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  • #2252332

    Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

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    by tednyhan ·

    Unquestionably in my opinion I feel that Vista is one of the greatest software advancements of the modern generation.I would like the cynics to reply A.S.A.P. with their easily refutable negative comments on Vista so I can tear you apart with my in-depth knowledge on this magnificent system. I would also love comments from the pro-vista posse.
    Vive la Revolution!!!!

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    • #2491915

      Hmmm flamebait I believe

      by tony hopkinson ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      Need a point of reference bfore I can burn you up.

      Advancement from what?

      or Advancement for whom?

      Either or both will do.

      • #2491905

        His profile’s a hoot.

        by charliespencer ·

        In reply to Hmmm flamebait I believe

        He spent the last 20 years at Verizon, a company that didn’t exist 20 years ago. I suspect that for most of the last 20 years he was still swimming in his father’s prostate.

        • #2491834

          WOW

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to His profile’s a hoot.

          People have made suggestions that my ego is a tad over inflated.

          I shall simply refer people to him and change mine, to meek and humble. ]:)

        • #2492693

          mmmh…

          by filipvr ·

          In reply to His profile’s a hoot.

          It makes you wonder about TechRepublic’s policy on assessing items before linking them in their newsletters.

        • #2493401

          They haven’t got one

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to mmmh…

          to be fair, that would be hard to do without a human in the process.

          Notice, he hasn’t come back to easily refute anything.

        • #2493197

          Got that right!

          by richard81 ·

          In reply to His profile’s a hoot.

          Judging by the infantile remarks in his profile I would highly agree with your observations concerning his age…

    • #2491813

      Ok, I’ll take the bait!

      by w2ktechman ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      1. Training is needed for things that everyone already know how to do!

      2. many drivers are not supported yet, so installing HW will oft. result in a non-useable device.

      3. Most SW that is currently in use, including proprietary company-created SW, is not useable under Vista, which requires re-working useable applications.

      4. many companies do not update their systems regularly enough to use the newest MS OS. machines made 3-5 years ago will be slow at least, or not capable of running Vista.

      5. Bugs, MS has a list of bugs that are not yet fixed, and the list gets bigger everyday.

      6. explain why it is the best OS, other than it is the newest and you like the look of it. How in-depth are you? Your post was generic and crap with absolutely no insight as to anything other than a small rant. Does someone you know work at MS or something so you are taking their word for it? Specify your position in detail if you want others to as well. What makes it magnifiscent? because it is new? Because of Aero? Because you have no clue? or because you are just ignorant of reality?

      • #2493320

        you forgot to mention…

        by mroseberry ·

        In reply to Ok, I’ll take the bait!

        7. The DRM in Windows Media Player 11 is the worst that M$ has put out yet.

        8. The OS is very expensive (between $200 and $400 depending on the version).

        9. The User Account Control to prevent malware from installing can come up so often that selecting “Allow” may become a reflex action since there is no thought required.

        (Maximum PC / February 2007 / 10 Reasons You Don’t Need Vista Today)

        • #2493306

          Number 9 is a killer

          by tony hopkinson ·

          In reply to you forgot to mention…

          You just know people are going to click yes, and then reel back in horror as their brain catches up with their finger.

          Del *.*

          F%&&&*&&^^%%. t

        • #2493252

          Sorry, Forgot to mention those :)

          by w2ktechman ·

          In reply to you forgot to mention…

          Thank You for adding them to the list.

          And to think, these are just some of the main reasons not to move!

        • #2503212

          Re: #8

          by ambercroft ·

          In reply to you forgot to mention…

          The OS is cheap.
          All you have to do is get it preloaded on the new expensive, top of the line computer you have to buy so it will run. 🙂

        • #2491576

          Top of the line pc to run Vista—nope

          by michael l hereid sr ·

          In reply to Re: #8

          Home built pc in 2004 for XP Pro
          1 MSI K8M NEO-V $80
          2 AMD Athlon 2800+ $160
          3 1 gig DDR memory PC3200 $120
          4 eVGA GeForce 5200 256 meg DDR $80
          5 Mid Tower case with 500 watt ps $60
          6 DVD RW+- DL $35
          7 WD 120 gig ata 100 harddrive $80
          total $615
          Runs Vista Home Premium/Ultimate RTM with no problems. All hardware drivers installed from installation-on.
          Top of the line NO Mid range maybe!
          Vista Home Premium will cost $239-$10 less than Windows 95 when I bought it.
          Mike

        • #2491557

          insane

          by apotheon ·

          In reply to Top of the line pc to run Vista—nope

          It’s crazy that Vista should require all that just to run without problems. I’m using a 1.6GHz P4 with 256MB of RAM and an ATI 9200 with 128MB of video RAM on this FreeBSD system, and it is screaming-fast. While cutting RAM might slow it down a bit, the rest of the specs are well above what FreeBSD needs to provide performance Vista can’t touch even with 4GB of RAM on a 3GHz processor with dual-SLI PCIe video.

    • #2492864

      If Vista is one of the greatest,

      by j.g.camp ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      wait until you try Ubuntu Linux.

      Vista needs mega amounts of memory to support it’s features, you pay for the eye candy in terms of software and hardware. I beta tested RC2 on a system, it took between 300-400 MB of the RAM. That box had only 512 MB, I think if I had 4 GB, I wouldn’t care, but that memory is intended to be used for productivity, not eye candy. For that Ubuntu gives me Aplle OS level looks and uses 120-140 MB of RAM on the same box.

      As for 3rd party applications, I get them free. Gimp, the equivalent of Photoshop, with Vista, I’d pay upwards of $ 1,000 for the latest Photoshop. There’s also a 3d renderer called Blender. The titles are virtually endless. I have no use for Vista or anything else MS after converting over to Ubuntu. And guess what, in April 2007, I get my 3rd free OS within a year, if I so desire to upgrade. It’s free of course, will work, and is stable and secure. I guess I don’t need $ 399 for Vista Ultimate. Who knows, why don’t I just have a portion of my tax refund go to MS and I can have Vista on layaway ?

      • #2493389

        You’ve Got To Be Kidding

        by marjoe2 ·

        In reply to If Vista is one of the greatest,

        Everyone knows Windows Vista is a cheap and poorly implemented clone of Mac OS X Tiger. Tiger is better in every way, and Leopard OS X 10.5 due out soon shows how often a real OS maker releases new versions, and at reasonable prices even for students. There is no way you can say Vista is better than Tiger unless you are on the MS payroll.

      • #2503299

        Vista will never be as good as Linux or Mac

        by escinfotech ·

        In reply to If Vista is one of the greatest,

        Vista the greatest software ever? Please give me a break. If Microshit created it, how can it possibly be superior. I’ll take Linux any day thank-you.

    • #2493307

      Ok, I’ll bite on this one…

      by dawgit ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      But first let me step down a little…
      it no work 4 me, me find big rock, sqush bug, vista dead mon.
      There simple. I CAN’T use it. It doesn’t meet anyones standards (not yet anyway).
      No reason to expend funds that vcan be better used else-where.
      Any questions? -d

    • #2493280

      Vista is the worst Operating System ever created.

      by wgs777 ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      Everything I’ve read about Vista points to incompatibility with hardware and existing software. Vista is a very slow running high overhead operating system. All benchmarks show Vista runs games 15% to 20% slower than XP on high end PC’s. XP Pro SP2+ runs fast on my 6 year old son’s 366 MHZ PC with 256 MB of Ram. I have a huge library of Windows 98 games (which I purchased in 1999, 2000, and 2001) which work perfectly on Windows XP. None of them run on Vista! Why can’t Microsoft make an OS which is compatible with their previous OS’s? This points to the poor quality of Vista. I wish Microsoft would have made Vista even more backward compatible than XP with existing hardware and software, and with even less overhead than XP. But Vista is moving in the opposite direction. Also, I don’t think any business will ever touch Vista because of its incompatibility issues with existing hardware and software. Businesses nowadays are laying off thousands of works to aggressively cut costs. How can any business justify an expensive hardware/software upgrade to Vista. The only benefit after spending all that money would be incompatibility problems with existing software. Home users will be surprised to find Vista won’t run a lot of their software. I honestly believe Vista will be criticized as being the worst operating system ever created (because of its incompatibilities and high overhead). I have respect for those people who want to use Vista, but I’m rushing to buy new PC’s while they still come preloaded with XP Pro.

      • #2493195

        I don’t know if I’d say that…

        by den2010 ·

        In reply to Vista is the worst Operating System ever created.

        I’ve beta tested four different builds of Vista since last June. I’ve been running it on a 1.4 GHz Athlon with 1 GB of RAM and an nVidia Geforce 5200 video card with 128 MB RAM. I can run Aero without any limitations, other than speediness.
        What I’ve found troubling about Vista (currently using Build 5744) is all the changes, small and large, that seem to be more for the sake of change itself than for any good reason. For instance, to start with the most obvious–the Aero interface. Why do we need translucency? What does it add to the user experience in a productivity sense? I’ve found it rather disconcerting to have a notice pop up from time to time, telling me that this or that application is not compatible with Aero and that the display mode is changing to Basic. When the offending application is closed, then the screen blanks out and returns to the Aero UI. What’s up with that? Is this something that has persisted into the RTM version? I’ve not seen any posts on this behavior, and can’t believe that I’m the only person experiencing it.
        Another thing that bugs me is the collection of junk that goes under the name of Windows this and Windows that. I guess maybe it’s just me, but I haven’t found much use for Microsoft’s crippled applications for handling photos and such, when such capable applications are available from third-party vendors (often for free download) as an alternative. My notion of an “operating system” is of a software platform that provides “services” upon which others can develop applications to do useful things, not a collection of software that serves as a one-stop-shop for the original vendor. Now it’s true that Microsoft has made available to ISVs the APIs necessary to write products for their various versions of Windows over the years. It’s also true that each version of Windows has had more features in it than the previous version, and they’re generally not of such a quality that most people would want to use them. I’m thinking of things like Windows Backup, or Outlook Express, or Paintbrush–the list could go on. It’s true that novice Windows users will use these trifles, but most people rapidly outgrow their use fairly early on, and want something that is more capable. Wouldn’t it make more sense for a group of vendors to come together to offer a “desktop pack,” for instance, collecting the best products for basic personal computer use in one place and then making that available to Windows customers, either as a free add-on or as a specially priced product with new copies of Windows? Why does Microsoft include semi-functional versions of software that it does, instead of making use of partners who know better how to do this sort of thing?
        Finally, and most damning, is Vista’s DRM components. I’ve read some rather dire accounts of costs of the implementation of this DRM regime; why would I want to inflict this kind of thing on myself?
        I’ll most likely wait until I have no other choice (unless I chuck Windows entirely for some ‘nix, at least) before widely installing Vista at home and work. The next year or two should be _very_ interesting.

        • #2493129

          Good Post

          by dawgit ·

          In reply to I don’t know if I’d say that…

          Now that was a good post, I enjoyed reading it. A Thanks to ya. I do believe that it really depends on ones location. Over here in Europe (Germany in my case) we see a different animal altogether. (I did just see Vista Home Priemum to be offered at the local super-market, today. for at least 2x what XP Home is sold for. ?:| ) The problem is that untill we can get our hands on the ‘real’ Vista (for businesses) no-one knows how it will work. I do see a trend on the part of M$ to try to ‘sneek’ it in as the platform that runs their Office 2007. I can’t say that’s to beat the EU-Regulators, but it looks fishy to some of us. They’re not really pushing Vista on the business world, but they are their new Office Program, which is built on Vista. (And after you get in the door, all thay want to talk about is Vista, and not what it does, but what it will do.) I would have to say the jurory is still out on this whole mess, but the major concensus is “Why”. -d

        • #2493103

          about that version in Europe…

          by mroseberry ·

          In reply to Good Post

          Does that version of Vista have Media Player 11?

          I read that because the public in Europe is so much more DRM aware than in the USA, M$ will have versions available there without the DRM laden Media Player 11 so people are more likely to buy it than boycott and protest it (which the public should do everywhere there is DRM).
          I wonder if I can get those versions and install them in the USA?

        • #2503542

          Oh, that’s funny

          by dawgit ·

          In reply to about that version in Europe…

          That still hasn’t been totally decided yet. What’s funny is when all the Windoze Media Players (version 11, that is) stoped working at the same time on 31 Dec / 1 Jan. uh, what a stink that caused. And that with the ‘New’ OS. That did not help M$ at all.

        • #2503293

          dawgit that was RC1 not the version that goes on sale January 30th

          by michael l hereid sr ·

          In reply to Oh, that’s funny

          Plus it was the tv tuners that quit working as the license on the codecs in RC1 ended.
          SO WHAT. It was a release candidate after all.
          The version you buy January 30th won’t do that.
          Mike

        • #2503267

          ?:|

          by dawgit ·

          In reply to dawgit that was RC1 not the version that goes on sale January 30th

          Hallo, Glad to see you’re out and about, outside the other string. (I’m begining to think you and gsaravin are trying to break the TR record)
          Anyway, I can’t personally answer that, so I have to go by what I read and hear.
          I don’t have the Vista yet to test, due to the fact you have mentioned above. It was Windows Media Player 11, that was in question. (on the Vista Home Priemum OS platform.) TV cards have been talked about, but there are too many Hardware-driver issues at this point, not many work yet. TV, in general is not the issue here as we are DVBT anyway.
          and I sure hope you’re right, that the version I might be able to buy EOM won’t do that. -d

        • #2503232

          actually dawget I told you correctly

          by michael l hereid sr ·

          In reply to dawgit that was RC1 not the version that goes on sale January 30th

          http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6147259.html

          According to this it was tv tuner stops working.
          Plus included on the dvd is more drivers than was included in any other version of Windows.
          The only drivers unavailable for my pc is the printer drivers which are supposed to be made available before launch event.
          Mike

        • #2503311

          DRM free

          by tednyhan ·

          In reply to about that version in Europe…

          It is difficult to imagine a microsoft product without criminal DRM schemes. Supposedly media player 11 is unusual in this regard but I suspect msft will put their copyright before anyhthing else. I doubt mp 11 has anything remarkably unique and enhancements made are most likely risk-of-lawsuit motivated rather than fear of boycotts or consumer digruntlement. I fear if you do get your hands on it you will be disappointed. It is funny that msft’s mp3 offering won’t be tied to a particular download store a la iTunes. You’re even meant to be able to transfer songs and videos albeit with an automatic expiration after 2 days.
          On Vista, contrast quality of xbox 360 with that of msfts OS. Are we witnessing an IBM behemoth phenomenon within msft? Maybe John Akers 13 autonomous divisions formula would be advisable?

        • #2493113

          got some free software for ya

          by mroseberry ·

          In reply to I don’t know if I’d say that…

          dbarr said
          “Wouldn’t it make more sense for a group of vendors to come together to offer a “desktop pack,” for instance, collecting the best products for basic personal computer use in one place and then making that available to Windows customers, either as a free add-on or as a specially priced product with new copies of Windows?”

          – I highly recommend TheOpenCD (currently version 4.0) which you can download a free ISO of at “http://www.theopencd.org/Welcome”.
          It contains many popular open source programs like OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, 7-zip, the list goes on (33 in all) and I guarantee that any person that gives it half a chance will find things on it they will want to use.
          It’s not on the CD so I also recommend SyncBack (the freeware version) which is at “http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html#freeware”. It takes a little getting used to but it works great.

        • #2503305

          On Areo interface the behavior you mentioned is

          by michael l hereid sr ·

          In reply to I don’t know if I’d say that…

          in Vista RTM. But so what? In XP there are some software that if the resolution is too high it changes to a resolution that works.
          On DRM what implementations and what costs??
          As far as limited included software-it’s good enough for most people but if you need a more rounded implementation, you can buy it. Just like in most any other os.
          Mike

      • #2503309

        So you don’t remember when XP came out all the complaints

        by michael l hereid sr ·

        In reply to Vista is the worst Operating System ever created.

        1 My Windows 98 games won’t play in XP
        2 No drivers for the hardware
        3 incompatibility issues with current hardware/software
        4 too resource hungry
        5 too expensive to upgrade hardware/software for XP
        6 XP too expensive
        HMMMMM same issues that are mentioned by you. How about that.
        Mike

    • #2493107

      Quit biting, he’s apparently gone.

      by charliespencer ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      At least, he hasn’t responded to anyone’s points. His profile shows he lobbed a couple of grenades on Tuesday and hasn’t been heard from since. I hate a troll who doesn’t have the stones to hang around.

    • #2493052

      Vista IS crap, msft is crap full stop

      by tednyhan ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      Has anyone not noticed that as I live in Tullamore, Ireland I couldn’t possibly work for Verizon? I don’t think Vista has had a European release as of yet, but I’ll stand corrected. I have used a downloadable version(illegal- shocking for most of you corporate types i know)of Vista and its relatively poor I admit but I think y’all deserve it for putting any faith in a monopolised dinosaur. Vista’s predecessors crash incessantly, inefficiently utilise memory and if I see another bloody fatal error report giving you the option to inform Microsoft their product is crap I’ll crack!I ask you- what did you expect? Do you think Gates de facto retired just before Vista coincidentally? Btw My niece and friends set this up, told me about this and had a great laugh out of “Palmetto”‘s post.I work for Kerry group, have a biz/law degree and am not a true techie but unfortunately I am subjected to a host of substandard programmes from msft,

      • #2493042

        If XP crashed oft for you

        by w2ktechman ·

        In reply to Vista IS crap, msft is crap full stop

        then you loaded crap SW on it. I have many machines with XP, and they all work fine. I have lots of crap on them as well.
        But if Vista works for you, thats great, although an illegal copy is frowned upon here!

        its not only the OS that causes crashes, it is usually the SW loaded afterwards or a HW problem.

        Since too many spyware/malware/virus are not out for Vista yet, you may just be lucky at the moment.

        • #2503514

          Windows XP Professional SP2 stability

          by wgs777 ·

          In reply to If XP crashed oft for you

          Hi,

          I’ve been using Windows XP Professional since it first came out in October 2001. Its a rock solid OS, built from the same very stable code base of Windows 2000. In my humble opinion, Windows XP Professional is the best operating system Microsoft will every produce. And my research on the web has uncovered articles that show that 87% of the world’s PCs are currently running Windows XP. I don’t think Vista will every gain more than 50% market share of the world’s PCs. Vista will be lucky if it ever achieves 15%.

        • #2503303

          Yea and I’ve used XP since Beta 1-also Vista(Longhorn)

          by michael l hereid sr ·

          In reply to Windows XP Professional SP2 stability

          since Beta1. Both are rock solid.
          Personally I like Vista RTM so much I think that within the next year and half it will beat XP in installed base.
          I have been using Vista Ultimate RTM(the same thing you can buy January 30th) since November of 2006. It is rock solid.
          Mike

    • #2503496

      I respect those of you who want to use Vista.

      by wgs777 ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      I respect those of you who want to use Vista. I just hope you’re ready to face the fact that a lot of your favorite programs will never work on Vista. For that privilege of saying good-bye to your favorite programs, Microsoft, the Motion Picture Association of America, Intel, AMD, etc will charge a tax of $2,000 on your savings. Did I forget to mention that the new dual core or quad core supercomputer you buy will run slower than an old system running XP due to Vista’s exponentially high overhead. Why is Vista so slow and incompatible? Why would anyone want Vista?

      • #2503483

        No keep the verizon stock

        by tony hopkinson ·

        In reply to I respect those of you who want to use Vista.

        now he works for the Kerry group, so sell that.

        • #2503324

          I think he works with Briggs & Stratton

          by charliespencer ·

          In reply to No keep the verizon stock

          Pushing a lawn mower around his neighbors’ yards. And he probably does a lousy job.

      • #2503437

        Is tednyhan really Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer?

        by wgs777 ·

        In reply to I respect those of you who want to use Vista.

        Is tednyhan really Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer?

        • #2492092

          Unix v. msft

          by tednyhan ·

          In reply to Is tednyhan really Bill Gates or Steve Ballmer?

          Microsoft copies Apple so much, you’d expect them to copy OSX’s top-notch UNIX security model!!!!! Perhaps the next, post-Vista version of Windows will be based around the Linux security model.obviously Microsoft won’t stoop to Apple’s level and say something negative about them and yet, their marketshare has never stooped as low as Apple’s either.

          “in 2001, OSX came out and 5% of the world was experiencing it.”

        • #2492090

          Vista: in general an improvement

          by tednyhan ·

          In reply to Unix v. msft

          Windows Vista advancements in security and reliability, along with its cost and operational efficiencies, give you and your users confidence in your company PCs. With Windows Vista, users have clear ways to organize and view their information, which enables them to focus on the most important aspect of their jobs. Windows Vista communication, mobility, and networking features keep users connected to people, information, and devices. Combined, these benefits bring clarity to your world and to the world of your end users.

          These capabilities make Windows Vista a great operating system solution for your company PCs. From the perspective of an IT professional, Windows Vista is easier to deploy, and less expensive to maintain, than any earlier version of Windows. From the perspective of end users, Windows Vista’s improved performance and reliability add value by allowing people to be more effective while performing their jobs.

        • #2492089

          Vista

          by tednyhan ·

          In reply to Unix v. msft

          Wow Starts now!!!! Whoooooo!!
          Microsoft will officially launch Windows Vista and Microsoft Office
          2007 System for consumers at a special event in Times Square in New
          York on January 29 called “Wow Starts Now.” At the event, Microsoft
          and its partners will promote Vista, Office 2007, and related
          products.

          “On January 29, Microsoft will celebrate the launch of two amazing
          products that represent the culmination of a tremendous team effort,”
          an email message from Microsoft reads. “Millions of people–Microsoft
          employees, developers, valued customers, bloggers, families, media,
          the entire industry–have come together like never before and added
          their own individual imprints to help make Vista and Office 2007 the
          most tested products in Microsoft history.”

          The January 29 event apparently includes a lunch reception, then a
          launch celebration. “Our celebration is dedicated to the millions of
          people who helped transform the operating system into a rich
          experience that’s more exciting and more powerful than ever before,”
          the email reads.

          I have spent the last weekend trying to acquaint myself with Windows Vista. I very much wanted to like it. I was a super-involved Windows 95 beta tester and always carried the Microsoft message with me – even participating in one of Bill Gates’ keynote speeches. But I come away disillusioned. I am a seasoned professional – a sophisticated software developer and I love tinkering with operating systems. This OS feels like way too many people participated in it. There are too many features. Too many ways to do things. Too much hefty software. Too much irregularity in the design. And too much security. I am rapidly being trained to ignore the constant permission dialogs that pop up every other action. Ok, Windows takes a beating on the security front – but in 20 years of Windows I have not had enough issues to warrant troubling me this much over security. I am so disappointed in Vista! And I can’t believe the general public will be able to fathom this thing out. Vive la revolution!!!

        • #2492008

          Vista

          by wgs777 ·

          In reply to Vista

          I agree with tednyhan that Vista has too many features, and too many ways to do things. One of the troubling trends in new Microsoft software (Vista, IE7, and Office 2007) is there is less usable screen space. IE7 and Office 2007 have so many lines of clutter at the top of the screen, that the browser window, or excel spreadsheet has less room to display data, so you have to scroll up and down a lot more. I think the public is initially going to buy Vista, but eventually every one will realize that it just wasn’t worth the costs involved (such as buying new hardware). 87% of the World’s PC’s are currently running Windows XP, partly because of XP’s 5 year run. I don’t think Microsoft will ever wait 5 years again between OS releases, so I don’t think Vista will have enough time to ever have more market share than XP. I’d like to see Google get into the OS business – that would be real competition for Microsoft.

        • #2491215

          I agree

          by tednyhan ·

          In reply to Vista

          The real question is not whether Vista is better or not it is whether it is better enough for it to be worthwhile switching to it. Google are the most innovative company in the world and there attrempt at an OS would get a cult following of sorts but, let’s face it, msft’s penetration won’t be overturned any time soon. Nothing beats brand power especially among novice users!! BTW msft office 2007 is shockingly presented but i’m sure we’ll adjust

        • #2508156

          My impressions of Vista

          by wgs777 ·

          In reply to I agree

          I hope the following short analogy will convey my impressions of Vista. I currently use Windows XP Professional SP2 on my primary home PC. I recently installed Zone Alarm Pro Firewall and CounterSpy Anti-spyware. Suddenly, my task manager went from its usual 1% CPU utilization to almost 100% very frequently, just because of the overhead of the firewall/anti-spyware programs constantly running and examining every thing I do. My PC felt like the CPU was spending more time on this overhead, then it was spending on the programs I was running. So I uninstalled both of those high overhead programs, and my CPU Utilization went back to its usual 1%. The reason I mention this is that Vista feels the same way. You could be sitting there using Microsoft Excel, and your CPU utilization remains high because of all the new background services running. When I use Vista, I have the feeling that the CPU spends more of its time servicing the operating system than it spends on running my programs.
          A lot of these Vista background programs cannot be turned off (like its indexing service, DRM copy protection, deeply built in WGA constantly calling home to Microsoft, etc).

      • #2503301

        My favorite programs do work in Vista

        by michael l hereid sr ·

        In reply to I respect those of you who want to use Vista.

        WHAT are you talking about a $2000 tax-where do you get this. I have not heard this.
        As far as slower-nope- but I have 2 very simular pc’s one running Vista the other XP.
        Vista boots faster(more tray icons in Vista than XP)
        No noticable differance of speed in programs I use
        Mike

    • #2503419

      Oh Really??

      by aaron a baker ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      When was the last time you had a good look around?
      Or are you too great for that too? I’m using Vista and will reserve judgment, suffice to say
      A:Toys & Gadgets, Don’t impress me
      B: And so far, neither does Vista.
      What I find most deplorable is the obviously childish Flamers like you who can’t talk straight. Everything has to be a fight.
      Well go for it, and when you’re tired of fighting alone, you can pick up your skateboard and go home, Oh and Take the attitude with you.
      At Tech Republic, We’re Pros, in case you hadn’t noticed and we know how to treat each other accordingly.
      Regards
      Aaron

    • #2503326

      Hmmm…..

      by pgm554 ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      According to M$,every new release is the “best Windows yet!”.

      AND,as alluded to in an earlier post.compared to what?

      Did they compare it to Apple OSx or Linux or Unix?

      Nope,only to prior Windows releases.

      • #2503316

        Maybe…but

        by blair.s ·

        In reply to Hmmm…..

        The mass’s will buy it because of the gagets and the marketing. They are tired of looking at the same “XP” screen for six years. If there was proper drivers for XP64, a large number of the design/engineering offices would not be looking at Vista to over come the memory limitation of XP, that is the only reason. Since the anouncement of Vista, development work of XP64 drivers stopped.

    • #2503304

      Store associates

      by diazolidineyl ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      I probably wouldn’t go to lengths to say Vista is one of the worst O/S out there, but I certainly have no reason to upgrade from my XP machine – especially for the price. For one I’m not gamer ( and from what I’ve heard gamers are the only ones who will really benefit from vista). If I wanted a cool aero interface I would probably get an over priced mac.

      I did load a beta of vista on an older PC and made the interface look like windows classic along with a few other tweaks and it seemed to run marginally faster than XP. I did like the task manager and other utilities it had, but then again they are definitely not worth the 300$ when I have free utilities that can monitor a whole plethora of processes and details.

      Now this brings me to my final point. I was in staples the other day (the only store I respect around here out of best buy and circuit city) and the store associate was trying to sell a laptop with vista on it to a customer. As I was browsing I held back my laughter from the store associates selling points. I can’t repeat verbatim, but basically this is what he said, “In vista the whole interface is different it has just a little circle in place of the start menu and it has an activity monitor where you can view processes you’ve been running and a gadget control panel where you can view the weather “.

      As I observed these guys were practically sold on vista. They thought it was amazing. I couldn’t believe my ears. I probably should have said something to these guys money that XP already has a activity monitor called “task manager” and the whole circle with the windows logo is just dumb. I also wanted to tell the store associate that it was the worst selling point I’ve ever heard. Steve Balmer did a better job in this video then him.

      http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=491434607197997836

      Its sad that this new O/S is going to be pushed onto an audience that has no idea how to analyze anything computer related. On top of that companies will sell vista preloaded and people (the unknowing)will be forced to use this operating system.

      • #2503296

        Well I wonder if I might qualify as somebody who does knows pc’s

        by michael l hereid sr ·

        In reply to Store associates

        1 I have used dos 3.1 to 6.22-windows 3.1 to 95-beta tested 98/98SE/Me(sorry about that one)-XP and now Vista.
        2 Since 1987 I have built all my own pc’s plus a few for others
        3 I have run Vista Ultimate RTM(the same one you can buy January 30th)since November of 2006
        4 Only reason my 2 other pc’s are not running Vista is that is not for sale yet-Plus I’m retired so it will take a while but I will buy for other 2
        5 Vista’s features make this the Best Yet.
        Mike

        • #2491465

          You’re right in a way

          by diazolidineyl ·

          In reply to Well I wonder if I might qualify as somebody who does knows pc’s

          I don’t think vista is a bad O/S, but I think Microsoft could have done a little more to make it worth all the money that it costs. I haven’t tested vista to it’s fullest potential, so I really don’t know first hand how great it is, but from what I’ve read about it doesn’t seem so amazing.

        • #2491390

          well even the Home premium is very good

          by michael l hereid sr ·

          In reply to You’re right in a way

          Visually it does seem a minor step up from XP but taken as a whole it was a giant leap.
          Mike
          PS Not everyone needs Ultimate-eventually I would have bought it-but I would have bought Home Premium no matter what and as soon as I could.

    • #2503266

      Improvement: Yes . . . and no.

      by apotheon ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      Vista will ultimately be a practical necessity for people dead-set on using Windows, simply because Microsoft is not working on advancing the hardware support of earlier releases of MS Windows. For instance, support for 64b processors, support for wider buses, and support for higher memory quantities will never appear in XP to the extent that it will in Vista.

      Similarly, as application vendors start supporting Vista as their primary deployment platform, they’ll stop supporting older MS Windows releases with newer application versions. There will come a time when, for instance, Adobe won’t bother to make new versions of Photoshop compatible with older releases of MS Windows.

      Because Microsoft will no longer support XP to the extent that it supports Vista, the world will move on, and you’ll have to either upgrade your MS Windows version or move to a different OS platform entirely if you want to be able to make full use of newer hardware and software. The term that applies here is “planned obsolescence”, such as using rubber timing belts that wear out in a few years and require replacing at great cost to the car owner. They could make things last longer, support software longer, ensure that timing belts don’t wear out — but they wouldn’t make money on upgrades and replacements if they did that.

      Of course, in a support-based revenue model such as is used by vendors like RedHat or SuSE, and with free/libre/open source software, revenue doesn’t really factor into the software development process. As a result, with software like Linux, FreeBSD, and Plan9, you don’t have to worry about planned obsolescence: you don’t have to buy a new version to apply updates to what you’ve got. That’s just one reason among many that I moved away from using MS Windows years ago.

      • #2503253

        PLAN 9?!?!

        by jaqui ·

        In reply to Improvement: Yes . . . and no.

        Why would they keep the same invasion plan?
        We defeated them the last time they tried invading with Plan 9.
        [ 1960s B Movie, Plan 9 From Outer Space ]

        • #2503228

          Yeah . . .

          by apotheon ·

          In reply to PLAN 9?!?!

          That movie was the reason the OS got that name in the first place, when Ken Thompson et alii started work on it in the early ’90s.

      • #2491555

        It’s those pesky applications …

        by stress junkie ·

        In reply to Improvement: Yes . . . and no.

        … that keep me from convincing my clients to move off of Windows. I recently tried to install Intuit Quick Books on Linux via Wine. It didn’t work. I’m always running into new applications for Windows that my clients are fond of. I can’t test them all in Wine. I don’t have enough money to purchase all of these niche applications and every client has one or two that I haven’t seen at other client sites. My experience trying to get things to work in Wine is one of frustration, heartache, and despair.

        So if even I have to run Windows XP Pro in order to have certain applications available to me then I am unlikely to be able to wean my clients off of Windows. I wish that I could do that. I often give them a bootable CD with PCLinuxOS on it for their home machines, but in work there is often an application that does not have a native Linux equivalent.

        On a different front, the a$$holes at AMD/ATI have announced their first Vista compliant graphics card, the X1050.

        http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/01/19/amd_rolls_out_low_end_vista_gpus/

        I don’t know why a hardware manufacturer would let Microsoft tell them how to build their products. It was once the other way around. The operating system producer had to figure out how to use the existing hardware. I’ve been angry with AMD for several years now anyway since I discovered that Bob Palmer, former CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation, is on the board of directors at AMD. Bob Palmer was the person at the helm of Digital Equipment Corporation when the board of directors decided to destroy the company by selling off it’s various parts and then to finally sell the remaining skeleton. I stopped buying and recommending AMD products since I discovered that Bob is part of the AMD corporation. The fact that AMD recently purchased ATI, and the fact that ATI graphic drivers for Linux have never worked very well if at all, and the fact that nVidia makes Linux drivers for their products that work well, have all caused me to be an Intel/nVidia fan of sorts.

        • #2491500

          re: Intel, nVidia, ATI

          by apotheon ·

          In reply to It’s those pesky applications …

          I’ve never had any problems with ATI cards, except for the simple fact that it’s annoying to have to use proprietary drivers on my open source operating system if I want 3D graphics. Of course, the same is true of nVidia cards — there are no open source drivers that support 3D graphics acceleration. Both companies just seem bound and determined to be on my bad side.

          Intel, meanwhile, is offering open source drivers for both wireless network adapters and 3D accelerated graphics chipsets. They’re the guys to support in those areas right now, since they’re the guys that are actually looking to do honest business with users of open source software. Intel also has the best 32 bit processor on the market: the Pentium M (not to be confused with the Pentium 4M or the Pentium Celeron M, which are not so fantastic).

          I haven’t been paying a whole lot of attention to the 64 bit processor space lately, but last I checked the AMD Opteron line was where it was at. Considering support for AMD x86_64 processors was kickass in Linux last I checked, and Windows XP 64 bit was still struggling to figure out how to walk and chew gum on 64 bits at the time, it looked like AMD was the processor to beat. By the time I get around to actually needing to get a 64 bit system for my own use, though, I’m sure support for Intel 64 bit processors will be as good as for AMD 64 bit processors. Considering the state of affairs with Intel hardware and open source drivers, I’m sure that’ll be the direction I’ll want to go.

    • #2491550

      WINDOWS

      by jaqui ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      W.I.N.D.O.W.S.
      [b]W[/b]oefully [b]I[/b]nadequate, [b]N[/b]ot [b]D[/b]esigned f[b]O[/b]r [b]W[/b]orkplace u[b]S[/b]e.

      danged bold code in wrong place

    • #2534925

      don’t make me laugh vista performs slower by 10%

      by gsaravin9 ·

      In reply to Vista- a marked improvement on XP?

      Test show that .You are taken in by the hype & jargon.10 % slower means a lot in an operating system shorfall.What it means is that unlike the performance of xp vista is a complete DUD.Why because ms produced vista as a bloat of XP.Vista is 60 million
      lines of code where as xp is 50 million lines of code.Bigger does not mean better.
      Don’t kid yourself ms has trully flopped.
      You have been trully blasted out of the water on this one.Vista has huge shortcomings,I could write a book on it!!
      ta mick

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