I got a little jumpy and forgot to hit preview first.
Posted on 05/18/2006 12:27:12 PM PDT by Mr. Blonde
On Thursday, the company kicked off a campaign aimed at helping customers prepare for the new operating system, which is set for a mainstream launch in January. As expected, Microsoft gave details of two programs. The "Vista-capable" program allows machines that meet a minimum set of requirements to tout themselves as able to run the new Windows. Computer makers who meet higher requirements will be able to tout their machines as "Premium Ready," indicating the PCs are able to take advantage of higher-end features, such as Vista's Aero graphics. "There's really no reason to wait until the launch of Windows Vista to start shopping for a PC that can deliver a great Windows Vista experience or to start thinking about upgrading your current PC to windows Vista," product manager Greg Amrofell said in a telephone interview. Microsoft also launched on Thursday a "Get Ready" Web site, which includes an Upgrade Advisor tool to help people determine just how Vista-ready an existing PC is. The downloadable program is designed to tell people which features and versions of Vista their PC is able to run, thereby abstracting some of the complex requirements of Vista. For example, Aero graphics require a certain amount of memory bandwidth--a measurement of PC performance that few people are likely to know about in their machine. The advisor tool will simply say whether a PC will work out or not, rather than focus on specific requirements. That way, customers "don't have to spend time in the footnotes of complex system requirements," said Mike Burk, the PR Manager, Windows Client. That said, Microsoft did publish official minimum requirements for Vista on Thursday, largely matching the Vista-capable specifications. Systems need an 800 MHz processor, 512MB of memory, a 20GB hard drive with 15GB of free space and a CD-ROM drive. That guarantees access to Vista's core features, but not Aero and other premium features. To be classified as Vista-capable, a computer needs an 800MHz processor, 512MB of memory and a DirectX 9-capable graphics card. Premium Ready machines need a 1GHz processor, 128MB of graphics memory, 1GB of system memory, a 40GB hard drive and an internal or external DVD-ROM drive. While Microsoft has provided some clarity on checking a PC for Vista, it's not a straightforward process, said Michael Cherry, an analyst at market research firm Directions on Microsoft. "I don't understand why it has to be this complex," he said. "Why can't this be written up on a one-page piece of paper in a manner that you don't have to be an electrical engineer to understand?" Most shipping PCs should be Vista-capable, Microsoft said. For example, all systems introduced by Dell this year are Vista-capable. The majority of Dell's Vista-capable machines will support Aero graphics and more than three-fourths of its models can be configured to run the fancier graphics. Dell is also offering 17 custom-configured systems that are designed to support Aero. "Our sense is that the vast majority of PCs do meet the requirements for the Vista-capable logo," Amrofell said. As for Premium Ready, he said that "a good number of PCs do meet the bar, and that's going to grow over the next few months." The marketing programs and upgrade tool are designed to ease some of the uncertainty around Vista well ahead of the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons, the two biggest PC selling times of the year. Vista had long been expected to arrive by the 2006 holidays, but Microsoft said in March that it would not arrive on store shelves until January. Kevin Johnson, head of the business unit that includes Windows, said in an interview with CNET News.com this week that Microsoft is likely to have some kind of discount or upgrade program to help those who buy a PC this holiday season upgrade to Vista. "Yeah, there's likely to be something," Johnson said, without giving specifics.
You can get Quad-sli from falcon-nw :)
I keep forgetting about the Home editions. I wouldn't touch them myself. The large memory space might come in handy with media editing.
I cant go back that far... but I have never gotten one with XP, and what few I did get from 95/98 were caused by me monkeying around with the hardware. I for one am looking forward to Vista.
I have done that too. Trying to get to the point where you have to start stepping up the voltage to the CPU in order to get it to boot.
Did you ever see that website where the guys used Flourinert and Liquiud Nitrogen to supercool the CPU and MB? If I remember correctly they were able to get an 800 mhz CPU up to something like 3.2 GHZ.
If that's you in # 65, you're no longer Mr Blonde, are ya?!
I'm with you. I just thought that some people who haven't come around yet might be interested to know what they will need to run Vista. Of course if you get a Mac there is no need to worry about if your computer can run the software.
I wish that were me. I wish I could be associated with a show like Arrested Development, but sadly no.
Really? WinXP's system requirements are roughly 2X those for Win2K.
Virtual memory paging with Win2K caused so much HD thrashing on my 233-MHz PII laptop maxed-out at 144 MB RAM, that I decided to go back to Win98 SE. (Problem solved.)
I cannot imagine XP could be better. What are your laptop's specs?
I know you build your own from your previous posts. You build bleeding edge. I build what was great two years ago. Just got an Athlon 2500+ processor and an EPOX 8RDA3+ for next to nothing - Gonna have some fun
"I like Linux too the only problem I have is it takes too freaking long to install... :)"
i take it you know your telling a lie by your :) face at the end of that.
I'm just funnin' with ya.
No sweat, I should have hit preview several hundred times more than I have, too.
Some eye candy stuff. I don't use a Mac but I get the impression a lot of it is already available on the Mac platform.
The way drivers run seems to have been improved and should make things more stable as it's my experience that 3rd party drivers are a major cause of problems in XP.
I installed the February beta just for fun and installed a full suite of programs on it. Some had problems, mostly anti-virus stuff which isn't unusual, they're write AV software so you have to stay on the treadmill and feed the upgrade monkey but applications and other non-AV utilities ran fine.
Bottom line is that I'll probably put it on one box just so I can fire it up and test stuff against it. I may eventually change my mind because I did with all the Windows versions but right now my impression is that it's pretty gay but surprisingly robust and perky for a beta version.
What's there to be impressed about? Looks like nothing but "windows-dressing" to me. They managed to repackage XP and use more CPU, memory and disk space. I'll pass. But it might be a good time to sell a few oz of gold and short MSFT.
Linux is the official O/S of the Chicomm government. Gates is just trying to get them to finally respect copyright.
LOL. I think that's an adjective normally used to describe Macs. :-)
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