[JM Anthony]

I've had an eval copy of Vista for a month or so, Build 5600, RC1. I bought a new Dell laptop with plenty of horsepower and decided to install Vista on it yesterday. I haven't done any exhaustive testing, but so far I like the look and feel of Vista. A pretty decent ATI graphics card and plenty of RAM makes for a pleasant experience.

I'd be interested in hearing from others who are running Vista. I'll provide more insights after I've hacked around with it for a while.

John

 

[DonLandis]

MY new Dell laptop is Vista ready but currently, I am working on the process to add a second OS to it. OS X. Yep. I have a licensed copy of it and just working out the procedural details on how to add it. At this point in time, I find OS X offers far more productivity to my business needs than Vista over win XP.
But in regards to Vista- I've been following the experts out there on it and they all feel it may be worth waiting a bit unless you just want to play around.
John- I'd be more interested in hearing what you hope to and actually do achieve with Vista over XP for your needs. It is the additional applications and productivity advantages that should come with Vista upgrade that matters. To date the big deal I've been hearing about has been Vista's new user interface and the transparency look. To me, that is too lame to be worth the trouble. I'd rather see something like perfect speech to text input and text to speech output as an integral part of the OS. Now that would be a worthwhile upgrade!

 

[JM Anthony]

Don - great question. My primary interest in the upgrade was curiosity. As a former deputy CTO and then technology consultant, I've spent a fair amount of time evaluating MSFT licensing options and upgrade strategies. Agencies on enterprise agreements got no O/S upgrade for the $$ the plunked down last cycle, so I was curious to see if Vista offered much bang for the buck.

The interface is hands down a winner, especially if you have h/w that can fully support it. Vista has what I can only describe as a luxurious feel to it. I also find it more intuitive and user friendly than XP. I don't mean this to be sexist, but with its look and feel, Vista will appeal to women. And security seems to be designed in rather than just an after thought. Finally, and for some I'm sure THE compelling reason to upgrade: a refresh of MSFT games including a few new ones!!

More later...

John

 

[Steve Mehs]

I've never played around with Vista yet, in Vista is there a option to take the user interface back to Classic with, Classic Theme, Classic Logon, Classic Start Menu, etc? I absolutely HATE the Windows XP default UI and Vista doesn't look much better. My computer set ups, look almost exactly like Windows 2000, only problem is Microsoft is changing the user interface of all their programs, IE 7, WMP11 and I cannot put into words what I think of the 'Ribbon' in Office 2007. At least it’s only Word, Excel and PPT, all of the other Office ’07 apps are normal.

 

[DonLandis]

Speaking of Office... I am still using the Office 2000 open license CD here and I love it. It saves me a ton of money being able to load it on all my computers. Completely compatible with all the latest files generated with newr office Excel and Word. I did upgrade the Outlook 2000 part to 2003 as it briefcases better.

 

[Neil Derryberry]

I've never played around with Vista yet, in Vista is there a option to take the user interface back to Classic with, Classic Theme, Classic Logon, Classic Start Menu, etc? I absolutely HATE the Windows XP default UI and Vista doesn't look much better. My computer set ups, look almost exactly like Windows 2000, only problem is Microsoft is changing the user interface of all their programs, IE 7, WMP11 and I cannot put into words what I think of the 'Ribbon' in Office 2007. At least it's only Word, Excel and PPT, all of the other Office '07 apps are normal.

Yes you can.. and that functionality is a must for folks without the hardware for the new UI.

I'm running the RTM version here, both on my work desktop and my tablet pc.. works well. My major complaint on the tabletpc side is that vista doesn't seem to be able to auto-rotate my tablet screen when I switch from laptop to tablet mode. I'm sure this will get fixed soon..

 

[Steve Mehs]

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. Next December I'm due for a new computer, I get a new machine every 4 years, can't wait to get Vista on that. I wil not be unprading this computer to Vista until after that.

 

[JM Anthony]

Speaking of Office... I am still using the Office 2000 open license CD here and I love it. It saves me a ton of money being able to load it on all my computers. Completely compatible with all the latest files generated with newr office Excel and Word. I did upgrade the Outlook 2000 part to 2003 as it briefcases better.

I've been hacking around with Office 07 for quite a while and unless you are using it very regularly, the upgrade isn't worth it in my mind. I find the new menu confusing and slow in comparison to its predecessors. Come to think of it, off the top of my head, I can't think of any must have features, particularly for stand alone users. A lot of shops are moving to an every other upgrade cycle for Office and are money ahead in doing so.

Thanks, I thought that might be the case. Next December I'm due for a new computer, I get a new machine every 4 years, can't wait to get Vista on that. I wil not be unpgrading this computer to Vista until after that.

Upgrading to a new O/S rarely makes sense on a laptop or desktop. A lot of folks will be waiting for SP1 before they make the jump so by next December you're likely to be using a better product.

John

 

[HIPAR]

Why does this thing need all of those hardware resources to run? What is it doing that Windows 2000 and XP doesn't do? Does it manage memory better? Does it multitask better? Is it easier to operate and cofigure? Is it really more secure?

OK, I have not evaluated the advanced 3D Graphical User Interface because my computer doesn't provide video support. But, there must be more to it than just a prettier face.

--- CHAS

 

[Nick]

It's Windoze 2007.

If microshaft could get away with it, they would just slap on a little trim change and squeeze
out a new model every year just like the vehicle mfrs and the welfare mommas do.

 

[JM Anthony]

Why does this thing need all of those hardware resources to run? What is it doing that Windows 2000 and XP doesn't do? Does it manage memory better? Does it multitask better? Is it easier to operate and cofigure? Is it really more secure?

OK, I have not evaluated the advanced 3D Graphical User Interface because my computer doesn't provide video support. But, there must be more to it than just a prettier face.

--- CHAS

I for one like the new interface. It has a nice feel to it. With more and more laptops and desktops going more towards multimedia, there are greater requirements for hardware resources. Particularly on our home computers where we play more than we work, Vista fits right in.

It's Windoze 2007.

If microshaft could get away with it, they would just slap on a little trim change and squeeze
out a new model every year just like the vehicle mfrs and the welfare mommas do.

It will be interesting to see what happens next after Vista. Gartner, a pretty decent IT research firm says look for evolutionary changes. Of course, they've been preaching software as a service for quite a few years now.

 

[Kevin Dupuy]

I've been playing around with it, and the graphics are good, although I'm not sure exactly how they would help anyone. Personally, a lot of the features in Vista have been in Linux for a long time, so I expected Vista to have some cool new stuff, but I looked at my SUSE install, wiht there really cool graphics, which IMHO blows away Vista, and just thought, you know, Vista has nothing over Linux, and Linux is so easy to use now, I bet if Microsoft didn't have that lame Windows bundling discount for the OEMs that Linux would be more widespread, which would force Microsoft to put more innovation in Vista. The main reason people aren't using Linux in my opinion, is why should they? They have a sub-par (again, in my opinion) OS, sure, but it's on there already. Same reason IE has such a big market share. It's already on there, so why should they go out and download Firefox for free?

And, I hate activation. I won't pay $200 for a box copy of Vista, and only be able to put it on one PC, when I can go out and get SUSE boxed set with manual for $60 and install it on as many as I want.

But I do like the box Vista comes in!

 

[Steve Mehs]

I pulled the trigger. Just ordered Vista Ultimate Edition from Tiger. $199 + $1.99 UPS Next Day Air. Sure beats the $600 or whatever for the retail version in the pretty box.

 

[machavez00]

http://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_mai...958df4x1106eb84405x6366&rdm=711860.4212326752

 

[JM Anthony]

I get a free upgrade to Vista for my new Dell laptop and my guess is that I'll see that in a week or two. In the meantime, I'll be hitting for the MSFT store for another copy or two of Vista plus Office. The Office upgrade is a lot more discretionary. I'll do it cause I can get it on the cheap. I expect to stay with these releases for the foreseeable future.

I'm not going to upgrade my HTPC to Vista because of the driver issues. I'll wait another 4-6 months before taking that jump.

John

 

[FogCutter]

I am buying a couple of new laptops, and you know, I'll be ordering them with XP. We have several machines with XP and I don't want the hassle of working across different operating systems.

When I do make the move, I'll replace everything at once.

So far I haven't found a single feature that makes Vista compelling. And the new Office will totally sink my partner. It's take years to get her semi-function on the old command structure.

Eventually I'll have to do it, but not for a good long while.

 

[Steve Mehs]

I got mine in the mail today, I'm too excited to sleep. I'm off to Best Buy in a few hours to get an another hard drive, so I won't screw up my system in case of problems.

 

[DonLandis]

I pulled the trigger. Just ordered Vista Ultimate Edition from Tiger. $199 + $1.99 UPS Next Day Air. Sure beats the $600 or whatever for the retail version in the pretty box.

How time flies! Is it really December already?

 

[JM Anthony]

How time flies! Is it really December already?

Just remember how late XP was. All those poor corporate IT souls who purchased enterprise agreements got nothing, but 3 yrs. worth of payments when it shipped too late.

I'm still enjoying Vista. I haven't had a single problem since I installed RC1 on my laptop.

John

 

[Steve Mehs]

How time flies! Is it really December already?

Yeah. Hope your Thanksgiving was well, Merry Christmas and best to you in 2008, Don. :lol:

Only reason I got Vista was because of the OEM version pricing, I actually ened up falling asleep, I'm heading out the door right now to get another hard drve and begin installation.

BTW- I like a halogram effects on the Vista DVD