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Vista

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coldplugs

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Spent half of Saturday and half of today converting an XP system to Vista Business. It took a few hours to update non-MS software to versions that work with Vista – for example I use (Symantic) Ghost for backups and that had to be replaced by "Save Restore" from the same outfit. There were 4 or 5 others. Most of the time was spend downloading.

The install went ok – another couple of hours – and the system seems to run ok for the most part although it seems somewhat slower than with XP (2 gig memory, dual core, etc so it should be fast enough). My most critical apps don't function so I have more work to do. The networking stayed intact, which surprised me.

So far the only apparent differences are cosmetic – they use transparent windows here and there which take getting used to and the colors are, um, odd to my eyes. I don't like the larger icons and hope there's a way to make them smaller. Security will be better, I suppose. I hope there's some benefit to all this.

I did the change for business reasons, otherwise I'd have stayed with XP.

I think we waste a lot of time in the name of productivity these days....
 
The one thing it does do well is network. After all, it's gotta 'phone home' to report in every few minutes. Redmond needs to know your license is legit and all the apps are paid for. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
Understand the entire USAF is going to Vista this summer.
 
We've played with it at the district a bit, no plans to migrate yet. We'll get it with new machines, but so far all we've seen is that it's a pretty front end with the same real functionality as XP.

I'm on a Mac, so it doesn't effect me yet. Mac dual boots into XP as well for a few specific apps, but those aren't Vista friendly yet.
 
My new laptop came with Vista. I was apprehensive at first, but it's proven itself to be fairly intuitive.
 
been tinkering with it since Oct 2006 at the office, and installed it on a home PC in Jan 2007. It's ... OK ... the default configuration doesn't make for a very productive environment. All that waiting for animations and stuff gets annoying when you're trying to get stuff done quickly. I've since reconfigured the default UI to give me the pretty windows without the slow animations.

The only thing I WISH I could change is the Start Menu. I really don't like the default configuration of opening the "All Programs" menu into that tiny panel. And I don't like their alternative of going to the "Classic Start Menu". If I could have the WinXP Start Menu with the Vista pretties I'd be happy, but I haven't seen anything in the configuration settings that'll let me do something like that.

Other that those things, I've found Vista Ultimate 64 to be reliable and I've been able to find all the drivers for all my hardware for Vista 64 from the original hardware manufacturers. I can't stand the drivers that ship with any version of Windows, because they are always lacking in performance optimizations for the sake of getting a stable driver to MS before the OS ships.
 
Nunyas said:
... the default configuration doesn't make for a very productive environment. All that waiting for animations and stuff gets annoying when you're trying to get stuff done quickly. I've since reconfigured the default UI to give me the pretty windows without the slow animations....
Click to expand...

I had the same reaction and am gradually getting rid of the animations etc. I still haven't figured out how to make the desktop icons smaller - they seem to have grown from XP size.
 
What infuriates me everytime they change the OS is that it takes me 5 or 6 years before I can get all the computers at our school updated. Our district will do a "refresh" every three years, so every computer we buy from this point on will ahve VISTA but I will still have computers in 5 years with XP. (I just removed the last four or five 98 machines! This school year) AAAARGH! At least VIsta isn't that big of a change from what i understand.
 
Can you still buy a high end machine with XP in it, or do you have to go Vista? I want a new fast machine but don't want Vista! I'm leery of an Op system that is not proven yet. You know, bugs, bugs, bugs! PJ
 
I can still get machines with XP Pro as a pre-load. I've had problems finding prebuilts with NO O/S on 'em... with the attendant "Microsoft Tax".

I'll want to see "SP2" before considering Vista for clients. Already have it running on a few, but not on MY suggestion. It can be made "less helpful" but it's still a resource hog IMO.
 
Doc, Anyone, I don't know if I'm phrasing this correctly, but I've heard that MS has shoved so much stuff in Vista that the program actually runs slower than XP on the same machine. Yet some say you can disable some of the features that helps control this slow down. Any clues on this? The reason I'm concerned is, wanting a new lap top and with lap tops having a short battery usage period, will Vista cause a faster battery drain? PJ
 
Doubt it'll drain the battery any faster, but with all the opening and closing of the various security balloons and "helpful" nonsense at first (until you configure/disable), you'll get a lot less accomplished in the way of "work".
 
I just tried to buy a Dell laptop for my daughter, who's headed off to college. Had a very long and frustrating discussion with CS at Dell, they will not sell the laptop with XP, period!

Resolved right then and there to buy her a Mac, however, she uses a specialized program that makes a better Windows version than Apple, so I'm back in the same boat.

The main sticking point for me is the physical space and the RAM that Vista takes to run well. The thing is just a big cumbersome monkey as far as I'm concerned.

I don't think it will be too long before we'll be able to do basic MSOffice stuff on websites, like Google and we "could" all go to more basic, and in my opinion, much better OS's like Linux and grab applications on-line, eliminating the need for these big, stupid, money grabbing, Windows upgrades! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/pukeface.gif Can you imagine, demanding 1GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM, for virtually the same stuff XP can give you? Really, if you think about it, you could tweak the security of XP and can you imagine how fast it would run with 2GB RAM? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/computer.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
I bought a new system over the weekend - came with Vista. So far I haven't been hugely impressed. A little sluggish considering the spec of the machine, lots of programs are now incompatible and annoyingly like a Mac a lot of the details are hidden.
 
Dave -- I know it's probably not very helpful, but I'm running XP on my Mac (Macbook, dual core 2ghz, 100gig HD, 2gig ram) right at this very moment. It's set up for dual booting as I work mainly in OS X, but need XP for some specific reporting tools I use.

I'm a big OS X fan, gives me the unix stuff I need when I need it, but otherwise I don't have to bother with driver issues and the like. The ability to dual boot into XP as needed makes it perfect for my work environment. I gave up a very nice Dell laptop so I wouldn't have to lug around 2 machines. Besides, the Mac is a lot smaller and lighter.
 
dar100 said:
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/pukeface.gif Can you imagine, demanding 1GB of storage and 2 GB of RAM, for virtually the same stuff XP can give you? Really, if you think about it, you could tweak the security of XP and can you imagine how fast it would run with 2GB RAM? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/computer.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Click to expand...

uhm... multiply that "storage" figure by about 10 and you'll be a lot more accurate. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif Windows XP Pro uses 1.2GB of hard drive storage space in its default configuration. Windows Vista uses >10GB of hard drive storage in its default configuration.

Here's some other little interesting articles of information. Windows XP hardware requirements were 233MHz CPU and 32MB of RAM. Ever try to use Windows XP on a system that had less than 256MB of RAM? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/pukeface.gif Heck, I hate messing with XP systems with less than 512MB of RAM. Vista's RAM requirement is 512MB of RAM. I can't imagine being productive on Vista with anything less than 1GB.

Net result: Yes, Vista will run slower on a given system compared to Windows XP, IF the hardware specs on that system are low enough. However, if the hardware specs are high enough you can obtain equal system performance, but you'll have to do some tweaking to achieve the same feel for speed. All the animations in Vista will have you feeling slow compared to XP on the same computer. Once you kill the fluff, you can be running at the same speed, but only if your hardware can cope. The biggest factor being the amount of RAM you have.
 
Nunyas said:
...if the hardware specs are high enough you can obtain equal system performance, but you'll have to do some tweaking to achieve the same feel for speed...
Click to expand...

My experience so far is exactly this. Once I turned off most of the special effects and a few other frills the machine seems to run as fast as with XP. (It has a "Windows Experience Index" of 4.2 which is moderately fast)

I still have a critical compatibility issue with a compiler that I hope the vendor will help solve (it's a registration problem) but most things seem to work ok. I have no sound for some reason and occasional "freezes" where nothing moves for about 10 seconds. It's probably indexing something for my "convenience". If we can't fix the compiler problem then I'll have to clean the system off and reinstall XP, I guess.
 
Bought a new notebook. came with vista, WAS NOT impressed! Bells and whistles I don`t need or use, driver compatibility issues {I realise that sooner or later this will be worked out} Wondering just HOW many security patches will we have to D/l for this beast! {yet to be seen} I`m hanging with XP on my desktops! I guess I will until it goes obsolete like 98 SE did. {I still have one machine with 98SE on it {Boy refuses to give it up} /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif
 
2 ways to adjust icon size
1. hold down ctrl and use mouse wheel while cursor is on desktop
2. Right click a empty place on desktop, select view, click classic icons
 
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