Is it time to make the change to Vista?
polycounter lvl 17
I've heard from quite a few people that they enjoy it. But I figured you guys could lend some helpful advice. I am getting a new computer soon hopefully, I can either stick with my windows XP, or put down $75 for windows vista and enjoy the extra DirectX 10 goodness (although I heard theres a patch that lets DX10 work in XP?) Is it buggy still? Are compatibility issues nearly gone? Would you recommend it over keeping with Vista at this point in time? etc etc, lend me your opinions please!
Replies
However if you are easily annoyed by folders with fancy icons and don't like unnecessary visual clutter you are up for some big time frustration. The new explorer windows are just full of annoying junk, plus the new highlight system makes you wonder which file will be deleted aso. I had to install an alternative file explorer, wich is giving me great satisfaction and gain of speed. I ended up putting it on my XP machine aswell.
http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm
Once you remove the unnecessary toolbars and such (something you cannot do easily in Vista!) you end up with a very simple dualview you might end up loving. Anyways it's just a suggestion.
Also regardig VIsta performance I cannot really tell in details but for photoshop you will *have* to have aero turned on, otherwise the 3D acceleration will not happen and photoshop will be sluggish for some reason. Also you will have to make sure you don't have a network printer setup as a default printer. If so, even the smallest 1pix picture will take an average 10 seconds to open.
Good luck!
there are times i hate this stupid os.
The thing about these replacements is that you can't integrate them with file-dialogs, and making it the default explorer can be troublesome (not always the case). It's one of the things I really like about Linux, actually, the way you can configure your explorer (essential to a good workflow!) to your likings without having to jump through hoops. Sort of ironic, given how Linux still has a long way to go before it can be called 'user-friendly' for your average user.
As for Directx10, Most every game that uses it has been hacked by the community at this point to run the features under XP.
happy with it now though, been really stable .
My friend has it on his computer, and it crashes every damn time I try to run a game, and refuses to let me replace DX10 with a more stable version.
Then again, that might just be his computer, but i'm not exactly sure. I just don't think it's very fun to have your computer do a physical memory dump halfway through a 100 frag match in UT3
Less performance and shitty DRM for more money? No thanks.
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That's a horrible misconception by arrogant people who have never used the OS. I have not run into a single DRM "issue" with Vista. Ever. Everything I can do in XP I can do in Vista without a problem. I can backup a CD, DVD - doesn't matter. The whole DRM, "big brother is watching you" fear is complete crap.
As for performance, I'd say that's on a per PC basis. If you have 1GB of ram on a 1.6ghz PC, running Vista with Aero on is going to be like walking in sand. A proper PC makes Vista fly though. My PC is relatively modest these days, and it chews Vista Ultimate64 to shreds.
Something's wrong if you need to upgrade your PC just to run the Operating System properly.
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No, not really. Considering how old XP is, why would you think that a brand new OS would require anything different? You can't install OSX on a 5+yr old mac and expect it to run well. Why should Windows be any different?
You can't install OSX on a 5+yr old mac and expect it to run well. Why should Windows be any different?
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yes, yes you can install OSX on a 5+yr old mac..
in fact it comes on 5+yr old macs
OSX came out in 2001
it just took windows 7 years to copy it.
i don't mind vista, its just a copy of OSX, which i also never minded. i don't love vista, but its not bad, i aint gonna hate.Just took awhile to get the driver and app support. I would save your money if your thinking of upgrading.. vista is getting the "windows me" treatment and being swept under the rug, a new microsoft os is scheduled to come out in less than a year.
yes, yes you can install OSX on a 5+yr old mac..
in fact it comes on 5+yr old macs
OSX came out in 2001
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I meant Leopard, damnit
Then there were the drivers issues. For my laptop, there still lacked any true driver support after a year. There were drivers that 'worked' but not optimally. ATI told me to go to the manufacturer, HP told me to go to ATI. The drivers for my printer existed, but only supported printing, no support for cleaning the heads or giving me ink levels. Like XP, I expected drivers to be sparse at first, but damn, a year later, you'd expect things to start to appear.
Basically, what I advise people, is if your computer COMES with it, then use it, but if not, don't bother for now.
Personally, I finally made the switch to Ubuntu. I figured that if I was going to deal with a lack of hardware support from manufacturers, I'd do it with a OS that allowed for more functionality.
Right now my only out-standing issue is that Explorer likes to crash thanks to some XP-specific shell modifications I like to run. Even then, Explorer doesn't take down your entire system anymore so it's like a 10 second annoyance once every few days.
So I like it. Worth $400? No. But I needed a new Windows license anyways so it made sense to spend a little extra for a full copy I can actually transfer around. Decent investment for the 10 years I'll probably spend using it.
For $45, it's worth it. For $400, hell even the $200 for the lower versions, no, it's not worth it.
That's a horrible misconception by arrogant people who have never used the OS.
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Actually I have used Vista. And it is not a misconception that it does run slower than XP on my machine. I don't see where that makes me arrogant.
For the DRM stuff - if you haven't run into any problems with it so far - good for you. However that doesn't mean that you'll never stumble over it or that anyone else is fine with what Vista can do.
I'd rather just wait till it's all working the way it should. It looks pretty and everything, and I really like being able to see the window I'm switching to, but I also would like things to run sooner rather than later :P I'm sure newer stuff is more optimized for it, but most of the things I was running didn't do very well.
Here are my pc specs:
Intel Core2duo E6550 @ 2.33ghz
2gb ram
Nvidia 8800gt 512mb
With vista it's important to have a fairly good machine. I have a laptop with similar specs as above only it's running on a go6150 graphic card and vista doesn't run that well on it (with aero turned on)
And, running aero kills 3ds max for me. It whites out viewports and I need to run vista in classic mode (no big deal but it sort of negates buying vista)
Oh and one last thing, the bloody thing throws so many questions at you. DID YOU DO THIS? DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS? SURE? HI, IM A WINDOW!
Bastard. I normally know how to turn all that off, but its persistent...
Oh but a plus is that ctrl+alt+del is far more stable this time.
Oh and one last thing, the bloody thing throws so many questions at you. DID YOU DO THIS? DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS? SURE? HI, IM A WINDOW!
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Disable UAC(User Access Control) in your user settings.
oh i disable it in the option, but, everytime i press shift a few time in ps, what do i get, DO YOUU WANT TO UUSE STICKY KEYS, FUCK ME FUCKTARD I SAID NO NO NONONONONONO
at the end of the day, since that fcking dialog box pop up on my the other screen, not my cintiq, i have over 500 dialogog box of STICKY KEYS YES? open
I HATE U vista.
Although maya's on Linux natively, ofcourse.
what makes me so happy about vista is the godamn fucking stickykey shit when im in ps.
oh i disable it in the option, but, everytime i press shift a few time in ps, what do i get, DO YOUU WANT TO UUSE STICKY KEYS, FUCK ME FUCKTARD I SAID NO NO NONONONONONO
at the end of the day, since that fcking dialog box pop up on my the other screen, not my cintiq, i have over 500 dialogog box of STICKY KEYS YES? open
I HATE U vista.
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I get the same issue with XP, just to be fair :P I get that damn sticky key when I'm trying to play Tribes 2 and I hold a key too long, which kicks me out of the game and creates all sorts of issues. I can't tell you how many times I've told it to stop doing that.
Notman: do you just run everything through Wine, or what?
Although maya's on Linux natively, ofcourse.
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I run a few things through Wine or Crossover Office. I haven't touched 3ds Max since I installed Linux though, I just haven't had time to mess with modelling for a few months now
I'm trying to get use to Gimp instead of Photoshop also, which isn't working too well, but I guess there is talk of making a version appear almost identical to Photoshop.
Other than that, everything else I want, already exists in Linux. I only play one PC game, and that's Tribes 2, which has a Linux port. I also have the UT200? Linux port, which I haven't played in a long time, thus the reason I can't remember the version.
I still run XP on my desktop at home also, which is where I'll probably dedicate my 3D work later on.
anyone getting problems with PS CS3 on vista? I get severe lag when I'm drawing, no matter what res.
And, running aero kills 3ds max for me. It whites out viewports and I need to run vista in classic mode (no big deal but it sort of negates buying vista)
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Are you running Aero with CS3? The first thing a few of us at work did when we got our Vista systems was turn all that fancy stuff off, but we weren't able to paint without that brush lag. It took us a long time to figure out that we had to have Aero ON to get rid of the brush lag in PS. Hope that works for you!
In all, I can count the times software has crashed on one hand over those two years. Maybe you can guess why I left windows behind some time ago.
my operating system crashed for the first time in 2 years a few days ago, and I'm a heavy duty user of 3 computers all running the same OS.
In all, I can count the times software has crashed on one hand over those two years. Maybe you can guess why I left windows behind some time ago.
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Cute.
Alex
These are the exact same arguements I saw going around when Windows XP was replacing Windows 98/2000. No one speaks of Windows Millennium Edition because 90% of retards believed just because it supported Windows 9x drivers that ment it supported them perfectly then would bitch about crashes.
Something I never really experienced as I often used either ME specific or WDM drivers intended for Windows 2000.
As far as I'm conserned (and Microsoft too given the 360 still uses this as it's base) Windows 2000 is by far the most stable and best supported OS on the market.
However in a straight up, which is better Windows Vista or XP? Quite frankly there is no competition in my mind.
Vista, by a mile.
Yes, much has changed and the drivers are still not there yet; with hardware requirements quite high. That said remember when XP hit the market? It crashed constantly (especially the Home Edition), slowed down to a crawl after more than a few weeks of useage, and had sod all driver support.
What has changed a few years on? Well let's see.
It still slows down with only a few months useage (or weeks if you're a heavy user) forcing constant tune-ups... Vista actually gets faster the more you use it.
You can still often see BSOD on Windows XP, particularly when installing new drivers. In 12 months of useage Vista has crashed/hung on me once... ONCE. That was last week when my mate was playing Gears of War (Windows). No idea why, but that said he is a computer jinx.
Windows XP still requires some anti-virus system that takes up half of your system resources crippling performance just to make sure you don't get a virus stray on the internet.
Vista, the worst that can happen without protection is that some non-essential files corrupt. Certainly non of the OS files. The only way such things can infect further is if you actually give them permission to yourself, or are a dumbass and turn off User Account Control. Then I say you deserve everything you get.
The only bads point I do have to say about Vista is game performance is still lagging behind XP, that's not to say it's particularly as poor as it used to be... I recall a Microsoft rep saying it is now about equal to the same game programmed in C++ and C#. Like 10% performance, but on games like Crysis that could be a deal-breaker.
It certainly is getting closer each driver release now though.. not enough to really say "Oh Vista can't run game".
Something I do like is Vista is actually more capable of running far more older Windows 9x and Windows 16bit and DOS games.
There is one true show-stopping issue for me though. Hard Disk Performance. I'm still not quite sure why, but any time the hard disk is really accessing some intensively everything else suffers performance wise. It used to be if you were installing something you couldn't do anything else until it finished but that has been since fixed a little bit, still in games (like Gears of War that load on the fly) you can experience some major lag.
That is the one and only real issue I want Microsoft to damn well sort out. Although I'm expanding my ram to 2GB next week, I think really shouldn't need to if their IO Locking was doing a better job expecially with Multi-Core systems.
Everything else I really can't fault it, quite frankly is awesome. Those who still feel XP is the best choice are likely to be the same people who believed that Windows 98 was good enough and Windows XP would never catch on.
Honestly don't get Vista just for DirectX10 support, get it because it frankly is basically what XP should've been.
What has changed a few years on? Well let's see.
It still slows down with only a few months useage (or weeks if you're a heavy user) forcing constant tune-ups... Vista actually gets faster the more you use it.
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WHAT?!?!!? That's exactly the opposite of my experience. It damn near crawled to a stop with time. It has also been cofirmed by MS that they have memory leaks, which are suppose to be addressed in the upcoming SP1.
I bought XP the first day it came out (home edition) and it never crashed on me as you described. Does XP crash? Sure, but it never crashed on me as often as you suggest. The only issue when XP came out was the driver support (for me). It's been over a year and Vista still has shit driver support. Even XP had most drivers available by now.
Don't get me wrong, Vista has plenty of potential, but it's no where near as nice as you describe. Just because you appear to be having a good experience doesn't mean the rest of the world is... and you should bash them for not sharing the same experience.
now i'm sure there's an option somewhere (anyone?) to switch an update warning and restart request on ... you'd think ... but i dont know what insane fucked up world this is where this isn't on by FUCKING DFAULT
(thank god for firefox though, with it's session restore, or otherwise i'd be *dribblingly angry rather than just put out)
tinman > when you hook up a tablet, Vista thinks your computer is a Tablet PC, here's how to fix it:
go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools and double click on the shortcut to Services
In the services window look for "Tablet PC Input Service", double click on it and where it says startup type select disabled.