Microsoft Vista and Epson printers!!

[JBF]

Just upgraded to Vista, all seemed fine until I went to print something. DEAD DEAD. My fairly new Epson R2400. The drivers for XP don't work at all. No uploads for Vista at epsons website either. You'd think that on a $900 printer they would have gotten the drivers ready before the $75.00 printers. Just a tad pissed off. Oh yea, ITunes won't work with Vista Either. Tried to play some songs......asks me to keep authorizing my account. I did find a temp fix for the ITunes thingy on Apples website, but they are saying not to download ITunes until the newer version comes out.

AUGH,

JB F

[cgratti]

Welcome to the world of Windows upgrades.... They will get drivers sooner or later.

I hear some of the XP drivers work fine for Vista, try your XP drivers and see if they work.

[JBF]

Already tried it.....no go.........won't even recognize the inks. No print at all. As a matter of fact, I have a dell laser printer also networked to the computer and it started printing on that printer. One line of rubbish per sheet. Went through 30 pages of paper before I could get it stopped.

[lilmill]

i'm having the save probs with my 1800. I called epson and they said next month.Untill then I will just print with the laptop.What do you think of vista so far. I really like the new GUI but it is difinately slower transfering files and installing programs.

[JBF]

i'm having the save probs with my 1800. I called epson and they said next month.Untill then I will just print with the laptop.What do you think of vista so far. I really like the new GUI but it is difinately slower transfering files and installing programs.

Try going into system and turning off all the bells and whistles, like shading, transparencys, etc. Runs much faster, but you lose the GUI. It looks and acts more like XP

[Picture North Carolina]

There is another thread in which a gentleman recommended leaving vista alone for a while. In that thread, many people are defending vista and saying he is wrong. Your post proves his very point.

I have been working with computers for over 30 years, and with PCs back to the DOS 1.0 days. I learned a long time ago to be patient and wait. People who jump into a brand new microsoft OS just to be the "first kid on the block" (or for whatever reason) need to have their heads examined. Every MS OS release has followed this track.

And when the epson drivers are released, that may not be the end of it. Tradition follows that the first versions of some drivers will be bug-ridden.

You won't see me touching vista for at the very minimum one year, and probably longer. It's a personal thing: I just don't like torturous pain. /Dan

[MJP]

ahh vista....i want to wait for a while berfore i upgrade to Vista...a friend of mind just upgraded to Vista and most of his device driver didn't work with the Vista...

[The Hardcard]

Yeah, it is tedious, but, it is best to methodically confirm every piece of software and hardware before upgrading your OS. Even service packs can change the functioning of the things you need or want.

I disagree about just staying away from Vista. Just have to do some legwork as you go.

[Sleepytrout]

Get a Mac, you'll never go back!

[The Hardcard]

Well, you've got to do the same thing on the Mac if you don't want problems. Before you upgrade, make sure all the hardware and software you rely on with work with it.

There was a fair amount of hardware and software that needed to be updated to work with the Tiger upgrade.

[R Hardman]

ahh vista....i want to wait for a while berfore i upgrade to Vista...a friend of mind just upgraded to Vista and most of his device driver didn't work with the Vista...

Good things come to those who wait. ;) Funny how upgrades downgrade. :lol:

[cgratti]

There is another thread in which a gentleman recommended leaving vista alone for a while. In that thread, many people are defending vista and saying he is wrong. Your post proves his very point.

I have been working with computers for over 30 years, and with PCs back to the DOS 1.0 days. I learned a long time ago to be patient and wait. People who jump into a brand new microsoft OS just to be the "first kid on the block" (or for whatever reason) need to have their heads examined. Every MS OS release has followed this track.

And when the epson drivers are released, that may not be the end of it. Tradition follows that the first versions of some drivers will be bug-ridden.

You won't see me touching vista for at the very minimum one year, and probably longer. It's a personal thing: I just don't like torturous pain. /Dan


If everyone did thi then the bugs would never be worked out, we do need some crazies out there to test it to get the bugs out.

[Zepher]

Don't blame MS, blame the manufacturer of the hardware since they make the drivers.

Remember, MS kept Apple alive.

[Skip Souza]

No I blame MicroSlut. A few hours ago I went to buy a new big gun HP but fortunately the techie at Circuit City warned me that Vista would not work with my wife's Epson 2200 printer. He also advised that MicroSlut had forced HP and most other big manufacturers to go to Vista or ELSE.
I just now finished ordering a new computer from ibuypower.com with XP pro. The only drawback is that my wife will not have it for Valentine's Day :-(

[Bollan]

Im sorry to hear that you fell into the Vista trap. This upgrade is bound to be plagued with problems for a long while. In the graphics/3D industry they are recommending to wait at least 18 months before even thinking about an upgrade.

There are are hardly any third party plugins for Photoshop that works yet. Many RAW converters are also having trouble. Ipod/Itunes still no good news and the list just goes on and on.

Win XP is by far the best windows release ever and they have to put a gun to my head to make me install Vista in a foreseeable future.

Most of the "cool" stuff in Vista can be implemented in XP anyway without having your OS hogging down your system resources. I smell Windows ME a long way.

If i were in your clothes i would turn back to XP and wait at least a year before upgrading if you still have the urge to do that.

Hasta la Vista......

[dpastern]

OK - since my previous post was unfairly deleted, I'll re-post in a different fashion.

1. Did you make an effort to do some research prior to buying Vista to make sure that all of your hardware/software would work with Vista?

or...

2. did you assume it would all work?

If it's 2, then you only have yourself to blame. Sorry, but you get no sympathy from me. It is not very hard to ring Epson and say "hey, I'm thinking of upgrading to Windows Vista, will my Epson XXXXXX work OK?"

I feel very sorry for all of the people buying OEM computers that are going to be suckered into the Vista hole, and have a bunch of hardware/software that will NOT work, or at least not work for a substantial period of time. Vista is overpriced junk as far as I'm concerned, and I certainly wouldn't recommend any of my customers to upgrade to it. Of course, with Microsoft having an illegal monopolistic market hold with the OEMs, people aren't going to get much of a choice.

I hope you get your Epson printer working soon though.

Dave

[tommykjensen]

OK - since my previous post was unfairly deleted, I'll re-post in a different fashion.


Your last post was deleted because you called everybody that upgraded to Windows Vista for fools. That is not acceptable.

[dpastern]

Your last post was deleted because you called everybody that upgraded to Windows Vista for fools. That is not acceptable.

Tommy, I've been in the IT game for a fair few years now. There's not one single person that I know in the IT game (and I know a fair few people) who wouldn't wholeheartedly agree with my previous assessment. A golden rule of thumb is to never upgrade to a new Microsoft operating system until at least service pack 1 has been released. In some cases, service pack 2 ;) I see no reason to go out and update to Windows Vista, unless you really want to be the kid on the block with the latest and greatest as the saying goes.

From my professional point of view, Windows XP SP2 does EVERYTHING that Vista does without the overbearing price, the potential to force you to upgrade your hardware, the potential to have anti virus software that doesn't run (both Norton and McAffee anti virus software are still in beta versions as far as I'm aware) and the list goes on. Vista has some nice features granted, but nothing that other operating systems (Tiger, BSD, GNU/Linux) don't already offer, and in many cases, in a better manner and a lower total cost of ownership. My previous comments were a reflection of all of these points, hence my original comment.

Anyways - to the OP, I'll apologise if I did offend you, no offence was intended on my part, I was more showing my disbelief that people are prepared to blindly update their systemse to a new and untested operating system that has many documented issues.

I had a quick google for this issue, but no joy. I really hope you get it working soon...

Dave

PS That epson looks a wicked printer, although I don't think I could justify spending that much money on a printer for my purposes...

[TeeJay]

I have worked with computer hardware and developing software for 20+ years, and I can say I would NEVER upgrade a computer thats in daily use to a new OS. (thats any OS, not just Microsoft)

I have had Vista now for quite some time (on a test machine) and although I must say it looks nice, I'm just not impressed with it's reliability or compatibility.

I will be waiting at least 12 months before even trying to use it on a machine that I rely on.

[Zepher]

I have worked with computer hardware and developing software for 20+ years, and I can say I would NEVER upgrade a computer thats in daily use to a new OS. (thats any OS, not just Microsoft)

I have had Vista now for quite some time (on a test machine) and although I must say it looks nice, I'm just not impressed with it's reliability or compatibility.

I will be waiting at least 12 months before even trying to use it on a machine that I rely on.

We have Vista on 2 machines here at the house, P4 3.0ghz, 2gigs Ram and a P4 3,0ghz, 1gig ram, and both have been rock stable for the past 2 months, everything works except iTunes (apples fault for not allowing you put your itunes folder where you want it).
The 2gig machine is used for gaming and the 1gig machine is an HTPC/internet machine. Both have Aero running and all of the new enhancements and they both run very fast, slightly faster than Win XP Pro SP2.
ATI X850XT AGP on the 2gig machine and an ATI X700Pro AGP on the 1gig machine.
My HP ColorLaserjet 4500DN also has built in driver support in Vista, so no problems with that.

[SuzyView]

I can't afford to upgrade to VISTA because I have no time to fix the communications between hardware. If it turns out that VISTA is that good, I'll consider it. Right now, XP works great for me.

[tommykjensen]

At this time the Vista version I would want/need is way to expensive so I won't be upgrading anytime soon.

[SuzyView]

Tommy, it's around $200 here, how much is it there?

[tommykjensen]

For $200 I would buy it eventually but here it cost around $500 for the upgrade and around $750 for the full version. The OEM version cost around $280. This is for the ultimate version.

[SuzyView]

Makes more sense just to buy a new computer. ;)

[dpastern]

For $200 I would buy it eventually but here it cost around $500 for the upgrade and around $750 for the full version. The OEM version cost around $280. This is for the ultimate version.

That's about the same cost as here Tommy - Vista Ultimate is retailing for AU $751, which is a total joke. It retails in the US for $399, which is just over AU $500. I rang Microsoft Australia and asked them to explain this pricing difference and they couldn't/wouldn't, simply saying "that's the price that it's been set to". I of course raised this with our ACCC for price fixing, but was told that it wasn't illegal (wtf!!!) what Microsoft was doing, and that the ACCC wouldn't investigate Microsoft unless the government told them to (fat chance of that). Apple's forthcoming Leopard will be going on my PowerMac G4 when it's released. If I hadn't made the mistake of buying Photoshop CS2 for Windows (rather that Mac OS X), I'd ditch the PC. OS X is far better value for money, more secure, more reliable and better looking to boot. :) That said, I'm really a FSF guy at heart, and GNU/Linux is my preferred operating system - if only CS2 ran under WINE/Cedega/CrossOver Office...I'm not being tight here, I simply believe that GNU/Linux offers better performance/reliability/security/stability/features (and no DRM to boot) than any other operating system on the market.

Makes more sense just to buy a new computer.

Yes, that's how most people are going to get Vista. Sadly, most OEM PC suppliers will be providing you with Vista Home, which is very weak and vastly overpriced. It has less features than Windows XP home, for a higher price. It lacks pretty much most of the new features of Vista. It's now almost impossible to buy a new PC with Windows XP - Vista has been shoved down the OEMs throats - if they want the nice discounts they have to jump the way that Microsoft tells them to. Profit margins are so tight in the business that OEMs have no choice to do what Microsoft tells them, or risk going out of business and being sued by their shareholders for not running the business in a proper way and making sound business decisions.

Dave

[Picture North Carolina]

Tommy, I've been in the IT game for a fair few years now. There's not one single person that I know in the IT game (and I know a fair few people) who wouldn't wholeheartedly agree with my previous assessment. A golden rule of thumb is to never upgrade to a new Microsoft operating system until at least service pack 1 has been released. In some cases, service pack 2

I won't use the word you used because I don't want my post deleted. But in theory, I agree with everything you say.

As I mentioned in my above post, I have been heavily involved in computing for over 30 years and at one time was an editor at a leading computer magazine. In all those 30 years, I have never, NEVER been able to understand why people allow themselves to be so easily led into the new operating system torture chamber. I often wonder if it is the same phenomenom that causes people to camp in front of a theater for 4 days just to be able to say they saw Star Wars first.

However, microsoft loves them. MS gets millions of free (and possibly somewhat masochistic) beta testers at no cost.

But I will say that now I am at panic level 3. I have needed to upgrade for some time now because I'm presently operating on a P4 2.4 and it's just getting too slow. But there is no way in hades I will purchase a system with vista and from what I am reading here, it may be hard to get a system with XP pro. No, make that panic level 4. /Dan

[Croasdail]

Why would you upgrade your OS if you don't have an application that requires it. And the fact that you have to do some "legwork" to get the product you paid a couple hundred dollars to work is just silly. What other product would get that much slack. If a lens needs to be sent back for calibration but then ultimately works, the company is called a POC lens manufacture. But with Microsoft, the same sorts are willing to let Microsoft do their final testing on customers and then a year later ship the "fixed" version. It's not just Mircosoft, it's the entire industry has gotten away with crap like this. It's sad the customer is still willing to by a defective product and put up with this. And to be a Microsoft apologist and say its not their fault their OS's arn't backwards compatible is silly. There is no reason they don't include a compatibility layer to keep old drivers running. When will the consumers stop taking it in the you-know-where.

JBF.... sorry this didn't work out for you. It really should have worked out of the box. I am sure Epson will fix the problem shortly.

[Zepher]

But I will say that now I am at panic level 3. I have needed to upgrade for some time now because I'm presently operating on a P4 2.4 and it's just getting too slow. But there is no way in hades I will purchase a system with vista and from what I am reading here, it may be hard to get a system with XP pro. No, make that panic level 4. /Dan

just upgrade your current machine. buy your new mobo, proc, ram, and video card and PSU. run sysprep (need to get off of your XP CD), shut down your machine, install new parts, and then turn your PC back on. Windows will do a mini-setup and install all the drivers it can for the new hardware. when you are done, machine will be faster and have all the apps and settings you had before you upgraded. If your harddrive is kinda old, get a new one and then clone it with your old one.

[dpastern]

Why would you upgrade your OS if you don't have an application that requires it. And the fact that you have to do some "legwork" to get the product you paid a couple hundred dollars to work is just silly. What other product would get that much slack. If a lens needs to be sent back for calibration but then ultimately works, the company is called a POC lens manufacture. But with Microsoft, the same sorts are willing to let Microsoft do their final testing on customers and then a year later ship the "fixed" version. It's not just Mircosoft, it's the entire industry has gotten away with crap like this. It's sad the customer is still willing to by a defective product and put up with this. And to be a Microsoft apologist and say its not their fault their OS's arn't backwards compatible is silly. There is no reason they don't include a compatibility layer to keep old drivers running. When will the consumers stop taking it in the you-know-where.

JBF.... sorry this didn't work out for you. It really should have worked out of the box. I am sure Epson will fix the problem shortly.

That's cos the average person doesn't really care about quality software. Software is the only consumable that doesn't come with a warranty/guarantee. Software companies shake their hands off their products, with a 'hey, it might work, but if it doesn't, don't blame us' attitude. If that was anything else, the populace would be screaming blue murder.

No government seems to have the guts to legislate the software and computer industry like it needs to, and this is for a variety of political reasons - most software/pc companies originated in the US, and are US owned and of course, US based. The US government will not harm these companies, because it would financially ruin the US economy. Other countries either don't have the financial fire power, or are afraid of the US from either a military or financial point of view, and they won't touch these US companies either. Therefore these US software/hardware companies run rampant, and do what they want. This is why I support the FSF (Free Software Foundation) - they're ideals are far different to the capitalistic ideals of the major software/hardware players in the computer industry. This is also why I'm totally against software patents and unreasonable increases to the copyright act terms - they're poltical machinations designed to keep these rich software/hardware companies in business (government endorsed monopolies if you wish) and remove control from the public.

Dave

[Belmondo]

I upgraded one of my machines to Vista, mainly because I had grown weary of sticking pins in my eyes, and was looking for a new way to abuse myself. In that regard, Vista is the gift that keeps on giving.

The initial installation went smoothly enough. I did get a short list of 'potential' problems, but decided they weren't significant enough to dissuade me from going ahead with the upgrade. After starting up for the first time, I discovered that the computer didn't recognize most of the USB devices attached to the computer. I was half expecting that. The real surprises started when I tried opening Quicken 2006. It couldn't find some of the files Quicken needed. I called Intuit, and they didn't know what to do, and they suggested I re-install it. That didn't work, so their next suggestion was to buy Qucken 2007 becasue it was known to be compatible with Vista. I bought it, installed it, and it didn't work.

Concurrent with the Quicken problems, I found I couldn't open Outlook 2003 (a Microsoft product, by the way). I can't remember the exact error message, but it was telling me I didn't have authority to perform that operation. Huh? I called Microsoft support, and after a couple hours, was told it was an Office problem, and I'd have to call the fee-based support people for Microsoft Office. I decided I'd just as soon buy the latest version of Office than pay Microsoft to sort out a problem that had obviously been created by Vista.

When I tried to install Office 2007 (upgrade), the Install Wizard said it couldn't find a qualifying product on the computer, even though Office 2003 was definitely there. I called Microsoft again, and they told me to uninstall and reinstall Office 2003 and retry installing 2007. Same problem. Then, they said I'd have to completely remove the 2003 installation again, this time using regedit to delete every reference to Office 11 (2003). That took a couple hours---there are lots of entries in the registry. After that, I went through the same drill of trying to install 2007 without any luck. Microsoft finally decided to give up on installing it as an upgrade, and gave me a new product key for a full version. It wouldn't install. After at least 9 hours on the phone with various tech support people, Microsoft finally decided there was nothing they could do. They apologized profusely, and said they would get back to me if they ever found a cure, although there was no guarantee they would work on it unless and until enough other people showed up with the same problem.

That was the end of Microsoft's involvement in the ordeal. I did get a follow-up phone call from them yesterday, but there were no new suggestions on what to do.

In the meantime, I had noticed that a lot of files had been tagged 'read-only.' Most of them I was able to change one at a time, but there was no good explanation from Microsoft why that had happened. The 'read-only' problem, I learned, was the reason I hadn't been able to use Qucken and Outlook. The files I needed, however, could not be changed from read-only, so I was still dead in the water. Then, I found the User Account Control (UAC) setting and decided to try it. Voila!! All of a sudden, I could use Quicken and Outlook again. I still can't install Office 2007, but I don't really care. I was very happy with 2003, and only bought it to try to get Outlook back.

The last surprise came last night when I tried to open Photoshop CS2. Evidently the serial number had been lost during the Vista upgrade, so I had to re-install CS2. There are lots of other programs on that computer that I haven't tried yet, so I'm sure this story still hasn't been completely told.

By the way, every time I re-boot the computer, it tells me I should turn UAC back on. Like I'm going to do that!! :lol::lol: I just give the computer the finger and continue with the boot.

Now that Vist is up and running, it looks very different than XP, but functionally doesn't seem a lot different. It's slick looking, but that's not reason enough to torture yourself. If you're like me, and you choose to ignore the warnings of friends, just be prepared for a process that could consume days of your life, cripple your computer, but make you the envy of every kid in your neighborhood.

[Picture North Carolina]

Lower that panic level back to 1.

Some of the hype in these forums is a little overblown. I just talked to two local oem dealers and they tell me, yes, MS is "strongly encouraging" dealers to force vista on poor, unsuspecting consumers, but they are both able to easily purchase XP. They forsee being able to build systems with XP for about another 6 months. /Dan

[Picture North Carolina]

I upgraded one of my machines to Vista, mainly because I had grown weary of sticking pins in my eyes, and was looking for a new way to abuse myself. In that regard, Vista is the gift that keeps on giving.

The initial installation went smoothly enough. I did get a short list of 'potential' problems, but decided they weren't significant enough to dissuade me from going ahead with the upgrade. After starting up for the first time, I discovered that the computer didn't recognize most of the USB devices attached to the computer. I was half expecting that. The real surprises started when I tried opening Quicken 2006. It couldn't find some of the files Quicken needed. I called Intuit, and they didn't know what to do, and they suggested I re-install it. That didn't work, so their next suggestion was to buy Qucken 2007 becasue it was known to be compatible with Vista. I bought it, installed it, and it didn't work.

Concurrent with the Quicken problems, I found I couldn't open Outlook 2003 (a Microsoft product, by the way). I can't remember the exact error message, but it was telling me I didn't have authority to perform that operation. Huh? I called Microsoft support, and after a couple hours, was told it was an Office problem, and I'd have to call the fee-based support people for Microsoft Office. I decided I'd just as soon buy the latest version of Office than pay Microsoft to sort out a problem that had obviously been created by Vista.

When I tried to install Office 2007 (upgrade), the Install Wizard said it couldn't find a qualifying product on the computer, even though Office 2003 was definitely there. I called Microsoft again, and they told me to uninstall and reinstall Office 2003 and retry installing 2007. Same problem. Then, they said I'd have to completely remove the 2003 installation again, this time using regedit to delete every reference to Office 11 (2003). That took a couple hours---there are lots of entries in the registry. After that, I went through the same drill of trying to install 2007 without any luck. Microsoft finally decided to give up on installing it as an upgrade, and gave me a new product key for a full version. It wouldn't install. After at least 9 hours on the phone with various tech support people, Microsoft finally decided there was nothing they could do. They apologized profusely, and said they would get back to me if they ever found a cure, although there was no guarantee they would work on it unless and until enough other people showed up with the same problem.

That was the end of Microsoft's involvement in the ordeal. I did get a follow-up phone call from them yesterday, but there were no new suggestions on what to do.

In the meantime, I had noticed that a lot of files had been tagged 'read-only.' Most of them I was able to change one at a time, but there was no good explanation from Microsoft why that had happened. The 'read-only' problem, I learned, was the reason I hadn't been able to use Qucken and Outlook. The files I needed, however, could not be changed from read-only, so I was still dead in the water. Then, I found the User Account Control (UAC) setting and decided to try it. Voila!! All of a sudden, I could use Quicken and Outlook again. I still can't install Office 2007, but I don't really care. I was very happy with 2003, and only bought it to try to get Outlook back.

The last surprise came last night when I tried to open Photoshop CS2. Evidently the serial number had been lost during the Vista upgrade, so I had to re-install CS2. There are lots of other programs on that computer that I haven't tried yet, so I'm sure this story still hasn't been completely told.

By the way, every time I re-boot the computer, it tells me I should turn UAC back on. Like I'm going to do that!! :lol::lol: I just give the computer the finger and continue with the boot.

Now that Vist is up and running, it looks very different than XP, but functionally doesn't seem a lot different. It's slick looking, but that's not reason enough to torture yourself. If you're like me, and you choose to ignore the warnings of friends, just be prepared for a process that could consume days of your life, cripple your computer, but make you the envy of every kid in your neighborhood.

Wonderful post, well said. Thanks for taking the time to type it out. As I said before, I think your final line is the crux of the matter. I don't understand the "I'm the first" mentality, and never have. Do you envy the pain they are going thru? I certainly don't. I wish all the vista supporters in the other thread could read your post.

There is just no excuse to support or suggest an upgrade to vista at this time, intentionally ignoring the now widespread and verifiable reports of incompatibility, problems, and pain. Especially, as you pointed out, considering the fact that software companies are still at the "oops, sorry, we don't know what's wrong and can't figure it out... you'll just have to wait" stage. Yea. Right. I'm gonna' wait 6 months to use my daily applications while you guys figure out where your bottom is. /Dan

Edit - P.S. - Please stop giving your computer the finger. Your hardware is just fine and only performing the tasks instructed of it. Rather, wherever you are located simply figure out the exact direction Redmond, WA lies and point your symbolic gesture in that direction. That's where the problem lies.

[85lesabre]

Get a Mac, you'll never go back!


I second that! I installed vista on my PC, yeah it's nice, but I'll keep doing all of my serious work on my mac.

[R_Metzel]

I got the free upgrade to vista from Dell when I bought my computer in December. The disk is on its way now but I too will hold off. Until some of the bugs get worked out and companies start updating all the drivers to be compatible.

[rickyracer]

Sigh!

Replace the word "Vista" with "XP" and the complaints would be exactly the same as when XP launched.

I ran Vista Ultimate (release candidate) for a couple of months with PS CS3. NoiseNinja and NIK Effects plugins worked just fine. iTunes worked fine as well.

I'm not surprised that Epson already have Vista versions of the drivers for my R380, but not my R1800. Printers in the R380 class way outsell R1800's, R2400's, etc.

Some Canon utilities work, some don't. Specifically, the remote shooting capability of the EOS utility does not work. It was only an issue because of an event I photographed where being tethered allowed my assistant to print the photos as I shot them. I simply used my XP machine.

Everyone whined when their favorite DOS apps didn't work right away on Windows 3.1/3.11, or Win3.11 apps on Win98, or Win98 on WinXP. Once everyone made the change, did they want to go back? Of course not, the new OS was much better.

You can blame Microsoft if you want, and many will, but it isn't like the entire World didn't know that Vista was coming. Certainly the hardware manufacturers and software developers owed it to their customers to be ready. However, having been in the IT industry for 24 years, I know this is not always the case. I have had to deploy servers running Windows 2000 Server in 2006 because the software vendor did not yet have a version that would run on Server 2003!

Certainly WindowsXP has been a very solid OS, but why would anyone have expected Microsoft to not create an OS to replace XP?

Certainly, I like to live on the bleeding edge of technology and ran Windows95, 98, 2000, (WindowsME wasn't good for anyone), XP, and Vista when all were still in beta. As long as I don't have a degridation in performance, I'm willing to put up with the expected limitations.

Oh, and I ran beta versions of Office 2007 for about 9 months.

While I've recently upgraded to the released versions of Vista Ultimate (and Office 2007), I still rely on WindowsXP because I know everything won't work right away.

Change is always gradual, but change is good.

[joeseph]

I stopped being a fan of Epson printers the momemt I upgraded to XP - and found Epson wouldn't provide updated printer management software - so first you know you've run out of an ink is when the glorious A4 glossy print nearly finishes - and then trails off at the edge.

[lilmill]

driver at least for the r1800 are here
http://www.ausmedia.com.au/vista_scanner_drivers.htm#printers
i installed the one for my 1800. Works like a charm.

[JSolie]

Epson released the Vista drivers for the R2400 on Friday. I downloaded the 64-bit variant and it installed without any problem. The samples that I printed look fine. I haven't tried any of the "good paper" yet as I'm still waiting for the Spyder2Pro drivers.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supAdvice.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&type=highlights&noteoid=86150

[hannaxt]

Well, you've got to do the same thing on the Mac if you don't want problems. Before you upgrade, make sure all the hardware and software you rely on with work with it.

There was a fair amount of hardware and software that needed to be updated to work with the Tiger upgrade.


Whilst that is true to some extent, it's no where near as painful as when upgrading a major Windows upgrade.
I think the main one was when 10.2 came out but after that 98% of drivers were fine with subsequent Mac OS upgrades and don't forget as last resort there's gimp print installed on the Mac.