Working Around Vista Apps' Incompatibilities

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft says there are over 1,000 applications you can run on Windows Vista with few, if any, issues. However, Windows apps number in the tens of thousands. Add to that the facts that x64 Vista versions don't support legacy 16-bit code, and that the Windows Resource Protection in Vista breaks some apps, and you've got a big issue. InformationWeek lists a host of workarounds in How To Manage Windows Vista Application Compatibility. Among the tips discussed are Vista's compatibility mode, its Program Compatibility Assistant wizard, and a little-known form of file and registry virtualization that's built into the OS. What problems have you encountered with incompatible apps, and are any issues you've encountered deal-breakers that could further roil the already muddied adoption picture for Vista?"

Broken Apps

[memojuez]

Vista won't even recognize older Microsoft Apps, like Office 2000, as a legitimate application. After finally getting installed, after a hundred Cancel or Allow pop-up boxes, Outlook was still broken. The fix offered at the MSDN Tech board [microsoft.com] didn't work, Vista wouldn't allow me to do it.

Even if it did, every time Outlook was started, it wanted to do its final install and first run configuration. Same with the other Office Apps as well.

Vista = Forced Obsolescence.

Photoshop CS2 workaround

[careysb]

Things have mostly worked on my brand new Vista box (old box died). One annoyance that I encountered is that Photoshop CS2 would nag me to register each time I launched it, even though I had "successfully" (?) registered a couple of times. Adobe's response was that it was "a known issue". I then reset the compatibility mode so that it would run as administrator. That brought even more complaints from Vista and CS2. However, when I reset CS2 to run as a normal user the problem mysteriously went away. Hope this may help someone else. --Carey

It's not rubbish.

[Erris]

... if you don't use this DRM infested media, there is no difference between using Vista, Mac OSX or Linux.

Do digital restrictions in OSX or Linux:

• Disable your old media [slashdot.org]?
• Keep you from modifying your kernel [slashdot.org]
• Have "trip bits" at the hardware level?
• Disable outputs when you do so much as slip an audio CD into a drive? As is the case of Zune, they probably "protect" everything regardless of author intent [slashdot.org].

I'll give you a quick hint: there are no digital restrictions in free software.

The consensus opinion is that Vista's digital restrictions set it up for failure [computerworld.com]. Really, it even annoys fanboys [slashdot.org] to the point where no one wants it [slashdot.org]. My opinion is that they just make obvious M$ intentions but don't represent any change of attitude.

DRM is snakeoil, much like Windows itself. All digital restriction schemes have the same attitude and end goal. The way M$ does it now represents the absurd lengths required make them even look like they could work. Big publishers want to control your digital media in a way that they could not with paper or even broadcast. It's not going to work but we need to fight it every step of the way. The easiest way to avoid it is to not buy things filled with such obvious contempt for the customer.

Re:The most promising workaround

[ZakuSage]

In all seriousness, WINE is really gotten a lot better over the past little while. It's actually making gaming on Linux a viable option for me. Today, with only minimal extra effort, I was able to get Command and Conquer 3 working perfectly in WINE on my Ubuntu 7.04 box, something I thought would've been impossible just a few months ago.

Your full of crap

[Dan_Bercell]

I have installed Office 2000 on at least 2 dozen Vista boxes. I have yet to have any issues with them. Either you are trying to use 3rd party applications with Office or you don't know how to install office (always copy the files to the hard drive before installing or install from a network share).

Re:It's not rubbish.

[jb.hl.com]

Hi there twitter [slashdot.org]! Let's play Debunk The Zealot!

Disable your old media? That article relates to Zune, not Vista. Try again.
Keep you from modifying your kernel? Well, the first response would be "well, it's closed source, what the hell do you expect?" But playing along, those protections would be ideal for keeping rootkits out of home PCs...but of course, Microsoft is between a rock and a hard place with you. They're insecure and buggy, but if they do something about it, they're trampling on your rights. Let's ignore that you can, on boot, disable disabling unsigned drivers for a second.
You didn't even cite anything for your trip bits stuff, so moving on to your last thing...you linked to a Zune article again. Not Vista, Zune. This is like me slagging off Fedora munching my data and then linking to an article about Ubuntu munching my data. Which I'm sure you'd be against.

Then, apropos of nothing, you link to a Slashdot article entitled "What Vista Is Really Like" (which at first glance appears to be another "OMG VISTA SUX" Slashdot circle jerk) and another classic link to your new favourite article, the "nobody wants Vista" article (which consists of a notoriously-unreliable online poll with a tiny sample size...do you realise how many Windows users there are, and how small a percentage of them 2223 people is?) Finishing up with a classic twitter "Let me tell it like it is" paragraph, complete with M$ (nothing about "greed heads" though-I love it when you say that, it makes you sound like a hippie.) Wonderful.

Re:Simple solution

[speculatrix]

why would any organisation upgrade to Windows Vista...the big corporations are usually the last people to move on major upgrades like XP->Vista

I'm currently contracting at one of the larger international banks (HQ in Scotland) and they only just started migrating off NT4 to XP as their certified desktop environment, missing out Win2kpro altogether! It is sad and funny to see people with top specification laptops running NT4 and unable to use half the hardware on their machines!

Don't forget VST's

[SonnyJimATC]

Plus the fact that a branch of it can now be used to run VST audio effects programs that would normally only run under windows. Now I can use my VSTs with a cheap soundcard and still get under 40ms latency.

Anti-Windows FUD is ugly too

[Henry V .009]

I've been running Windows Vista since beta. When the release came out on MSDN, I ran the upgrade from XP to business edition on one of our client computers (we have approximately 100 apps that we support for users, all installed). The only thing that broke was McAfee and one other very minor app. I was extremely impressed. The problems with Vista are highly exaggerated. I bet that less than 5% of the posters to this thread have ever run Vista.

Re:The most promising workaround

[sqrt(2)]

My experience has been the opposite. All my attempts with Linux have been a constant uphill fight to get anything to work correctly (or even acceptably). I recieved a free copy of Vista Ultimate, loaded it onto one of my laptops and EVERYTHING worked right away. Even XP didn't recognize all the hardware by default with a fresh SP2 installation. The last distro I tried was Ubuntu on that same laptop--this was just a couple weeks ago. I had problems with the display, sound, and network (the last two were entirely non-functional).

Vista was pretty bloated by default, but 9 hours is a bit excessive. Maybe 30 minutes of actual work seems more like it. You're right about one thing though, I was spending most of my time removing stuff I didn't want, and if you bought your laptop from any of the big OEMs I'm sure it had all kinds of wonderful software running at start up to add to the windows clutter you needed to remove. With linux I usually find myself adding features that were missing to begin with. Either way, I wouldn't use Vista for anything serious right now; there's no real reason to upgrade from XP--and I'll probably end up putting XP back on that laptop soon too.

Re:The most promising workaround

[JFitzsimmons]

You should be fair; it barely works.

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=744 0 [winehq.org]

Under wine, the game has no multiplayer and for some that could be considered completely unplayable, since I don't think many people buy RTS games for the singleplayer.

Re:The most promising workaround

[Grashnak]

If by "Tweak it until it purrs like a kitten" you mean search the internet for someone to tell you how to get it to recognize your hard drive so you can install it, and then spend two days trying to get Wi-Fi working, then I agree. However, what I think you mean is absolutely the exact opposite of the experience of everyone I know who has tried Linux and isn't a programmer/developer/fanboy. Linux won't be ready for prime time until joe blow can install it effortlessly.

The time I've spent tweaking Vista is annoying, but not nearly as annoying as the fruitless two days I spent trying to get Ubuntu working on my very basic, brand new, completely generic laptop. The main difference being that while I've been tweaking Vista, at least its been working as compared to the nightmare that was my wireless-less Linux laptop.