Similarities between Windows Vista and Windows 8

[Ian W]

Now I know that no one likes a comparison to "the dreaded V-word," but I am wondering if anyone else has noticed the following similarities between the two operating systems?

I know that it is not difficult to find similarities between the many versions of Windows, but I feel that the following are significant, not only because of the number, but also because of the rarity of their occurrence.

• Windows Vista and Windows 8 both introduced a new visual style / interface which encompasses various parts of the operating systems: Windows Aero, and the Windows 8 UI respectively.
  
• Both had a revised Windows Explorer interface and new file management windows.
  
• Both of the operating systems included an anti-malware solution: Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials.
  
• Fully integrated a child monitoring feature: Parental Controls and Family Safety.
  
• Introduced ?Live? features: Windows Sidebar (and Gadgets) and Start screen (with Live Tiles).
  
• Bundled new E-Mail, Calendar, and Contact features.
  
• Integrated seamlessly with a digital distribution system: Windows Marketplace and Windows Store.
  
• Finally, both operating systems had a significant visual overhaul of the standard Windows games, such as Minesweeper.
  

[Rippleman]

I am not a fan of either, but i don't see any similarities other then poor initial design. To me, Vista was a huge power hog and never felt.... polished; polishing came with windows 7. With Windows 8, I tried for the 3rd time to get to like it but went back Windows 7 just yesterday. Windows 8 I find is speedy, fast, and rock solid and is an awesome move forward BUT its just feels like it wasn't exactly polished to be a "finished" product. I hating switching back and forth between metro and desktop. If they made metro be as useful as a desktop then I would love it. Guess i have to wait for it to mature into Windows 9 for that. As a side note, windows 8 has awesome new features that i wish was in windows 7.

[Phouchg]

I'd say Vista was more polished in terms of user interface as far as visual overhaul goes. It lacked in speed optimization, drivers, hardware support, but it did look pretty "we have a pretty good idea of what we want it to look like" right out from the box. I'm afraid 8 doesn't give that feeling, although they've done a good job with the rest (inheriting largely from Vista and 7, though).

That's why Apple is successful. No matter what - it looks pretty, it looks finished and appears to work. People like pretty things.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

The main similarity I see is: Both Vista and Windows 8 introduced new UI paradigms which need refinement in a dot release - Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 respectively.

The difference: Windows 7 was a a real improvement. Whether Windows 8.1 will make Windows 8 fully usable for me remains to be seen,

[(Account no longer active)]

The main similarity I see is that they both generated a lot of complaints and criticism.

The thing I hated the most about Vista was a) the new theme and b) driver issues.

The thing I hate most about Windows 8 is that in part, you're forced to use a tablet UI on a desktop (until there was Start8).

[notuptome2004]

I am not a fan of either, but i don't see any similarities other then poor initial design. To me, Vista was a huge power hog and never felt.... polished; polishing came with windows 7. With Windows 8, I tried for the 3rd time to get to like it but went back Windows 7 just yesterday. Windows 8 I find is speedy, fast, and rock solid and is an awesome move forward BUT its just feels like it wasn't exactly polished to be a "finished" product. I hating switching back and forth between metro and desktop. If they made metro be as useful as a desktop then I would love it. Guess i have to wait for it to mature into Windows 9 for that. As a side note, windows 8 has awesome new features that i wish was in windows 7.

Well you may want to try agian later on when windows Blue update is released as they refine allot more add more make improvements to the existing windows 8 . i personaly have been using windows 8 since the CP and such and love it so Blue will be a great update for it

[Ian W]

Windows Vista was still a desktop OS, and its changes added to/enhanced that.

Windows 8 is totally different, and is a touch os first.

no real idea what you're trying to get to with this topic since you didn't include a point.

I thought it was interesting as I hadn't seen a comparison posted elsewere. I believe the similarities are special, for reasons mentioned above.

troll thread is troll bait....not good by any means. Don't feed the trolls, be adults, and stick to something else.....like the NSFW picure thread, for instance, lol.....still, not cool. Adults have the ability to adapt and move on....just sayin'. :/

Absent from my original post is the following: "I do not want to perpetuate the hate of either operating system (especially Windows 8)."

I wonder how differently you would feel if the topic compared Windows 8 with Windows 7 instead of Vista...?

No, I did not create this thread to attract the trolls. Why would anyone want to engage with others who are so frustrating?

Besides, there are plenty of "Windows 8 hate" topics already on this site.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Now I know that no one likes a comparison to "the dreaded V-word," but I am wondering if anyone else has noticed the following similarities between the two operating systems?

I know that it is not difficult to find similarities between the many versions of Windows, but I feel that the following are significant, not only because of the number, but also because of the rarity of their occurrence.

• Windows Vista and Windows 8 both introduced a new visual style / interface which encompasses various parts of the operating systems: Windows Aero, and the Windows 8 UI respectively.
  
• Both had a revised Windows Explorer interface and new file management windows.
  
• Both of the operating systems included an anti-malware solution: Windows Defender and Microsoft Security Essentials.
  
• Fully integrated a child monitoring feature: Parental Controls and Family Safety.
  
• Introduced ?Live? features: Windows Sidebar (and Gadgets) and Start screen (with Live Tiles).
  
• Bundled new E-Mail, Calendar, and Contact features.
  
• Integrated seamlessly with a digital distribution system: Windows Marketplace and Windows Store.
  
• Finally, both operating systems had a significant visual overhaul of the standard Windows games, such as Minesweeper.
  

Couldn't this be said of most new releases of the OS?

I mean 'bundled new email and contact features' is something that's going to continue for as long as new OS's are made.

As for including 'anti-malware features', 'revised Windows Explorer interface and new file management windows' and 'Fully integrated a child monitoring feature: Parental Controls and Family Safety.', this again is a constant that's not going to change, they're comparable to vista in the same way that my morning cup of tea is comparable to my lunchtime cup of tea. So that leaves your list with...

• Finally, both operating systems had a significant visual overhaul of the standard Windows games, such as Minesweeper.
  
• Integrated seamlessly with a digital distribution system: Windows Marketplace and Windows Store.
  
• Introduced ?Live? features: Windows Sidebar (and Gadgets) and Start screen (with Live Tiles).
  
• Windows Vista and Windows 8 both introduced a new visual style / interface which encompasses various parts of the operating systems: Windows Aero, and the Windows 8 UI respectively.
  

I'd say that UI change is also a constant between every release of the operating system. The Windows Store in 8 isn't at all anything like the Windows store on Vista, it's a completely different concept done in a completely different way.

Everything else you mentioned just seems to be an evolution of an operating system, which is how it always works. You'd be pretty miffed to buy Windows 9 to find nothing had changed.

For the record, i had a Vista machine when it came out and i had zero problems with it except for an old sound card that couldn't recognise the new audio stack, which is fair enough.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Windows 8 adoption rate is currently slower than Vista adoption rate at the time.

http://www.nbcnews.c...vista-1C7800805

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Reasons for Windows 8 will fail!

1. Touch screens are too EXPENSIVE, and Windows 8 was primarily made for touchscreens!

2. It is $200 now instead of the reasonable $40

3. The GUI is too radically different

4. Windows XP is set to expire, and businesses will most likely be getting Windows 7 machines.

Windows 8 isnt bad, its just too awkward and different. I believe it should have been released as a separate OS! Windows Vista was different because a majority of PCs couldnt run it. Vista was a necessary thing to have Windows 7 and 8! One major similarity vista and 8 are, a majority of Vista pcs in 2007 couldnt run it yet and currently a majority of Windows 8 pcs are not or do not have touchscreens!

[xendrome]

Reasons for Windows 8 will fail!

1. Touch screens are too EXPENSIVE, and Windows 8 was primarily made for touchscreens!

2. It is $200 now instead of the reasonable $40

3. The GUI is too radically different

4. Windows XP is set to expire, and businesses will most likely be getting Windows 7 machines.

1: False, Windows 8 works fine with or without a touch screen, it is no different. Actually it's like taking Windows 7 and making it more touch friendly, something Windows 7 was horrible at was running on a tablet/touchscreen

2: Most people are getting it with new systems, and businesses don't pay $200 a license via VL agreements

3: The GUI hasn't changed much actually, only the start menu.

4: That really has nothing to do with Windows 8, smart businesses usually never adopt the latest and greatest. They have tested their apps and infrastructure extensively by this point and stick with that they have tested on, Windows 7. There hasn't been enough time to test stuff on Windows 8, it's time consuming to start over every time a new OS is released, and time is money.

[chrisj1968]

Windows 8 is a trendy OS whereby you can walk into a kiosk or cafe and turn heads as being in the "in" crowd. MS basically pulled a brain fart and think they'll tell us what we want. Kinda like governments do and we know how that goes...

Touchscreen is good if you have a touchscreen refrigerator or maybe touchscreen TV.

Forcing anything on anyone or telling them "this or that" is what they want never works.

ReactOS seems like a cool idea and competition is always a good thing by keeping entities honest

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

3: The GUI hasn't changed much actually, only the start menu.

Microsoft actually change ALOT of the GUI in Windows 8. When you booted previous Windows, it went straight to the desktop, now it goes to a tablet like interface. Microsoft also remove translucency, they removed the classic gui. They basically tabletized the entire Windows OS. The desktop now is supposedly a APP, and I hope that is not true!

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Microsoft actually change ALOT of the GUI in Windows 8. When you booted previous Windows, it went straight to the desktop, now it goes to a tablet like interface. Microsoft also remove translucency, they removed the classic gui. They basically tabletized the entire Windows OS. The desktop now is supposedly a APP, and I hope that is not true!

1. windows hasn't booted to the desktop since before windows 2000. It boots to the log in screen just like previous versions of windows

2. is transparency really even that big of deal? i mean honestly, all it is is eye candy. it in no way effects how anything works

3. what do you mean classic gui? do you mean the classic theme? if so there's good reason they removed it finally

4. the desktop is definitely not just an app. it's still a very major part of the OS so you don't have to worry about that

[ozgeek]

Yes, much like every new version of windows that was released, people complained but then gradiently accepted the new operating system.

The difference with winxp and win8 is that winxp was accepted widely and was sold very sucessfully. People flocked to the shops to buy them. People upgraded and was happy with it's reliablity and usablity. Though Xp did had it's own problems - security and glitches but they were patched in service packs and people remained happy to use XP.

On the other hand Win8 was a new upgrade that was released in a technology world of tablets and mobile computing with little regards to desktop computers. Win8 was very hard to learn and use on oridinary desktop computers. A interface designed for touch screens on a desktop computer with the mouse and keyboard as the only input? A receipe for disaster. The number of sales for win8 wasn't impressive. Not many are now buying desktop computers and there are wide variety of tablets running different operating systems not just windows.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Yes, much like every new version of windows that was released, people complained but then gradiently accepted the new operating system.

The difference with winxp and win8 is that winxp was accepted widely and was sold very sucessfully. People flocked to the shops to buy them. People upgraded and was happy with it's reliablity and usablity. Though Xp did had it's own problems - security and glitches but they were patched in service packs and people remained happy to use XP.

xp widely excepted right away huh? i seem to remember a lot of complaining about the "fisher price UI" and other things

[chrisj1968]

1. windows hasn't booted to the desktop since before windows 2000. It boots to the log in screen just like previous versions of windows

2. is transparency really even that big of deal? i mean honestly, all it is is eye candy. it in no way effects how anything works

3. what do you mean classic gui? do you mean the classic theme? if so there's good reason they removed it finally

4. the desktop is definitely not just an app. it's still a very major part of the OS so you don't have to worry about that

not true UNLESS you have multiple accounts on the same machine or set it up for security reasons to keep people out. if i got rid of this account on my win7 system, it would go directly to the desktop

[xendrome]

not true UNLESS you have multiple accounts on the same machine or set it up for security reasons to keep people out. if i got rid of this account on my win7 system, it would go directly to the desktop

Regardless it would be 1 click to get to the desktop. No matter how good something is, people have to find something to complain about, it's pretty sad actually.

What's the first thing people do when they boot their PC, launch an app, like the web-browser... why not just launch it from the start screen, what's the different.. oh wait, it's something to complain about.

It's the same function, so that makes it a moot point.

[The_Observer]

Regardless it would be 1 click to get to the desktop. No matter how good something is, people have to find something to complain about, it's pretty sad actually.

What's the first thing people do when they boot their PC, launch an app, like the web-browser... why not just launch it from the start screen, what's the different.. oh wait, it's something to complain about.

It's the same function, so that makes it a moot point.

this ^^

[Brandon H Supervisor]

not true UNLESS you have multiple accounts on the same machine or set it up for security reasons to keep people out. if i got rid of this account on my win7 system, it would go directly to the desktop

only if you have 1 account with no password set up would it log in automatically (or ran userpasswords2 and chose an account to log in automatically)

that's all it did was log you in automatically, it just happened to be that the desktop is what appeared when you logged in on previous versions of windows

nothing has changed in regards to how the auto log in works in windows 8. people are just being nitpicky and using that as an excuse (instead of complaining about that just click the app you want to open and go on your way. no time lost but time possibly saved by not having to open the start menu)

[chrisj1968]

only if you have 1 account with no password set up would it log in automatically (or ran userpasswords2 and chose an account to log in automatically)

that's all it did was log you in automatically, it just happened to be that the desktop is what appeared when you logged in on previous versions of windows

nothing has changed in regards to how the auto log in works in windows 8. people are just being nitpicky and using that as an excuse (instead of complaining about that just click the app you want to open and go on your way. no time lost but time possibly saved by not having to open the start menu)

I just recently reinstalled my system went through ALL the getting your system ready for use for the first time stuff.. got all completed and when it rebooted for use... I was on the desktop ready to do as I pleased. But i went to accounts, created this one and THEN I got the login screen.

but anyway... Win8 isn't for me... which is forcing me to look for an alternative. Apple even....

[McKay]

Windows Vista was still a desktop OS, and its changes added to/enhanced that.

Windows 8 is totally different, and is a touch os first.

no real idea what you're trying to get to with this topic since you didn't include a point.

Im sat here looking at my desktop, and it doesn't look "touch-first" to me at all. Looks identical to my Windows 7 desktop. Could you highlight the areas? Unless you mean having a touch-orientated start menu means the entire OS is "Touch First"?

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

Regardless it would be 1 click to get to the desktop. No matter how good something is, people have to find something to complain about, it's pretty sad actually.

What's the first thing people do when they boot their PC, launch an app, like the web-browser... why not just launch it from the start screen, what's the different.. oh wait, it's something to complain about.

It's the same function, so that makes it a moot point.

Not everything is on the start screen. Second I dont think you get the point though, people like being and seeing the desktop when they boot their pc, not on a tablet interface err start screen. Some programs, when installing them, require you to restart the computer to finish installing. The start screen is just a big obstactle!

[Andre S. Veteran]

Like Vista, Windows 8 is a too ambitious and immature release.

[Dot Matrix]

I am not a fan of either, but i don't see any similarities other then poor initial design. To me, Vista was a huge power hog and never felt.... polished; polishing came with windows 7. With Windows 8, I tried for the 3rd time to get to like it but went back Windows 7 just yesterday. Windows 8 I find is speedy, fast, and rock solid and is an awesome move forward BUT its just feels like it wasn't exactly polished to be a "finished" product. I hating switching back and forth between metro and desktop. If they made metro be as useful as a desktop then I would love it. Guess i have to wait for it to mature into Windows 9 for that. As a side note, windows 8 has awesome new features that i wish was in windows 7.

Much of that polishing is coming sooner, in Windows 8.1