Roxio's Vista Compatibility Issues

Vista Compatibility and Vista Certified seem to mean many different things to both Microsoft and other manufacturers of software applications. It would be nice to get a clearer definition of each, if that's at all possible.

One of the latest fiascos involving Vista compatibility involves Roxio's Easy Media Creator. In September 2006 when Sonic Solutions introduced the program, Vista compatibility was a point of emphasis. Roxio was touted as a "Windows Vista Premier Launch Partner" when Vista was rolled out. Sonic bragged that their DVD burning technology was being incorporated by Microsoft in Vista. (Source: Infoworld).

The presumably Vista-compatible program didn't actually receive the Windows Vista Certification logo from Microsoft until May, 2007. Either way, it still isn't compatible with Vista and the fixes promised by Roxio haven't appeared.

Sonic has been selling the Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 software in boxes labelled as Vista compatible. Roxio tech support told one customer that the real Vista compatible version is 9.1 and told him he could go online and 'upgrade' (pay more money) or wait until a free patch is released that is Vista compatible.

Roxio's discussion boards suggest that there are still compatibility issues with both versions of the software. A patch has been promised to be coming 'soon' for several months now, but there is widespread speculation that Roxio is working on version 10 which is also allegedly built for Vista. It seems users of version 9 will end up being hung out to dry and possibly having to pay for the cost of upgrading.

This is eerily similar to the problems Nvidia has been having with their "Vista Certified" drivers. As the author of the article wrote, "The real lesson Roxio is teaching here is that those who believe that a "Windows Vista Certified" logo means there will be no problems are perhaps themselves certifiable." It appears that Windows Vista is going to be keeping the courts busy for the next several years.

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