Windows Vista, Opinions Please

Off-topic
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Hey All,

I guess this thread is mostly aimed at an intelligent Microsoft bashing session for the techies, and a warning for those who still think Vista means a nice view

I bought it, Vista Ultimate (ok, it was OEM )

I’ve a pretty beefy system, I score 5.9+ on everything (that’s good) - but still, things didn’t go so smoothly, here’s a few problems you can expect:

Vista didn’t write a boot sector to the hard disk, and thus - won’t boot, there’s no recovery console, no fixboot or fixmbr - and the restoration tools on the DVD, just don’t work.Sound Blaster cards, do not work, the Beta drivers are unsigned, and Vista refuses to load them, even after you bypass the driver signing requirement - drivers will only load in limp mode, and there’s no sound, but the device is recognised properly… I did get my SoundBlaster working, but ymmv.File sharing with other Windows machines is brilliant, and there’s no more LAG and DEATH when you go to “View Workgroup Computers” - which is a total bonus!File sharing with OS X is a different matter all together however, and you may want to read this post I wrote.To anyone not too knowlegable with PC’s, I’d advise against upgrading just yet, manufacturers like Creative have spoken out and said that they won’t really be supporting old hardware (yep, that includes my 3 month old graphics card) for Vista, and if you click the “Visit the manufacturers site to search for a compatible driver” link inside the Hardware Wizard, SoundBlaster.com will direct you straight to the online store to buy a new card.

On the whole, Vista is nice work, theres a number of things that annoy me, still - but they have done since Windows 2000, not least is how with multiple monitors, the task bar only spans the left-most window, and regardless of which monitor you place a window, chat, im, website or other on… it still shows up on the taskbar on monitor #1… in the past I’ve used Ultramon to get round this, which is an exceptional tool to fix this, however it’s not Vista compatible… there’s a Beta coming out… but that’s no use to anyone!

Also, for anyone who knows what Synergy2 is, and uses it, be aware that if Vista is configured as a client, you will lose remote mouse control when the system prompts you to allow an application to behave as “root” - as the system switches run-level and the layer that you’re running in until you deicde either way.

I’d be curious to know who has, or is planning to upgrade, and what are their motives either way.

(and yes, this thread is just an excuse to whore my knowledge and my blog )

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put the OS down, calmly walk away from the OS… do not under any circumstances us a Microsoft OS, remember, this OS can lead to serious stress related illnesses.

m

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if you dont have a minimum, and i mean a minimum of 1024MB memory, then do not get Vista. thats like having 128MB memory on XP. ya just dont do it!..

With regards to its functionality, i am not knowledgable in that department yet. as i only have 512MB currently, its not worth it just yet.

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I agree totally, I have 4Gb of RAM, and a X2 4200+ CPU… i see ~20% usage across my system with Aero enabled, though I do run with full FX, because I can

You’d be a daftie to run anything higher than Vista Home Basic with a system with less than 3Ghz, and 1Gb of RAM… and even then, preferably a 64bit machine.

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Vista isn’t that a second rate copy of OS X

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In my experience, if you are not really technically minded, it’s best to stick with your happy, working system as new systems to ‘urgrade to’ are always a real pain in the butt and NEVER work straight out of the box.

My ‘XP’ is safe and sound for a goodly while yet; I demand little from it, (no high-speed games or intense graphics) it does what I want with no hiccups, why risk everything for the latest ‘must have’ and line Mr Gates’ disgustingly, obscenely bulging pockets still further? As I said, it won’t work properly, help will cost you dear too, and it could wreck your computer anyway… and apparently (feel free to point out if I am wrong -) I heard Vista uses a lot of your working memory to run itself, so may end up slowing your laptop / pc down anyway… Who needs this?

I vote - No Ta! And, no, I am NOT technically mined - after all, I’m an o l d f a r t ! So my opinion is one of an end-user who has to have something that -just works -… without fuss or struggle every time I boot it up… ok, off for me medication… Nurse! Valium please…

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Toast,

Well said, I’ve just put together a machine from scraps and given it to one of my mum’s friends, he’s in his 40s, and has a 10yr old lass, who’s doing computers at school… it’s running Ubuntu linux (free, alternative Operating System) there’s no licence fees, it’s similar enough to windows that it causes no problems, runs like a dream on an old 1.1Ghz duron machine, and they’re both really impressed with Windows Vista… next time I see them, i’ll fess up and tell them it’s not windows

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I wish I’d stuck with XP. I’m still trying to work out if it’s worth me going back. I love Office 2007 and the new Explorer (not Internet Explorer), oh and the photo gallery rocks. But developing software on Vista sucks donkey. Still, it’s early days, things will get better.

The install b0rked one of our computers though. Pissed off you need a 3D graphics card to get the nice UI as well as the machine in question doesn’t have one, so that’s another £50 or whatever.

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I think we all know that this is the last thing micrsoft will ever make the way open source programs (good example firefox) are progressing. Linux will take over the world and IT ppl will make there money from open source solutions and support.

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Jay,

Don’t forget that you can’t play your games on Vista, Aero will sap ~20fps (and I have a GeForce 7800 Factory Overclocked 512MiB PCI-E) off your framerates…

Also, before I figured out my sound problem I was stuck with the prospect of spending £30 on a decent 5.1 sound card… and I still can’t get it to write a boot sector for my primary boot drive.

I haven’t tried Office 2007, but I’m an avid fan of Google Docs, and Open/Neo Office on my unix/OS X machine anyway, so I probably won’t

What do you advise I use for .NET webdev and C# hacking, etc under Vista… I really wanna get stuck into learning

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My games run fine? But I have 2x 7800GTX’s SLI’d up so don’t really notice any drop in performance. I remember when XP was released, it was a hard time, but then it became a solid OS (if plagued by security issues).

As for this being MS’s last OS, I don’t think so, nobody else has the business market so tightly in their control than MS. Linux is alright for service provision and techies, but it’s certainly not geared towards the general population. Apple stand a far better chance of winning any such war, were it to come to that. Hell, I’d buy a mac.

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Another one sees the light

Apple Mac its the future

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and another angel gets it’s wings…

I’m sitting here right now waiting for me new MacBook Pro to arrive… it’s running the next version of MS Vista… sorry I mean Mac OS X

.

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mmmm jealousy Jay!

I’ve altered the cStrike and WoW binaries to “Disable Desktop Composition” which seems to kill Aero if I run the games, back to my old framerates

OS X for the win…but don’t you all think that fonts and controls in OS X are too big ?

Maybe I’m missing an obvious tweak, but much as I love my mac (and I really, really do) it’s like a Fischer Price toy to look at!

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https://www.youtube.com/v/qHO8l-Bd1O4

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Nice video Matt, made my day

Why’d Bill get the green sabre though ?

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I know - it’s so wrong!

https://www.youtube.com/v/Jvky8XIqVt4

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lol… genius

There’s another one with a dude in “iWorld” (this is an old one) taking the micky out of PC’s …in closung he says his name… but it’s incomprehensible and then, “and yes, this was composed on a mac”…

Can’t remember what it/he is called though

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yes I remember that one - don’t suppose you read the Joy of Tech comic too do you?

m

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Update:

Java Runtime Environment (J2RE) Doesn’t Work

… Thus Eclipse doesn’t either… so Vista is officially worthless to me as a developer.

Cubase doesn’t work, and Audacity won’t record correctly