state of the union: concerning MS Vista? yay or nay?

So, I've had my MBP for 8 months now, and have abstained from windows programs. BUT I've finally begun thinking of returning to some of my old programs that I miss using. Most of these are programs that function under MS XP/98. I hear Vista can run *most* xp programs, and emulate other windows environments to suit legacy programs.
Programs I wish to use: Dreamweaver MX, Reason 3.0, Nuendo

Here's the question: Is Vista working well in Bootcamp 1.4? Is it stable? Major issues? Minor issues? Or is Vista just a pain in the butt to use, regardless of how well it works in Bootcamp?

Addendum: Boot Camp 1.4 is set to expire when OS 10.5 is released on October 26th, but apparently Windows may still be useable as only the license for the assistant will expire.. it's confusing, but read this too

 

I like the way you worded the options in the poll. I'm not a Mac user but I think Vista is very stable, has a friendly UI, and its more versatile than XP. You can run multiple applications and consume over 50% of your RAM and there isnt a lag in performance at all. Just last night I was using my XP desktop and even after performing all the tweaks I've learned and used here, when the free RAM decreases to about 1.1/1.2GB (out of 2GB), XP starts to lag...not a little or a lot, but its noticeable. I have not seen this from Vista yet, even while running a 1GB virtual machine and average Vista load (600-800MB).

Almost every mainstream or even remotely mainstream application/program that works in XP works in Vista. I have downloaded/installed/used many programs which were labeled as Windows 98/2000/XP/2003, but they run in Vista. Its still Windows, so compatibility is there.

I dont know how Vista runs in Bootcamp, but to optimize Vista, you're going to have to make some tweaks...correct me if I'm wrong but I think most people dont tweak anything in OS X like people tweak settings/etc in Windows. I think this is just part of using a computer...tweak it. Good thing is that these customizations are all over the internet...Flamenko has a TweakGuide here in the Windows section.

 

http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_RTM_Software_Compatibility_List

Also mentioned above, there are a variety of ways you can tweak Vista to make it work more towards your needs. Tweakguides.com also has a nice guide, and there's a tweakvi out there somewhere that allows you do much the same thing tweakui does for XP.

I haven't had any major problems with Vista in Boot Camp, but then I only use it for gaming and a few random tasks that require Windows.

 

I'm a fan of vista. It's a fine OS with some good eye candy and some neat new features. There is the occasional headache, but the issues with vista are blown WAY out of proportion.

I run vista on my gaming box and my "gaming" laptop. I just purchased my MBP for my first OSX machine a month ago. I do LOVE OSX and I still like vista.

Though last night i had to make an activation call... That might have been the last straw with windows.

But vista is fine, go for it.

 

I like vista, I chose 2 becaue yeah it does have some bug.

almost all (non driver related) compatibility issues can be solved by going into properties and select "run under xp sp2 compat mode" and marking "run as administrator"

 

the pole is split nearly even in all categories from Love to Hate... very interesting fellas.

I believe that issues can be resolved in windows, because I've been there before. I'm not sure I want to be bothered tinkering anymore and wasting time trying to solve issues. On top of that, if I had to waste time re-validating a product I own.. I'd blow a gasket. I would also be bothered by constant system "accept or deny" requests, if this is how Vista works. XP was solid and trouble free IMO despite it's need for occasional maintenance.

Again, I know with windows "some assembly is required", but I just want to make sure I'm not left to go shopping for missing parts because Vista wasn't packed correctly.

Anyhow, keep it comin..this is getting good

 

Boot Camp does not introduce any additional relevant factors into the equation for what you're asking other than the limitation of using 32-bit Vista instead of 64. Hence, taking Boot Camp out of the equation, you're just left with an opinion on Vista itself, in which case you'd get a better response in the Windows forum actually - and there are polls there for this.

 

well, that was the specific reason.. does it work well in bootcamp with 1.4? I only ask because I recall reading Bootcamps support wasn't as fully developed for Vista as it was for XP. This was prior to 1.4, but I haven't seen any updates. So if you feel that Bootcamp has fully integrated Vista now..then I'm glad to know that.

 

Nothing's changed with Boot Camp and Vista support in any significant way - although Leopard's official Boot Camp release may change some things.

But as far as "compatibility" goes, besides the trackpad and power plug issues, and lack of 64-bit support, Boot Camp Vista and normal Vista aren't distinguishable - more or less

 

Yes i am waiting for the word on the final version of bootcamp before doing anything with Windows on my MBP.

 

Vista still has compatibility issues and bugs...but most of them will be fixed in SP1, arriving in Q1 2008. So for now, I'd say stick to XP, but once SP1 is released, Vista will/should be fine.

 

Before getting this MBP a couple weeks ago, I had been using a laptop with Vista Ultimate that was purchased right at launch. I had absolutely no problems with stability, but there were a lot of little things about Vista I didn't like. Aero, network connectivity, constant hard drive thrashing for several minutes after bootup, and other nickel-and-dime things made me go back to XP when running Boot Camp. This isn't to say you won't have an enjoyable Vista experience, but personally, I'd stick with XP until Vista gets to service pack 1.

 

I am tired of Vista getting a bad rap becuase computer squids keep trying to run it on less than awesome gear.......it wants multi core and a stupid amount of ram........
Kinda like gettin mad cuase an Apple IIe won't run Tiger

 

User Account Control (accept or deny) can be easily turned off.

I kinda wanted to blow a gasket, but i'm sure the Indian man on the phone with me at 2am (central) wouldn't be able to do much.

 

:GEEK: ah, well that's good to hear account control can be turned off. I'm glad to hear you didn't blow a gasket while talking to tech support. I probably would just blow a gasket by; yelling, jumping up and down, stabbing forks in my eyes and jumping out of a window. j/k. Maybe I'd just yell at my computer.

Well, I've listened to what you've all said.. and I don't think I'll be buying Vista...yet.
Perhaps after the first major update I'll consider it. Infact I've decided to rebuild my old PC since it will suffice my needs for now. But if I must... I'll buy XP Pro for my MBP. I now realize that PRO is needed for dual cpu support, dual monitor support, and other such things that HOME doesn't include. Thanks for the help fellas

 

There *may* be complications from turning off UAC if you ever intend to turn it back on someday.

 

My dad has a toshiba laptop with vista in it, but it was a bit taxing on the 1.5ghz core duo and 1gb of ram, so I ended up removing vista and installing xp for him. I think once vista gets its first service pack, and if leopard's boot camp supports tap clicking, then I will definitely buy it, not sure if I would spend $400 on ultimate, probably home premium. Or just download it wherever and use my dad's home premium key from his vista-less toshiba laptop. Not sure if I can use the dvds that came with that laptop to install it on my macbook.