[Anastasia15]

Hi guys,

I'm curious as to which OS is better in your opinion? Microsoft hasn't released anything for the past five years, so now Vista comes out and people have their hopes up thinking that it's going to be a vast improvement. Now from the articles I've read and the people I spoke with, everyone is having problems with Vista, especially the Home Premium and Basic Edition. Computer running slow! Loading problems! System Crashes! etc.. Do you think it's even worth the upgrade or is it better to stick with XP?? I honestly don't see any improvements outside of a "prettier interface" which will cost you "several hundred dollars"
Bill Gates should be taking us out for dinner but I'll settle for a dozen roses and a OS that won't bring me to tears

[loserOlimbs]

An improvement most definitely, with a few wrinkles.

People generally don't like change, and the UAC for most windows users is a big change.

Worth moving to, yes. At least when your time comes. Going out and upgrading an old system to Vista will be a bad experience. Your next PC if it comes with Vista is definitely worth keeping.

[Bob Cerelli]

"everyone is having problems with Vista"
Same thing happened with XP, same thing happened with Windows2000 etc.

But then of course you don't hear from the people who are using it with no problems that much since they have no need to post on forums.

Basically if XP has what you need then use it. If you know Vista will do all you want with no problems then you can consider switching. Generally I tell my customers that and to wait for a while until you know you want to change to Vista and it will do all you need and decide then. There is no rush to change to Vista if you don't want to.

[jmwills]

I ran Vista for about three months full time and have opted to go back to XP, however I will run Vista in a virtual environment.
Some of my critical apps just aren't Vista ready as of yet.

[Anastasia15]

I couldn't agree more Bob! Why switch unless you HAVE TO. And as far as I'm concerned why would you "have to" switch. It's not like XP is ancient or anything like that. Microsoft overhauled the entire OS so Vista is nothing like the prior OS from MS. Unless your computer comes with it installed, you'll pay $250+ dollars so you can have an "Aero" feature to look at. The interface is nice, some minor security improvements but not until you go top of the line. Meaning you buy the Business or Ultimate edition. MS is doing what they do best, filling Bill's pockets.

[loserOlimbs]

Originally Posted by jmwills

I ran Vista for about three months full time and have opted to go back to XP, however I will run Vista in a virtual environment.
Some of my critical apps just aren't Vista ready as of yet.

Seems like that was against Vista's EULA...

[wish i had a mac]

I believe I've heard a few times Vista supports higher definition than past MS OS's. Is that so? If so, how much higher?

[TRS-80 vet]

If my vista-equipped box had no problems, I'd still opt for XP.

It totally bogs down the cpu, with so many processes running on boot-up, and it is taking down a fully-charged (new laptop) battery in little more than an hour.

If someone knows of a trim-down for operating processes, like Fred Langa's XP trim-down, I'd sure like to know about it. Otherwise, we're gonna' load XP pretty soon, and check battery life therewith...

[JohnWill]

Originally Posted by wish i had a mac

I believe I've heard a few times Vista supports higher definition than past MS OS's. Is that so? If so, how much higher?

The resolution supported is really up to the video board and drivers. I haven't heard anywhere that Vista supports a higher resolution, and I have no reason to believe that's true.

[TechB]

Originally Posted by wish i had a mac

I believe I've heard a few times Vista supports higher definition than past MS OS's. Is that so? If so, how much higher?

Vista had better built in support for high definition video and audio. You will also need a video card and audio card that support this. More importantly you will need special drivers for Vista to take advantage of this. This means most of the current drivers which are ports from XP drivers don't support all the high definition features. In time it will happen but it's not there yet. Right now video and audio are pretty much the same in XP and Vista because of the drivers.

Another feature new to Vista x64 is the ability to play DRM encrypted high definition content. Vista x64 is the only OS (or any software player) to support this at present. This has generated a lot of controversy as many people (myself incuded) don't like DRM. Nevertheless Vista x64 offers the only way to access this content on a computer.

[papahobo]

Right now, XP is your better option. Vista will be more demanding on your computer's resources, and will have a lot of compatibility problems for months to come. Unless you really are just curious and want to try something new, stick to Windows XP for at least another year.

This is an article I wrote regarding Windows Vista. I don't think you'll find too much that you can't live without at this point.

[Ecto]

In my opinion....vista is fine. I built a brand new gaming machine for $1300, with the radeon ATI sapphire X1950XT video card, the E6600 intel dual core processor (2.4GHz), and 2GB RAM. (the rest of the parts aren't 'need to know'). I decided I'd risk it, and I got vista home premium.

It works fantastic. Everything looks cleaner, everything is easy to find and use, the flip feature is great, and the media center is fantastic. Its a step down from a mac...but its much closer in accessibility. I can download stuff, play i-tunes, and play oblivion on ultra high with 0 slow downs.....its amazing.

The only problem thus far with vista is if I go to a odd-ball site, it asks me if I should cancel or allow. It also does that when I'm downloading, or deleting a program ect ect....its a minor inconvenience that I can live with and still enjoy.

I would say vista is great; but NOTE: If you upgrade to vista, there are a lot more problems then if you clean install it on a blank hard drive. My uncles a microsoft employee, so I got vista cheap, but I'm playing games like oblivion without any problems.

If your building a moderate rig, then I would suggest vista. It does seem rather demanding, but I just don't notice because my system is on the high-end of things.

[Anastasia15]

I think vista is more of a headache than it's worth. Outside of the sharp graphics and a few bells and whistles it has nothing that you can't get in XP. Nothing is compatible with Vista, security suites will only work with XP. Unless you use "One Care" which in my opinion is more Microsoft garbage. MAYBE in 2 years I will get Vista, for now XP is fine.

[Bob Cerelli]

"I'm curious as to which OS is better in your opinion? "
"Outside of the sharp graphics and a few bells and whistles it has nothing that you can't get in XP."

Sounds like you already have a strong opinion.

And the great part is if you don't like Vista, don't use it.

[Courtneyc]

Interesting. I have been using Vista since it came out and I have had very few problem (and I use computers to death). The only real problem I have had is that the CD printer for the Epson printer is not compatible with Vista.

Symantec Antivirus 10.2 is compatible with Vista. So are Ad-Aware and SpywareBlaster (and Spybot Search and Destroy).

Oh, and Outlook 2007 isn't compatible with my Timex watch.

Courtney sends....