Vista is voted worst I.T product by International survey

by Daniel Long on Feb 27, 2009

15 Comments

15 comments in this discussion

"LOL, vested interest ehh, I have moved on from Vista after ditching XP and its lack of support for my hardware. Win7 eats all and leaves no crumbs. P.S I would avoid SP2 beta for Vista for ..."

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In their first year running, the Spanish based Fiasco Awards have voted Vista the worst performing I.T product, following by the One laptop per child (OLPC) initiative and Second Life, the online gaming community.

The first time we heard about the Fiasco Awards, we immediately did a double-take. Who? The small Spanish survey is worth noting for their Vista hating; the same feeling we've held for the last two years.

In Barcelona, where the Fiasco Awards are based, the love for Microsoft is critical. Some would call it a 'Fiasco' and that's exactly what this new set of awards has undertaken to achieve.

In hoping to find the world's worst performing I.T products, the awards appear to have found their mark with an array of software programs, including some big hitters such as Vista and Google's under-loved 'Lively' product, which is now defunct.

Voting took place online through the Fiasco Awards website, where just over 6400 people gave their opinions. Not surprisingly, Microsoft's dead-in-the-water operating system (Vista), was voted the world's worst I.T product, gaining 81% or 5222 of the overall votes.

The not-for-profit private initiative aimed to find the "funny" side amongst the usual tech sector criticism and part of the judging criteria reflected this approach. The Fiasco awards list two of their main objectives: "To share what we have learned from our mistakes" and "to have fun".

Some of the other products on the list may seem a bit far-fetched. We'd hardly call the One Laptop per child initiative awful, but then again, it had its fair share of detractors and according to multiple news reports - failed to reach the millions of people that really needed the product.

The Top 6 worst performing I.T products, according to the Fiasco Awards:

1) Windows Vista
2) OLPC
3) Second life
4) Google Lively
5) Mobuzz
6) Autonomix

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Comments: 15

Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.

petergaskin Feb 27, 2009 7:03 PM	The anti Vista movement continues to climb to new lows. There are a lot of very happy users of Vista. Ity just doesnt work in most commercial environments, but it is very good for use at home. Comment made about the PC Authority article: Vista is voted worst I.T product by International survey? In their first year running, the Spanish based Fiasco Awards have voted Vista the worst performing I.T product, following by the One laptop per child (OLPC) initiative and Second Life, the online gaming community. What do you think? Join the discussion.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Feb 27, 2009 7:09 PM	adds Fiasco Awards to unreliable information source list
Noops Feb 27, 2009 10:14 PM	Having used Vista for around 12 months now, I can safely say it is totally stable and far better to use than XP (which I have used for years and still use at work). The anti-Vista movement is so biased, based only on early problems which were caused by Nvidia drivers, not Vista. IMO (and I've been in IT for 30 years now) Vista is far better than XP. It's time everyone forgot the initial Nvidia problems and accepted Vista for what it is - a vast improvement over XP.
ComputerMaster Feb 28, 2009 11:10 AM	Vista worst? I don't believe it! I seriously see nothing wrong with it!
fred Feb 28, 2009 12:57 PM	So let me get this straight, A poll of 6400 computer users give their opinions on the worst IT product with over 5000 saying Vista, Me thinks this is the worst poll in IT. Come on Daniel, get real surely this poll doesn't justify your own personal feelings over vista, 5000 votes out of how many millions of Windows users. Vista is nowhere near as bad as it's made out,never was, never will be. The only people that spread the FUD are those that will be stretching the operating system beyond what is suppose to do,(Games)and (Benchmarking)which I believe constitutes 20% of the computer user base, the rest of us the other 80% will be using the operating system for basic tasks like, surfing the net, Office Applications and playing the odd game. And for that Vista does and does very well indeed
Nat.W¿LL¿ Feb 28, 2009 4:52 PM	there is alot worse shit out there other then vista. vista is crap but iv seen worse.
Slatts Mar 1, 2009 7:50 PM	I'm with fred. The article is a beat up and lowers the standards of this site.
Lost-Benji Mar 2, 2009 8:18 AM	I have been using Vista since it was first Beta released and can safely say it is way better than XP in so many ways. If you one of the slow people who still stick with 32bit and its low RAM limitation then yes, XP can be made to out perform Vista but then again, Vista can be tweaked properly to soon catch XP and give it a new southside-ring. The quickest and easiest way to tweak Vista (or XP for that fact) is NOT to even go near all these bullshite software tweak-tools and do it yourself after speaking with those who know how to do so. In 10 minutes and under a 100 bucks, you can have faster system. Vista is very good and the main reason it gets a bad name is from those who are affriad of it, don't know how to use it or have never used it and are just bagging cos their lame-arsed mate said so. The cat into the pigeons response will be if Vista SP2 will give back the speed SP1 stole or even better, who will stay with Vista when already Win7 Beta is creaming everything before it.
William Maher Mar 2, 2009 11:37 AM	Slatts, fred, appreciate your feedback. I think Dan's in agreement with many of the commenters here in wondering who the Fiasco's are and whether they should be trusted - if you compare his piece to many out there covering this (such as this one) who have treated it perhaps a little more like gospel, you'll see he's treated the story as it should be treated - by poking fun at the survey and not treating it too seriously. Some of the other products on the list seem a bit far-fetched, which he's noted. Your point's noted, the Fiasco's are obviously generating a lot of skepticism.
fred Mar 2, 2009 2:27 PM	The first two line of Dan's opening arguement, William doesn't sound to me as if he is sticking up for vista, in fact it sounds to me as if Dan along with Fiasco is sticking in the boot, how do you explain Dan's opinion that "The first time we heard about the Fiasco Awards, we immediately did a double-take. Who? The small Spanish survey is worth noting for their Vista hating; the same feeling we've held for the last two years". To me, william, Dan is in agreement with Fiasco about vista being hated, because he states that the magazine has had the same feelings ever since vista's launch. If indeed Daniel was in agreement with the comments expressed on this sight, maybe he would like to reply to clarify his remarks, especially the opening two lines.
Slatts Mar 2, 2009 8:49 PM	Dan's too subtle for me William. I normally pride myself in "getting" irony but that article went straight over my head. When I first read the article I did a search of Dans published work on the site. I was mostly impressed by what I saw, so held my piece. When fred put his post up I re-read the article and decided to come out and back him as to me it looked, and having just read it again, still looks like just another hatchet job on Vista. Quote: In their first year running perhaps I should have smelt a rat there and then. I can't fault them about "second life" though. In future, when I read an article by Daniel I'll make sure I have a salt shaker handy.8-[ Edited by Slatts: 2/3/2009 08:53:13 PM
Zara_Baxter Mar 3, 2009 2:45 PM	Fred: It's definitely not the magazine's opinion that we hate Vista -- one look at our XP vs Vista article should disabuse anyone of that notion. We give credit where it is due, and aren't afraid to draw attention to noteworthy flaws. I, personally, have a few gripes about Vista, but I also have a few gripes about XP (and Mac OS X, while we're talking OS) and it doesn't get in the way of assessing it on my readers' behalf, with their interests at heart. Vista may not deliver on all the promise we hoped, but that's not the same as hating it.
Lost-Benji Mar 4, 2009 7:47 AM	All OS's have bugs and reasons to be diss-liked but then there are the benifits as well. In the scheme of things, 5000 votes is only a small margin of the total amount in circulation. Even then, I still feel alot of the negitivity is from those who are too tight or lazy to upgrade their old hardware or are just neive to how to use Vista.
Slatts Mar 4, 2009 9:43 PM	Lost-Benji wrote: Even then, I still feel alot of the negitivity is from those who are too tight or lazy to upgrade their old hardware or are just neive to how to use Vista. That's a bit harsh Benji! Some of us Luddites still use XP or even 98 because it does what we want at an acceptable rate without having to spring for new hardware. Methinks I smell a vested interest.[-x
Lost-Benji Mar 4, 2009 11:26 PM	LOL, vested interest ehh, I have moved on from Vista after ditching XP and its lack of support for my hardware. Win7 eats all and leaves no crumbs. P.S I would avoid SP2 beta for Vista for now, major slow-down with no advantages of it. Edited by lost-benji: 5/3/2009 07:45:10 AM