Thinking about getting Vista...good idea or bad Idea?

[Black03Marauder]

So I'm trying to get Crysis to run properly on my computer, which means I need Directx 10, which means I need Vista.

I vaguely remember when Vista first came out, everyone hated it because it was completely unstable. Have they fixed Vista since then? Any of you guys tried using vista? Did it turn your computer into a paperweight?

Also, Im noticing on ebay these cheap upgrade packages that upgrade xp to vista...Do these upgrade to a full version of Vista or some lowgrade, 2nd class version of Vista that wont run directx 10?

[BruteForce]

Crysis runs fine on XP using DX9. I have it running on XP 64-bit (4GB RAM, SLI 8800GTX, etc).

That said, if you have new (and I mean new) hardware with at least 2 GBs of RAM, then Vista might be worthwhile. I have it on a new laptop and it runs pretty good (3 GBs RAM & 2 GB speed boost SD card). Takes a while to get used to as how and where you find things has changed. Read enough "tweak Vista" sites now that I have it adjusted so it usable.

PS. The new Solitaire is pretty cool too. ;)

[Weaver]

Hey. I'm running vista now. They ran a lot of updates in the first few months. It works 95% smooth for me now. I stopped trying to install some older programs a few months ago.. but if this program needs Directx 10 I would imagine it's quite compatible with vista. Is it something free that a vista user could test out for ya?

[Raudermaster]

Bad idea. Stick with XP.

[TiTo35]

I have a Vista upgrade collecting dust somewhere...I used it on a friends comp and I was not feeling it... :twocents:

[Breadfan]

IMO if you don't need to then don't bother. If you can run Crysis on XP then do it and don't sweat Vista.

The thing I really hate about Microsoft is their apparent unwillingness to unify their software better. There is NO reason DX10 shouldn't work on past XP or 2000. They're all NT based. They did the same crap with XP taking over 2000.

Do you know there are some programs I can't run on Win2000 and will only run on XP? In my eyes there's simply no reason for that.

I've used Vista and was very unimpressed. I would atlesat wait until SP1 comes out. Vista tried to hold my hand at every corner and it made me sick. All I was doing was setting up a new laptop for someone and it was driving me nuts. I'm sure it's configurable yada yada, still annoyed I was.

I still run Windows 2000 where I can. I will miss good 'ol 2k, probably MS's best OS. Stable and pretty quick when tuned right. Plenty of GUI and shell tweaks available. No nannying, not as many pop up bubbles. Too bad it's on it's way out, as the years go on it'll be harder to get software that will run on 2000 even though the fundamental architecture is the same as Vista (NT core).

So yeah, I'd say hold out until you need it, unless you wanted to be bleeding edge or gloat to people you know that you have the latest and not-so-greatest.

[bugsys03]

I just got my new laptop yesterday and so far i like Vista fine.

[Raudermaster]

Relax, give it time, you've only had Vista for one day.

[MM2004]

Vista blows.

Xp is me.

Mike.

[KillJoy]

Vista is ALMOST as bad a Microsoft BOB, which is level with ME.

You do the math.....

KillJoy

[Leadfoot281]

I'm still using ME on an 8 year old HP Pavilion.

If this computor was a car, I wouldn't drive it across town. :help:

[Breadfan]

ME was released as a home version of Windows 2000. They didn't have a home NT version available so they redid Win98 to look and act a bit more like 2000. They gave it a revised shell, some more wizards, and a larger pre-installed driver cache.

It was short lived as XP was already in the works. ME turned out to be less reliable than Win98, and MS actually released Win98 "Second Edition" which was the "pinnacle" of the Windows95/98/Me series. Of those 95 probably had the best interface due to the lack of Internet Explorer in the file browser by default, and 98 SE was probably the most reliable.

Many people talk about ME like it's death on a compact disc. While not my favorite MS OS, it could run pretty decently (as far as 9x versions go) and it was nice to be able to change certain settings without needing to insert the OS disc like in 98.

ME ended up getting swept under the carpet, it's history will be known as a "tide us over" type of OS until they had a home-ready NT based OS, which XP home was.

The NT core is better primarily due to whats called a protected memory architecture. It's why NT based OS'es can usually recover from a hung program or process and why 9x versions (non protected memory) would usually freeze completely if one app had an issue. Protected memory was nothing new and home users deserved it well before 1998 and certainly well before they got it in XP Home during the new millenium.

MS BOB ruled. I can't believe anyone would say bad things about it! In fact I'm surprised someone else knew about it! If you know Bob then you know the roots of the search dog found in Windows XP's search tool.

[Mike M]

So I'm trying to get Crysis to run properly on my computer, which means I need Directx 10, which means I need Vista.

I vaguely remember when Vista first came out, everyone hated it because it was completely unstable. Have they fixed Vista since then? Any of you guys tried using vista? Did it turn your computer into a paperweight?

Also, Im noticing on ebay these cheap upgrade packages that upgrade xp to vista...Do these upgrade to a full version of Vista or some lowgrade, 2nd class version of Vista that wont run directx 10?


I run Crysis on my XP machine just fine. You need alot of computer, CPU/GPU and memory.

[KillJoy]

MS BOB ruled. I can't believe anyone would say bad things about it! In fact I'm surprised someone else knew about it! If you know Bob then you know the roots of the search dog found in Windows XP's search tool.


Microsoft BOB (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZegWedG-jk4)

KillJoy

[ckadiddle]

I have one newer destop machine that came preloaded with Vista. If you have only one machine, you will probably just be a bit annoyed with the "do you really wanna allow this to do that?" nag screens. The big annoyance that I have run into is problems copying across the hardwired part of my home network to an XP desktop to back up my data. The XP machine gets flooded and locks up every time. So far my research shows that this may be related somehow to the CA antivirus I am running. Haven't had time yet to test that theory yet cause the XP machine got Zwinky-ed. It has been shut off for a few weeks waiting for me to do malware removal on it. You can read up on this wierd issue here:
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1330365&SiteID=17

That is the only real issue I have found with it, other than the usual butthead Microsoft moving around stuff so I can't find it where it was in XP. But, I don't use any of our PCs for gaming, either.

[KillJoy]

If you have only one machine, you will probably just be a bit annoyed with the "do you really wanna allow this to do that?" nag screens.


You can Disable that in Control Panel. Under Users and Accounts.

:up:

KillJoy

[Mike Poore]

I'm no 'puter weenie, but can relate. In my experience it's always best to stick with the operating system as supplied from the box. In two cases, one with Mac and one with a PC the result of upgrading to the a new OS resulted in disaster. During the Mac trial, the tech ask me to tell him the SR# of my machine, and replied, "Oh you've got one of those". :eek:
The next and even worse disaster was changing from Windows X to Windows X+1 (I forget the numbers) In any case, this one is XT and that's what it's gonna stay. The next machine will have and stay with whatever is loaded ......might be a Mac. ;)

[TCBO1]

MS BOB ruled. I can't believe anyone would say bad things about it! In fact I'm surprised someone else knew about it! If you know Bob then you know the roots of the search dog found in Windows XP's search tool.

The link that KillJoy provided... is that for real!? Where in the world did MS Bob come from? Is it even still available? I haven't seen my personal computer in about 5 years but, I am still running windows98 on it. MS Bob looks kinda interesting.. If my computer hasn't died by the time I get it outa storage, I think I might wanna try that platform out.

Natalie

[KillJoy]

The link that KillJoy provided... is that for real!? Where in the world did MS Bob come from? Is it even still available? I haven't seen my personal computer in about 5 years but, I am still running windows98 on it. MS Bob looks kinda interesting.. If my computer hasn't died by the time I get it outa storage, I think I might wanna try that platform out.

Natalie


Microsoft BOB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob) is from 1995.

:up:

KillJoy

[Black03Marauder]

I just thought of something...

People who hate Vista, is it the applications (Media Player, Outlook express, etc.) that are buggy or is it the very core of the system?

I've been using Firefox, winamp and k-lite codecs for years now. I wouldn't mind upgrading to Vista if the only problem with it is that the Vista Media player or Vista outlook express locks up because I never use them anyway

[KillJoy]

Vista's interface sucks.

:up:

KillJoy

[Breadfan]

Microsoft BOB (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZegWedG-jk4)

KillJoy

One of my favorite websites: http://www.toastytech.com/guis

[BruteForce]

Followup on upgrading Vista. Slow day at the office so I did one of those "Anytime Upgrades" from Vista Home Premium to Vista Ultimate. What prompted me to do that was that Ultimate (or Business) have a feature that allows you to connect via Remote Desktop from XP or older machines.

Anyway, the purchase was relatively painless and I already had the "upgrade" disk so away I went. I figured it was going to be a cakewalk as it is a "Vista Logo" laptop. Wrong.

:help:

The reason I'm posting this is to share some tips I found for a successful upgrade. My first attempt failed just before it was completed (took an hour and a half to get that far!). The rollback to previous version was successful. I Googled the issue and found others had the same problem before. The fix is to disconnect ALL peripherals (I had a USB mouse, and card reader hooked up). Did that, restarted the install and it went fine then. Took about 2 hours but its fully automated so you don't have to sit there and watch.

Now just don't tell anyone I spent $159 and 5 hours just so I can play the new Vista version of Solitaire on my XP workstation. :P

[teamrope]

Microsoft BOB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob) is from 1995.

:up:

KillJoy

As I recall it was released at the same time as Windows 95. It was for people that were computer stupid. It failed miserably and disappeared within the 1st 6 months (or less) of release.

[RoyLPita]

My Vista upgrade is still in the mailing envelope.

[GreekGod]

From wikipedia:

"These characteristics earned Bob the 7th place in PC World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_World) Magazine's list of the 25 worst products of all time<SUP class=reference id=_ref-pc25_0>[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_BOB#_note-pc25)</SUP> and worst product of the decade by CNET.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNET).<SUP class=reference id=_ref-3>[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_BOB#_note-3)"</SUP>

[KillJoy]

As I recall it was released at the same time as Windows 95. It was for people that were computer stupid. It failed miserably and disappeared within the 1st 6 months (or less) of release.


When it was released, I worked at a large store, kind of like a big Best Buy, named Incredible Universe. MS BOB was removed from all stores within 3 months!

HA!

:banana:

KillJoy

[Breadfan]

When it was released, I worked at a large store, kind of like a big Best Buy, named Incredible Universe. MS BOB was removed from all stores within 3 months!

HA!

:banana:

KillJoy

We had an "Incredible Universe" open up in our area ... if I recall it closed after about one month. It was being built for awhile and I remember being excited about it, it was a neat store but our guess was that it just overwhelmed people...I only got to go there once.

Oddly enough the building sat dormant for awhile. Now it's apparently being used as some sort of office building, I still go by it from time to time, one time it was on a weekday around quittin' time and a bunch of business-looking people with briefcases came out the front door.

The store had a "crown" sort of design that raised off the front of the building, and I believe is still on the building today. It's like the sillouhette of that place is still there - it doesn't just look like a random big building it looks like an Incredible Universe with no logos, a sun faded crown, and office people loitering around it.

It's like if you converted a Best Buy into office space and left hte big yellow tag on the front just scratched out the words ""BEST BUY"

[BruteForce]

I found a recent MS Bob reference... about 1:50 into this demo of Windows "7" (next version coming). I forgot it ran on Windows 3.1!! Blast from the past. :P

Eric Traut talks Windows 7 and MinWin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNsS_0wSfoU)