Posted on 03/02/2007 8:38:09 PM PST by Swordmaker
Daily Techno-Babble offers a breathless "three reasons why Windows Vista is sinking like a rock," and while the story has a point, I don't really think that "limits on how Vista can be used under virtualization" is really the thing about Vista that is scaring away that many would-be users, nor are Microsoft's DRM provisions on high-definition video much of a big deal yet, as few users care about high-def on their PC right now. Don't get me wrong: I think all of these are factors that make Vista a poor OS, but they aren't the primary reason that it's "sinking like a rock."
Given that Vista sales seem lackluster at best, what's the hang-up? I think it's something far more simple than the reasons that DTB offers up.
So what's turning people off of Vista? Here's my take, in order of importance:
1) Price. There's no way around this one. Upgrading to Vista doesn't just mean spending up to $400 on software, but also cash on RAM and video card upgrades, or buying a new PC altogether. If Vista was a $100 upgrade that anyone could use, it'd be a top seller, I'm sure.
2) Nothing new to see here. Love the visual style, but does photo tagging and 3-D window flipping really merit an upgrade?
3) It's annoying. I don't know any Vista user who hasn't turned off User Account Control, which nags you with an "Are you sure????" prompt every time you try to do anything beyond run the calculator. Yet UAC is the linchpin of Vista's vaunted new security system. Without it, it's really no different than XP.
4) Tons of stuff is incompatible with Vista. An acquaintance of mine got a new PC with Vista preinstalled. Neither her scanner nor her printer had Vista drivers ready. Both peripherals cost several hundred bucks, and now they're essentially paperweights (though the printer, at some unforseeable time in the future, may work again). Lots of software won't run on Vista, either, but it's the hardware incompatibilities that are daunting. (Update: Looks like the scanner driver's finally ready.)
5) It's confusing. Everything that XP could do, Vista can do... only it's buried under a different menu and it has a new name. While average users probably never use many of these settings, power users have found themselves starting from scratch to relearn Windows.
6) It's busted. Try connecting to a printer on your network that's hooked up to an XP machine. Or try downloading a file with a third-party application and then accessing it via another PC on the network. I won't go into a list of the endless bugs and flaws with the design of Vista, because I don't really have to: Vista needs a Service Pack already.
That's my take, but I'd love to hear your reasons for being hesitant: Why aren't you jumping whole hog into the Vistaverse?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
---I took a look at Vista, and am switching to linux.---
I am leaning that way. But it may be two or three years before I need to upgrade anyway, so I am hoping all the bugs will be debugged first.
Because Win XP is just fine for internet surfing and research which is most of what I do. I downloaded (bitorrent) and tried Vista but it bogs down my computers so what's the point?
I like XP because it deploys MS cleartype for sharper text on LCD monitors. I used DVD shrink last week to copy a DVD. My 2.8ghz/1gb ram computer with Windows XP does this intensive operation just fine. That's as demanding as I get.. I don't need a stronger computer that comes with a bloated Vista OS to slow it down. If I put together a really fast dual core processor computer w/2gb ram I would run XP on it. Why bog it down?
My experience:
2.8ghz w/1gb ram. Took a spare hard drive and loaded Vista on it. I could not play a DVD on this computer. Vista was hogging too much resources. Eye candy was turned off.
Slapped Vista onto another computer (2.5ghz/1gb ram) and it crashed with rebooting 5 times in 4 hours. Same computer works fine with XP
I use "classic look" with XP. My GUI looks like Windows98. I also used it with Vista when I tried it out on my computers. I also always optimize performance (under computer properties in XP) instead of visuals
I don't understand Mac users. I just mention one thing about Apple and you come back with a essay about how much better the Mac license is than Windows. Geez...
Then thats pretty abnormal, actually very abnormal. I have a friend who is running it on a athlon xp 1800+ with only 512 mb of ram w/o a hiccup and the Vista at most is only taking up %40 of system resources, when he plays a game those resources are released to the game. ANother guy got it to work decently on a 1 ghz computer with 384 megs of ram.
Because there is no need to....my machine runs fine and I don't feel like spending money on upgrades to run an OS I don't need at this time.
Wow are you going to spew lies or what?
For 400 dollars you can get 4 full versons of windows Vista, because you see Vista Basic is only $97 OEM. If I were to buy the upgrade version its only $2 more, but also you can do a clean install of it. For $309 I can get a family pack of Ultimate, along with 2 Premiums.Which both of those have more to offer than OSX, so you cant compare.
ALso every upgrade disc you get is actually a full version of the OS and you dont need to have an OS installed, there is a simple work around that is well known now.
ANd lets not talk about the OSX EULA, there are quite a bit of rules for that OSX has too, so dont come around assuming that MS is the only one that has a big bad EULA. All OS and software in General is not yours, ever, you are only being allowed a license to use it for as long as that company sees fit. For example OSX runs perfectly fine on any PC that has the required hardware, it is however against the EULA of OSX to install it on that machine, yep some freedom there.
Sorry. I interpreted it as a question, not a rhetorical comment.
Considering that you can only run OSX on Mac computers, Apple can have a lenient license policy. There’s no garage workshops turning out generic Mac’s with off the shelf parts and making pirated copies of OSX to sell with them. That would change if Apple decides to sell OSX as a stand alone OS that can be installed onto any PC. Of course that would open Apple to all the crap that Microsoft and Windows has to put up with.
I like windows and PC’s because I can tinker and tweak the system, I just installed a Lightscribe DVD burner in my system, I don’t think you can change the Superdrive in the iMac, or go to New Egg and get the latest video card.
I’m not an Apple or Mac hater. I have an iPod Nano and use ITunes nearly everyday and I have recommend to my father that his next computer be a Mac, especially considering Windows software can run inside OSX. I would buy a Mac desktop if their machines suited my purpose and were easier to upgrade. I am considering a Mac laptop in the future, but my good old Compaq is working just fine for me now.
The tweakability of the system is something that I've found is very important to Windows and Linux guys, much more so than everyday users and Mac people. I'm in the category of viewing it like working on a car. Some people enjoy it, I do it when I have to.
You're correct about the iMac line. They're almost like a laptop, as far as trying to replace components. OTOH, I've got a firewire external hard drive and a firewire DVD burner hooked up. On the newer versions you can go USB 2.0, but mine goes back to the days before USB 2.0 existed, and just has USB 1.0. I had a Lightscribe drive, but wasn't that nuts about it. If I burn CDs or DVDs that need a custom front, I'm usually burning a bunch of them for an event photographic shoot, and the Lightscribe drive I had took about 30 minutes to do one. I also think using the Lightscribe feature a lot shortened the life span of the drive, as I burn a lot of CDs and DVDs, and using Lightscribe put the same amount of wear on the unit as burning each CD or DVD twice.
Both computers got a Vista experience rating of 1. Neither would play a DVD decently. Vista is due for lots of updates and service packs. That will bog it down even more --->>
2.5ghz-1024mb-64mb video card
2.8ghz-1024mb-256mb video card
looks like your 2.5 ghz pc doesnt have a directx 9 card, if you dont have one of them you will have troubles.
Service Packs and updates dont necessarily bog down a PC, with the superfetch Vista enables a more dynamic page file system that, unlike XP, deals more efficiently with files.
I need to find you this article I read earlier today. The author reviewed Vista on several different machines, from a 5 year old p3 upto a modern core duo. The most money he had to spend was 50 dollars to replace an old video card to get Vista to run properly.
One other question, what gave you a rating of 1?
Thanks in advance if you can find that article. I think even my 256mb agp card is lacking. It's a Radeon 9250 - ATI. DirectX 9 lacking on it
Definitely lots of laptops and base level computers are being sold that have only 512mb ram. Any computer with 512mb comes with Vista Home Basic. Computers with 1024mb come with Home Premium.
I observed this in today's Sunday advertisements
Windows System Assessment Tool ---->>>
http://www.answers.com/topic/windows-system-assessment-tool
I forget when you see this. But I guess it's not too hard to find out how to run this Vista tool/
You get a number from 1-5. I is miserable. No Aeroglass. 5 is all bells and whistles. Dual core processors will get you there if you have the graphics capability
I am surprised, the 9250 should be decent, heck my integrated 6150 nVidia worked Aero like a champ, did give me a rating of 2.3 though.
Upon further Google it seems ATI left your card out of the packaged driver set, does yours report as having no memory for your card? I would try the latest drivers on that card because technically it should do just as well, if not better, than my integrated graphics.
I too, love the classic look. It's what I learned on a decade ago.
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