Microsoft Vista

Hi there,

Has anyone seen/tried this out yet? I'm a bit of a technophobe and usually wait until a new product is well worn in before I jump on the bandwagon but I'm buying a new 'puter thru Dell which comes with Vista already installed.

Needless to say, I'm more than just a little anxious that it will be full of bugs and not be compatible with my stuff - am I just being silly or are my concerns justified?

Cheers
Nat
 
not going to try it yet.
despite being a rather large nerd, i'm not usually an early adopter with MS software.

In fact, despite some dabbling with win2000, i went from 95 straight to XP.
I found 98 and ME to be heaps of ****.

that said, using all sorts of stuff at work, I can say, imho, microsoft OSs are going from strength to strength.. once they started with win2k, it's just been getting better and better.


There is no real nede to buy vista right now, if XP works.

if you specifically need to buy a new pc, then consider looking at what sort of hardware vista needs, and buy accordingly.

i'd suggest not buying new gear just for vista.

it'll probably run on stuff less thsn 12 months old, but you might have to tone down the graphical niceties

you could try teling Dell that you don't want vista...
 
Yes, I have been running it since the early betas, it has definitely got better but is probably not 100% for most users.

Honestly if the OS you are using now works, why try to fix it ?

In a few months (maybe years) when you have had a chance to see/play/feel Vista then consider upgrading.

If you are buying a new PC then you can always get it with XP and upgrade at a later date.
 
I'm rather annoyed at the direction MS has taken with Digital Rights Management in Vista.. so I'm finally going to bite the bullet and move to a Linux Desktop when I buy my next PC..
 
I wouldn't touch Vista with a 10 foot barge pole. Any OS that assumes ordinary, honest customers are criminals, does not command my respect.
 
Honestly if the OS you are using now works, why try to fix it ?

The O/S works, but unfortunately the computer gives me the shits - 3 year old laptop = very slow (for me) especially running Photoshop CS2. I need a desktop system with more grunt.

If you are buying a new PC then you can always get it with XP and upgrade at a later date.

Not through Dell I can't - I asked them and they are not supplying any computers with XP or older anymore. The deal I got through Dell is very good pricewise as well.

I have pretty much every O/S Microsoft has released, so if Vista is crap, I do have the ability to wipe it and install XP or 2000, although that would mean I am paying for something I won't use. Just thought I'd ask to see if anyone knows anything about it. I'll give it a solid go though - who knows, it might work out OK.

Dunc,

Can you explain what you mean by Digital Rights Management? Does this mean MS will own my digital "stuff" that I put on my computer? Or is it more of a Big Brother thing that can tell if you are using pirated software/music etc? :eek:

Cheers
Nat
 
Natmarie,

From this site: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

Windows Vista includes an extensive reworking of core OS elements in order to provide content protection for so-called “premium content”, typically HD data from Blu-Ray and HD-DVD sources. Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost. These issues affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC industry, since the effects of the protection measures extend to cover all hardware and software that will ever come into contact with Vista, even if it's not used directly with Vista (for example hardware in a Macintosh computer or on a Linux server).

Mark
 
Well... yeah. See, Microsoft assumes that every single person using a computer is a pirate. So they add this crap to their OS - at the detriment of the end user - to try and stop people from doing what can't be stopped anyway.

For a great (and hilarious) example of the uselessness of this crappy 'protection': http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Took_Eight_Days_to_Crack_HD_DVD/551-78152-581.html

Hee hee.

Mark

Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, endorse the piracy of any copyrighted product.
 
hi all
if you were bitten by the last micro brain wave (as below you may think twice about vista)
and that was to check everyones entry key code and if it did not match the micro own code in there system, your computer crashed as was the case with one of mine.
so I took it back to the computer and was told that there was no recovery for it and even thou my code key was right( installed a new hard drive and reinstalled the same key code and no problem) the little code that went down via micro auto crashed your computer and they do not have a patch so you have a drive that has all the info on it and no where to go.
have a read of the micro info on key locking on micro site it make very interesting reading.
I am changing mine to apple as they die changed two already and would not be interested in vista.
I would have liked a warning and a system to inform micro of my code before crashing a computer.
it just gave you 10 days to change the key code and guess what the only way to do that was to buy a new os windows xp professional pack and if you do as I did re enter your orginal key code( which was original and was only used on this computer) puff puff crash no go to jail.
I ended up running a new hard drive and ghosted the old hard drive on to this new drive.
great fun.
and the answer from micro was they hadn't heard of it before, well look in there info section and you will see alot of people did just like me and re entered there old key codes with the same result.
one thing that bill has forgotten or his team has anyway.
from my old business school days
it cost 12 times the amount of money to get a new customer then it does to sell to a current customer.
and it cost 59 times the same amount to sell to an old customer that has had a bad experience.
for every one customer you gain, you loose 24 times that with every customer that leaves with a bad experience
( why mcdonalds push to get people back and don't like bad publicity),
so for me it is going to have to be something very special to get me to switch back
I don't like the way micro seems to think that because you buy there product you give them the size and type of your undies and your undies automatically belong to them by default of using there operating system.

hold that thought in your mind
as you think that bill wanted the new vista to be on everyones tv with a smart box on top of the tv and him in your lounge room
all around the world,
maybe that is to check if your undies are ones he wants or can advertise on.
interesting thought you can stop think of it now.
 
I'm currently dealing with a project management consultant at work who is into Microsoft big time, being a development partner and knowing a whole pile of project managers and the like there. He's normally got everything way in advance of public release and yet reckoned the other day that he'd be in no hurry to adopt Vista.

Apparently the new security model (particularly the DRM stuff) has caused a lot of problems with application compatibility, so much so that even some of Uncle Bill's own apps won't work properly on it.

I'm following Duncan and looking at Linux (although I have to anyway for work). No need to wait for a new PC though, provided you have a reasonable amount of RAM and spare disk space in your current PC. You can install it in a virtual machine and then just copy it to a new PC later if desired (see VMware for virtual machines, although Microsoft also have their own version now, and note that while the VMware workstation product costs, you can get the server version for free and it seems to do the same thing and will run on a workstation as well - haven't figured out what the story is there yet). I'm currently running Ubuntu Linux in a virtual machine on my XP laptop.

GP
 
Hi GP,

Yes... good old Linux. I'm going to be looking at using my old machine to set Linux up on and have a play around with it. I really just would love to get rid of Billy and his crappy software out of my life for good.

Mark
 
Im running both XP & Linux on a duel boot set up. Once my machine starts a pop up screen comes up asking me which OS I wish to use. Im slowly getting used to Linux but mainly use it as a back up if windows crashes. I know Linux is supposed to be a superior alternative but old habits die hard.

I'm also led to believe that to operate and run the new Vista OS you need a minimum of 1GB RAM just to run Vista. I would say that their maybe alot of people buying and attempting to install and run Vista only to find that their PC's need to be upgraded as well.
 
Heard a comment the other day that Vista will obsolete so much legacy hardware that future archaeologists will be able to determine the precise point in history when it was introduced by the layer of electronic debris in the wall of their trench :D

GP
 
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