Windows Vista and Droplets in Photoshop CS2

My stock respose to Vista issues:

Try disabling UAC.

Bob

Disabling UAC is a very broad solution to a specific problem.

If the issue is related to permissions, then it is probably better to run the application "As Adminstrator", which you can do in both a "one shot mode" by using the right-click menu and choosing Run As Administrator or you can set an application to run as administrator permanently in the Compatibility tab of the Properties for the executable.

And of course, Vista shows it’s world class polish by making you click on a UAC dialog when you Run As Adminstrator from the menu, part of the seemingly ridiculous duplicity and forgetfulness that makes the Apple ad just too darn funny.

Working with Vista in this manner keeps the rest of your applications running with restricted permissions. It is Internet Explorer and your mail application that deserve protection via UAC, but who knows what installs what, so UAC helps here.

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Duplicity was the wrong word. Repetition is better.

Vista?

Smarter folks than I have been calling a lot of common processes a crapshoot under it.

A pox on Vista

….and WHO voluntarily upgrades an M$ OS before the first Service Pack?

I LOVE the early adopters.

They hassle with and report on all the "GOTHCHAS!" so we don’t have to.

But they blame the applications, not the OS… what idiocy.

I do, and many other poor suckers who have to support clients who upgrade even against our recommendation. Also, buyers of new computers often have no choice. Some Dell lines are available only with Vista–not even by special telephone order could I get an Inspiron 9400 with XP Pro. However, when I received it and immediately installed XP Pro using one of my extra licences, I found on the Dell website drivers for every one of the 13 devices that initially had no Win XP functionality. Get it? Dell has XP drivers for every piece of this computer, yet they won’t let you order it with XP.

As a point of fact, most of the problems of applications failing in Vista are indeed the application publishers’ fault. Many fail to follow the Windows spec and write programs that require Administrator authority to even run, because they use the registry as an information store. Still others use OS changes as an excuse to force users to upgrade to a new version of their app. Intuit is a great example of both of those sins. QuickBooks breaks the rules, and no version earlier than QB 2007 is fully functional in Vista. That’s not Microsoft’s fault.

Another problem is hardware mfrs who choose to not support legacy equipment in a new OS. HP is a culprit here. There are thousands of HP2000c business inkjet printers in use. The HP2000c cost $600 new in 2000. It’s been a troubled printer with internal parts failures and expired ink cartridge dates, but when fixed it was and is a workhorse. With the 2nd paper tray and built in print server, it is a good network inkjet. HP apparently (based on the "apology" I received from the HP CEO’s office) decided to not write a Vista driver for this printer. Contrast with Epson and Brother who provided Vista drivers for much older printers. Epson still supports 1993-vintage dot matrix printers in Vista! That’s good, because I have clients still using those 24-pin printers.

No question…Vista has its own problems–way too many changes for the sake of change. Why did Add/Remove Programs have to become Programs and Features? And why didn’t all the programmers get the word, since there are places in Vista that still reference Add/Remove Programs! Vista is a solution in search of a problem. For my money, there is little reason to go past Windows 2000 SP4, but if you need the Fisher Price user interface, you’ve got XP Pro, which since SP2 is just about as stable as 2000. wrote in message

…and WHO voluntarily upgrades an M$ OS before the first Service Pack?

On Wed, 21 Feb 2007 14:20:25 -0600, "SBCDSL"
wrote:

I do, and many other poor suckers who have to support clients who upgrade even against our recommendation.

Yep, suckers. I wait for SP1 to be well worked out.

Get it? Dell has XP
drivers for every piece of this computer, yet they won’t let you order it with XP.

MS strongarm techniques. See the antitrust suit – and the fact that it was dropped – for more information and aggravation. Vote accordingly.

because they use the registry as an information store. Still others

Which MS told us to do a few years ago – then they changes horses. Windows still does not isolate the OS from the applications. Basic architectural problem they specifically ignore as part of their monopolistic strategy.

use OS changes as an excuse to force users to upgrade to a new version of their app. Intuit is a great example of both of those sins.

Everything Intuit does sucks. Next to Symantec, they are second on the "sucks" tier.

HP apparently
(based on the "apology" I received from the HP CEO’s office) decided to not write a Vista driver for this printer.

HP rarely writes drivers for new OS’s.

No question…Vista has its own problems–way too many changes for the sake of change. Why did Add/Remove Programs have to become Programs and Features?

Much of what MS changes in Windows, Office, etc is just moving things around. There’s rarely much in the way of actual improvements in the programs. It’s often their only excuse for a "new" product.

For my money, there is little reason to go
past Windows 2000 SP4, but if you need the Fisher Price user interface,

I hear that! They just keep dumbing it down more and more. What they don’t understand is that the novices still don’t get it and the dumber interfaces just piss off the users who did get it already.

Note: They’ve started the assault on us Win2k users… there’s no official DST upgrade to win2k – something that would have taken them all of 10 minutes to write once they finished the winXP/2003 fix.