Windows Vista, why should you get it?

[Zylstra]

Yes, this is a bit of a rant.

Why did Microsoft add the Windows Vista eye-candy, even if it requires more resources?

Aero, the program that adds the special effects like Windows Card Flip, Glass Effect, Transparent Task Bars/Menu Bar, is in fact, all for eye-candy.
But why?

You see, when a new operating system comes out, the major change is the kernel. You cant see the kernel, and people complain "its the same as it was before, this is the same thing I just had!"

When you upgrade software, and nothing looks different, is it different?
You have to make it look different to convince people, otherwise, they think what they have now is the same thing, whether or not you believe this is your own preference.

They change things around so you SEE the difference, people always feel like they have to SEE something in order to believe it.

Now, another thing to remember is that Aero utilizes the GRAPHICS CARD, not your CPU! If you have a descent graphics card, you will not be wasting your CPU usage.
As for RAM: Yeah, they did go a bit too far in that department, but all over, Vista itself doesn't require much RAM. Aero wont kill you, and 1GB of RAM isn't going to leave you with almost nothing.

"I'm still not convinced I need the whole Aero thing. Its crap, and its sucky."
My answer to you: Disable it. Its not hard. Right click your desktop, click Personalise, and change the theme to Vista Basic. That's all you need to do. Or, you can even change it to Windows Classic (like GX1_Man always does with new operating systems)

"Vista sucks! I [dislike] it!"
Mind reminding me why you dislikes Windows XP when it first came out? You didn't have a real reason, you just didn't think it as worthwhile. And now, you think its the greatest thing on earth. What now?
 (well, you've read to this point, it cant be as bad as I thought it was)
"Do I really need Vista?"
No, you don't need it, but it can be very nice to have, especially since many programs will eventually require it, and it does have many useful features. Vista is great for new users, since its menu layouts and the way the entire system functions on the screen is focused around being easier to use (for users who aren't planning on doing advanced things).

Comment if you want, but I don't plan on letting this get into an argument or war.

[The Saviour]

Too late...the war has begun!

Just kidding...

Anyway, I've tried Vista Beta...and not completely ready to change from XP...I use the Home version.

As we all know...Windows is like changing underwear...why can't they just get it right the first time and leave it alone...

You may notice that Vista seems a lot like Apples OSX...as far as the graphics go.  I'm pretty sure that's what Gates had in mind when Vista was being compiled...just my opinion guys...don't shoot!

I like Windows...I've grown attached to it and to me it's easier to use than an Apple computer...I'm just stuck in a rut, I guess.

You're absolutely right about it being "eye-candy", though Zylstra...

I agree whole-heartedly...nothing has changed...except for the fact you have to either upgrade all your hardware or buy a new computer that can handle Vista.

[Zylstra]

Microsoft codename "Longhorn" is not Windows Vista, in fact, Longhorn was abandoned by Microsoft. Vista is very different.
Windows Vista has 3D Graphics, Apple only uses 2D graphics in their OS... though, in all, its all 2D unless you are wearing 3D glasses. The graphics aren't really similar at all. If you use Mac OSX, you will see that, even though many users claim Vista is a copy of the Mac OS system, they are quite different. Also, keep in mind, Apple does not use anything original... at all. Poor Xerox...

[The Saviour]

I beg to differ...the "glassy" icons, or buttons, Vista uses is a direct rip-off of OSX.

[M1CH431]

Personally I love Vista. I recently bought a new computer and it came with Vista Home Premium and I have to say that it is really nice. The graphics are nice, and the computer I bought only has 1 gig of ram (for now) And it runs it very well. And personally it's not much different from Xp so when you first get it you can still get things done. For me right now I don't really see a difference with Xp and Vista but eventually I'll dwell further into it.

[dl65]

LOL.......... Funny this topic appears now.  
I just had to replace a machine the other day........ and decided it was prudent to go with the latest operating system.............. Perhaps a mistake........ but time will tell.
I am at the beginning of a Vista learning curve......... I have had the new box for 3 days now, and I have had numberous cursor lockups....... we are talking dozens........ so many in fact , that yesterday I formatted it and started clean again.   I formatted , added AVG ......... turned off auto updates......... and things seemed good..... no lockups. Then I did the unthinkable thing , I d/l and installed 16 critical ( recommended) updates.......... and quess what back to the lockups again...... oh yes and then there is the random message that IE has stopped and needs to be restarted. Upon running a diagnostic.......as to why, it points at Adobe flash player as the problem and also says that Adobe dont have a fix currently.........
what a joke.
So my question is ....... who is our resident Vista expert ?  Perhaps he or she may have some fixes.


dl65  

[M1CH431]

Well right now im crossing my fingers that what happened to dl65 doesn't happen to my computer LOL!

[Zylstra]

Cursor lockups:

Well, it seems that Vista is a buggy system, but the lockups could be driver/manufacturer error dependent. (As in: Its not Vistas fault, its the software that your manufacture installed)

Run Windows Update, install everything, there are quite a few issues that will be fixed, most recently, a few reliability issues have been fixed, resulting in less crashes.

You can try the Microsoft support forums (I think its a great idea that they are hosting better community support, and calling it a much more primary option for support, its FREE!)

If you have errors installing updates, it is free to contact Microsoft for security update problems, just mention that its a security update issue...

[Dusty]

For some obscure reason I just don't trust Vista with any serious work so am running it in parallel with XP (not on same hardware).   Have had some lockups and inexplicable happenings but so far no disasters.

I probably won't be committing to Vista till the release of Vista SP.2 at least.

[Calum]

Glad I saw this thread.
I'm considering buying a second PC and a new family desktop, and was considering buying Vista for them and XP/Vista dual boot for me.
My only concerns were speed and which version to get, I figured most of the problems had been solved by now.
Having read this, I think I'll stick with XP for both.
Oh, and one more thing.  I don't like Vista's Classic mode, it looks different somehow.
I don't want to have to get used to something entirely different when I "upgrade" my OS - in an upgrade, what I want to see is more speed, reliability, and security.  If I have to pay for this, then fine.  What I don't want is having to re-learn the entire OS.  Maybe that's just me . . . but I wouldn't want to trade last year's Ford Mondeo for this year's, and then find out the pedals are on the ceiling.

[patio]

Since SP1 for Vista wont be released to the public until Q1 of 2008 i would suggest anyone considering a new machine/OS to wait for the outstanding deals in the upcoming Holiday shopping season...
This makes not only economical sense but practical sense as well.
I have been beating the snot out of Vista since RC1 was sent to me from the Mothership. At every step it has definitely gotten better.
But i still don't think in my opinion it is ready to be the only platform the end user runs.
The best choice right now is to have a dual-boot setup with XP doing the grunt day to day duties while fooling around with Vista til you get it to be what you want it to be...not what Gates thinks you want it to be.

[Dusty]

Thanks Patio - I think what you posted just about mirrors my sentiments but in much more flowery language.

[Fed]

The best choice right now is to have a dual-boot setup with XP doing the grunt day to day duties while fooling around with Vista til you get it to be what you want it to be...not what Gates thinks you want it to be.

From a very clever person who mostly uses W2K.

[patio]

The best choice right now is to have a dual-boot setup with XP doing the grunt day to day duties while fooling around with Vista til you get it to be what you want it to be...not what Gates thinks you want it to be.

From a very clever person who mostly uses W2K.

            

[ale52]

I'm still on the W2K bandwagon as well.  I just ordered 2G of RAM from Crucial as I'm running 512 right now and the system runs fine.  I'll pop in those 2G and run Vista in a virtual machine.  No new hardware to buy and if the thing tanks, I'll just dump in from M$ Virtual PC.

Alan <><