It was so hated and despised that new computers came with the option of 4.01 or 3.31 until DOS 5.0 came out.
You can also run Windows/Linux etc. off of the Mac (Intel Chip) in "Boot Camp" but that means rebooting to run either OS whereas Parallels (and VM Ware - don't own but have heard is good) let you run 'seamlessly' without reboot.
Note to the wise, if following this route, get maximum memory - Virtual Machines NEED IT!
This is so silly. I’ve got three Vista machines; two Dells and one Toshiba laptop all with Vista Home Premium and they work just fine. And just for kicks I downloaded Open Office and it works fine with Vista.
I guess I must have “magic” machines and everyone else must have gotten the rejects with all of these alleged problems. What a bunch of crybabies. This sounds like a group of libs complaining about the state of the world. Next thing we’ll hear that it’s Bush’s fault.
My oldest system is a P4 H/T at 3.4 Ghz w/2Gig of RAM(maxed), and it runs Vista with no issues. I started with clean installs, instead of 'upgrading' the OS. I've been working with MS since DOS days, and the 'upgrade' packages always have something incompatible with whatever current OS I have loaded at the time.
As each new OS is introduced, it is probably a good idea to look at more memory, or a new configuration in equipment. My P4 is at it's limit and I will need to upgrade equipment soon, but as a test bed, it is not working any harder with Vista than it did with XP, and in some cases, it is a lot more efficient.
I will never buy Vista or vote for John McCain of those two things I am sure. McCain is the Vista of the computer owlrd, clunky, forgetfull, angry and poorly thought out.
Purchased a computer a few weeks ago with Vista installed. It’s an HP. with c. 750GB hard drive. So far it’s been running fine. At the same time, one can tell it’s loaded with bloat. So many programs running when idle.
I’m told the biggest issue with Vista is oversensitivity to DRM to the extent it will not run programs with drivers not compatible with DRM. This has not been an issue for me, but it may cause problems where companies network on a large scale. I just have a small home network with a couple computers on board - the other one having XP.
PC World slammed it in this or last months edition. Ran some tests showing how XP is superior.
So glad I have been a late adopter on this one, but then I have always been that way on OS software.
XP FOR ME
I’ve already commented on the hyped non problem of Vista but I would also suggest something that is free, free, free and works well with Vista. Instead of upgrading to Office 2007 which I did, merely download Open Office. It will read Word and Excel and is surprisingly easy to use. Frankly I should have saved my money, although Office 2007, Home and student edition allows up to installation on three computers. I found it to be encumbered with a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles. Open Office seemed to be much more intuitive.
Google also offers its own spreadsheet software free that can read Excel files. I prefer Open Office myself.
But to restate what I said about Vista, it is just fine. A computer that is properly equipped will run it with no problems. I have not had a single lock-up in six months with any of my three computers. I used to have to shell out of XP many, many times. No so with Vista.
I visited the computer store to check out Vista’s performance, using the Windows Task Manager to monitor resources as I opened Office, played video, etc. Even a dual core pentium would occasionally max out at 100% CPU time. The only computer that ran everything snappy with power to spare was a quad core. Now, imagine running XP on that same quad!
A few months ago I bought a new laptop with Vista on it. With the hardware it had, it should have been reasonably peppy (with XP at least). It was a pig, a hog, and took forever to boot up, to shut down, to do anything. I sold it quick.
Since we have been using XP for 6 years without any problems, in the last two months we have bought three new XP machines from Dell Outlet at significant discounts, two desktops and one laptop. We are good to go through at least 2014. And when computer replacement time comes up again, if M-soft’s latest is another piece of crap, then we are finished with Gates and company. At that time, we would move to Mac, or Linux, or?
But we figured the wise thing now, since XP does everything we need it to do, was to hardware-up for some years to come, which we have done.
Will Windows 7 be more like this:
or this:
Why do I suspect the later.
Billie G. laid the foundation for this when he limited the number of installs you could do from one XP disc.
Now, after June, I bet you won’t even get tech support to authorize a re-install for you!
Necessary policy, supporting software is expensive. Do you think MS should be supporting DOS 3.1? Everything needs to get end of lifed eventually, appliances use years, cars use years or miles, software uses replacement versions.
People seem to think the Windows XP will become instantly obsolete and unusable on 6/30/2008. That’s assertion is disingenuous, I know people who are still running Windows 98 and 2000. I WILL NOT buy Vista. When XP becomes unworkable, which will take a good while, I’ll look at other options such as Linux.
If Microsoft in any way kills XP without producing an OS worth a grain of salt, I’ll be a Mac guy. I can easily do my work on a mac.
It's my all time favorite operating system!