Windows Vista is No Help

Since my work laptop is being repaired, I have the pleasure to work on another laptop running Windows Vista. I feel like I'm working on a poor imitation of Mac OS X that has been designed by a marketing committee. Actually, the whole thing feels like it was designed by multiple committees, each striving to do their best job, but always having to compromise to meet the needs of another committee. Unlike the Mac OS, or a Linux Desktop, it has no personality — no soul. I think that Vista should win the Best Jumble of Ideas with the Worst Implementation Possible award.

Here was my surprise this morning. I was working in Microsoft Access 2007, when I accidentally hit F1. For those who may not know, the F1 key is typically used to bring up the help.

And help it did bring me indeed. Here's the screenshot:



Wow. So, I can't open Office 2007's help on Windows Vista. Did two committees forget to meet?

Here's the official reason why Windows Help is no longer included in Windows:

Ever since Windows 3.1, Microsoft included the Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) with new releases. WinHlp32.exe is used to view 32-bit Help files that have the .hlp file name extension. Starting with the release of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has decided to no longer include in WinHlp32.exe as a component of the Windows operating system. Microsoft made this decision because WinHlp32.exe has not had a major update for many years, and it does not meet Microsoft’s standards for all new Microsoft programs. Microsoft realizes that this may cause some difficulties for customers who want to upgrade to Windows Vista or to Windows Server 2008 but still rely on 32-bit .hlp files. Therefore, Microsoft is making WinHlp32.exe available as a download from the Microsoft Download Center. (Source)

So, an incomplete product is considered a higher standard than a product that is used by millions of people but has not been updated by the very company that made that product. Wow. I'm sure if I were a Microsoft customer, I'm sure I would feel content knowing that Microsoft is watching out for my best interest. I mean, I'm sure glad Microsoft invested in transparent title bars (that I had to turn off) instead of updating such a crucial component to Windows.

Which brings me back to an earlier question: What the heck is Windows anyway?

Poking a bit of fun at Windows Vista

I was googling stuff while preparing my next article, when I came upon these two hilarious YouTube videos.

The first one shows how desperate Microsoft is to sell Vista to the enterprise market. The next is just too plain hilarious.

Hope you enjoy!

MS-DOS - Vista Edition

MS-DOS Lives!

Using Windows is usually a frustrating experience. However, sometimes, it does provide me with glee.

In January, while setting up Windows Vista and Visual Studio 2008 in VirtualBox, I got an error message that cracked me up. The following image has not been doctored or generated in any ways.


How do you like that? Invalid MS-DOS function? I thought MS-DOS was totally gone from Windows ages ago. Here's the full screenshot. Click to zoom in.



(Yes, I was running KDE 4.0 beta. It's kool!)

Have a great day!