Is it Worth It?

[greatman05]

Hey, guys. Here is my opinion on Windows Vista: VISTA SUCKS! This is just a ploy to make people buy newer, problematic software. Not only that, BUT IS DOESN'T SUPPORT 16BIT INSTALLERS! This is definetly a problem for me, because I use a lot of older apps (The Sims, Red Alert 2, etc.) and I think that these apps will be incompatible with the new OS. I have a question: In the future, when they have Vista laptops rolling out, do you think it will still be possible to load a copy of good ol' Windows XP on those systems? I have already decided that I will NEVER use Vista. PLEASE POST YOUR OPINIONS OF VISTA!!!

 

[smore9648]

Welcome to the world of 32/64 applications.

Vista might not fit your needs but it might work for others. Just because you can't play your games on it doesn't mean its a crappy OS. Everyhthing is buggy when it first comes out and everthing is not always compatible,immediately, thats why you wait for big glitches to be fixed before buying the OS.

XP Pro is wonderful to me and I have no issues with it but I will be getting a hold of VISTA when it comes out.
I like to keep up with the new stuff and be proficient at them.


I have had the majority of MS OSs 95,98,98se,me,xp home and xp pro. So you know I will be getting VISTA. But I also use Linux as well

 

[halo71]

well I stuck with 98se for years on a few of my older machines. Just broke down and put XP Pro on a Win2000 laptop. I plan to stick with XP for a while. MS just keeps spitting out software when they havent fixed bugs in older versions. And plus for what I do, XP has and will serve me well for a few more years to come! Heck I liked 2000, BUT I had to update to Xp because my Zune is not compatible with nothing but XP! Its not even compatiable with Vista! Well so far anyways.... And MS makes the Zune!

But then again to say Vista sucks is not fair either. For what you need, it doesnt fit you. Same way it doesnt fit me at the moment. Thats kinda like me saying a Ferrari F50 sucks just because I cant afford to drive one everyday.....or ever...

 

[tpfagan]

I've just recently started playing with Vista and so far, I'm happy with it. I understand the knee jerk reaction people have when they look at Vista for the first time - It's polarizing - people love it or hate it.

The reality is that hardware is way ahead of software. We have dual core processers and in the not-to-far future quad core processors. While Vista doesn't completely close that gap, it brings us closer...

I have a lot of users that use legacy development applications and, well, just plain old applications that were introduced in Windows 95. I've given up the why question and resorted to using virtualization. Either running a virtual machine within a machine or using a product like Altiris Software Virtualization (free by the way) which isolates an application from other applications and to an extent the OS. All of which work very nicely within Vista from my inital testing.

Vista will be a good thing. It make take a while for people to adjust or come to that realization - but thats ok. Change is slow and Change is hard.

 

[greatman05]

But another question: When they roll out with Windows Vista laptops, will it be possible to just load a copy of WinXP SP2 on them? Also, to me, virtual machines are too much to mess with and overpriced. They also run slower, which makes life harder. Hell, I used to play a lot of DOS games until I got to a point where the hardware was incompatible with DOS (Soundblaster Sound Emulation, for example)... I used to have another P166mHZ /w a 1MB PCI Video card and a SB16... till I overclocked it and burnt the motherboard...

 

[tpfagan]

To the best of my knowledge, you will be able to put XP pro sp2 on a new laptop. Overtime, as new hardware is released it may become difficult to load XP pro and find all of the drivers, but we are far from that point.

I understand completly what you say about Virtual machines. While the cost isn't so much a factor (free from Microsoft), you take a performance hit while it's running and setting up sound and network can be "troublesome" at times.

 

[smore9648]

Why would you buy a Vista loaded laptop just to install XP again.
That kind of defeats the purpose.

As mention before, you do not need to worry about hardware and driver issues for your situation, XP is going to be around longer then you think.

W2K is still around is not obsolete, at this point

 

[greatman05]

Smore, If you read the posts that I made, I am talking about laptops with Vista preloaded IN THE FUTURE (2010 and above). I want to use XP SP2 because Vista doesn't support my old apps, and I feel that using a virtual machine is a waste of time when you can just use the older OS. Smore, are you the type of person to upgrade your computer as soon as a new part or OS comes out?

 

[mailpup]

You could consider partitioning the hard drive and installing both OS on the same machine. Dual booting will allow you to use the same machine for both operating systems with their own applications in each partition.

 

[N3051M]

Smore, If you read the posts that I made, I am talking about laptops with Vista preloaded IN THE FUTURE (2010 and above). I want to use XP SP2 because Vista doesn't support my old apps, and I feel that using a virtual machine is a waste of time when you can just use the older OS. Smore, are you the type of person to upgrade your computer as soon as a new part or OS comes out?

I don't see why not. A HDD is a HDD (with the possibility we'll be using flashHDD in the future or something weird) and stores info. WinXP installs to a HDD so you just wipe the existing Vista install with it, as per normal format>install procedure. Don't think MS/OEM builders is going to put a lock on the HDD from the OS getting deleted (no surprise if they do tho..), since some problems needs to rewrite the OS on the HDD..

The only problem i would consider (as tpfagan mentions) is if drivers are available for the hardware in 2010 for the WinXP platform, for example, i tried to load windows 98 on this rig before and it doesn't like my old motherboard (gigabyte) and neither my new one, even on generic drivers.

I'm guessing you're trying the vista RC from the net right? one with bugs still on it? i'm personally gonna wait till SP1 comes out (when they work out another 30%*-or-so of the bugs out), depending on my situation. What i think about it? It looks promising. Finally MS has woken up from their security daydream and put something that will possibly prevent upto about 50%* of nasties that gets "accidentally" installed, among other things of core stability etc.. although a bit late to the game.
(*theoretical/exaggerated numbers here)

I have already decided that I will NEVER use Vista

Thats what i said when winXP was around.. loved the 98/ME platform to bits until it became plain cumbersome and inconvenient..

 

[Samstoned]

XP runs fine here
if it ain't broke ,you know what
just finished removing the last of W2K on remote station
MMM wonder how W3k server runs
now what to do with all these disc's
tried the buggy version of vista looked like a linux box
seemed to slow the machine up a lot ,poof gone, back to XP