Software Windows Vista Home Premium with SP1
Rating:  -
When Vista first came out, I heard nothing but complaints about how much didn't work with it. So, I decided to wait.
Recently, I purchased Vista Home Premium for my PC (Intel dual core E2600 chip, 2 GB RAM, 500 GB SATA HD, nVidia graphics card with 512 MB onboard video memory) to run alongside my XP Service Pack 3 installation.
When I installed Vista, it didn't have built-in drivers for my video card (instead, it ran in a SVGA-only mode) or sound card (Creative Labs XFi). It automatically found my network card.
However, its built-in troubleshooter provided helpful links to the vendor's support websites for the sound and video card, so I could get the drivers.
Although Vista automatically downloaded and installed drivers for my USB Canon printer when I turned it on, it couldn't find drivers for my USB scanner (it is 4 years old) and said the device wasn't supported by the manufacturer.
I've installed Office 2003 Professional, Spore, Flight Simulator X, Nero Burning ROM 8.0, the TomTom software, Java 1.6 and haven't had any problems running any of these.
So far, the only glitches I've seen are:
When I burned a music CD from Media Player---once, the Player created a coaster. When I reburned the same songs to a new CD-R, it worked fine, so it might have been the CD-R.
Once, the mouse seemed to go away. However, I saw this in XP Pro as well, so it might have been the batteries going low in my cordless USB mouse.
The biggest change from XP is the slick new user interface, and that Vista takes 500 MB more of RAM to run (the Sidebar takes 100 MB by itself). Vista Home Premium also includes Media Center which lets you browse music and video and show it on your TV. You can also use Media Center to create a DVR by purchasing a video capture board.
The biggest question is this: Where is Vista good and not?
Vista is a good OS if you have pretty new, stable hardware, and all of your peripherals (USB scanners, printers, modems) are reasonably new.
If you have peripherals or hardware more than 2 years old, or less than 2 GB of RAM (you can purchase 4 GB of Corsair RAM for $[...] from [...]---RAM is cheap), Vista won't meet your needs.
Is Vista a good OS? Yes. Is it a nice upgrade? Yes. Does it have any "must have" features? No.
Rating:  -
I've been refomatting and installing OS for over 26 years and this is by far the worst, messed up version I've ever worked with. For example, CHDSK (Check disk) told me that there isn't enough disk space to rewrite a file when I have over 200g of free space. I have been working on this for over 30 hours and have had to reboot and/or reformat and resintall over a dozen times and I'm still sitting here waiting, and have been waiting for over three hours, and it still hasn't shown me the "choose a language" screen.
As far as Media Center, which didn't work the first time it was intalled and I never could get it to work right, it's OK. I just haven't seen anything worth dealing with the instability of this.
Next time I buy a computer I will either go with an Apple or try to get one with XP.
Now I'm going to go investigate using Linux.
Rating:  -
Microsoft continues to shield attacks about Vista, though many are based on heresay and preconceived notions of the MSFT culture. If you sit down and give Vista a try, and if you get a new PC anywhere anymore you probably don't have a choice, you might not have any complaints.
First of all, a lot of the early reports of bugs in the program have been addressed and fixed in SP1, so users should not rely on what their friends have told them about Vista...as the ONLY source of information.
Secondly, my thoughts are based on my experience in Windows. I will admit that I am an avid PC user and tend to be a little more friendly to MSFT than some other people because I am very comfortable in the Windows environment. But with that said, Vista showcases Microsoft's worst innovative technique. With each release of Windows or Office, Microsoft has been trying to make the user experience easier. They say, "We know what you are doing so we will go ahead and do it for you." And often times they are wrong. They are taking some of the organization away and making things hard to find and displaying what some algorithm assumes you were looking for. And I wish Microsoft would stop doing this.
I prefer Windows to MacOS. I like that things follow a simple organizational pattern and everything can be neatly put away in Windows. But don't worry, it's still there, you just have to wade through some new Vista flare to get there.
And that is my biggest gripe with Vista. Rather than keeping the ease of use that Windows XP has and just beefing up other areas, the company seems to have opted instead for making Vista a mutated product. I wish they would eliminate some of the confusion and just call it Microsoft Vista and remove Windows from the product name.
I'll adjust to it like anything else and before long Vista will be the new standard.
Rating:  -
Well, I have to say I really like Vista, but before I say anything else, I need to say this. If you want Vista, get a new computer. Don't use an old computer and expect Vista to work well with it. If you have to use it, get Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to see what you need for your computer.
Well, with that said, Vista works well for me. I love the new graphic user interface, because of the Aero effect when it makes the borders transparent. I like the fact that it asks me whether I want to install something, because sometimes I need to rethink whether I should install a program. I mainly had the problem of installing things I did not need to install and as result it ended up slowing my computer down in the long run.
Well anyway, I use a laptop, so I really like the networking feature. It makes it more simple to find and connect to a wireless network. I also like the power plan feature for those times when I don't have my laptop plugged in. I can just pick a power plan that is appropriate for the time that I'll be unplugged to the wall. If I don't want to use too much power, I can set it to the lowest power plan setting. If I want to use the normal amount of power as if I was plugged in I can set it to that, too.
So Windows Vista is great to me. It's just getting us ready for Windows 7. However, if you're a gamer, you may want to look at the game requirements for Vista, because you will more than likely need more processing speed and RAM.
Rating: -
I obtained a review copy of this much-maligned OS from Microsoft and then was afraid to install it. Too many nasty stories about glitches, bugs, slow running speeds on old favorite programs, and the like. Gave it to my son, who is a fanatical gamer. He installed it on one of his PCs and as far as I know, it has run without a hitch.
Word in the media these days (OK, David Pogue in NY Times) is that a lot of the problems have been fixed. The biggest issue right after the rollout was that Microsoft had not informed peripherals manufacturers (people who make printers, scanners, cameras, whatever) about the need for extensive upgrades of their drivers. So a lot of stuff just wouldn't run on Vista. And Microsoft did not respond nearly fast enough to suit customers, especially heavy-duty institutional and corporate clients.
My laptop died last week, so I'm in the market for a new one. Asked my stepdaughter -- who is a network administrator at a major research university -- about a replacement. She recommended a Mac, primarily so that I wouldn't have to accept Vista as an OS on my new machine. Bad times there are not forgotten, look away, look away. Et cetera. It will take some time for corporate users to trust Microsoft again. (And, as she pointed out, why not just wait for the next major OS upgrade, instead of putting up with a Windows ME for our time?)
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