OT: Vista feedback?

T

t.cruise

I know that there are Vista beta groups, but there are some people here whose opinions
mean a great deal to me. Have you tried the latest Vista betas, and if so, what do you
think of it?

I have done some web surfing, and see many negative things about Vista, at least for my PC
needs. I get the idea that the OS itself is wastefully graphics intensive, and is
overblown with too many wizards. Desktop piles do not appeal to me, nor does integrating
web, hard drive, email, docs etc..

I am a power user who is not interested in resource wasting eye candy. I disabled the
Windows XP Fisher Price Style Start menu and special menu effects within minutes of
installation. As when Windows XP was released, it would seem that an upgrade to Vista
will probably not be a totally easy task. It seems like existing systems will have to
upgrade memory, probably need a new graphics adapter with more memory onboard. I am also
assuming that many companies will not write new peripheral drivers for Vista, forcing
replacement with new Vista compatible peripherals.

I have learned that newer is not always better. I would think that MS would like Windows
ME to disappear from the face of the earth along with Atari Pacman cartridges.

So, If Windows XP is stable, allows me to do my many power user tasks quickly and easily,
what are the advantages of Vista, aside from more revenues for Microsoft? I do quite a
bit of image editing, DVD editing and burning, web and Usenet surfing, email, web
pages/sites and documents. Third party utilities seem to keep my system free of
viruses/worms/adware/malware/hijacking/unwanted cookie tracking/etc... I do not network.
As a home user, what would I find appealing about Vista?
 
P

Pat Garard

As a home user, what would I find appealing about Vista?
Nothing - Have you tried Linux?
 
A

Alias

t.cruise said:
As a home user, what would I find appealing about Vista?

Who knows? It isn't out yet. Personally, I plan to wait until at least
SP2 before even considering changing from XP to hasta la Vista.

Alias
 
J

Jupiter Jones [MVP]

Many will upgrade simply because Vista is the newest.
That is partially Microsoft marketing but I think it is more the desire to
have the latest and greatest OS.
If you upgrade, you should do so only after determining there is something
in Vista you want or need.

As for existing systems needing new hardware to be compatible, that depends
entirely on your existing system.
Generally a new OS has higher requirements than a previous OS and there will
always be some older computers unable to make the upgrade. This is nothing
new with Vista or even Microsoft.

Some of the complaints can be traced to the fact Vista is Beta.
Vista became feature complete only in the last few weeks.
Generally it is at the time of feature complete that Microsoft works more
intently on performance and stability.
It is difficult to know what information available now will be relevant when
Vista is released.
Just keep an eye on it preferring sites without a bias either way.
The public Vista newsgroups are a good place to start with many links to
other sources regularly appearing there.

Windows XP will most likely be supported for at least a few more years so if
Vista does not have a feature you need, you may be better off to wait until
you need to purchase new hardware or even longer.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org


t.cruise said:
I know that there are Vista beta groups, but there are some people here
whose opinions
mean a great deal to me. Have you tried the latest Vista betas, and if
so, what do you
think of it?

I have done some web surfing, and see many negative things about Vista, at
least for my PC
needs. I get the idea that the OS itself is wastefully graphics
intensive, and is
overblown with too many wizards. Desktop piles do not appeal to me, nor
does integrating
web, hard drive, email, docs etc..

I am a power user who is not interested in resource wasting eye candy. I
disabled the
Windows XP Fisher Price Style Start menu and special menu effects within
minutes of
installation. As when Windows XP was released, it would seem that an
upgrade to Vista
will probably not be a totally easy task. It seems like existing systems
will have to
upgrade memory, probably need a new graphics adapter with more memory
onboard. I am also
assuming that many companies will not write new peripheral drivers for
Vista, forcing
replacement with new Vista compatible peripherals.

I have learned that newer is not always better. I would think that MS
would like Windows
ME to disappear from the face of the earth along with Atari Pacman
cartridges.

So, If Windows XP is stable, allows me to do my many power user tasks
quickly and easily,
what are the advantages of Vista, aside from more revenues for Microsoft?
I do quite a
bit of image editing, DVD editing and burning, web and Usenet surfing,
email, web
pages/sites and documents. Third party utilities seem to keep my system
free of
viruses/worms/adware/malware/hijacking/unwanted cookie tracking/etc... I
do not network.
As a home user, what would I find appealing about Vista?
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply
 
M

Mike Williams

Jupiter said:
Some of the complaints can be traced to the fact Vista is Beta.
Vista became feature complete only in the last few weeks.

I don't think it's even feature-complete yet.
 
T

Talahasee

Nothing - Have you tried Linux?


I dl'd and installed a Vista beta upgrade a year or so ago.

I still have the file, in case my son wants it someday.

Perhaps my 1.8 Ghz AMD Duron and my ASUS A7V8X-X mobo and
my 512 mb ram and my 160 Gb hdd (at the time) and my 128 mb
AGP 8X 3D Fusion nVidia video weren't "big enough" a system
to make it run well.

I was not impressed. HUGE, "noisy" (ugly) interface, LOTS of
desktop space taken up (cluttered)

until they do some MAJOR rework, I will stick with XP Pro.
It isn't perfect by any means, but it's the least
problematic OS I've used since my Linux and PRIME days.


Tallahassee
 
P

Pat Garard

Yeah!
'Course the problem is that eventually support for Xp will be withdrawn.
To be fair, I'll probably go to Vista 'cos there's going to be a new version
of Flight Simulator - and there I am hooked!
 
A

Amnon Feiner

Alias said:
Who knows? It isn't out yet. Personally, I plan to wait until at least
SP2 before even considering changing from XP to hasta la Vista.

Alias
Smart, very smart!
 
A

Amnon Feiner

Pat Garard said:
Nothing - Have you tried Linux?
SuSE 10.0 here, and I actually forgot where is the cold boot button. It's
nice work on a system that actually does everything a it is suppose to do
without crashing.
 
R

Richard Urban

Can it run AutoCad?

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
T

t.cruise

Amnon Feiner said:
Smart, very smart!
--
TIA
Amnon Feiner
http://www.woodcontour.com
Solid Wood and Stone PC Peripherals

The article below from today's USA TODAY, leads me to believe that waiting for Waiting for
Windows Vista SP2 is a good idea. It reads like press release spin for problems with
Windows Vista:

Microsoft realigns 'top talent' in Windows unit

By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY

Microsoft (MSFT) on Thursday announced a sweeping reorganization of its Windows division
just two days after disclosing that the latest upgrade of its flagship computer operating
system - Windows Vista - won't be ready until early next year.
Despite the timing, the realignment probably had little to do with the Vista delay. "These
wheels have been rolling for some time," says Matt Rosoff, analyst at Directions on
Microsoft. The company might have gone public this week to reinforce the notion that
Windows is in good hands, Rosoff says. (Related item: Microsoft delays new Windows)

Michael Gartenberg, analyst at JupiterResearch, concurs. "It's clear they are putting
their top talent into the Windows arena," Gartenberg says. "What we're seeing is further
ripple effects from the announcements made in the fall."

In September, Microsoft named Kevin Johnson co-president of the Windows division,
designating him to serve alongside longtime Windows chief Jim Allchin. Johnson had been
head of worldwide sales, and Allchin said at the time he would retire once Vista was
launched.

On Thursday morning, Johnson sent an e-mail memo to 19,000 Windows division employees
identifying the key managers he will rely on to handle major initiatives including:

.. Windows' future. Steven Sinofsky, a senior executive in the Office division, will take
over development of future versions of Windows. He will also direct nascent initiatives,
such as Windows Live, an effort to consolidate e-mail, instant messaging and other
Web-enabled services.

Sinofsky will lead the charge against efforts by rivals such as Google (GOOG), Yahoo
(YHOO) and Amazon (AMZN) to popularize new Web-enabled services that can run separate from
Windows and Office.

Senior MSN executive Yusuf Mehdi and Linux strategist Martin Taylor will take on new
duties related to online businesses.

.. Vista launch. Windows executive Brian Valentine will concentrate on getting Vista onto
store shelves. Valentine played a similar role pushing Windows 2000 out the door after it,
too, ran into delays, Gartenberg says.

In his e-mail, Johnson noted meeting with more than 2,000 Windows staffers, including more
than 100 one-on-one sessions since fall. He says those employees mostly wanted to know
what the future held for Windows, as well as "how can we be more agile?"

Johnson also rallied the troops by pointing to Vista and other new products and services
as "evidence of a strong wave of innovation and momentum in the market."

"These changes are intended to help us increase our agility ... and position us for an
exciting future together," he says.

Microsoft shares closed Thursday at $26.85, down 30 cents.

Another article in the MONEY section was a bit more forthcoming with this analysis:

"Microsoft could find it harder to sell upgrades because many people find their current
versions of Windows adequate. Vista will feature deeper ties to new digital entertainment
services and Web-based worker collaboration tools. It was originally slated to be ready by
the end of 2004 and to include more breakthrough features. Many of those features have
been scaled back as Microsoft focused instead on security concerns.

Even so, current test versions of Vista "lack finesse, polish and general impressiveness,"
says tech reviewer Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome.com. "Windows Vista should have been a
blockbuster release, but too many insiders and pundits are yawning at what they see,"
Pirillo says. "Setting back the ship date by a couple of months doesn't help."

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply
 
P

Pat Garard

As of this week -
LESS that NOTHING!
--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Melbourne, Australia
_______________________

Pat Garard said:
As a home user, what would I find appealing about Vista?
Nothing - Have you tried Linux?
--
Regards,
Pat Garard
Melbourne, Australia
_______________________

t.cruise said:
I know that there are Vista beta groups, but there are some people here whose
opinions
mean a great deal to me. Have you tried the latest Vista betas, and if so,
what do you
think of it?

I have done some web surfing, and see many negative things about Vista, at
least for my PC
needs. I get the idea that the OS itself is wastefully graphics intensive,
and is
overblown with too many wizards. Desktop piles do not appeal to me, nor does
integrating
web, hard drive, email, docs etc..

I am a power user who is not interested in resource wasting eye candy. I
disabled the
Windows XP Fisher Price Style Start menu and special menu effects within
minutes of
installation. As when Windows XP was released, it would seem that an upgrade
to Vista
will probably not be a totally easy task. It seems like existing systems
will have to
upgrade memory, probably need a new graphics adapter with more memory
onboard. I am also
assuming that many companies will not write new peripheral drivers for Vista,
forcing
replacement with new Vista compatible peripherals.

I have learned that newer is not always better. I would think that MS would
like Windows
ME to disappear from the face of the earth along with Atari Pacman
cartridges.

So, If Windows XP is stable, allows me to do my many power user tasks quickly
and easily,
what are the advantages of Vista, aside from more revenues for Microsoft? I
do quite a
bit of image editing, DVD editing and burning, web and Usenet surfing, email,
web
pages/sites and documents. Third party utilities seem to keep my system free
of
viruses/worms/adware/malware/hijacking/unwanted cookie tracking/etc... I do
not network.
As a home user, what would I find appealing about Vista?
--

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply
 
A

Alias

t.cruise said:
The article below from today's USA TODAY, leads me to believe that waiting for Waiting for
Windows Vista SP2 is a good idea. It reads like press release spin for problems with
Windows Vista:

Microsoft realigns 'top talent' in Windows unit

There's never been a version of Windows that wasn't released before it's
time, in time to make more money.

I like XP. It does what I need now. I am in no hurry to see what pre SP2
Vista is like but I will subscribe to the newsgroup to see what happens
to others ;-)

Alias
 
T

t.cruise

Alias said:
Read the article again, without the speculation part. Oh, that would
leave no article!

Personally, I don't care. I'm happy with XP.

Alias

That is the point. At the moment the consensus of people in the tech industry is that
there does not seem to be any significant reason, based on the current beta to upgrade to
Windows Vista, from Windows XP. Microsoft, rather than adding new features that would
make Vista desirable, chose to heavily accent on security, which most are now, after
lessons learned, are already getting with third party software. Ergo, it is back to the
drawing board, and if the articles are to be believed, scrapping half of the code. PC
owners are more sophisticated now, and would not en masse buy an upgrade of the quality of
let's say Windows ME, just because it is the latest release version. I do not foresee
lines around the corner at midnight as in the past. Like someone else stated, waiting for
SP2 might become the norm, and I believe that Microsoft is NOW aware of that.

T.C.
t__cruise@[NoSpam]hotmail.com
Remove [NoSpam] to reply
 
M

Mark

I sure hope they put a spell checker in it, and get rid of that stupid dog,
and eliminate the need for rebooting 8 quadzillion times, and include
options during setup to leave out garbage I don't want (like MSN), and let
me believe that the copy I buy is mine, not just a lease, and make it easy
to backup email stuff, and give me one-click cleaning of cookies, history,
and temporary internet files, and get rid of delete confirmation when I say
get rid of confirmation, and make it possible to install to a SATA drive
without pounding on the F6 key 37 times, and make it possible to get a CD
with all security updates, and keep the price competitive with Linux. But I
feel confident all of this will be done because Carey Frisch is a beta
tester.
 
G

Guest

Im pretty sure MS said last week that it was sort of. They were happy with
the GUI and decided to keep it. "Feature" is pretty vague, they ARE changing
LIVE! and some other internet features (From Office and some minor VISTA
services) otherwise they 'claimed' to be content with the 'features".
 
A

ANONYMOUS

Mark said:
I sure hope they put a spell checker in it, and get rid of that stupid dog,
and eliminate the need for rebooting 8 quadzillion times, and include
options during setup to leave out garbage I don't want (like MSN), and let
me believe that the copy I buy is mine, not just a lease, and make it easy
to backup email stuff, and give me one-click cleaning of cookies, history,
and temporary internet files, and get rid of delete confirmation when I say
get rid of confirmation, and make it possible to install to a SATA drive
without pounding on the F6 key 37 times, and make it possible to get a CD
with all security updates, and keep the price competitive with Linux. But I
feel confident all of this will be done because Carey Frisch is a beta
tester.

Assuming everything you ask for is implemented, may I take for granted
that you have reserved a personal copy for your next upgrade later this
year or early next?

Best regards,
 

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