levels of encryption adds to the cost which ultimately the consumer has to bear. Microsoft is working with the entertainment industry and some feel under pressure from Hollywood to ensure that piracy of the premium content does not happen. The media industry calls the shots in this case and if they are not satisfied with the level of security to their content, even expensive hardware can be rendered useless for viewing such content.
The User Account Control security function has still to find the right balance between providing security and being easy to manage. Managing UAC has been described as an "annoyance" by experts and although there is the option of disabling it, doing so brings its own set of security risks.
A very damaging criticism to the pride of Microsoft is that its magnum opus - Vista - has drawn inspiration from MAC OS X, specifically MAC OS X Aqua. One can discern quite a few striking similarities between Aqua and Vista's much boasted about Aero interface. Functions such as Smart Searching and Smart Folders were already present in Aqua.
Another major concern voiced by industry watchers regarding the hardware requirements for running Vista. Low end and mid-range PCs is that they will not be able to meet the "Windows Vista Premium Ready" requirements that are necessary for features such as the Aero Glass interface.
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