Things that don’t work in Vista 64bit edition
- Any native Vista x64 applications, because basically they don’t exist (about every app I use has to run in 32bit compatibility mode)
- Winamp
- Java applets (java installs but most of the time just doesn’t work)
- Cisco webconferences (requires java)
- Azereus (needs Java to work)
- Exact drivers for my recent model HP Laser Printer (but found some for a similarly numbered model that do)
- My glowing silver knob doesn’t work
- Drivers for my strange model of Soundblaster card (but motherboard sound chip does with only lightly hacked XP drivers)
- 2 webcams, neither working (but I haven’t tried very hard, webcams are overrated)
- The mute button on my USD headset microphone
- Dragon Naturally speaking (supports 32Bit Vista only. sob, my poor fingers)
- iTunes with audioscrobler (no more music updates for my blog sidebar or my last.fm page)
- Winamp
- Microsoft Voice recognition in skype chat, msn messenger(?!), any firefox window, or basically any app other than IE, notepad or MS Office.
- Vista logos on almost any of my commonly installed applications are not to be found. It’s mostly a download the XP software version, and pray, sort of thing.
Which is all so understandable from a software or device provider’s perspective considering how Vista came along so quickly, so far ahead of schedule, without advance warning, or notable publicity for that matter. On top of which 64bit x86 processors were just sprung upon the unsuspecting market only 4 years ago etc. etc….
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader.
Thomas Purves
is an Entrepreneur and futurist for hire, lives in the great city of Toronto.
Just lovely, isn’t it. I’d like to toss in the fact that half of my existing XP software doesn’t even run on the 32bit version of Vista, never mind the 64bit. Hell, even the pre-packed software that came along with my new Dell results in driver issues every time I start the computer. Meanwhile, Adobe CS2 isn’t officially supporting Vista, and I had to rebuild my Vista machine multiple times while discovering by trial-and-error what does and doesn’t work for everything else. Thankfully, Winamp does work on the 32bit edition - but no hotkeys.
The only thing that makes it worth hanging on to is the interface, that I do like.
I went with Vista 32 because I still have a bunch of 16bit apps that I need. Ironically all of my 16bit apps work flawlessly it’s everything from win95 onward that is driving me insane. Microsoft is doing a great job of reminding me why I use Linux for everything important.
I cannot stand the new UI. I find it gratingly tacky.