# Vista



## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

I've had an eval copy of Vista for a month or so, Build 5600, RC1. I bought a new Dell laptop with plenty of horsepower and decided to install Vista on it yesterday. I haven't done any exhaustive testing, but so far I like the look and feel of Vista. A pretty decent ATI graphics card and plenty of RAM makes for a pleasant experience. 

I'd be interested in hearing from others who are running Vista. I'll provide more insights after I've hacked around with it for a while.

John


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

MY new Dell laptop is Vista ready but currently, I am working on the process to add a second OS to it. OS X. Yep. I have a licensed copy of it and just working out the procedural details on how to add it. At this point in time, I find OS X offers far more productivity to my business needs than Vista over win XP. 
But in regards to Vista- I've been following the experts out there on it and they all feel it may be worth waiting a bit unless you just want to play around. 
John- I'd be more interested in hearing what you hope to and actually do achieve with Vista over XP for your needs. It is the additional applications and productivity advantages that should come with Vista upgrade that matters. To date the big deal I've been hearing about has been Vista's new user interface and the transparency look. To me, that is too lame to be worth the trouble. I'd rather see something like perfect speech to text input and text to speech output as an integral part of the OS. Now that would be a worthwhile upgrade!


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

Don - great question. My primary interest in the upgrade was curiosity. As a former deputy CTO and then technology consultant, I've spent a fair amount of time evaluating MSFT licensing options and upgrade strategies. Agencies on enterprise agreements got no O/S upgrade for the $$ the plunked down last cycle, so I was curious to see if Vista offered much bang for the buck.

The interface is hands down a winner, especially if you have h/w that can fully support it. Vista has what I can only describe as a luxurious feel to it. I also find it more intuitive and user friendly than XP. I don't mean this to be sexist, but with its look and feel, Vista will appeal to women. And security seems to be designed in rather than just an after thought. Finally, and for some I'm sure THE compelling reason to upgrade: a refresh of MSFT games including a few new ones!!

More later...

John


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I've never played around with Vista yet, in Vista is there a option to take the user interface back to Classic with, Classic Theme, Classic Logon, Classic Start Menu, etc? I absolutely HATE the Windows XP default UI and Vista doesn't look much better. My computer set ups, look almost exactly like Windows 2000, only problem is Microsoft is changing the user interface of all their programs, IE 7, WMP11 and I cannot put into words what I think of the 'Ribbon' in Office 2007. At least it’s only Word, Excel and PPT, all of the other Office ’07 apps are normal.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Speaking of Office... I am still using the Office 2000 open license CD here and I love it. It saves me a ton of money being able to load it on all my computers. Completely compatible with all the latest files generated with newr office Excel and Word. I did upgrade the Outlook 2000 part to 2003 as it briefcases better.


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## Neil Derryberry (Mar 23, 2002)

Steve Mehs said:


> I've never played around with Vista yet, in Vista is there a option to take the user interface back to Classic with, Classic Theme, Classic Logon, Classic Start Menu, etc? I absolutely HATE the Windows XP default UI and Vista doesn't look much better. My computer set ups, look almost exactly like Windows 2000, only problem is Microsoft is changing the user interface of all their programs, IE 7, WMP11 and I cannot put into words what I think of the 'Ribbon' in Office 2007. At least it's only Word, Excel and PPT, all of the other Office '07 apps are normal.


Yes you can.. and that functionality is a must for folks without the hardware for the new UI.

I'm running the RTM version here, both on my work desktop and my tablet pc.. works well. My major complaint on the tabletpc side is that vista doesn't seem to be able to auto-rotate my tablet screen when I switch from laptop to tablet mode. I'm sure this will get fixed soon..


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. Next December I'm due for a new computer, I get a new machine every 4 years, can't wait to get Vista on that. I wil not be unprading this computer to Vista until after that.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

DonLandis said:


> Speaking of Office... I am still using the Office 2000 open license CD here and I love it. It saves me a ton of money being able to load it on all my computers. Completely compatible with all the latest files generated with newr office Excel and Word. I did upgrade the Outlook 2000 part to 2003 as it briefcases better.


I've been hacking around with Office 07 for quite a while and unless you are using it very regularly, the upgrade isn't worth it in my mind. I find the new menu confusing and slow in comparison to its predecessors. Come to think of it, off the top of my head, I can't think of any must have features, particularly for stand alone users. A lot of shops are moving to an every other upgrade cycle for Office and are money ahead in doing so.



Steve Mehs said:


> Thanks, I thought that might be the case. Next December I'm due for a new computer, I get a new machine every 4 years, can't wait to get Vista on that. I wil not be unpgrading this computer to Vista until after that.


Upgrading to a new O/S rarely makes sense on a laptop or desktop. A lot of folks will be waiting for SP1 before they make the jump so by next December you're likely to be using a better product.

John


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## HIPAR (May 15, 2005)

Why does this thing need all of those hardware resources to run? What is it doing that Windows 2000 and XP doesn't do? Does it manage memory better? Does it multitask better? Is it easier to operate and cofigure? Is it really more secure?

OK, I have not evaluated the advanced 3D Graphical User Interface because my computer doesn't provide video support. But, there must be more to it than just a prettier face. 

--- CHAS


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

It's Windoze 2007.

If microshaft could get away with it, they would just slap on a little trim change and squeeze
out a new model every year just like the vehicle mfrs and the welfare mommas do.


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

HIPAR said:


> Why does this thing need all of those hardware resources to run? What is it doing that Windows 2000 and XP doesn't do? Does it manage memory better? Does it multitask better? Is it easier to operate and cofigure? Is it really more secure?
> 
> OK, I have not evaluated the advanced 3D Graphical User Interface because my computer doesn't provide video support. But, there must be more to it than just a prettier face.
> 
> --- CHAS


I for one like the new interface. It has a nice feel to it. With more and more laptops and desktops going more towards multimedia, there are greater requirements for hardware resources. Particularly on our home computers where we play more than we work, Vista fits right in.



Nick said:


> It's Windoze 2007.
> 
> If microshaft could get away with it, they would just slap on a little trim change and squeeze
> out a new model every year just like the vehicle mfrs and the welfare mommas do.


It will be interesting to see what happens next after Vista. Gartner, a pretty decent IT research firm says look for evolutionary changes. Of course, they've been preaching software as a service for quite a few years now.


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## Kevin Dupuy (Nov 29, 2006)

I've been playing around with it, and the graphics are good, although I'm not sure exactly how they would help anyone. Personally, a lot of the features in Vista have been in Linux for a long time, so I expected Vista to have some cool new stuff, but I looked at my SUSE install, wiht there really cool graphics, which IMHO blows away Vista, and just thought, you know, Vista has nothing over Linux, and Linux is so easy to use now, I bet if Microsoft didn't have that lame Windows bundling discount for the OEMs that Linux would be more widespread, which would force Microsoft to put more innovation in Vista. The main reason people aren't using Linux in my opinion, is why should they? They have a sub-par (again, in my opinion) OS, sure, but it's on there already. Same reason IE has such a big market share. It's already on there, so why should they go out and download Firefox for free? 

And, I hate activation. I won't pay $200 for a box copy of Vista, and only be able to put it on one PC, when I can go out and get SUSE boxed set with manual for $60 and install it on as many as I want. 

But I do like the box Vista comes in!


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I pulled the trigger. Just ordered Vista Ultimate Edition from Tiger. $199 + $1.99 UPS Next Day Air. Sure beats the $600 or whatever for the retail version in the pretty box.


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_mai...958df4x1106eb84405x6366&rdm=711860.4212326752


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

I get a free upgrade to Vista for my new Dell laptop and my guess is that I'll see that in a week or two. In the meantime, I'll be hitting for the MSFT store for another copy or two of Vista plus Office. The Office upgrade is a lot more discretionary. I'll do it cause I can get it on the cheap. I expect to stay with these releases for the foreseeable future.

I'm not going to upgrade my HTPC to Vista because of the driver issues. I'll wait another 4-6 months before taking that jump.

John


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## FogCutter (Nov 6, 2006)

I am buying a couple of new laptops, and you know, I'll be ordering them with XP. We have several machines with XP and I don't want the hassle of working across different operating systems.

When I do make the move, I'll replace everything at once.

So far I haven't found a single feature that makes Vista compelling. And the new Office will totally sink my partner. It's take years to get her semi-function on the old command structure.

Eventually I'll have to do it, but not for a good long while.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I got mine in the mail today, I'm too excited to sleep. I'm off to Best Buy in a few hours to get an another hard drive, so I won't screw up my system in case of problems.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Steve Mehs said:


> I pulled the trigger. Just ordered Vista Ultimate Edition from Tiger. $199 + $1.99 UPS Next Day Air. Sure beats the $600 or whatever for the retail version in the pretty box.


How time flies! Is it really December already?


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## JM Anthony (Nov 16, 2003)

DonLandis said:


> How time flies! Is it really December already?


Just remember how late XP was. All those poor corporate IT souls who purchased enterprise agreements got nothing, but 3 yrs. worth of payments when it shipped too late.

I'm still enjoying Vista. I haven't had a single problem since I installed RC1 on my laptop.

John


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

DonLandis said:


> How time flies! Is it really December already?


Yeah.  Hope your Thanksgiving was well, Merry Christmas and best to you in 2008, Don. :lol:

Only reason I got Vista was because of the OEM version pricing, I actually ened up falling asleep, I'm heading out the door right now to get another hard drve and begin installation.

BTW- I like a halogram effects on the Vista DVD


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)




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## JcT21 (Nov 30, 2004)

after reading many horror stories about vista i was hesitant to upgrade ... however i did it anyway. i couldnt be happier. vista isnt that bad. i have the home premium edition. yes, its demanding on your pc hardware and drivers are scarce .. but if your pc is fairly new, chances are vista will recognize your devices. i have a very old scanner, which hp has decided not to provide vista support to. thats the only thing that didnt work. some xp drivers will work in vista. i have the nforce2 chipset. nvidia says they will not support it for vista, yet it works flawlessly with vista drivers and the xp driver for the SM BUS controller. 

i have a mediocre bottom line vista socre of 3.0 with my geforce fx 5500 256mb agp card. im thinking thats about close to being average. i have the athlon xp 2700, 2gb pc3200 ram ... vista runs perfectly. i love this over xp. 

cpu score - 4.0
memory - 4.2
graphics - 3.1
gaming - 3.0
hard drive - 5.0


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Was at Circuit City today and saw that all computers on display were runnin g VISTA. My how quickly this caught on! My wife was with me and I showed her some of theGUI differences in Vista. Other customers gathered around as well as two store clerks to watch my demo.  All I did was show off the glitz I saw and learned at CES. I don't think the store clerks are yet too familiar with Vista. From that experience, I must say that this IS a Woman's OS as all the women present, my wife included, were impressed and excited with how Vista looked especially with the popups, the rotating rollidex windows nest AND especially the bubbles in the desktop screen! Now my wife is asking when we will get her old Athlon laptop upgraded. I may be in for another Dell (running Vista of course) with another EVDO account on this machine. We also looked at the BluRay and 1080P technology and she now understands why we should upgrade our HT to 1080P this year.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I'm going back to XP. What a waste of my time. The user interface of Vista sucks worse than XP, the User Account Control thing is garbage, it asks you are sure you want to run everything including Window Defrag, I installed iTunes the stupid thing popped up three times. Disabled it, and Windows Security Center goes all nuts. I haven't been able to figure how to get an actual logon prompt to logon as Administrator. Creative has neglected to put out final drivers for the Audigy sound cards, I'm running the beta drivers, sound quality is awful, and to my knowledge there is no way to adjust bass and treble levels.

This is nothing but bloat and nonsense, the OS treats you like an idiot. I’m Fdisking the hard drive I bought yesterday and returning it. I should have just downloaded a pirated version of Vista instead of wasting $200 on this.

The only positive things I can say are the new programs from Microsoft (WMP 11, IE 7 and Office 2007) run faster and more efficient on Vista then XP, but then again I hate the new versions of those programs. As far as I'm concerned there will never be Windows version as powerful, reliable and straight to the point as Windows 2000 was. Running Vista I feel like I’m running WIN9X not NT.


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## the-real (Jan 25, 2007)

I have Vista business, kinda hard to get used to, but i like it so far


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## Drewg5 (Dec 15, 2006)

Vista and Joe Blow.. For Joe, Vista is going to be like no other, faster and smoother. Even Joe's wife and kids will approve. Joe wont go out and buy a boxed copy of Vista. Joe will go out and buy a preloaded PC at the store. Bring it home and show off the new toy. All will be Happy, and everything will work better with out all these pesky crashes. 

Vista and the Box guy. For Box guy Vista will be a nightmare. Box guy will so to the store and buy this shiny new box, or download. Box guy will look at the minimum system, requirements and say oh cool my PC can do that. Then box guy finds that he does not have enough memory in the system, then the on board video wont cut it. This Box guy will now have to go out and get more memory and a new vid card.

Guy 2 and Vista: Guy 2 will do mostly the same as box guy, one difference being Guy 2 already has a high end system, not new about a year or so old. He will install Vista, and think wow this is faster than XP. After a few days of playing with the new OS Guy 2 will start thinking of bumping the system memory up to 2,3,4 Gigs just to have more than the new system's being sold at the store with 2 + Gigs installed on them. 

I fall between Box Guy, and Guy 2. I knew my nVidia GeForce 6100 on board chip set would be week, it was when I got the board. So I download Vista, do the install. This way I could play with it before I bought a new Vid card. So now I have the new vid card, and greed is setting in.. Push the system to 4 Gig from 2, sounds fun. Bet the new OS will play even more nicely


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

For me it has nothing to do with older hardware. My computer is a tad over 3 years old, but it has a P4HT at 3.20GHz, 1.5 GB of PC3200 DDR RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 5600 128MB Graphic Card. I can run all that Glass and transparent garbage just fine, but it's nonsence so I disabled it. Performance is not an issue for me, it's the OS itself. The User Access Control is the stupidest thing I've ever seen, period. Are you sure you want to install office, are you sure you want to run defrag, it’s retarded. You disable the damn thing and Windows Security Center complains, I really didn't want to, but I disabled the Security Center service and then Windows whines that Security Center is disabled.

Then since I’m dual booting now I want to edit the boot up screen to read Windows XP Professional and Windows Vista Ultimate as my choices instead of Windows Vista and Legacy Windows. Not as simple as just editing the boot.ini anymore, I had to search online for instructions on how to do this, apparently the only way is with the Command Line, I did it and it worked.

On one hand the OS thinks I’m an idiot on the other it expects to be a genius. Vista Sucks, Office 2007 Sucks, after all years of hype and all the money put in these two products I'm extremely disappointed. But I guess I'll have to get used to them like I said.

My Rankings of what I used over the past 12 years.
Windows 2000 (by far #1
Windows XP
Windows 95
Windows 98
Windows ME
Windows 3.1
OS/2 Warp




Windows Vista

Anyone here running Word 2007 have any idea what's up with spacing and paragraphing. I type up most of my posts in Word and copy and paste them here. When I copy them over, the paragraph breaks don't copy over, I have to hit enter twice in Word to achieve this. And is there a way to disable that ribbon and go back to the menu system that I’ve been using since Word ’95?


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

_Box guy will look at the minimum system, requirements and say oh cool my PC can do that._

In Many cases box guy won't even look at the minimum system but tell a salesman at the store where he will get his best buy that he just bought his e-machine 2 years ago and the salesman will say it should be just fine. Go ahead and buy the upgrade. From there the story gets to be an expensive nightmare. Assuming he comes out of it allright, what has he gained? A different look and feel? Most likely, just a thinner wallet.


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## Kevin Dupuy (Nov 29, 2006)

DonLandis said:


> _Box guy will look at the minimum system, requirements and say oh cool my PC can do that._
> 
> In Many cases box guy won't even look at the minimum system but tell a salesman at the store where he will get his best buy that he just bought his e-machine 2 years ago and the salesman will say it should be just fine. Go ahead and buy the upgrade. From there the story gets to be an expensive nightmare. Assuming he comes out of it allright, what has he gained? A different look and feel? Most likely, just a thinner wallet.


Don't bash eMachines. Mine is about a year old, running openSUSE. Although, yeah, it couldn't run the RC1 of Vista. (It ran the core system slow, and Aero was unusable.)


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Kevin Dupuy said:


> Don't bash eMachines.


Kevin, I don't think anyone would interpret Don's comments as bashing eMachines, per se. 
In my view, he was simply encapsulating a representative scenario to illustrate the inherent
limitations of an entry-level pc. Your own comment, however, seemed somewhat defensive,
implying an acknowledgement and sense of resignation with the limitations of your machine.


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## DonLandis (Dec 17, 2003)

Thanks, NIck, we curmudgeons have to stick together. 

Now bashing the PC Salesman in the "blue shirt"... well you be the judge.


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## Kevin Dupuy (Nov 29, 2006)

Nick said:


> Kevin, I don't think anyone would interpret Don's comments as bashing eMachines, per se.
> In my view, he was simply encapsulating a representative scenario to illustrate the inherent
> limitations of an entry-level pc. Your own comment, however, seemed somewhat defensive,
> implying an acknowledgement and sense of resignation with the limitations of your machine.


Sense of resignation? I said that Vista couldn't run fast, that's not a resignation, that's an acknowledgment that Vista is just plain too bloated. If ANY OS can't run on any recently bought machine, especially when openSUSE Linux w/ the Desktop Effects (equivalent of Aero) runs very fast, there is something wrong.


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