Windows vista will leave too many people behind.

[Jerry McBride]

Yeah - it sucks living in the real world, where things change all around
you.

Remember when a nickel was a lot of money? No?

Well, how about when gasoline was under $1/gallon in the U.S.? No?

Hmmm, well, do you remember when US Postage Stamps cost 20¢? How about
29¢?
34¢? No?

The speed limit on U.S. Interstate highways was 55MPH everywhere? No?

Did you know that Operating Systems could - at one time - fit on a 720K
floppy diskette?
Then they moved to 1.44MB.. And multiple 1.4MB... Suddenly they were on
CDs... Now DVDs...

Wow - well - let me tell you - that all happened, it was all a reality for
someone, someplace, sometime.

Things change.
They just do.
Nothing you can do about the overall picture.
Sure - you can complain.
Sure - you can say that you 'saw no improvement' for a lot of things that
got pushed aside.
(BetaMax/VHS? CDs/DVDs? 400MB/400GB hard disk drives? etc...)

The fact is that if no one wants a product - it will stop being
produced... If someone wants a product and someone else can make money off
it - it will continue being produced.
What you or I may not see as an improvement in the product - others may
see as an unbelievable and fantastic thing.
A lot of it is perception. Some of it is others trying to catch up.

Do you really need a Dual Core 3.6GHz machine with 2+GB memory, dual 320GB
hard disk drives in a RAID, 256MB video card with a DVD+/-RW DL drive and
a 1000watt power supply - connected to your 24" widescreen LCD monitor?

- If you are an accountant for a small 'mom & pop' store?
- If you are a novel writer?
- If you edit family photos (still only) and get your email from AOL?

Probably not - but it's available to you - and that is *not* top-of the
line.
The cost of that would have gotten me an 800MB hard disk drive and
32MB(maybe 64?) of memory in the early 1990's.

So all those minimum spec windows XP compatible computers are now
deprecated, just so we can go and buy into Vista? You gotta be kidding.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Jerry McBride wrote:

So all those minimum spec windows XP compatible computers are now
deprecated, just so we can go and buy into Vista? You gotta be
kidding.

Depending on who you are and what you wanted to do with Windows XP/Windows
Vista...
All those minimum spec Windows (XP or Vista) compatible computers started
out outdated.

"Minimum" System Requirements for Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865/

"Minimum" System Requirements for Windows Vista:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/systemrequirements.mspx


"Realistic" System Requirements for Windows XP (IMHO)...

My suggested hardware requirements for Windows XP are (IMHO):
.. 1-gigahertz (GHz) processor or faster
.. At least 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM (1+GB is recommended)
.. At least 30 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk (40+GB
recommended)
.. 64+MB Video Card
.. Other basic system components as needed/desired by the end-user...


"Realistic" System Requirements for Windows Vista (IMHO)...

My suggested hardware requirements for Windows Vista are:
.. 2.4-gigahertz (GHz) processor or faster
.. At least 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM (1.5+GB is recommended)
.. At least 60 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk (100+GB
recommended)
.. 128+MB Video Card
.. Other basic system components as needed/desired by the end-user...

Why the difference? Experience with the operating systems with all sorts of
users.

Sure - there are many users who could do with MUCH less than what I
suggest - there might even be one or two out there who can deal with the
actual minimums - although, those people are very few and far-between now.
If you want a semi-decent experience with all the bells and whistles
everyone else gets to see though - so that if you grow, your computer
doesn't have to *too much* - I'd go with my suggested requirements instead.

Other opinions *will* differ.

 

[Jerry McBride]

Jerry McBride wrote:


Depending on who you are and what you wanted to do with Windows XP/Windows
Vista...
All those minimum spec Windows (XP or Vista) compatible computers started
out outdated.

"Minimum" System Requirements for Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314865/

"Minimum" System Requirements for Windows Vista:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/systemrequirements.mspx


"Realistic" System Requirements for Windows XP (IMHO)...

My suggested hardware requirements for Windows XP are (IMHO):
. 1-gigahertz (GHz) processor or faster
. At least 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM (1+GB is recommended)
. At least 30 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk (40+GB
recommended)
. 64+MB Video Card
. Other basic system components as needed/desired by the end-user...


"Realistic" System Requirements for Windows Vista (IMHO)...

My suggested hardware requirements for Windows Vista are:
. 2.4-gigahertz (GHz) processor or faster
. At least 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM (1.5+GB is recommended)
. At least 60 gigabytes (GB) of available space on the hard disk (100+GB
recommended)
. 128+MB Video Card
. Other basic system components as needed/desired by the end-user...

Why the difference? Experience with the operating systems with all sorts
of users.

Sure - there are many users who could do with MUCH less than what I
suggest - there might even be one or two out there who can deal with the
actual minimums - although, those people are very few and far-between now.
If you want a semi-decent experience with all the bells and whistles
everyone else gets to see though - so that if you grow, your computer
doesn't have to *too much* - I'd go with my suggested requirements
instead.

Other opinions *will* differ.

Nice Post Shenan. Honest.

Cheers...

 

[fuentez]

Well it is clear you can afford the hardware upgrade, but many can
not are thise people somehow less important than you?
Well I wont judge you to say that you do, but M$ clearly does based on
their actions.
one should not have to search the web for emulaters to run the same
software they have had for years just because their computer died and
they had to get a new one, or an UPGRADE should not make your computer
run slower, but these are the things that happen everytime since
winME.

"that is do to the short sitedness"
And sometimes it is simply progress.
Vista is backwards compatible but not with everything.
The older a program, the more likely there will be issues.
In this respect Vista is no different than any other operating system.
So far, everything I use works on both my Vista computers.

Some people are using the same age games you refer and other programs very
well on Windows XP.

 

[Bob I]

The kleenex box is on the table behind you, put please save some for the
other folks.

Well it is clear you can afford the hardware upgrade, but many can
not are thise people somehow less important than you?
Well I wont judge you to say that you do, but M$ clearly does based on
their actions.
one should not have to search the web for emulaters to run the same
software they have had for years just because their computer died and
they had to get a new one, or an UPGRADE should not make your computer
run slower, but these are the things that happen everytime since
winME.

"that is do to the short sitedness"
And sometimes it is simply progress.
Vista is backwards compatible but not with everything.
The older a program, the more likely there will be issues.
In this respect Vista is no different than any other operating system.
So far, everything I use works on both my Vista computers.

Some people are using the same age games you refer and other programs very
well on Windows XP.

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

yes and that is do to the short sitedness of many software
developers, improvments in software should make the computing
expirience easier, as should hardware upgrades, I remember playing
games that made a point of being backward compatible, when I went from
a 486 clone to a pentium clone all my old games which play just fine
before looked much better, when i increased my graphics card from 2meg
to 8megs the same games that worked fine before blazed in digetal
brilliance, .
having an old computer did not stop me from playing old games but
upgrading made the games like new.
and thats what I mean by upgrades should inhance the computing
expirience not constantly force you to have to go out and get a new
machine.

What's the point of this whole thread?

Someone is always left behind in some way whenever anyone does anything
new.

- There is not *always* backwards compatibility.
- It is up to not only the decision of the maker of said product - but
also
of the products that are no longer supported to stay
unsupported/unusable.
- It is also up to the makers of any product to decide what their product
will/won't do.
- It is up to the makers of any product to decide how long they will
support
anything they make.
- And it is up to the end-consumer to decide what they will buy/utilize
and
what they will not buy/utilize.

You don't want to go to Windows Vista? Don't.

You cannot seriously expect (although it has been stated in this thread)
anyone to support a product made 12+ years ago.
(The example was Windows 95 and its inability to run on a new laptop -
that
isn't even likely purely a Microsoft 'fault', as it was likely driver
issues
and the makers of said hardware just don't make drivers for 12 year old
computer OSes...)

Also - people keep saying that in the examples I gave - the changes were
slow and over time...
Hate to say it - but in many of them - they were the same length of time
that it took to go from Windows 95 to Windows Vista...
Not to mention that things do not exactly move as slowly (yet) in the
computer industry as it does in many other industries.

You make a product and support it until you die - unless you can get your
offspring to support it too...
That'd be your choice... But I'd bet that product is not software for
ANY
operating system or ANY platform. ;-)

No one 'forces' your hand here.
You just cannot have your stale old cake and a little bit of new icing
every
so often for the next 5-17 years...
Seems fair to me.

Don't want a cell phone - don't buy one.
Want a cell phone but don't want one that gets email - don't buy one.
Want a cell phone but don't want one that can surf the Internet - don't
buy
one.
Still have your old bag celluar phone? Does it work? Yay!