Is Windows vista a load of crap?
 

Hi, due to my stupidity in breaking my laptop I need to get a new one. Problem is that they all come with windows vista, I have heard that it is rubbish and that a lot of applications dont work with it.

I have a lot of music software, cubase, etc which I got a few years ago, which I will want to use on the laptop. If it wont worlk with vista then maybe I should get a 2nd hand windows xp laptop.

Any thoughts?

You can still buy new notebooks with XP Pro from Dabs.com

Not only applications - hardware incompatibility can be an issue too.

Do all you can to stick with XP.

There are companies still selling OEM copies of XP home. Google: Power Computing & Snut UK.

software refunds
 

You are entitled to a refund for the OS if you are not using it. Be warned though- it takes ages to get your money back. When I switched over to linux a few years ago I had to wait over six months to get a refund for XP that came pre-installed. You should first go to the retailer and then if that fails contact Microsoft. There is addition information here (applying to North America- couldn't find the European version):

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/prod...nd/refund.mspx


LG

If you know little about PCs Vista is good .
Some apps dont work BUT they can be sorted . lots of forums/info on the Internet .
Some aspects of H/W support are good .
If you get it stick with it you should get to like it

In the USA, the Small Business part of D**L offers a choice of XP Pro or Vista on about seven laptop models and a similar number of desktops. Linux is offered on some of the desktops.

PC/Laptop with XP pre-installed
 

PCs with XP are still available in the UK - on the suggestion of a friend I purchased a desktop from UK based e-buyer.com (http://www.ebuyer.com/) last week.
There are (as I recall) around 50 desktops with XP available, and I imagine a worthwhile selection of Laptops. (search the "Business PCs" section)
My PC arrived on the date promised at a very competitive price... and with very little third party software (crapware!) on the machine... and very easy to get started as well.
I am vey pleased with the purchase, worth a look in my opinion.
Martin

Vista is POS.

I am getting a Mac.

Vista is no worse than XP. Still crashes as much...

Vista crash more than xp for me. Blue screen, black screen, red screen, you ever see red screen on xp?

Enough.. :ugh: time I get a Mac.

Everybody I have spoken to who has got Vista finds that something, sometimes something important, doesn't work under it.

And - don't forget - a PC is no more than a machine for running applications, if you can't run the application(s) then why have it?

I would stick with XP.

At work, I stick with win2000 because everything I have works fine under it and a lot of software is no longer supported. And we run some mission-critical PCs under NT4. Some test gear, believe it or now, runs under win3.1...

A friend of mine turned a perfectly good computer into a slug. Installed Vista. I warned him....

It is worth enjoying the video at http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=300287

Several friends of mine have bought new machines with Vista. The computer-savvy ones comments range between "just as good as XP, but different and with some clever bits" to "nightmare - I removed it."

On a brand new machine with no "legacy" peripherals (anything more than 6 months or so old) Vista is probably not going to be a problem.

The more tricky one is Office 2007. That has got so much added feature (read: bloatware) that it's a serious learning curve to find the features you want. Some aspects of Office 2003 have disappeared - I had to remove Office 2007 from a friend's PC and install Office 2003 so that she could use the auto-text stuff she'd spent years developing for her business.

If I were buying a new PC, I'd go for Windows XP Pro and Office 2003.

I'd like a Mac as a toy, but when I finally abandon Microsoft, it'll be to go to Linux.

Got a new Asus notebook here in Taiwan back in July just after they started offering XP as an option. Previously it had been Vista or nowt, but they seemed to have heard the complaints.

Couldn't face the prospect of software incompatibility, printers etc when the rest of the company are still trundling on with win 2k.

So removed Vista business and installed xp from the recovery cd supplied by Asus for less than 15 quid.

Painless

Stick to XP Service Pack 2 as long as you can. Wait till hardware vendors have fixed their problems with Vista, and MS itself has dealt with the bugs in Vista SP1. Also, XP with 1 GB RAM runs very well, Vista will hog it. You'll have to turn off the special effects then.

At least until SP3!

SP3 for Windows XP Professional is currently planned for 1H CY2008. This date is preliminary.

SD

- any chance of that in English?:)

1st Half Calendar Year 2008.

.......thanks - I would NEVER have worked that out! Kind of like 'early next year' I guess:p. Surely there's a TLA for it? 'ENY'?

The actual date for "1H CY 2008" is 30th June 2008 - still 1H ! Not that I'm cynical, working in the software industry myself :)

Well I just got my laptop from Dell, and after fixing all the major problems with it that Dell forgot to do (install drivers, update windows). And then installed all my software and removed some of the startup programs it seems okay. I'd prefer XP ofcourse, but I don't hate Vista too much.

First half of calendar year 2008 I guessed correctly. :8

But surely 'Calendar Year' is the standard? FY2007/8 seems reasonable but CY2008 is 2008, end of story...:hmm:

I am the volunteer computer mechanic for a non-profit organization. I maintain and enhance both the hardware and software. All of the membership and donation databases are kept in DOS-based software. It is solid, reliable and has worked with OpSys from MSDOS through XP.

I hear that DOS-based programs will not work with Vista. Is that true?

seacue

Yes and no - it may be possible for some to run in windows in Vista, but you can't get full-screen.

You may find that some DOS programs will run in an emulator such as DOSBOX or similar.

Perhaps the best approach is to test each application, although there doesn't seem to be a free evaluation download of Vista to test with.

SD

Thumbs up for Vista from me. Had no issues whatsoever. It's a dream to work with once you disable UAC, had no crashes or errors in the last 4 months since I installed it.

OK - Go on then - "UAC" ? ? ? :confused:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../Coconutty.jpg

User Account Control.........with it turned on, Vista will ask 'are you sure you want to do this?' a lot.

Thanks Gonzo,

I think I'm sure I wouldn't want to do it a lot, but maybe occasionally :ok:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1.../Coconutty.jpg

Good grief!

A nanny computer as well as a nanny State.

Well, yes - the idea is to seek confirmation, from the user, before doing anything potentially damaging.

If you agree to it, or turn UAC off, you brought it on yourself, whatever it was. It's the operating system equivalent of "caution: may contain nuts" on half the items on the shelves in Tesco: easy for them to do, as a get-out in case anyone complains or threatens legal action.

Of course, you may ask why a user needs do anything potentially damaging in the first place, and that brings up the old conflict between "being secure" and "getting things done". :rolleyes:

Windows Vista?
 

I have a Samsung Q35 laptop/notebook with Vista and as yet I have had no serious problems - The only one was with Jeppview which I had to go into as an administrator to get the online updates working properly - otherwise I am very happy with it. I must say that I do not do music so cannot vouch for Vista in this area although it has music on it and it works fine! Good luck

I (MCT, CNI, CCIE, RHCA you get the picture), sat down this evening with my MacBook Pro. I decided to boot up my clean, updated, install of Vista with Office 2007 and proceed to work on and amend a word doc someone had sent me.

Word crashed every time I opened it, then proceeded to plaster "Windows is searching for a solution to the problem", and "Word is crashing repeatedly" messages all over the screen. After 2 reboots it opened cleanly, then imploded 10 minutes down the line. Despite it assuring me it was autosaving, nothing in the temp directories. Fucкing garbage.

I rebooted to OSX, opened a terminal window and typed sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda3 then worked with no further disturbance on said document using the free (and excellent) NeoOffice whilst the infinitely superior Unix operating system quietly obliterated the bug-riddled, hack-job pile of Micro$oft wank that the unenlightened would describe as an operating system.

I'm ashamed to be an MCSA, MCSA, MCT etc etc... Vista is a sack of ****.

I'm sure we all applaud your ability to express yourself in an adult way.:D

UAC is an ache, but click click it's gone. Vista for me has been nothing but a pleasure.

For 64 bit machines, you cannot run DOS programs. They removed the Win16 and DOS box completely as there's no way to make real mode programs run under x64 mode. Win64 has a residual 16 bit stub for installers as some old CDs use a 16-bit Win3.x setup bootstrapper. Windows knows what those few programs look like and what it is trying to achieve and will then fire up the real Win32 version of the installer. That's the total extent of the 16 bit compatibility mode left in Vista. Windows 2008 Server does not have even that.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282423

For 32 bit machines, Vista's 16 bit mode and DOS box is still there, but ... for how long? Few customers would be using it, and I doubt the next post-Vista consumer Windows will have any 16 bit support.

It's really time to move with the times. All processors sold by Intel and AMD are now 64 bit capable. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 will be the last 32 bit version of Windows Server, and then it'll be 64 bit only.

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/wi...ws-client.aspx

There may be one more consumer version of Windows 32 (currently called Windows 7), but if there's the same sort of delay between XP and Vista, that is by no means certain as in seven years, there will be nothing but 64 bit computers left.

For more info about the x64 transition:

http://www.microsoft.com/servers/64bit/overview.mspx

If you're still using DOS boxes, I suggest using Citrix on top of 32 bit Win2k3 R2, and then letting the clients choose any old platform, including Mac or Linux or the hardened little Wyse wireless terminals. That works real well - my local hospital uses this and it seems to work just fine for them.

Andrew
(who is typing from a Mac, and loving it).

Thank you Vanderaj.

seacue

As mentioned above, the open source DOS emulator DOSBox is available, and there is a Vista compatible version.