Monday, December 17,2007 @ 9:45am
Vista, iPhone 'big' disappointments of 2007
Both Apple and Microsoft have defined the list of the most significant technology disappointments of 2007, according to a new review of the year by PC World. Windows Vista reaches first place among the disappointments for the gap between what was originally promised and actually delivered. Despite its extended, five-year development time, the software had to cast off important promised features such as the WinFS file system to make its January 2007 release window. The OS is not fundamentally flawed, but is frequently plagued by hardware compatibility issues, poor performance, and excessive security warnings.
"No wonder so many users are clinging to XP like shipwrecked sailors to a life raft, while others who made the upgrade are switching back," the magazine explains. "And when the fastest Vista notebook PC World has ever tested is an Apple MacBook Pro, there's something deeply wrong with the universe."
Microsoft also appeared on the list of disappointments through the eleventh-place Zune, whose proprietary DRM is criticized for locking customers into a single store, and the reportedly confusing "ribbon" interface of Office 2007 at ninth place.
Apple also occupies the list with two products, however. The iPhone occupies fifth place largely due to the politics surrounding its launch: the sudden $200 price drop, software damage to modified iPhones, and poor AT&T service reflect poorly on the device in spite of its actual quality, according to the report. Mac OS X Leopard reaches eighth place through a flawed early release that brought bugs with data transfer, security, and upgrading that were not fixed until mid-November, weeks after the original launch.
Other notable entries on the list include Amazon's Unbox video service (#15), which is "cluttered" compared to iTunes, and both landline and wireless data providers attempting overly strict control of their networks and devices.