Window Vista Poll

Okay some people have window vista now from new comps
so here is the question:
Do you like the Window Vista?

 

I voted a resounding yes, but I was a beta tester for Vista, so I haven't really used XP in around a year. Just enough has changed in the user interface to annoy some people the first time they use it, and scare them into the thinking the whole OS is worthless. Once you get used to it, going back to XP is like going from HDTV back to regular TV -- it just doesn't seem right.

Anyway, just my $.02.

 

I like it but I have major issues right now which want me to go back:

Pros:
- Aero
- Easy layout
- Better Security
- ReadyBoost / ReadyDrive / SuperFetch
- Diagnosing System / Help is much easier to use
- Windows Sidebar and scrolling ability

Cons:
- Can't get my wireless to detect on start-up
- Flash won't work
- Divx won't work
- UAC gets annoying
- Gaming capabilities aren't quite there yet
- Sometimes it doesn't start-up or restart (although this is a laptop BIOS issue)
- Most of my drivers (especially audigy 2 zs notebook) are crap or in beta stage at the moment.


Its worlds better than XP thats for sure but its just so buggy on my laptop right now. But I have to say on my desktop it works perfectly and there is no way I would revert back.

 

Ultimate is nice and the security is far better than that of XP, but not sure I'd upgrade at the current price range, if I didn't already have it (free). UAC is one ginormous PITA. FWIW, I'm running both, but seem to still gravitate toward XP.

 

Yeah, I turned off UAC. I refuse to have to give myself permission to do something the system already asked me if I was sure I wanted to do -- often twice.

 

I found the disadvantages of Vista (half baked security UAC, sluggish performance, decreased battery life, program incompatibility, inability to run media player ripped files on my PSP, and dodgy UI) outweighed the advantages (...). I went back up to Ubuntu 6.06.1.

 

Wow@ some of the problems you guys have with Vista. Especailly link1313.

Thats the way I felt about RC1.

But RC2 & RTM Ultimate have been great to me. Ofcourse not ALL drivers & Games works well with Vista yet, but I guess I'm one of the lucky ones that hasn't been affected with major problems.

I actually like the UAC alot. I would however advise that you turn OFF the UAC when installing LARGE trusted Programs or Drivers, having it ON could make the install process a long one.

 

Actually, my setup is pretty solid and reliable. Not much that I'm missing. I just don't see the big need for me right now. Aero is nice, but I can take it or leave it. My XP security is tighter than a frog's ass and it runs smooth, so I tend to stay with it. I'm sure at some point I'll drop it like a bag of dirt, but for now...

 

Yea, but it is nice to have tight security out the box.

MS really should have thought about the compatibility issues. I mean what the hell was beta for then?

 

I haven't tried Vista since the alpha versions so I chose the third option.

 

Well i'm back to XP now, i miss vista on my laptop but it goes to show i should have waited until those 'vista ready' stickers came out on laptops.

 

I was worried about the "real" system requirements when I first heard about some of the features MS was aiming for in Vista, and for the most part my concerns were justified when I saw the comparisons between some Vista setups on different rigs. To appreciate Vista, you really need a fairly new laptop---at least one of the newer Pentium M's (or AMD equivalent) or better yet a dual core machine with at least 1GB of RAM. The interface, especially the new Start menu, takes some getting used to as we have all used hundreds of hours of XP's interface. Third party hardware drivers still need to catch up, and there's not much MS can or could've done in this area. Finally, I believe MS will streamline UAC with the first SP, so until then most users will probably just disable it and the notification icon in the taskbar.

Anyways, Vista will have its growing pains, and there are admittedly some annoyances you might have to deal with in the meantime, but all in all it's a good OS that is more ready for prime time than many past Microsoft OS's.

 

Well said Gator. So far, my experience has been two-fold. **** Vista is buggy! So many little annoyances with apps I've had over the past two days, that I can't be bothered listing them all. BUT! I am at pains to say that I love Vista, and wouldn't go back to XP. No way, no how. I'm content to ride out the early adopter period, and look forward to SP1, but even now, Vista is brilliant and I love it to bits. Btw my laptop is a 2Ghz C2D, 2GB RAM, 256 MB GPU, etc. Just received it yesterday. Vista runs like a dream on my machine!

 

Hey, good to hear! Yeah, same setup here, and I just love Vista's new memory management scheme with the 2GB I have onboard. I've had my compatibility bugs too, but apps start much quicker and I really enjoy the new Aero UI. And now that I've installed VS2005 so that I'm not coding in notepad anymore, my headaches are gone too!

 

Yep, I've definitely noticed how snappy it feels. Apps load quick enough for my liking, and it seems to get that bit quicker with repeat usage. Multi-tasking is a dream, after my last 5 year old monstrosity of a laptop. Right now, I'm logged onto Live Messenger, posting on an internet forum (obviously), listening to The Scientist by Coldplay on iTunes, and playing Football Manager 2007. And the responsiveness is unbelievable. Barely any lag between switching windows. Great!

 

Um, yes, it's definitely because of Vista that your performance is better than on a 5-year old system...

Apart from that, my laptop with 2GB RAM feels just as snappy under XP as Vista.

 

I meant multitasking and speed was a dream, contrary to hearsay. Although I am sitting on a lot of power....

 

I am a bit reluctant to install Vista on my Core Duo Thinkpad at the first time. But after 2 weeks using it i think i really like MS new approach to their OS.

This most all black sorrounding perfectly matched all black exterior of the thinkpad.

No speed complaint at all. The system is actually as fast as XP but in some cases it feel faster. I am using 2 GB RAM though.

 

I haven't tried Vista, and I don't really think I will.
There just doesn't seem to be anything that would persuade me to "upgrade" from XP.

 

No, I would use PCBSD or DesktopBSD instead, they are free, secured, and powerful

 

When i bought my laptop vista preloaded i was about ready to downgrade to windows xp...however i stuck it out for the first week and now i dont think i will ever go back...

 

A big yes from me.

I was a lucky one that recieved a full version of Vista Business from my college's academic consortium for free, and figured "if its free, then why not?"

Vista GUI looks amazing. It definately screams 21st century.

The sidebar was a great addon. I currently have an analog clock, a black CPU/RAM monitor, my system specs, my BF 2142 name, rank, and general specs, and a weather monitor on my sidebar.

I LOVED the fact that all but 2 of my laptop's drivers were included in vista, even though the GPU driver sucked. I spent HOURS just installing drivers when I reformatted XP.

enhanced security is always good, love it all

the new "hibernation/standby" hybrid shutdown state was an awesome addon.


Of course there are a few things i dont really care for, like the lack of "adequate" gaming support on nVidia's Go Series GPU's which has given my gaming experience a severe hit. Or there's the fact that older alcohol 120 or nero burning software isnt compatible. Of course these are things that are going to be fixed in time, so I'm waiting it out.

Even with the lower gaming performance atm, I just couldnt go back to XP.

 

How does it work and what does it do?

 

I'm really enjoying Vista. Some of my comments on it can be seen at the bottom of this review:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3507&review=Asus+Z84Jp

I have Vista Ultimate installed on my Sager. It runs well for the most part, although I can definitely tell its processor (Pentium M) is overwhelmed sometimes.

 

Is it the processor overwhelmed or the embedded Intel GPU?

 

So far, I haven't found any major upgrades in Vista warranting switching to it. Readyboost and new security features. Those however, are minor improvements and aren't worth trading XP's stability for.

 

All of those things can already be done in XP quite easily, even though it's not built-into it. But why do you actually need all that junk displayed on your screen at the same time?

 

I'm loving vista so far. After tweaking it quite a bit (services, programs, etc)... it really performs great. With 2 gigs of ram it's very fast too.

The biggest problem I had was the UAC - which I disabled. I'm not too worried about it being off, either.

The only gripe I have (with home premium) is that I can't get dreamscene! I'm sorta disappointed that MS decide to restrict that to only ultimate editions.

 

I found Vista Business in my 2 GB system is as fast and as stable as XP. Some programs actually load faster than XP. I find that multitasking is better managed in Vista than XP.

I didn't get any freezes, BSOD, hang ups, etc. Definitely much better transition than when i switched from 98 to XP many years ago.

 

I found it the opposite for me. I thought it was a much better transition from using 98 & ME to XP. No more BSOD, you can see a visual peek of pics & movies in a folder without opening it, GUI changed bigtime after dealing with the same type of GUI since I can remember Windows from booting from DOS, much better Start Menu and Many more changes.

Yes Vista is a nice transition from XP. But I think XP was a milestone in windows.

 

I still think that the milestone of windows is Windows 95. To me XP just a further development of Windows 98.

I remember when i first upgrade from 98 to XP i have several problems about sluggish performance and drivers problem. But now, after upgrading from XP to Vista the system is snappier and the driver problems solve quicker than my previous experience with XP.

Oh, and i like that black translucent taskbar too

 

I take exception to the idea that one must have a strong opinion one way or the other. I am of a divided mind. I can't decide whether I like it, xp, or os x best. I'm trying to make myself try out Linux more, but I haven't got a lot of room for it.

 

People should quit ragging on Vista. I mean, it's a great OS. Sure, there is some compatibility issue, but that is expected from a new OS. I didn't really wanted Vista at first, but Dell sent me a free "express" copy, so I tried it out and so far, I am satisfied. As far as the DRM goes, it doesn't bother me since I don't do HD anyways (HD takes up too much space).

 

Vista looks promising, but I'd personally wait until SP 1 or later comes out and buy it with new hardware.

 

Even without sp1 my experience with vista is very good. No sluggish performance and everything is stable.

 

After 3+ weeks of Vista, I prefer it to XP Pro, which I used for four years. I was needing to replace my old laptop, so I waited till Vista was released installed on new notebooks. I've had the minor annoyance that my IRIS pen scanner's drivers haven't been updated, but they have posted that the drivers are to be ready by March 15. Everything else, though, has worked like a charm.

I like the interface and I don't feel like it's slowed apps any. While my computer is obviously more powerful than the one it replaced, everything is much quicker, as I would have expected had I bought this computer and still had XP Pro. Some bona fide comparisons of XP and Vista on the same computer would answer the speed questions.

Having said that, if I had a year old computer and were considering upgrading, I doubt I would spend the money to do it, knowing what I do now. While I consider Vista a worthy upgrade, I could have continued just fine with XP. Come to think of it, my acquiring a new OS has always been with the purchase of a new computer.

Bill

 

A resounding no from me.

Pros:
Fast boot
Fast install
Search in Start Menu

Cons:
Reduced battery life (not by much, granted, but every minute counts )
Sluggish UI (even with effects minimised)
Constant HDD usage (Superfetch) gets annoying
Silly UI changes from XP for no good reason (why rename every damn thing in the start menu?)
Piss-poor Gadget implementation (psst MS...take a look at OSX or Konfabulator...they've been doing it right for years)
Piss-poor Flip Utilisation (Hello? Exposé?)
Application Compatibility - the apps I need for work, MathCAD and MSC.PATRAN just plain won't work
Dirty Vista Tie-ins (DX10, Geometry Wars...things that are tied to Vista for no good reason, other than to coerce clueless customers)
Fugly UI (Tasteless AND hard to use...way to go, MS)
UAC (Obtrusive and insecure)
DRM
Poorer Network Performance (tell me, *why* did they rewrite the network stack again?)
Price (Ouch @ Ultimate price. And no Remote Desktop server on any Home config )

As someone who actually used XP x64, I'm a sucker for punishment. But Vista completely blew my masochism threshold. Buyer beware.

 

I'm going to go Vista Ultimate in a yr or two. I want the bugs to iron out and more drivers etc. XP Pro fills my needs just fine in the meantime.

 

I just don't see the point. I have no idea if there is a time limit on claiming my free upgrade, but I really don't feel energized to do it for flashy graphics and some minor performance changes... I have XP customized how I like it, it runs everything I want it to run perfectly, and it's as secure as I can get it without making myself poor.

I don't understand why Vista was made to or even should take up so much of your computer's resources... What I want out of an OS is efficiency, security, and compatibility with what I use not flashy graphics and a new method of switching between windows.

I'd switch to Linux if I could dedicate the amount of time necessary to get everything I need running or the knowledge to set up a proper dual boot but I've got work and school and the thing just needs to work.

 

My sense is that most people like Vista better than XP, though not everyone thinks it is an earth-shattering improvement. I would like to see a poll, though, that compares Vista to the Mac OS.

 

It's no contest.

 

Lysander, no contest meaning Vista wins or loses?

 

To be blunt about it, this is a direct result of the Microsoft-Intel cartel/racket. The higher resource-intensiveness means you have to "upgrade" ie buy a new piece of hardware filled with both new Intel parts....AND guess what, Microsoft has a lock on OEM OS market - even forces OEM makers to pay a royalty/licence on ALL the laptops they make. In other words all laptop buyers effective pay money to Microsoft just by buying a laptop, even if the dont ask for or want or get Windows!

As a bonus to Bill Gates and MS, that new "upgraded" hardware you havebeen induced to buy has better piracy locks, even to the point of locking you out of the laptop that Vista OS you legitimately bought and paid for.

That's what's going on there. Simple greed and unbridled power.

Dude, the minute Linux has sincing to my Smartphone nailed down, I have no further reason to use Windows. Its that simple in my case. Dunno why the Linux folks are dragging their feet. This Vista intrduction is in fact a huge market opportunity for them if they can get their act together - Vista is turning people off.

 

Call me naive, but I believe the market will determine whether Vista works out or not and whether Microsoft continues to be successful. Frankly, I have no problem with the money Gates or anybody else is making. It their product is good and folks want to pay for it, fine. If the product isn't good, people will turn elsewhere.

I like the idea of Linux, and I think that the day may come when it will be a competitor that MS and Apple have to really watch. They notice it now, but I think the competition will get better. I would easily go Linux if I could find out that my two main programs, for which there is nothing closely comparable in Linux (Nota Bene and BibleWorks 7) could run well.

BTW, I don't see people being turned off by Vista at all. I know that Apple folks don't care for Vista and Linux believers don't like Vista, but Windows users seem to like it well enough. I admit I don't have any hard data, and I think it's probably too early to have any. We'll see.

Best,
Bill

 

Outside of this website, I don't know anyone who is keeping Vista. Most of my uni buddies have tried it, and prefer XP.

 

I'd rather it was tighter than a bull's ass at flytime. heh. Frog isn't that tight, but i won't say how I know!

 

Of course Vista will succeed because Windows is the industry standard and for the millions, if not billions, of computer users out there who don't know jack about computers they will use Vista. Windows has a tight grip on the "Don't know better" market and will continue to hold on to this enormous group of consumers until the world explodes.

Mac's may have a chance at evening the playing field eventually, but as long as businesses, schools, the government and just about every other institution uses Windows it will still win.

Linux will be loved by a small group and pined after by people like me who are stuck in the Windows world against their will.

 

In a backhanded sort of way, and there's a few stories out there, that's exactly what will happen.

Vista being more theftproof than previous M$ offerings will spur 'nix development, especially in the places window's stuff has been stolen.

My latest irritation with the M$ empire is the fact that an older genuine M$ security update cd will not run on an valid older XP oem machine I have. That is putting profits directly in front of any other damn thing M$ has to do with the computing world. Satisfying the customer, making their product better and cleaner are sad bridesmaids. furrfu

 

It looks interesting but I won't know until I try it.

 

i dunno.. have used everything from win98 to xp.. linux.. (no mac).. but i kinda like vista, with the UAC..

vista is an infant.. a new architecture from MS altogether.. when mac was introduced in 84, was it an all encompassing giant? No way.. i have read that people didnt budge from their text based machines.. many thought GUI is farse and mac is a toy.. one reason was that mac didnt have many applications to run..

do you see any similarities?

i am not saying vista is as revolutionary as mac was, when it was introduced.. no.. vista is still more or less the windows we know..

But, people.. give the devil his dues..