Windows Vista

[Hunter]

We do have a Vista (Business) machine in the office but it's primary for programing our propriety software on.  Vista is, in my experience (and I have way more than I like): slow  (i've seen it hang up just opening Word), clubsy (yes I do mean clubsy, try installing something), irritating (just about anything you try to do requires "permission"), and generally just a pain the behind to work with.

Just as a note, I have a Vista machine, an XP Pro machine (my primary), and an Ubuntu machine at my cubicle.

[Hunter]

Just as a note, both Dell and HP offer XP systems in the Home/Home Office section.

I don't see XP going away anytime soon.  Too many IT departments are either refusing to change or are going over to Linux.

[Nell]

I have vista on the laptop I'm using right now and here's what I conclude from it: While it is fairly useful to have Vista on any new computer, there would be no point updating to vista on a computer that has XP.

Advantages of Vista:
-A much better all around media oriented OS that makes it more comparable to the Mac while still retaining that Windows looking skin.
-The fact that you can add Memory to the computer just by plugging in a flash drive is pretty awesome
-The security system is much better than that of XP; it has all its own spyware protection and everything, all you have to do it download a free complementary virus protection like AVG.
-Simply having the few new features on Office, although the look is a little hard to get used to at first (**Side Note: Documents to NOT have to be saved in the docx format as there is a compatibility mode that they can be saved in. People need to quit complaining about that.)

Disadvantages:
-Applications take up much more computer memory than is necessary. However, this shouldn't be a problem at all if you get Vista with a new computer.
-Security is still not quite as good as the Mac

[Hunter]

That's probably because the GUI for Vista was rather blantantly ripped off from Solaris 10.   ::)

And not so incidently, M$ just announced (yesterday) that they plan on extending sales for XP to June rather then ending them in April.

[King_Furby]

Just as a note, both Dell and HP offer XP systems in the Home/Home Office section.

I don't see XP going away anytime soon.  Too many IT departments are either refusing to change or are going over to Linux.

xp is pretty much at it's end of life now though. by 2008 no new computer will carry xp.

[Hunter]

xp is pretty much at it's end of life now though. by 2008 no new computer will carry xp.

I won't disagree.  But many companies are seriously looking elsewhere for their computer needs.

[Nell]

I won't disagree.  But many companies are seriously looking elsewhere for their computer needs.

I really doubt many if any are going to end up doing it though. Switching over to something like the Mac or Linux from Windows would be fairly inefficient for the general populace of computer desk workers just because it would be hard to get used to.

[King_Furby]

windows is still going to be the main system used for most business needs.

[Hunter]

I really doubt many if any are going to end up doing it though. Switching over to something like the Mac or Linux from Windows would be fairly inefficient for the general populace of computer desk workers just because it would be hard to get used to.

And have you looked at a Mac or Linux interface lately?  The Vista interface is a blantant ripoff of Solaris 10, which I've already stated.  Most users, in my experience, when switching from a M$ environment find virtually no change in their productivity after a short (less than an hour) of familiarization. The "average" user rarely strays outside of their email, word processing tools (spreadsheets, etc), and their web browser.  And those don't change very much from one OS to another.

[Nell]

And have you looked at a Mac or Linux interface lately?  The Vista interface is a blantant ripoff of Solaris 10, which I've already stated.  Most users, in my experience, when switching from a M$ environment find virtually no change in their productivity after a short (less than an hour) of familiarization. The "average" user rarely strays outside of their email, word processing tools (spreadsheets, etc), and their web browser.  And those don't change very much from one OS to another.

Well I suppose that a different OS could be gotten used to, but gradually changing your systems over in a company, especially a large one, can be a fairly large expenditure and cost a great amount of effort. And to furthermore do it all in one go would be a huge feat.

[Hunter]

Well I suppose that a different OS could be gotten used to, but gradually changing your systems over in a company, especially a large one, can be a fairly large expenditure and cost a great amount of effort. And to furthermore do it all in one go would be a huge feat.

Exactly.  Approximately 30% of IT departments say that they have no plans of switching over to Vista.  Some of said companies are in the fortune 500.

[Nell]

Exactly.  Approximately 30% of IT departments say that they have no plans of switching over to Vista.  Some of said companies are in the fortune 500.

Ah I thought you meant they would soon switch over to Linux or Mac. I am going to agree with you that upgrading their old systems to Vista would be a waste. I'd say if they already had XP, there'd be no point changing. But as for the future, they might have to get Vista on their new systems because it really would be a hassle converting all the old document file types and everything. Perhaps some would be willing to make the change...if we're dealing with fortune 500 companies, it might just become a bidding war over who can cut the better deal for their software/hardware.

[Hunter]

Some of them are.  One major automobile manufacturer recently deployed 20,000 workstations (the company has approximately 60,000 total) loaded with a Linux operating system.  I'd imagine that the cost savings ran around half a million to three quarters of a million dollars there.

Not pocket change.


Personally, I will not switch to Vista.  I have two computers at home.  One uses Linux (Ubuntu) and the other uses XP Home.  I only need the XP machine to get my schoolwork done, otherwise, I wouldn't even have it.

[King_Furby]

I don't really want to get vista but i will be. I am mostly just mad about what they did with Halo 2.

i would rather just stick with something i am familar with.

[Hunter]

Well, XP is likely going to be available until June of next year.  And I wouldn't be surprised if it was available later than that.

[Nell]

How come you're still hooked on XP for Halo 2 when Halo 3 is out? I myself haven't played it yet so I don't know too much about it.

[Simon]

In my experience I don't think Vista is more slower than I thought XP was when it came out, other than that I like it.

[Keiro]

I have Vista.

Vista Home Premium, to be exact.

It runs just fine on my 1.2 Ghz dual-core Pentium 4 laptop. 1 Gig of memory, 120 GB hard drive, wireless g card, etc.

I am surprised that it's running fine. Though, there were some XP programs that screwed up IE. It boots far faster than XP does, and I must say that the shutdown process has slowed down. I will be investigating the reason for the slowness in shutting down.

However, I must say that since I tinker with XP often, and now only begun to tinker with Vista, that I've not had many problems...save for my damned portable USB hard drive, which for some reason, cannot get the driver.

Vista says it's a compatibility problem with Texas Instruments flash media device....I have no idea what it is.

I suspect that if I were to install XP on it, it'd run like crazy.

[Elder]

My experience of Vista splits into two categories, on a machine that it is installed on it works well, a little slower than XP on an identical machine but when you install it on an existing machine it is a nightmare.  Driver incompatibility is one of the worst problems I have a pretty standard Nvidia graphics card, a 512Mb 7900GS but the drivers that ship with Vista corrupt if they try and run a DirectX application and the new ones downloaded from the Nvidia site were not even recognised as driving a 3d card.  The Audigy 2 sound card drivers are severely cut down.  I could go on there are no drivers at all for my old Adaptec SCSI card at all.  As it stands I have a 150Gb drive that has Vista installed, I swap over to it now and again, get pissed off with things not working and go back to XP again.

Elder