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Listen to the podcast: Vista, or not?.
Transcript This is Leo Notenboom for askleo.info. A couple of folks have asked me about Vista, and since I've been using it for a while I thought I'd report on where I am and what I'd recommend. Vista has not blown me away. Yes, it's pretty and all that, but by and large in normal use I don't see it as representing that massive a leap from Windows XP. I use both Windows XP and Windows Vista daily. My laptop, which holds my email and acts as my base of operations when I'm not at my desk, came with Vista pre-installed. My desktop runs Windows XP Pro. Vista on the laptop works, and it works well. I've had no real problems, though there have been annoyances. Surprisingly, UAC or User Access Control actually hasn't been one of them - at least not directly. The popup asking for permission happens at what I'd consider to be logical points in time where the security implications of what I'm about to do actually warrant Vista double checking. It's a little more often than the rough equivalent on a Mac or Ubuntu Linux, but not excessively so. The annoyances come from running as an administrator, but not really. Even though my login account has administrative privileges, it's actually running slightly restricted - hence the occasional pop-up. The side effect, though, is that file access permissions are occasionally wrong. By that I mean that I can't access some files. This may because I do a lot in the Windows Command Prompt, because firing up another instance of that with full administrative privileges gets me access to everything - except the network shares that were created in the non-administrative window. As you can see, it's just a little complicated, confusing ... and annoying. I suppose I could turn of UAC, and perhaps someday I will. But that just brings me one step closer to XP. The other very big concern I have about Vista, and in fact the reason that I won't be updating my desktop, is application and hardware compatibility. I know for a fact at least one important application I run will not work in Vista and there are no plans to have it do so. And of course I also keep hearing of various hardware incompatibilities. The bottom line for me is that Vista is simply not a compelling upgrade. If it comes pre-installed on a machine, and the applications you run will work on it, then it's a fine operating system. But right now the risks of upgrading simply outweigh whatever potential benefits there might be. I'd love to hear what you think. Visit askleo.info and enter 11679 in the go to article number box to access the show notes, the transcript and to leave me a comment. While you're there, browse over 1,200 technical questions and answers on the site. Till next time, I'm Leo Notenboom, for askleo.info. Article 11679 | Posted July 21, 2007 |
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I have not entertained the Vista farce that Microsoft is trying to force on users. Microsoft has gone as far as it can. I refused to have Vista on the new computer. I loaded and registered my existing copy of XP. Microsoft messaged me and said I cannot do this. I took the machine to a licensed technician and told him what happened. He kept the machine for one day and returned it with XP on board fully registered and validated. Microsoft is becoming angry and desperate because they have invested all the money on this apology for a new system which is incompatible with most existing hardware and software.
Posted by: Daniel Allen at January 11, 2008 07:51 PMI use Sound Recorder a lot. The XP version allows me lots of control over formats, and I can open and manipulate files. The Vista version allows neither of these options. Grrrrrrr. Could anyone tell me how to split a long recording into several smaller files. Microsoft's (non)-Help system obviously thinks that that is a stupid question!
Posted by: Natalie Kehr at January 11, 2008 10:31 PMwell, as everyone is saying, there are alot of programs, applications, softwares etc. that is still not suported by vista. it seems that they launched the product pre maturely! but even with all the "downs" i will still use vista because i love all the "ups"!
Posted by: stephen velasco at January 12, 2008 12:10 AMHad Vista for 6 months. Fought with it for control every time I used my computer. Hated it, loathed it, despised it. Had enough. Formatted the HD and re-installed XP Pro. Leo is absolutely correct when he says it just isn't compelling. All the hoopla is for translucent window borders basically. Pretty, but not usefull. The charm wears off the instant you try to use the machine. UAC went off the second day. It just kept annoying me, instead of adding real security. It just kept telling me everything I was doing was evil. If there was actually a valid security concern I would have just dismissed it along with the dozens of others I was getting. Good thing I'm a big boy and can think for myself.
Posted by: Derrin at February 2, 2008 10:16 AMI can not use my drawing program need for work and allso can not play my mmorpg game. I can not work with it i can not enjoy with it. So why did i buy this new laptop! This Vista is a big looser and the worst part is i can not get rid of it. (I think this is the only part that Vista can do)
Posted by: Cagrialp Kaplan at February 6, 2008 10:23 AMI've used Windows Vista since April 2007 and I've had zero reason to go back to XP even though my current computer has a partition with XP Pro installed. My first vista was Home Premium OEM where I did a clean install. My second vista was Ultimate 64bit, where I again did a clean install and then made a dual boot option for Windows XP Pro in case I ran into issues. Thus far I haven't, and I haven't even bothering updating the XP partition for SP3
People blame Vista for alot of things that are outside Microsoft's control. 3. party applications, driver issues etc. Microsoft does what it can to improve Windows continually, but IMHO they do far far too much! I'd rather have a full 64bit system that *forced* 3. party developers to do full support on their new products in 64bit only.
Why you ask? Because we're ever so slowly but surely reaching the memory limit a 32bit OS can handle. A 64bit OS would not have this limitation and our computers in general would be faster if everything running on it was written with 64bit in mind since a modern CPU can run at 64bit. If you're wondering about the 32bit memory ceiling I'm sure Leo has written an answer for it already :)
Sadly that is not how it is today, and that is not how it will be in Windows 7 also since they will still be holding on to the 32bit mainstream.
Ah well, maybe in Windows 10 :)
Posted by: Kasper at June 25, 2008 07:50 AMI hate Vista. I bought a new laptop and was forced into vista (the laptop came with it), since i bought it i regret it. Most of the softwares i used to use with XP are not compatible with Vista. I am having a website and used to use Netobjects Fusion 8 to build and edit it, but now it is NOT possible, because of Vista. I have to choices to buy NOF 11 (for $200 - no way) or to get a new laptop with XP. I think that buying a new laptop with XP will be the end of my nightmares. HATE vista and all people I know hate it too.
Posted by: petya at July 16, 2008 02:19 AMSorry Microsoft.............
I've spent 6 months using Vista. Hate it, Hate it, Hate it. I want to go back to XP. But have had no help from Microsoft or ACER in doing it, in fact ACER said if I put XP on the computer (it came with VISTA pre-loaded) it would void my warranty, You can't win for loosing.
Posted by: Beverly at July 28, 2008 06:16 PMJust like many others here, my high-end 2GB ram DELL laptop came with Vista Home Premium pre-installed.
Posted by: Alex at July 30, 2008 01:15 AMIt was always VERY slow to react to ANY sort of command.
Startup is sickening, opening Control Panel is sickening, opening any document is sickening.
Being rather familiar with the "ins and outs" of Windows XP, I did whatever was possible to lighten the already minimal load on Vista.
I knocked off all the unnecessary programs from the laptop especially the ones at Startup.
I switched off all the frills that Vista comes with, including Areo. I very regularly clean & defrag the hard disk and registry. I am well serviced with anti virus/spyware/adaware etc
AND YET .. . VISTA is still a pain to work with !To make matters worse, Vista isn't even capable of installing its own SP1. About a HALF HOUR after the start of the installation (of this much awaited SP1), Vista finally gives up and stalls. How pathetic !
Windows XP pro was and still is the better of the two. It is more stable and can run most of the software available on the planet.
I'm sorry but we cannot say the same for Vista !!
For any other service or product us customers have the right to get refunded for a product that is not up to standard ! Vista is advertised as one of the Seven Wonders of the PC World. It certainly hasn't lived up to anywhere near that claim. So can any of us mortals claim a refund?
Thanks Leo for your valuable time and precious advice,
Take care
Alex
I bought a new Toshiba laptop with the obligatory Vista OS. Now my Sony video camera won't work with it (and Sony tells me a Vista driver will never be written for that camera), and several key programs that I depend on for my living don't work either. My laptop is now nothing more than an expensive e-mail checker and video game, and that's not why I bought it. I agree with Alex that a refund should be forthcoming from Microsoft for a product that has proven to be ineffective, and actually constitutes a step BACKWARD in computer usefulness. I'm going back to XP Pro, which actually worked!!
Posted by: Bill at September 1, 2008 11:56 AM