Final Word on Vista

So, what does everybody think about Windows Vista?

This thread is for everything Windows Vista on your Dell. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc. about Vista, feel free to post them here.

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Personally, I love Vista. More so than XP, actually. The overall look of Vista is very appealing, and searching for things is as easy as snapping your fingers.
The sidebar is cool, as well.

 

i have had less problems with vista and gaming then XP and gaming.

 

Vista is cool with me. Vista x64 is even sweeter. Like you I have this thing purring so well it's hard to imagine this OS just came out. Certainly better than XP the first year it was introduced.

Nothing wrong the the outgoing OS (XP), but given a choice I would stick with Vista.

Regards,
Paolo

 

it's a love hate mixture for me..

I like the very stupid features, like dragging say, a lot of files at once it says how many files, and it shows a plus sign when u drag it towards a folder, it shows pictures in the icon folders. Those stupid features. I like how windows updates downloads at wild speeds because I'm in a rural area - dialup only.

Otherwise.. Vista bites.. it's a hog on memory.. XP only takes 83mb.. vista.. 400mb.. honestly considering sticking XP back up and promoting my vista disk to be a mini frizzbie ...

 

Service Pack 1 beta is a godsend, performace have increased over from the beta RTM.

No problems with Vista so far too.

 

I think it's alright for casual users who may not notice or care about RAM usage. Plus there's the 'user friendly' interface which I still have trouble navigating.

 

Well, sure it uses more ram, since its a more advanced OP and, more importantly, has quite consciously opted for heavy, but clever, ram usage. I mean, if you want really low ram usage why not use dos?

Perhaps its ram is a problem for users that are upgrading an older computer to Vista (and I'd certainly wonder why anyone would do that) but most new computers have significantly more ram - the standard 1-2GB seems perfectly sufficient.

 

1GB is perfectly sufficient, I just argue that it hogs a lot more then XP does and honestly, I see not huge difference between the two OS's.. besides for Aero.. and even Aero only consumes a mere 30mb of ram.

I just think MS could have done a better job optimizing it entirely. As for this service pack **** people are waiting for - because it's gonna solve all lives problems (so people make it seem); give me a break even after SP1.. it's still vista.. just a few holes patched. lol

 

According to Merriam-Webster it is "events".


Main Entry: vis·ta
Pronunciation: 'vis-t&
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian, sight, from visto, past participle of vedere to see, from Latin vidEre -- more at WIT
1 : a distant view through or along an avenue or opening : PROSPECT
2 : an extensive mental view (as over a stretch of time or a series of events)

 

I hope the final word is not out on vista. Its bloated. Big time. Most of the new laptops run ok with it but seriously, its a beast. Lets give MS a few Service patches and see if they can lean it out a bit. But in the current state, Vista is inferior OS to XP. Vista is slower on many benchmarks and its networking capabilities are truly beta. Like it or not, its here. But XP did get some more life, MS just extended the time OEMS can sell it. I think they have until the end of 2008. That right there is evidence that MS themselves are feeling pressure from pissed customers and OEMS that want more options other then Vista. MS knows they need to do more work on Vista. Hopefully the SP (possibly in Dec) is like SP2 was for XP.

In the end, we really don't have any choice.. Its only a matter of time when all the third party apps will only work with Vista. At some point XP will not be compatible with many programs.. Just look at how poorly supported W2K is now. And yes, there is Apple.. a locked system with limited available software at high prices. I was really hoping that MS, being the monopoly that they are, would have done the right thing and made a lean and mean OS that could blow the doors off of OSX. But MS does not have to since they have monopoly privileges. They don't have to make a lean OS for optimal performance.. With all the tons of added services that vista is choking on I hardly call it lean and mean. Vista really needs serious tweaking. Its tolerable once you disable tons of things.. just google vista tweaks and see what I mean.

 

For whatever reason, XP seems to work more slowly on my M1330 than Vista. For that reason only, I run Vista. On all other systems, though, I run XP. Now that I think about it, it seems strange. Maybe it's just me, maybe XP does run fine on the M1330.

 

At the moment, Vista is not great.

Sure, it looks slightly better than XP. The security has been improved (hopefully) by quite a bit.

It still crashes a lot tho. It's much less noticable when Vista crashes because it doesn't BSOD like previous versions of Windows, and it doesn't require you to restart the computer.


There really isn't much choice regarding Operating Systems. I don't want to use Apple or Linux, so I guess I'm stuck with Windows Vista.

It COULD be a good operating system if the service packs manage to fix these problems however.

 

i've never had vista crash on me

 

That a joke? Crashes on Vista may look prettier, what with the fading and all, but Windows is still Windows

 

Maybe I'm on some other planet somewhere, but here Vista is just plain fast... XP couldn't stand against Vista, on my machine, if it were given a 30 minute head start.... Vista is so fast I haven't even thought about tweaking it... What would be the point? The machine is now so fast I won't notice any performance increase anyways...

MS really doesn't care if people want to buy XP still really... They make money either way...

Also, benchmarks don't depict realworld usage my friend... Benchmarking is a flawed science, especially since they aren't optimized for Vista. Vista does a lot of things differently than XP. Some may look nasty on a benchmark, but in realworld usage offer you some very welcomed usability enhancements. It isn't all in the numbers of a benchmark app

And, what networking problems have you had with Vista? I have had zero and it is FAR simpler than XP was. No more needing to run the stupid ass network configuration wizard to get file sharing working properly on a LAN...

 

What are you defining as a Vista crash? As I've had BSODs in Vista, but that was nicely the result of bad Nvidia drivers on my initial Vista 64bit install...

Other than that the only "Vista" app that crashes on me is IE, but that could be the sites causing it to crap out...

 

XP stands for X-pired.

 

Yeh Vista is MAD FAST! Outlook loads up in .5secs.. photoshop in 7secs.. vista recognizes the programs you use the most and loads them up quicker.

 

My vote goes to Vista as well. It seems like a pretty good OS to me and haven't had too many problems with it. I think for gaming your better off with XP (which is the main reason I haven't switched my M1710 over to Vista yet)....

 

It was nice, but it made my computer run a lot hotter than ususal, probably all the video card usage for aero to work. I may after some RAM and HD upgrades go back to Vista.

 

Here's the ' FINAL WORD' on vista...

You kids need to have a read about the real problem(s) with Vista:

So instead of making an essay post, here are a few links;

DRM Issues

http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/10/microsoft-vista-drm-tech-security-cz_bs_0212vista.html

http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2005/08/04/microsoft-vista-creates-drm-insanity

General issues

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/15/vistas_long_goodbye_continues/

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/09/28/microsoft-told-abandon-vista

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2104022,00.asp

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2007-03-02-vista-problems_N.htm

And the '13 main problems with vista' :

http://mediavidea.blogspot.com/2007/01/case-against-vista.html

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All that and I can get a sidebar with yahoo widgets or a number of other equally better programs than the built in Vista one, I can change my style with a theme dll hack or a number of equally useful programs if I really feel compelled to have a 'pretty' operating system. Oh! And my games and drivers all work... and I've had no security issues to speak of (but Vista's is somehow better?.. haha).

I'll stick with XP for now, thanks.

 

I have to agree. So far I do not like vista. After 2 weeks of tweaking it is tolerable but it is still slow compared to xp.

I am sure some computers run vista better than xp only because drivers are only available for vista on some newer hardware and to get xp running you have to use what works not what’s written for it.

As for service pack 1 I am not going to hold my breath for much of a performance gain, but I do hope for some stability improvements.

 

My final words SLOW AS HELL.
I think it is another WIN ME in the making.

 

I agree with you, although my setup is pretty tweaked. In my experience, a machine with 1GB is faster running XP with no tweaks, but if you tweak Vista on that same machine (like turning off a bunch of services etc), it will run just as well. On a machine with 2GB, i find Vista more responsive than XP especially after some tweaks.

I've grown to like Vista a lot, especially after having used a MacBook after a month (flamesuit ON ). In fact, all my computers even my work computer are now running Vista, since the updated VMworkstation runs great on Vista.

People tend to resist new stuff, I resisted Vista for a while. Especially true for new digital cameras - as soon as the Canon 40D was released, there were tons of posts on how the 30D and even 20D were better.

 

Yes I use that dll for msstyle and other themes on XP. The one I really like is a modified Zune theme.. its so good that I prefer it over all the aero glass etc.. on my new HP laptop. With newer systems that have native DX 10 GPU's and vista drivers, it is tolerable. But I would not even try vista on my older desktop.. for sure that would degrade performance to a crawl.

 

Vista has been great! Once I disabled the dumb alert prompt pop up windows that appeared everytime I wanted to do something.

 

I wish I had Bill Gates quantity of money in this alternate reality I'm living in...

 

If it is good, why do people want to "upgrade" to XP.

 

http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13506_1-9785337-17.html?tag=blg.orig

I agree completely. If this is the best MS can do with 5+ years of development, I am not impressed. Bloated, clumsy, slow, full of security holes, and eats entirely too much memory. In other words, MS needs to get it's act together.

 

Change can frighten a lot of people.

In any case, to each his own. Accept it and move on.

Paolo

 

Actually, it kinda has only been 3 years in the making...KIND OF....yes, they started on vista in 2001/2002, but I don't know if you guys remember but back in August 2004, Jim Allchin told everyone to scrap pretty much ALMOST everything and they started over from barely anything to rebuild Vista. So the Vista we see is only kind of 3 years in the making.

 

Jesus, I've been gone one day, and already this thread as 4 pages...

...And that's three years of beautiful OS for me!

Has anybody had any problems with playing certain games on Vista?

 

LOL, MS blowing the doors off of anyone is laughable. Its quite possible but not very likely. Besides, they just had their asses handed to them over in Europe.

Just exactly what software do you use that is limited and/or expensive on the Apple side? Not trying to be argumentative, just want to know.

 

There's the sticky on the Windows OS forum about Vista compatibility. It's not finalised though and some games may vary in performance according to individual users.

 

If it is changing towards better, then it worths it. But if it creates network connection problem, mysterious hardware issues, compatibility issues with major and popular applications that forced people to upgrade (obviously MS products), while at the same time not much essential feature added, why bother.

 

That is true. Most of the features promised for Longhorn in the early days are not available in the current release of Vista. Basically, they've changed the game plan around 3 years ago for Vista.

 

People were making the same complaints (and worse) about XP when it came out.

Some people just dont handle change.

My grandmother freaked out when TV remote controls lost their wires. She was afraid if she pointed the wireless remote control at the tv and missed, she'd set the curtains on fire.

"Why did they have to change? They didnt need to make all this fancy wireless stuff. The wire worked great. Im sticking with it"

Yadda yadda. There will always be whiners, ranting about the good old days.

Not everyone has to be an early adopter. But if you dont want to be an early adopter, sitting around listing reasons why no one else should is just lame.

 

Well put. To each his own.

Paolo

 

I love vista but its giving me lots of trouble while playing some of my favorite games for example when i play a RPG game i try to go to a place and the char just moves a few steps and stops and its does it all the time which is makin me really pissed off what can i do -__-

 

Vista rocks!!! I have had no troubles apart from a crappy HP Scanner that HP did not bother to release new drivers for Vista.
Apart from that Vista is awesome. All my favourite games and apps work UT2004, CS:Source, Battlefield Vietnam, Halo, Battle Realms, Wacrcraft 3, Neverwinter Nights Half Life 2, Guild Wars, MS Office, Gamemaker 7, VS 2005 express, macromedia mx studio 2004, itunes and MSN Messenger all work fine.
I don't understand the problems with Vista? The interface is simple and the OS is awesome screw Mac OSX it doesn't match up to Vista!!!
Yeah I'm now an official Vista fanboy.

 

You've GOT to be kidding! Some of those articles/links are over two years old! If that's what you're using to judge something by, you need to move on....

XP SP2 for me was for the most part stable and reliable; never had any big issues with it and still don't. It DID, however, have hiccups here and there: wireless network drops after standby, explorer quirks, shutdown hangs.

Vista is plenty fast on my 1330, and has yet to give me a problem, so that's where my vote goes; and I've got all the eye-candy on. Of course, a lot of the speed also has to do with the better hardware on my 1330, but if it hadn't been for Vista, I would never have gotten those faster components because I didn't need them. Hardware has to improve to run these "bloated" programs, so I'd say we're all better off for it. It's kind of like cars: Have you noticed how they're bigger and more comfortable every year? Yet, ironically, you have LESS usable interior space (at least in proportion to external dimensions); those plush dashboards, seats, and door panels take up a lot of space. But still, I'd rather be in my 96 300ZX than in my 79 280ZX.

Apple raves about it's "lean" OSX OS, but my Mac mini at home has slowed to a craaaawl over time. Just switching users takes over 45 seconds. Opening programs? Tack on another minute or so...per program! It's behaving like my father-in-law's pc used to when he got more than 30 virus and over 650 spyware infections (careless, unprotected surfing...all taken care of now). And yet I know Macs don't get viruses or spyware , so it's just the crappy OSX bogging down for some reason. So yeah...Vista all the way, baby!

 

Couldn't have said it better!

The new stuff bashing is actually much worse in those digicam forums. I believe it's how some justify their purchases on "old and obsolete" models. I know it's not exactly the same scenario as MS trying to stuff Vista down everyone's throat, but there was the same XP bashing when XP first came out.

 

You think the Europeans aren't going after Apple? Apple will be getting its ass handed to them over iTunes...wait and see. The Europeans don't like successful companies: MS, Apple, Google...they're all in the cross-hairs over there (or should I say "here" since I'm in Europe right now )

Vista blows the doors off my OSX Mac (see post above). Lucky for me, my wife is the Mac's main user. But even she just said "Why don't we just get rid of the Mac and I'll just use your old HP [laptop]? The Mac's too slow, man!" Oh, it's brutally slow. I currently use all three major OS's; I'm just more comfortable with Windows, that's all. But having experience with all of them, I don't buy the marketing hype from ANY of them. "It just works"...my butt.

 

So far, my only problems with Vista have been:

1] A USB to DB9 serial cable I bought on ebay did not have vista drivers
2] I decided I didnt need the warnings, so I turned User Account Control off
3] My Nero software doesnt work with Vista, so I have to upgrade.
4] MS Visual Studio 6.0 has a few things that dont work, but it seems to work enough for my purposes.

I'm really impressed with the way vista remembers problems, and when fixes are posted, it notifies you. Thats light years better than XP's "Send data to microsoft, and never hear about it again"

So far the only thing thats crashed on me is Oblivion IV, every once in awhile - but they've posted a patch. I just dont want to download it, since Im making use of some of the other bugs.

Im impressed at how much faster apps launch in vista than in XP.

 

Oblivion has crashed for me before, like once while I've been playing. The other times its crashed is when I'm exiting. No biggy there.

I can't say I've run into any problems beside the above stated. Everything is working PERFECTLY.

Kind of off topic, but if anybody opens itunes, does it open really slowly? I experienced the slowness on XP, but with Vista, it opens in seconds. Of course, I do have better specs...just wondering.

 

Nobody here is whining except you.

I think the general consenus is that Vista isn't as good as people wanted it to be, but it should improve when the service packs come along.

 

When do you think the service packs will come out?