The Vista Thread

[the_dark_light]

I figured it would be interesting to start a thread on Windows Vista, the (delayed) and often derided successor to XP.

Who's using it and what's your opinion of it so far? Who's going to wait for a bit and why? And for the IT people here, what are the known problems so far?

I'll start:

I'm going to hold off on Vista for a while. The reasons are that

1) I don't see any reason to upgrade. While it has security improvements, I run AV, Firewall and spyware protection so I've never had a problem with security. It has some new features, that I'm not really fussed about (e.g. Aero, media center)
2) It's a resource hog. My computer is a slightly older system (2.4GHz Northwood) so I'll probably only run Vista on a new system. I've used the beta before, this was on my parents computer. It's a new system but even then it was sluggish and the disk was chugging away non stop. I think I'll wait for better hardware first
3) I don't see it as a finished product. I see people who upgrade to the newest OS right away as being "gamma testers" - this is always the period when then most problems come to light. (One of the software engineering facts of life) I'll do what businesses are doing, wait for a service pack.

[atlantis_babe34]

i have Vista.. takes a lot to get used to.. its alot like apple in some ways but the basic structed of it is still teh same as XP just more features built ontop.. nothing that exciting, but to be honest i dont think your missing out on that much

[Skydiver]

i have no plans to upgrade until i'm forced to....which might be when i replace my lappy later on this year. and i'm gonna look into getting XP on the new one instead of vista

a) it's a lappy, i dont' need some resource hogging piece of junk on it
b) i haven't seen anything in the previews that i need. do they look cool? sure. but are they necessary? no.
c) it's microsoft. NEVER buy the first releases. give them at least 6-9 months to work the bugs out cause they NEVER release an unbuggy product. And when you read the press release and 'service pack one is being worked on right now' is in it, you know that even microsoft knows that it's buggy and problamatic but are releasing it because they have to
d) while i love my apple for editing, i don't like it for surfing and general use and hearing that vista is like apple does nothing to entice me. In fact, it just reaffirms my desire to wait.

I've had IE7 sitting - uninstalled - on my HD for months and i have no desire to install it, especially since i have yet to hear of anyone who's installed it that keeps it.

IMHO, instead of trying to mimick everyone else out there, Microsoft needs to take the time and creativity to come up with something truly unique instead of just playing copy cats

[the_dark_light]

Here's a less than satisfied customer

His response to Vista's failings did seem a little extreme, but they made me laugh

[Exiled Master]

I'm going to wait a bit, not because I am waiting for bugs to be fixed, but because I don't have a machine of my own that can run it. But if it weren't for a technological deficiency, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

[Exiled Master]

Absath, creator of Ctrl Alt Del, wrote a pretty good entry about Vista. It's definitely worth a read.

[the_dark_light]

There's a good comment on it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HELrxLdP85c

[SGA4ever]

i just ordered laptop that will have windows vista home premuim

[Dr Weir]

Here's a less than satisfied customer

His response to Vista's failings did seem a little extreme, but they made me laugh

I agree with one of the comments that his computer is probably out of date. Even if it's new it doesn't mean it's the latest in technology. It depends on the price but I added the vid to my favourites because I thought it was funny. Anyway as I only got the latest xp just over a year ago I will not upgrade for now but I may in like a year time.

[SGA4ever]

Here's a less than satisfied customer

His response to Vista's failings did seem a little extreme, but they made me laugh

LMAO

[the_dark_light]

I guess we won't have a choice from next year. In 2008 Microsoft is due to stop providing XP to OEMs (with new computers) although most new computers come with Vista these days.

Not really a problem for me, as I build my own desktops (and won't be buying a new lappy for a long time) and tend to use Ubuntu most of the time anyway

[SGA fan]

i've had it for about a month and i realized today i think it is really oever rated. i feel like i'm still using xp just with new menus and sounds. and a lot more errors

[Amann]

Vista is a bit slower than when i had XP, but i think it works good. IE 7 i like becuase of the tabs. I like the vista features with having mini windows on the bottom of the scroll bar and the cool way it switches windows. I don't like the idea though it isnt compatiable with most of my games so far (I got the 64 bit version)

[Womble]

I've got Vista on my laptop and it's annoying with a capital A. There are some weird compatibility problems with all my favorite games.