While I agree with the assessment that Vista is not big deal, it would be nice to hear more about why you feel that way and under just want circumstances you might actually recommend that a user consider looking at Vista.

 -Danny.

Have posted elsewhere.  Your comments on Vista were so perfect.  Vista turned out the lights on a lot of great products from XP, such as versions of Quicken and Quickbooks--two of the greatest software products ever made! 

We sell Dollar chains software and audiobooks, as well as Target One Spot, and grocery/drug.  We are too low price to fit in your planograms so have no dog in this fight.

But, we have already quoted you in tech support!  We sell 20 million CDs per year, no big deal in dollars, but that's lots of folks.  People take heart hearing your story.  We take heart.

Wal-Mart is # 1 and you do Wal-Mart honor by taking this stand.  We all feel a little less stupid over here with you saying it.

Thanks again!  From software companies plagued with Vista, when XP finally worked (why didn't they name XP Vista and move on?).  Hopefully Vista will sometime move back to XP status. 

Deaver Brown

Publisher

I am a student and recently wrote a paper on the article I found in the New York Times about Check Out. From the article, I gathered that suggestions posted on the blog are taken seriously and may be implemented into the store's decision making. My paper is for my business strategy class, and I am supposed to come up with solutions to problems and create suggestions for the companies I review. My suggestion for Check Out is to make the blog a larger link on the main Wal-Mart website. I had never heard of the blog until I read the article, and now that I have, I had difficulty finding where it was on the site. Now that I found it, I am offering my suggestion. I feel that the blog brings Wal-Mart down to a more personable level with the consumers, and if more people knew about it and could access it easier, Wal-Mart would benefit and so would the customers.

Thanks to all of you for posting, I appreciate.  I have a quick response to all of your questions.

Danny, this could be another post idea, but my beef is not necessarily with Vista, but the fact that we were forced to change without options.  We asked Microsoft why does it have to be all or nothing.  Why not support XP and Vista and let the consumer decide.  That is what happens with all other products, and why I liked the New Coke analogy.  The consumer made the choice that forced Coke to go back to the original formula.

Deaver, thank you for the nice comments.  Please keep reading and letting us know what you think.

Erica, thank you for reading.  We do take the comments seriously, and I will pass on your idea.  I don't know if we will implement it, but I can ensure it gets to the right people to decide.

Thanks,

Alex

Vista, Vista, Vista....  I personally have a beef with Vista.  My problem with it is that it is just to much fancy bells and whistles.  IMHO there was no significant stability improvements, plus you lost the support of hardware you already owned.  Do I need the transparent menus? Ummm, No...  Most, if not all the new visuals are just memory/drive space hogs.  Make the operating system small and processor efficent.  Heck, we were able to put a man on the moon using tighter code than they program now.  And maybe that is the problem in itself.  As the processors become faster and memory larger and cheaper, they just don't care to program in such a way that minimizes size and bugs.  They rush to throw code out (like Vista) with neat little effects and figure if there is a problem they will fix it with a patch, making the operating system larger and slower and much less efficent.  Okay, so much for my ranting now.....

I like vista. I like all the bells and whistles. I like the beautiful graphics and the new security model. I don't have to worry about my dad installing viruses on his machine. all of my old apps work fine. the new ones like cakewalk's sonar v7 designed for vista are incredible. Get over it people. Say goodbye to the old, and let's get busy ushering in the new!

Interesting to return and read Kevin's post again.  Vista has improved in the last 10 months since I posted.  However, Ballmer wised up, it would seem, and is launching Windows 7 which may bring back the best of XP with updates.  They did this with ME too, taking the jump, really from 2000 direct to XP. 

Walmart is following Kevin's comment "let's get busy ushering in the new!" with great lowered prices and new products.  Now that I have retired to writing and recording audiobooks, Walmart is taking another look at Simply's $1 line, now that it fits Walmart's lower price strategy (especially since they have added iPods and iPhones that our audiobooks work on).  New management is crossing their fingers--and we have been guided through the process really well.  Best to all for a great 2009!