I know this subject was discussed here in bits and pieces, but what is the general opinion on the Microsoft Vista operating system?
My home computer is about to give up the ghost (it's a thrice-converted Windows Professional > 2000 > XP, or something like that) thats almost nine years old. A Microsoft certified computer repair guru in my area said wait until 2010 or 2011 when Vista's replacement is up and running -- or try to find (snicker) a new old stock XP setup somewhere.
Well, if your computer is about to croak... Vista w/SP1 isn't a bad alternative. Make sure you have at least 2gb of RAM and it should run OK. Most of the driver stability issue cleared up (thanks to the vendors), and service pack 1 cleaned up most of the other problems. (SP2 is expected 2nd quarter of next year.)
I've been running Enterprise 64 bit Vista on my primary machine for about 4 months now, and I really like it. However, 64 bit isn't for most folks (due to software support/compatibility)... so I'd recommend the regular 32 bit install.
If you twist hard enough though, you might be able to get the XP downgrade option from your retailer. Then it ships with XP, but includes discs for installing Vista.
Micro center sells refurbished machines with XP -pro systems, these are quite reasonably priced. If all you need is a machine for word processing, e-mail & similar home use, this may fit the bill until Microshaft cleans out Mistake Edition II software.
Unfortunately, you have to go to the store; here's an example of what is available in Columbus:
When my ME-loaded IBM dinosaur at the office flamed out this summer, I got a refurb e-mocheen from Tiger Direct; didn't even bother to see what OS...damnable Vista. I can't import my old address book from Outlook, nor my mail archive.
Frak Vista. On my home pooter, there's no way I'm installing Vista...I'll wait for next version of Windows, which I hear is a souped up XP.
America is at that awkward stage.
It is too late to work within the system,
but too early to shoot the bastards.
- Claire Wolfe
Laptop arrived a while ago.
HP DV9000 pavillion. 17" widescreen.
4gb ram and vista.
Seems nice, quite a leap from win2k.
Spent a lot of time getting connected
cause the damn thing has a panel switch to turn
wireless on/off. Wonder why?
Finally found the page to turn on old windows look.
The computer has a little remote control for some reason.
And earphones? $600 and change.
"Everyone Should be aware that you're just a screen grab away from infamy."
For a low end P4 with XP Pro installed, they are quite a deal.
Advantages: Cheap, XP Pro, SP2 installed. Great machine for surfing, and most PC tasks except hard core gaming. At that price, order an extra or two for parts. I offered $45 each, and the buyer accepted. They all three arrived in fine shape, and the two I put in service gave been working well.
Disadvantage: No XP OS cd included. The seller will burn a restore CD at no extra cost, however.
Vista is not an ideal operating system, to be sure, but it functions decently for me with my computer. Lester is right that you want to make sure that you have a machine running with no less than 2 GB of RAM with Vista.
Big Media wrote:I used to bitch about Vista. While it seemed slower than XP at first, I got used to it and I must say, I like it better than XP.
Me too. Its on my home computer, and I enjoy it very much. No problems to be speak, all of my programs run Ok. I like the look of it too.
For civilized discussion about broadcasting, media and sports along with fun games to play, visit: http://atriumforum.com/
Emphasis on Michigan area broadcasting, but ANYONE is welcome!
I am not sure if Vista got better or if I just got better hardware. I stopped running Vista in due to usability issues November 2007 and did not go back until July 2008 with SP1. It seems much more stable now with hardly a crash compared to the persistant blue screens, but I still have that lingering feeling that something could will wrong in and I would be screwed. (Although the worst incident with that actually occurred to me while using Windows XP MediaCenter.)
One thing that I have learned to love has been Office 2007. What a great improvement in productivity to move the icon bars from the top of the screen to a right click away. I love Excel and have learned that One Note 2007 is my new can't live without program for note taking. Brilliant software.
The first step in a successful revolution is to defeat all competing revolutionaries.
My first taste of Vista was on vacation with the (now-ex) gf's machine. The most annoying thing about it is the account control feature, that constantly bombards you with "are you sure you want to do this?" types of questions.
The laptop I'm on now (an HP, dual core AMD with 4 gb RAM) is surprisingly fast and hasn't bluescreened once in the three months that I've had it. Once I got that account control bullshit shut down, it's not a bad OS.
Bar Rat wrote:My first taste of Vista was on vacation with the (now-ex) gf's machine. The most annoying thing about it is the account control feature, that constantly bombards you with "are you sure you want to do this?" types of questions.
You can turn off UAC in the control panel.
I really like vista a lot (I have an automation PC here running it but it's a top of the line Dell so it can handle it)
I tried to put vista sp1 on my dell P4 2.2 Ghz laptop and while it ran ok I would have to reboot once a day because network transfers/file transfers/internet activity would cause any audio playback on the laptop to stutter/skip and I found no solution for it. So the laptop is back to XP Sp3 for now.
Matt
Program Director/Music Director/Owner
X music Online "The X"
Positive Rock Radio http://www.xmusiconline.com/
Lester wrote:You hear wrong. 7's UAC so far is more "system protection" oriented, as it is with Linux and less "Ask you about every freakin' mouse click".
That is good to hear. My problem was not the asking about every mouse click as much as it would flash the screen and create a second delay before showing the pop-up and the another second to restore the screen in Aero. With Aero disabled it was still half a second. And the sad part is that has not changed with the faster PC. I swear MS put a freakin delay in the system to go with the chime noise. Linux is far less annoying and I have to type a password with my setup on my Ubuntu PC to make any system changes.
The first step in a successful revolution is to defeat all competing revolutionaries.
I'm still getting used to Vista, even though it came pre-installed on my laptop.
For one, it seems very stable overall, but I'm still having video driver issues. I tried going to both Intel and Gateway for the patch and downloaded them both, but still no luck.
I'll be in the middle of something, then the screen goes black for a couple of seconds. It comes back on with a popup that basically says: "System has recovered from a video driver error".
I'm afraid it's going to completely crash one day... MS has no fix for it, either. They keep pointing me back to Intel. And Intel tells me I'm fixed...
Are you running SP1? If not, install it. See if problem persists.
If so, I'd download the latest driver from Intel.
Download the latest chipset driver from your manufacturer.
Reinstall the chipset driver. Reboot.
Uninstall the video driver. Reboot.
Install the new video driver. Reboot.
That might help, and should only cost you about 10 minutes (if SP1 isn't part of the program).
