Bad News for Gates

[Gaspar]

We tried Vista on a few computers here at the office and abandon it for the old XP.  Anyone else drop the Vista?

http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/05/29/microsoft-is-officially-out-of-ideas.aspx

I'll have to watch Microsoft stock today after this article.  A lot of people get advice from the Motley Fool.

[Conan71]

I have had strange "black-out" lock-ups pretty consistently with my new laptop.  I did not know until this morning I didn't have SP-1.  Insult to injury: the computer locked up while downloading SP-1.

I'm wishing we would have dropped a little more money to get a new machine w/ XP on it.  There are still some out there.

[Gold]

I have the new Word on my computer at work.  Nothing but needless updates on it -- it has taken me weeks to find all the features I need.  I don't understand why they need to reinvent the wheel.

[EricP]

Vista Business 64 is running fantastically on my new desktop.... (Core 2 Quad 9450, 8GB ram, 2x640GB HD's, 8800GTS 512m.) I would suspect any problems you are having are most likely related to drivers. I had to download some updates to get SP1 to install and it didn't like my old old DVD drive (possible DMA mode problem, it's that old) but other than that it has been flawless.

I've run 3dmark vantage, team fortress 2, video encoding across all 4 cores, file and printer sharing, multiple users, etc on it and all is working perfectly. I researched availability of Vista64 drivers for every piece of hardware before building.

[citizen72]

Took off all our machines and will avoid it in the future. Piece of junk for Cad uniformity.

[Gaspar]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

Vista Business 64 is running fantastically on my new desktop.... (Core 2 Quad 9450, 8GB ram, 2x640GB HD's, 8800GTS 512m.) I would suspect any problems you are having are most likely related to drivers. I had to download some updates to get SP1 to install and it didn't like my old old DVD drive (possible DMA mode problem, it's that old) but other than that it has been flawless.

I've run 3dmark vantage, team fortress 2, video encoding across all 4 cores, file and printer sharing, multiple users, etc on it and all is working perfectly. I researched availability of Vista64 drivers for every piece of hardware before building.

It's a resource hog and from the looks of your setup, you are certanly not lacking for resources!
[]

Nice Hotrod!

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

I researched availability of Vista64 drivers for every piece of hardware before building.

The 64-bit Vista will not accept any drivers that have not been blessed (signed) by Microsoft - period.
For many, that means a lot of their favorite hardware wont run, not just "old" stuff, but the webcam you bought mom for mothers day, etc.

There were some workarounds, but a soon as Microsoft would learn about them they would issue a "patch" to close the hole.

Safe Mode (press F8 at each bootup) is currently the only way to use non-blessed drivers.

Gates is forcing migration to Vista by halting support for XP in the immediate future.  From there, XP is expected to just "fall apart" (perhaps with the help of a few parting "patches"?)  We'll see.

[intoxhog]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

I don't understand why they need to reinvent the wheel.

$$$$$$$$

[cannon_fodder]

I have heard nothing good about Vista.  I never made the switch.  I waited 6 months to go from Windows 3.11 to Windows95.  About the same to Windows 98.  Jumped on Windows NT2000 ASAP and ignored XP for over a year before getting on board (SP2).

Thus far, I have no inclination to move my business nor my computers to Vista.

[RecycleMichael]

Computers allow a person to make mistakes faster than anything else on Earth, except maybe tequila.

[bigdtottown]

OK...it's the EricP's of the world that drive me nuts[]
What about the rest of us poor schmucks that barely know how to hook up a printer?  I'm kidding, a little since I am relatively competent with PCs but I really admire those who have a solid understanding of them.  My point is I think they have a long way to go before being considered TRULY easy to use.  Can you imagine if new cars were as buggy as PCs?

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by bigdtottown

Can you imagine if new cars were as buggy as PCs?

Don't know if this is true or not, too lazy to look. Funny either way:

quote:
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five per cent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your cr would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

[bugo]

quote:Originally posted by Gaspar

quote:Originally posted by EricP

Vista Business 64 is running fantastically on my new desktop.... (Core 2 Quad 9450, 8GB ram, 2x640GB HD's, 8800GTS 512m.) I would suspect any problems you are having are most likely related to drivers. I had to download some updates to get SP1 to install and it didn't like my old old DVD drive (possible DMA mode problem, it's that old) but other than that it has been flawless.

I've run 3dmark vantage, team fortress 2, video encoding across all 4 cores, file and printer sharing, multiple users, etc on it and all is working perfectly. I researched availability of Vista64 drivers for every piece of hardware before building.

It's a resource hog and from the looks of your setup, you are certanly not lacking for resources!
[]

Nice Hotrod!

Imagine how it would fly it it were running XP.

[EricP]

quote:Originally posted by bugo

quote:Originally posted by Gaspar

quote:Originally posted by EricP

Vista Business 64 is running fantastically on my new desktop.... (Core 2 Quad 9450, 8GB ram, 2x640GB HD's, 8800GTS 512m.) I would suspect any problems you are having are most likely related to drivers. I had to download some updates to get SP1 to install and it didn't like my old old DVD drive (possible DMA mode problem, it's that old) but other than that it has been flawless.

I've run 3dmark vantage, team fortress 2, video encoding across all 4 cores, file and printer sharing, multiple users, etc on it and all is working perfectly. I researched availability of Vista64 drivers for every piece of hardware before building.

It's a resource hog and from the looks of your setup, you are certanly not lacking for resources!
[]

Nice Hotrod!

Imagine how it would fly it it were running XP.

Trust me.. it flies. After using XP for 5 years it was time for something new. I like a lot of Vista's new features and even the graphics goodies.

If you have 900 billion programs like I do, the search bar is AWESOME. Even works for random files or pictures i have stashed off somewhere, it saves me tons of time. Right now the eye candy kinda makes me wanna stay in windows and mess around... but I usually do get lured off to play Team Fortress 2, since after SP1, Vista does officially match and sometimes outpace XP in gaming.

I hadn't heard anything about problems with non-signed 64-bit drivers, in fact the first display drivers I installed weren't signed because they were Beta and I had no problem with them. Vista isn't for older PC's, that's for sure. But if you are building a new one that is remotely performance oriented I would be using it.

Companies have always had to update drivers frequently in the past and Microsoft released Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP in quick succession and nobody pissed and moaned then. It  was more than 5 years between XP and Vista, yet nobody wants to fix their crappy drivers for it. People think it is a resource hog because megafetch or whatever uses your unused memory to cache programs for faster load times. Wouldn't you rather use that memory rather than idle it, so long as it gives it up?

Personally I think incompatibilities and crashes have nothing to do with Vista, it has to do with users not wanting to upgrade and not creating the demand for software makers to get off their duffs, so it starts the cycle of making Vista popular to hate. I am hard to please and I love it.

[EricP]

quote:Originally posted by Gold

I have the new Word on my computer at work.  Nothing but needless updates on it -- it has taken me weeks to find all the features I need.  I don't understand why they need to reinvent the wheel.

I saw the new office on some laptops here at work and it looks like they have replaced the 900 trillion toolbar eyef#$!@ with a neatly organized tabbed system. I haven't gotten my copy yet but it sounds like a huge improvement and a good idea to me.