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Windows Vista is here... (a quick overview)

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Kitrax, Jan 30, 2007.

  1. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    [​IMG] Well…it’s finally here. It took far longer then anyone could have imagined, it’s over-hyped, overpriced, and being forced down our throats. Yes, Windows Vista has finally arrived…big deal. For those of you who don’t have a choice not to upgrade, the die hard MS fans that just have it, or the poor folks who got tricked in to buying it this soon…this is for you.

    Let’s start with the basics. There are 4 version of Windows Vista that you need to know about:

    Vista Home Basic
    • Home Basic is just the Vista operating system along with Window’s new firewall.
    • Costs: $95.00 (OEM) up to $225.00

    Vista Home Premium
    • Home Premium is the Vista operating system along with Aero/Flip 3D (this makes up the over-hyped 3D desktop), Media Center functions, Tablet PC functions, and a business conferencing program called Meeting Space.
    • Costs: $120.00 (OEM) up to $262.00

    Vista Business
    • Vista Business has all the features of Home Premium, but it drops Media Center functions; and adds advanced networking, back-up tools, and remote desktop functions.
    • Costs: $150.00 (OEM) up to $330.00

    Vista Ultimate
    • Vista Ultimate has everything all the other versions have, and therefore costs the most.
    • Costs: $200.00 (OEM) up to $430.00


    Now, there are dozens of articles covering Vista, written by the folks who got the "Release Candidate #2" or the "Vendor" version of the OS awhile back, and have been using Vista for awhile…so I’m not going to even attempt to write my own guide. But I will share some useful links to articles with a plethora of information on Vista. So off we go:

    Ten reasons why you *should* upgrade to Vista

    Some reasons why you *should not* upgrade to Vista
    MaximumPC's take on Vista

    The bare minimum system requirements to run Vista

    If you don’t know if you system can handle Vista, Microsoft will tell you what hardware and software you currently have installed on your computer will/won’t work with Vista with Vista's Upgrade Advisor

    Personally, I’m not even going to consider Vista until service pack 1 is out…and then I might wait a few more weeks to see if SP1 is a safe bet. I think you should all do the same. As of right now, you don’t *need* Vista. There aren’t any DirectX 10 games out, the Aero/Flip 3D desktop hardly justifies the cost, and the fact that there are so few drivers for it (even less if you’re running the 64bit version), just screams out for people to wait. :bad:

    Speaking of the 64 bit version…PC World ran a few preliminary benchmarks comparing the 32 bit to the 64 bit version of Vista on the same systems. On the first system, with 1GB of RAM, every benchmark showed significant loss of performance in 64 bit version. In the system with 2GB of RAM, the 64 bit version didn’t take much of a performance loss, but the 32 bit version still outperformed it by 7%-8% in some benchmarks. Also, they ran some benchmarks on single core CPUs and dual core CPUs, and once again, Vista comes out running slower than XP. The article starts on page 18 of the February 2007 edition of PC World Magazine for anyone who’s interested. I will try and post a link to the article once it’s posted online. :thumb: :rolling:
     
  2. Trellheim Gems: 22/31
    Latest gem: Sphene


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    Seems rather... useless.

    The only reason I was thinking about buying Vista (in the distant future) was for it's 64 bit-support-thingy since it doesn't appear to really work with XP.
    And now with Vista neither? :(

    EDIT: Wowowowow.... My computer has an innner "don't mess with Windows" sensor, when I was writting this, I got a BSOD! :eek:
     
  3. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
    Latest gem: Glittering Beljuril


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    Read those and have to say that XP is capable of doing the same, with a few assisting programs, except the 3D desktop. Is that alone worth it? Not to me.
     
  4. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Vista is overrated.
     
  5. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    Oh, it works...it just runs slower, and the drivers for your hardware are few and far between. :bad:

    Of course not. What makes Vista a "must" is DirectX...which is currently Vista's only "must have app". Games are going to need DX10 to continue to get better, and we are going to need DX10 to run them. :skeptic: :rolling:
     
  6. Stu Gems: 20/31
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    WOW LeBron James is part of the advertising campaign! This is probably the single biggest incentive I've been given to get vista (until some dx10 games come out at least).
    Until M$ give me reasonable incentive to change, I simply won't. At the moment there's the promise of new features such dx10 and high definition media (blue ray play back et al.) but really no way to take advantage of them, making them sort of the reverse of obsolete.

    Gameswise there will eventually be:
    Age of Conan (MMORPG with a large single player component, makes use of dx10)
    Halo2 (same characters, same weapons and same story as the one that came out on Xbox about a year ago, it didn't use dx10 then and it won't use dx10 in the not-too-distant future, yet it still requires vista to run $.$)
    Crysis (this actually looks pretty cool, but I'm not going to update my OS for one game)
    Minesweeper will look more blue than it did before, all the existing games will look a bit better and the more expensive vista versions will have a chess game.

    Anyway to make any use of directX 10 you will also need a dx10 compatable video card - at the moment you will have two (2) options - the nVidia 8800 GTS and the 8800 GTX. They won't be in any shop bought computer (yes, even the ones that say they are 'vista ready' or whatver) and to buy them separately cost twice their weight in gold* (although they are damn powerful).

    This leaves pretty much no compulsion to buy - If you can't use dx10 in any way shape or form, then that really doesn't leave vista with too much more over xp (other than atrocious drivers)
     
  7. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
    Latest gem: Glittering Beljuril


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    Doubt it. 64-bit, shaders, multi-threading, and stuff like that come and go -and still even shaders are "new" to many developers. The point is that they are slow to adopt such things and binding your highly expensive product to only 10% of users, who have Vista/Linux, would be plain foolish.

    It's the same thing as with browsers. No reason to make a site that works only in a specific enviroment ("800x600 res, IE, Java, Cookies...")
     
  8. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I think that's the key point. You don't need it, so why not wait until there is a compelling reason?
     
  9. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    Most of us are geeks - what more reason do we need than that?
     
  10. Nakia

    Nakia The night is mine Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Disagree there, Chandos. Being a geek should make us smart enough to wait until the bugs get worked out. One of the first things I was taught don't buy the first version. Wait.

    I for one am tired of Micro$soft telling me when to roll over and when/where to jump.
     
  11. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    Indeed. I'm also tired of getting Bill's product shoved down our throats. You're not squeezing one more penny off me, Bill. I support the open-source community, not you.

    Okay, Linux can't do gaming, but who gives a f***? You want gaming, get some freaking consoles.
     
  12. Chandos the Red

    Chandos the Red This Wheel's on Fire

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    What would be the fun in that, Nakia? :) Besides, by the time Microsoft has the bugs worked out, we'll be ready for the next version. And I like playing games on my computer. I haven't owned a game console since my old Atari 5200. I think I was like 12 or 13. :hmm:
     
  13. Colthrun

    Colthrun Walk first in the forest and last in the bog Veteran

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    Unless you like to play a decent RPG where your character have more choices than ATTACK, MAGIC, DEFEND, or RUN, that is... :rolleyes:
     
  14. Daie d'Malkin

    Daie d'Malkin Shoulda gone to Specsavers

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    Compsci students at my uni get free Windows. 2 of my housemates already have Vista. Buggers.
     
  15. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    All this bitterness towards MS is odd.

    When has MS told you when to jump or shoved anything down your throat? They provide you a product that you can buy or not.

    I kept Windows 98 from its inception through I think three computers and only moved to XP on my newest computer this past November because many new things started not working on 98 (e.g. some new games did not work, some USB devices didn't work right, etc.).

    So upgrade or not whenever you feel like it or need to, but sheesh, drop the bitterness.
     
  16. Disciple of The Watch

    Disciple of The Watch Preparing The Coming of The New Order Veteran

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    ...which you don't really have the choice to buy if you want to do any computer gaming. Macs can do gaming, yeah - But I don't plan on going out and buying a Mac anytime soon.

    Also, the other part that ticks me off is "buy". I'm never, ever again dishing out even a penny for an OS. The open-source community has much to offer, and I much prefer to support the work of the community than support M$.

    /me slaps Colthrun with vintage RPGs

    I like those kind of games. My favorite game of all times is D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun, just to give you an idea. Take FF1 for example, crappy graphics, GREAT game. It's not the graphs that make a good game - it's the plot.

    BTW, consoles don't have just crappy games - Morrowind was ported to Xbox, Oblivion to 360, Scarface to PS2, Prince of Persia to GC and PS2, and the list could go on.
     
  17. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    So blame the game developers/publishers for not wanting to waste money on far-less-popular OSs.

    Why does that tick you off? MS pays a lot of people a lot of money to develop their product and support it, why should you be angry that they charge for the product?
    Fine, support them all you want or simply take advantage of their generosity. Why get angry that Microsoft is a business and charges for it's product? Do all of your customers get pissed off that you ask them to pay for the paint jobs you give them?
     
  18. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I agree, BTA. It's just business. If you like the product, buy it. If you don't, then don't.
     
  19. khaavern Gems: 14/31
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    Well, it's not so simple. If I'd have a choice of Linux or Windows versions for each application I want to run on my computer, then I could care less about MS. But I don't, obviously, because vendors find it much more profitable to develop for Windows than for Linux. And why is that? because Win enjoys a de-facto monopoly in the personal computer market. Now, monopolies are not always bad, but when they kill the competition, they are.
     
  20. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
    Latest gem: Glittering Beljuril


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    They are a monopoly, I get it, but what ticks me off are their way to do business. Anyone here remember paladino? A.k.a: "We own your computer and how you may use it."

    Then there was this unscrupulous attempt to undermine Linux just a little while ago, when MS swimmed into the pants of Novell. Now MS grants them "immunity" against possible copyright infrigmation cases such as SCO vs. Linux (of which SCO was casually sponsored by MS).

    On top of it, they are also suing their clients and their new Terms of Use are, the very least, annoying. I mean: who wants to buy the same OS again every time you change a component in your rig?
     
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