Windows Vista Discussion Thread

[binz]

Originally Posted by merve_extreme

why,what happened?
i have lan between Vista and Xp machine.u have to download one patch for Xp machines for proper networking,but without it also it must work.

I have faced problems in ICS,some how vista blocks the DNS requests by the Xp machines,so even if the internet connection is visible on Xp i cant browse anything from it but i can ping any IP,i havent found a solution yet.

Ok the thing about Vista is,..its too damn futuristic.3 Laptops running XP were connected and running in no time;i think some 10 minutes.And vista!1 and a half hours!.First you hve to figure out how to configure the damn thing.Then configuring it is completely different from XP.

Its a great product,..no doubt.But the indian market isn't ready for it.

[spadival]

I wasnt sure about the availablity of device drivers for my Sony Vaio VGN-S56GP laptop. Otherwise, I would have paid money and upgraded by now

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

I read somewhere that Microsoft has sold 40 million copies of Vista already.

That is true I suppose. They have OEM agreement with every PC/Notebook seller to put Vista on it. If 40 million PCs gets sold, so does Vista. However, the real question is how many of them kept Vista after receiving the machine. I am ready to rip it out even before ordering it. I ordered it with Vista only because XP Pro option was more expensive.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That is true I suppose. They have OEM agreement with every PC/Notebook seller to put Vista on it. If 40 million PCs gets sold, so does Vista. However, the real question is how many of them kept Vista after receiving the machine. I am ready to rip it out even before ordering it. I ordered it with Vista only because XP Pro option was more expensive.

So you are paying for the Vista. Wasn't there a option to get one without the O.S ?

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by Samurai

That is true I suppose. They have OEM agreement with every PC/Notebook seller to put Vista on it. If 40 million PCs gets sold, so does Vista. However, the real question is how many of them kept Vista after receiving the machine. I am ready to rip it out even before ordering it. I ordered it with Vista only because XP Pro option was more expensive.

OEMs (like dell, hp etc)from jan 31 2008 will stop selling xp but you will be able to buy retail xp cds.

at work we have Vista on Dell Optiplex 745 with 1GB Ram and 160GB HDD and 256MB X1300Pro. We dont have nay problem/performace issue.

[tsk1979]

I think there is a DOS/Linux option will dell desktops, but not sure about laptops. They are cheaper than the ones with XP.

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I think there is a DOS/Linux option will dell desktops, but not sure about laptops. They are cheaper than the ones with XP.

yes Dell with Ubuntu

[ntomer]

Hey, how many of you guys who are bashing Vista have actually used it?

I too bought a HP DV6226TX laptop reently, which came with Vista Home Premium pre-installed. It has T6200 (1.6 GHz) Core 2 Du0 processor, 1 GB DDR2 RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 7400 GPU.

Sure Vista takes time to boot up (about 1.5 minutes) but after that there is no difference between it's and XP's performance.

Most of my softwares which used to work on XP works on it too - Photoshop CS2, MS-Office 2007, Picasa, Acrobat Reader 8.0, NetBeans 5.5, Sun Studio Creator, VLC Media Player, PowerDVD, WebSphere application server etc. The only software which could not be installed was ACDSee Pro. During installation I got a message that this version of ACDSee Pro has known compatibility issues with Windows Vista and isn't recommended; so I aborted the installation.

All my USB drives which used to work on XP work on Vista too; the only problem I had is with DV port. Laptop isn't recognizing my handycam when I connected it with Firewire cable. I bought the cable from Nehru Place (75 bucks, it costs 1500 at Sony World), so I don't know whether cable is faulty or the laptop. My desktop which is running XP Pro, recognizes the handycam, but it uses a different DV cable.

My desktop runs XP Pro and Ununtu and I have been able to configure networking of Vista with both.

Vista might have a few shortcomings, which I am sure M$ will iron out in future SPs. But it's a big and refreshing change from drab-looking UIs of XP/2003 and I like it.

Cheers

Nitin

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by srishiva

So you are paying for the Vista. Wasn't there a option to get one without the O.S ?

Originally Posted by jkdas

OEMs (like dell, hp etc)from jan 31 2008 will stop selling xp but you will be able to buy retail xp cds.

Actually I don't need preloaded OS. Since I am a MSDN Premium subscriber, I have one of every Microsoft OS license.

[jkdas]

and if your lap comes preloded with Vista and then you install XP ...forget warranty and help from teh lap manufacturers

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by jkdas

and if your lap comes preloded with Vista and then you install XP ...forget warranty and help from teh lap manufacturers

I have always done that, never got into any warrany issues. The fact I don't call support for any software issues. If there is a hardware issue, I make it clear to them that it isn't related to OS, before they can make an issue of it. In fact, until my last notebook, I used to run server software (NT4/Win2000) on notebook. Only in the last notebook I kept XP because of driver issues.

Did you guys know Win95 cold boots fully in 12 seconds, that too on a 166MHz Thinkpad we bought in 1999? It came with Win98, but in 2001 I put Win95 on it for some reason. It was blazing fast. I tried that later on a recent notebook, didn't work. Couldn't install it at all.

[GTO]

Sure Vista takes time to boot up (about 1.5 minutes) but after that there is no difference between it's and XP's performance.

Is that a good thing? Given the same amount of RAM XP will be faster on any machine.

But it's a big and refreshing change from drab-looking UIs of XP/2003 and I like it.

I dont really care about UI as I do about daily performance. My brother recently got a laptop with Vista...its cool and all of that. But for functionality, I'd rather stick to my XP right now.

[Xsailor]

Originally Posted by GTO

I dont really care about UI as I do about daily performance.

Ditto that.
TCO is also an important point to consider. I use a 3D design software called Solidworks (Ver 2004) which I had bought for USD 7000. Only the SW2007 is Vista compatible and the upgrade cost from 2004 to 2007 is USD5000.
Recently, I wanted to get a new machine @ work for myself. Since new HP/Dell machines come with Vista only, I am considering buying the Optiplex range from Dell (a bit of an overkill for my use) as they have an option to preload WinXPP on it.

I dread at the thought of having to shell out an extra USD5000 just to be able to upgrade to Vista since I hear that MS will withdraw support for WinXP by 2009 .

Cheers

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by GTO

Is that a good thing? Given the same amount of RAM XP will be faster on any machine.

It certainly isn't. What I meant to say that it takes more time in booting, but after that it works as well as XP.

Originally Posted by GTO

I dont really care about UI as I do about daily performance. My brother recently got a laptop with Vista...its cool and all of that. But for functionality, I'd rather stick to my XP right now.

I use my laptop only for mailing, viewing/editing documents, photo viewing (no processing; I do that on my desktop). For all these requirements, Vista works better than XP.

There are many things where Vista scores over XP. I will try to list a few here -

1. Bundled DVD writer software. The one which comes with XP is useless, I always had to use Nero on XP.

2. Media Player can play pretty much every type of video without installing any Codecs. In XP I had to download so many codecs to make avi, mp4 etc. run.

3. A small feature but pretty useful - when you take the mouse cursor to task-bar on a program it shows that program's pre-view. Very useful when working on many instances of same program.

N_C faced some issue in synchronizing his mobile; I daily synchronize my E61 with Outlook, never faced any problems.

Cheers

Nitin

[DCEite]

Vista is like Indica V1.
An egg that hatched prematurely, and needs to be put into ICU. (credits to spadevil)