I went to do something on my laptop with Windows Vista last night and got shot down. This is starting to upset me.
It was a simple thing. I have a Bluetooth headset. I wanted to be able to use it with Skype or the ‘dictation’ feature of the operating system. I bought a cheap Bluetooth USB dongle¹ and plugged it in. With shipping we’re talking $13, so this wasn’t a major investment.
In Windows XP, it would have worked flawlessly. In Vista, the driver installation failed. And, there is no other Vista driver for my device without paying more than the dongle itself cost!
This follows on the heels of my discovery either Dell or Microsoft turned off the ability to record directly from a WAV file or internal computer line input. Best example would be recording audio from a TV show I was watching on my laptop.
Again, in XP, this was built in and robust. Now, it’s gone.
When I read other comments about either of these two problems all I see is frustration from others. I guess that’s the WOW factor Microsoft was talking about.
¹ – Hey, I don’t name this stuff.
Geoff,
You can always use a Dell XP Restore CD and reimage your laptop. You have downgrade rights for the OS. I helped someone order a Dell laptop yesterday and was able to choose XP Pro instead of Vista. Kudos to Dell for allowing that option.