Windows Vista: make the upgrade?

[TheMelodyMaker]

With the release of Windows Vista only a couple of days away, are you planning to upgrade? ^_^

Personally, I have mixed feelings about it. I had the chance to try the Beta 2 release of it this last summer/fall, and I wasn't overly fond of it. The biggest problems I had were:

1. The hard drive is required to be formatted in NTFS for it to run, unlike XP which will run on either NTFS or FAT32. I happen to like running XP under FAT32 on this computer because if something goes wrong, I also have 98 on the other hard drive, which will read FAT32 drives but not NTFS drives.

2. My graphics card will not work with it. It didn't work with Beta 2, and the upgrade advisor for the final release says it still won't work. I happen to like my Voodoo 3 card because some of the game I have require it for full functionality.

3. Restricted freedom of file manipulation. I don't know whether this has changed for the final release over Beta 2, but I didn't like the fact that deleting temporary files required an admin password every time -- even though the admin account was the only one.

On the other hand, I would like to see Vista in action if for nothing more than to see if I can get The Traveller's Guide working on it. When I tried it in Beta 2, I was able to get the configuaration program working with it (which used only DirectInput 7) but nothing else; likely because the sound driver was also buggy.

In any case, if I were going to upgrade, I'd go with the Home Basic version. But I'm hoping I won't have to any time soon.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Windows Vista = Windows XP Service Pack 3.

That's all it is. Prettier, more [not so worthwhile] features, a little bit of here and there, etc. But I guess improved security would be a good thing. Oh yeah and it looks a bit like OS X.

So yeah. I won't be touching Vista.

[Puguni]

This reminds me of that Apple commercial I saw about the Vista. XD

I don't know much about it, but I'm afraid to go farther than XP.

[Shao Feng-Li]

I won't be using Vista as that price...

[Stiletto]

I voted Business since that's pretty much the only version the college computer science department allows its students to download for free. I'm thinking of trying it out, though I might need to upgrade my video card just to do so.

[Myoti]

I tried the Beta at my school. Other than being shinier, I saw no real reason for an upgrade.

[Sync]

If I build a new desktop in the next year I'll be getting Ultimate with it (free through work), otherwise my current desktop will stay with XP and I'll get a laptop with Vista and then drop XP on there when I want to do a lot more at one time (more resources available )

[Kaligraphic]

Vista actually has some real changes under the hood. Right now, though, I don't have the screaming powerhouse of a machine necessary to give the same performance as a decent XP box, or a DRM-compatible monitor, so I'm not going to upgrade any time soon.

What Intel and AMD giveth, Microsoft taketh away. In spades.

[indyrocker]

I'm not going to even think about touchin it till much later. If theres one thing i know about Windows and Microsoft is that they rush things. As far as the hardrive and grafics card issues I can see how there is going to be some big fall out because of it. A few months after they release it and it totaly flops they probably will fix that and make it avalibol in a sevice pack 2 esk release.

[Warrior4Christ]

For me, yes and no. No, because my desktop will remain with XP Pro, but yes because new laptop = Windows Vista (hopefully Home Premium).

1. The hard drive is required to be formatted in NTFS for it to run, unlike XP which will run on either NTFS or FAT32. I happen to like running XP under FAT32 on this computer because if something goes wrong, I also have 98 on the other hard drive, which will read FAT32 drives but not NTFS drives.

Well... you could have NTFS drives, and dualboot with Vista & XP instead....

Windows Vista = Windows XP Service Pack 3.

That's all it is. Prettier, more [not so worthwhile] features, a little bit of here and there, etc. But I guess improved security would be a good thing. Oh yeah and it looks a bit like OS X.

So yeah. I won't be touching Vista.

Heh. That's quite a big rewrite for a service pack...

You lucky US people... (or maybe ex-lucky..) - Microsoft did have free giveaways of Vista and Office 2007 to US residents at http://www.powertogether.com/ [expired now].


Just about 6 hours now 'till it's on sale...

[crossalchemist]

I tryed out a beta, not looking good. It's still the sames old windows with a few min or upgrades and the "Aero" style looks like a mix of XP and Mandriva. I personally won't be "upgrading" for three reasons:

1. Doesn't and won't have drivers for my lappy, despite the fact that my hardware can handle Vista.
2. One of the games I play the most is WarCraft 3 and anything pre DX10 will run A LOT SLOWER on Vista.
3. I'm praying that Steve Jobs gets off his "Mac hardware is the best! All are inferior to us...and Intel" highhorse and makes a version of OS 10.5 that will run on the PC. I and many of my friends have not the money to buy a Mac (cuz we all bought new PC's a 2 years ago for college) but are dying for a better OS and would love to run Mac OS 10.5 on our AMD Athlon 64 X2s!!!

[Icarus]

DRM-compatible monitor...

Please tell me that is not what I think it is.

The only way I'd install Windows Vista is if someone paid me a hundred bucks.

[Shinja]

i intend to get it after i build my next pc, my current one while still strong is 7 years old and would need some serious upgradeing to work

[Bobtheduck]

Slowing your system down to the point that a gig of ram is bare minimum (256 was it for XP, and that doesn't really run on anything less that 512 megs), the DRM stuff that they tried to pull with XP that created an exploit, the Direct X10 exclusivity... Ok, so that may be something many many people want (directx10) but it's stupid they made it only for Vista... This is where I make my transition to Linux, and only upgrade windows once I upgrade my Adobe Suite... By that time, they will be made for 64 bit processors and it will be worth it... Unless Adobe starts supporting Cell and Linux, then my next PC upgrade will be a Cell PC running Linux... And, no, I'm not referring to the PS3... I mean a real PC made with a real Cell, not the first Run cell in PS3... I'm sure by that time Ram will break out of the 4 gig ceiling, too. Vista is not attractive to me at all.

Sucks, though, since I have a 64 bit processor that's left untapped... [button="fanboy plug"]Much like the Cell on PS3 so far... [/button] It's just not worth the baggage that comes with it...

[Valkaiser]

I'm not to keen on introducing any more bloat than WinXP already has, sometimes I even give up and switch back to Win2K. The big kicker, however; is the integrated DRM. There is no way that I will knowingly introduce such limits of computing freedom into the core functionality of my system. It's like making you pay for the priveledge of being restricted from anything that M$ or whomever deems unhealthy...

[mechana2015]

DRM compatable... MONITOR?

A friend of mine works tech support at Comp USA and detests vista already, mainly due to the obscene amount of patches that it ALREADY requires to run right. The 128MB minimum for the graphics card and 1 Gig Ram requirement... just to run the os seem a little... painful.

[crossalchemist]

I'm looking into using SUSE Linux for my 64 bit box and getting a copy of CrossOver 6 so I can still run all of my Windows stuff. SUSE: $50 + CrossOver: $70 = $120. Vista=$250. It's worth a shot.

[Icarus]

Linwood, if you're going to use Linux, don't pay for it if you don't have too, and if you must use SUSE, use OpenSUSE. That way you aren't paying Novell for protection from MS.

[Warrior4Christ]

a DRM-compatible monitor

Please tell me that is not what I think it is.

DRM compatable... MONITOR?

It's a brilliant move by the movie industry. Not Microsoft. If you don't have an OS capable of displaying on a DRM monitor (ie. Vista), then all you'll get is the low-res version of your Blu-ray/HD-DVD movie. So Vista is better for viewing HD videos than non-DRM-monitor-capable OSes (provided you have the HDMI monitor).

[mechana2015]

It's a brilliant move by the movie industry. Not Microsoft. If you don't have an OS capable of displaying on a DRM monitor (ie. Vista), then all you'll get is the low-res version of your Blu-ray/HD-DVD movie. So Vista is better for viewing HD videos than non-DRM-monitor-capable OSes (provided you have the HDMI monitor).

Thats so... wow.

So I need a new MONITOR to play the new hi res disks? That kills the next gen of video for me.

[crossalchemist]

Linwood, if you're going to use Linux, don't pay for it if you don't have too, and if you must use SUSE, use OpenSUSE. That way you aren't paying Novell for protection from MS.

Too true, too true, what I meant from the prices is that even if you paid the full price possible for SUSE and CrossOver it's still less than half the price of Vista and can still run the more important (WoW, Half-Life, and MSOffice) Windows programs.

[Kaligraphic]

It's a brilliant move by the movie industry. Not Microsoft. If you don't have an OS capable of displaying on a DRM monitor (ie. Vista), then all you'll get is the low-res version of your Blu-ray/HD-DVD movie. So Vista is better for viewing HD videos than non-DRM-monitor-capable OSes (provided you have the HDMI monitor).

Actually, it's a brilliant move for monitor manufacturers. If any DRMed content is running in Vista, the OS "fuzzes" all of the "insecure" outputs, meaning that you can't necessarily just use your current monitor. Of course, chances are Vista doesn't have a driver for your video card anyway...

This means that XP is better than Vista for viewing such content. (XP outputs high resolution just fine.)

[samuraidragon]

Here's two articles I found on Vista.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17992/page1/

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/living/16555680.htm

[Kenshin17]

As far as I am concerned (and I have not read the above posts) Vista is just another round of Microsoft written bugs. I would be willing to bet Vista SP1 is out in six months. And this jazz I hear about it shutting down hardware that doesn't meet its requirements, it may be designed to prevent piracy but isn't morality up to the consumer? And security like that always creates problems.

I will be sticking with XP. The price is low and it works (as well as Windows can) When XP becomes to old to use effectivily I will either a) buy a Mac b) Buy a computer and slam Linux or Unix on the sucker.

And here is my biggest complaint with Microsoft: Why can a BILLION dollar corporation not code an operating system that is just as stable or more stable then an OS that is written, upgraded, and given life by OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMMERS. These people code for fun and they can make OSs that are better then Windows? This to me is wrong. And that "Windows is compatible with more then Unix based systems" argument doesn't work. Linux (and Unix) OSs can do anything Windows can; and they are more secure and stable.

Anyway thats my two cents and if you like Windows then more power to ya. Vista will be great for some and I may play with it a little but this one is not buying it and likely never will.

[ShiroiHikari]

I'll save my anti-Windows rant for another time and place. Let's just say that I think I'd rather save my money and buy a Mac than upgrade to Vista. I'd have to buy a whole new freaking computer to run Vista anyway, why not use that money on a Mac, eh? Alternately, I guess I could just learn how to use Linux...

[Radical Dreamer]

No, I won't be getting Vista any time soon (if at all). Why? Well, until they fix them, the glitches are going to be awful. One that I know of in particular is on the first boot-up with Vista, it'll take 30 minutes, and if your computer freezes, if you have a power surge, or if your power goes out...well, bye-bye, computer. The computer will be crashed and no longer usable. Way to go, Microsoft. XD

The next big purchase I'll make regarding computers will probably be to buy myself a Mac.

[TheMelodyMaker]

I did a bad thing... I went and bought myself a copy of Windows Vista Home Basic yesterday after church and tried it out on my little laptop that I've been using as a server. And... ^_____________________^

[SnoringFrog]

I believe with somethign that came with the new computer we bought recently we get a free updgrade to VIsta, so I'll probably be getting it, although I don't know which one or anything.

[dyzzispell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxQm3IsSKAo

Enjoy. XD

[Radical Dreamer]

In case none of you have seen this...I found it highly entertaining. XD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIjeJLUrBpM