10 reasons you should get Vista

tin:

Reason 10 is about the only one I'll be getting Vista for.
Real pain in the ar$e is the cost of having both XP and Vista on the PC so I can still use software and play games that just don't work in Vista.

Anonymous:

Yes, none of this is a real fact that why vista is better than XP. Installation by images? bah! you only install once ... or transfer once! ( see licence ).

New engine with graphics 3d? Cute! but do I need this for work? First I do when I enter on an XP is disable its "new" look, its "awfull" menu, returning to classic.

Direct X 10 could be installed on XP, but M$ don't want to make it happen.

Face it, i'll have vista, but when i have to buy it with a new computer from any vendor that says "or you buy our computer with Vista or you don't buy the computer".

Q:

You can always throw out Vista and get a refund or it, its in the EULA.

Anonymous:

You can actually insist on XP from Dell etc.

If more people did that, then maybe even Microsoft can't get rid of XP. Just like Intel can't get rid of the x86 even thought they tried with the Itanium. Same for IBM when they tried to shift to MCA instead of staying "IBM PC Compatible"

If enough people ignored Vista and stuck to Windows XP, even Microsoft would have to remain "Windows XP Compatible".

And then we can concentrate on genuine innovations and features rather than helping Microsoft extend their monopoly via the frog boiling method.

This is the number one reason to not use Vista.

Anonymous:

People who buy Dells, or any other name brand manufactured garbage for that matter know nothing about computers, and will get what Dell pushes on them. For all they know, "Dell" is the version of Windows they are running.

Anonymous:

This has to be one of the most ignorant comments I have read.

So ignorant, that I regret responding…

Ed:

hey geek do yourslef a favor and get some p*ssy.........just because you are some computer nerd who has nothing better to do than build his computer to the max....doesn't mean that there are million of people who are fine with a dell or gateway computer.......these are the millions of people who actually have a life

RickyZed20:

touché brotha

Anonymous9832184:

Now we know why they need Dells, because people like you are breeding. The majority is the lowest common denominator...

Jon:

I agree with this guy.

Vin:

This is far too broad a generalization. Just because somebody buys a big brand computer does not mean they are ignorant. It could be they have neither the time, the desire, or the money to acquire a system another way.

However, I do believe I understand your point. While there seem to be a lot of people in the techie community that would love to boycott Vista, the vast majority of purchasers from large companies will "just not care". So, regardless of how hard a community were to try, it's just not possible. Microsoft is simply too big to be forced into dual support by a relatively small group of enthusiasts.

And to the [insert explitive here] who decided to go on a generic "nerd get a girlfriend" rant, get your head out of wherever it is, and maybe consider a taking a hiatus on breathing for a while.

KeremE:

It is actually happening now. Vendors are just introducing new options for their hcomputers with XP instead of Vista. Microsoft says it will not end the support for XP :)

Net:

I like reason 10, the rest doesn't impress me much. I guess only gamer will get Vista for this time being.

raindog:

Redmond may think they own my desktop, my server racks, and rearward parts of my anatomy, but they dont!
There is a big gap between eventually adopting a later version of Windows and running in a lather to blindly accept anything the Redmondians dished up.
The foaming at the mouth fanboys can pay top dollar and wear all the early adoptor pain while those that hold out or who seek out alternative OS's where possible are the ones who hold the real power and will reap the rewards.
Immediately swapping to Vista would be commercial suicide for all but those who Microsoft already heavily subsidise.
After the frenzy of fanboys has subsided and the sales inevitably thin, the pricing if nothing else of Vista will move to more realistic levels.
Of all the plusses listed only reason 10 offers a compelling arguement and it does not imply any ugency to adopt now!

FostWare:

Because I have no choice to upgrade, since my X8800 doesn't have drivers yet, and due to Vista's DRM/TCPA driver model, I may not have until they are okay'd by America's MPAA.

At least XP would load Windows 2000 driver in a pinch.

mistywindow:

When did M$ ever drop the price of their bloatware?

Anonymous:

exactly look at xp.its been out for 6 years or more and still sells for 150 bux.thats 50 bux small families dont have come on ms make a family version that costs 50 bux.u'll still get ur gold plated vibe to ream every1 else with.

Potoroo:

You can't be serious! After years of having M$ lie to us about how good Vista was going to be (none of the genuinely good stuff we were promised is there), how can anyone seriously think any of these tweaks can justify the outrageous price tag? Furthermore, APC doesn't pay nearly enough attention to the hidden costs of Vista's built-in DRM.

PS: we say 'arse' in Australia. 'Ass' is American.

Dan Warne:

Thanks for the important pickup there Potoroo... I have self-flagellated and corrected the spelling to "arse".

Desktop General:

A lot of serious software I depend on has issues with Vista - Adobe's ColdFusion springs to mind.

And Vista is WAY too expensive - people whinged about OSX but Redmond can always be counted upon to go the next step.

My arse is my own for now thank you very much.

Anonymous:

Whatever benefits DirectX 10 provides in the graphics area, it loses those in the sound area.

Baked:

Ashton needs to re-think his articles abit more.....

4. Desktop search and search folders built in

Yep for the first time a search that is worth having for the PC just like google for the web. IT WORKS GREAT!


7. Better file navigation

The new folder structure and navigation is whats been lacking for many years in windows.


3. Up-to-date driver base and better driver handling on installation.

Having done a few installs of vista now i have to agree MS are finally getting things right.....not once have i had to install drivers to install vista......sure i'v installed nvidia and chipset drivers after install is done adn vista is already running.......but the point is vista was up and running straight away from the start.....no SATA / drive issues etc LOVE IT WD MS




Theres lots of reasons i love Vista already but these are the key ones.


ASHTON.......before posting a article diss'ing the biggest software launch ever to be realeased...how about doing a bit more research....AS EVERYTHING YOU POSTED WAS SAID 5-7yrs AGO ABOUT XP. OLD NEWS!!!

Anonymous:

"Face it: your arse belongs to Redmond."

This guy actually offers his arse to Redmond.

A. Lizard:

with the Debian Etch Linux distribution.

What you typed is a pretty good description of my experience with getting my new GeForce 6100 AM2 motherboard running Nvidia.

I installed it and it worked immediately. While the driver that got me to a working desktop was a generic vesa video driver, installing the real Nvidia driver repackaged for my Linux distro was a boring, adventure-free process.

In fairness, I haven't been happy with the built-in search setup. But since beagle is known-good, I installed it and it's indexing my files right now.

A. Lizard:

with the Debian Etch Linux distribution.

What you typed is a pretty good description of my experience with getting my new GeForce 6100 AM2 motherboard running Nvidia.

I installed it and it worked immediately. While the driver that got me to a working desktop was a generic vesa video driver, installing the real Nvidia driver repackaged for my Linux distro was a boring, adventure-free process.

In fairness, I haven't been happy with the built-in search setup. But since beagle is known-good, I installed it and it's indexing my files right now.

Anonymous 2:

Why would it be worth it to spend that much money on something that looks pretty and will let you search your computer better? And XP is well worth any work that it takes to get it running because it doesn't fail you once it starts running. I ran vista for 2 months and became annoyed by the ever constant security pop-ups and incompatability with any program I attempted to install. Once I reinstalled XP I noticed an immediate improvement of all aspects. I will not be going to vista any time soon.

lubau (New user):

vista is complicated to use.....

Azrael Nightwalker:

My arse belongs only to myself. Not to Redmond. Nor anyone else.
Today I use Linux, tomorrow I can use BSD or Solaris.
I am free to use anything I want, especially in the world of free software (free as in freedom).
So if use say that your arse belongs to Redmond then I am very sorry - have fun being their slave.

Satai:

It seems, that Leopard only missses new Direct X and the point 10 ("resistance is futile").

Anonymous:

REDMOND... NO ONES ARSE BELONGS TO REDMOND. U FAT NERD GET OFF THE NET AND GET A REAL JOB

APC administrator:

Ehehe! Nice. Subtle, eloquent, well argued... possibly the best quality comment we've ever had here at APC. ;-)

RickyZed20:

ha ha ha omg thats hilarious dude... you rock!

ailahusky:

Maybe you don't know Bill like I do. 8P

Robert:

There was nothing in that article that was a "must upgrade" for anyone.

#10 was just stupid. My arse belongs to Apple and OSX. Superior in almost every way.

Erik:

I cannot agree with your views, except points 9 and 10 all of these features have been in other operating systems for a few years now (osx, linux). However nobody actually switched to them for those reasons, so I can't think why they would be the reason to upgrade to vista.
I've read about some idea to have DX 10 run on xp through the wine project, if that would work (might take some time, but I can actually see this happening) point 9 is dismissed.
The sole reason to switch would be point 10 then, but on the other hand. When I go to the average people using their computer for email and photo stuff I know I could switch their XP to say Ubuntu without them really noticing.
The problem here is that MS owns not my arse but the arse of computer shops that offer no alternative to windows to the average customer...

Anonymouse:

Agreed. Mac OS X is the ONLY OS worth having.

Anonymous-:

If you like my first OS by fisher price.

Remi:

Point 1 could have been built as a "One size fit (almost) all application". Point 2 could have been done a few years ago.
Point 3 could be part of a massive driver library. Point 4 could be done using Google Desktop.
Points 4 to 9 could have been built as part of XP SP3 instead of a new OS.
Point 10. I have a choice, flipping between Mac and XP for some Windows apps that I still can't find in Mac.

Forty:

What (w)indows apps can't be found on Mac? I got a Mac G5 less then a year ago and for the 1st time I am free from computer frustrations!!!

Mr. Wizard:

"I got a Mac G5 less then a year ago and for the 1st time I am free from computer frustrations!!!?"

Sure. When you have a overpriced toy computer made and marketed to appeal to simpletons, you can expect less frustration...but you paid too much for a pathetic excuse for a modern computer.

Seriously, if you are one of the many people who paid a premium for a Mac logo, only to run some flavor of Linux (and maybe dual booting with WinXP Pro at those times when you can't avoid dealing with the Micro$oft Monopoly(tm) ), why the heck didn't you just build (or order) a much better computer for far less money, like tech savvy computer enthusiasts and business owners who care about cost effectiveness have been doing for decades?

If you are a typical MacLuser, you don't know much about computers, and probably got suckered in by Apple's not-so-subtle "Macintosh == Computers for Dummies" marketing ploy. You may even buy into crap like "Macs are immune to viruses."

There is very little in the way of a valid, rational reason to buy a Mac these days, unless you actually like the flaunt the fact that you are willing to pay too much $$$ for too little computer.

In the 80s and 90s, there was a valid reason to buy a Mac and run MacOS if you were into publishing or did certain kinds of graphic artwork. These days, there is little (if anything) of consquence that you can do on a Mac that you can't do on more common, better supported, less proprietary plaforms, usually for far less money.

Robert Surtees:

If you do some checking around you will soon discover that any Macintosh computer is cheaper than any PC that has the same capabilities, I'll admit that Apple don't have computers as cheap as some PCs but they are not as powerful. The best system for running Widows XP is a Mac Mini which will give you more power than any other similar PC

Anonymous1:

Troll

ryan mesler:

1. apple already did it
2. who cares. the average computer user doesn't do reinstalls of their operating system on a regular basis. when they do, it's off of a set of rescue discs that come with an IMAGE (OMG) of the factory installed operating system
3. wow? just-baked? as in bleeding ege? awesome! enjoy 19,500 drivers that may or may not work!
4. give me a freakin break. seriously? who cares.
5. congratulations microsoft!
6. they only did that because fidelity investments had to blame SOMEONE for their moronic VP that lost their laptop with hundreds of thousands of retirement accounts on it. is this really useful to the non-commercial, everyday user? not really.
7. honestly, almost half your reasons to switch to vista are for things that really aren't anything new.
8. apple already did it.
9. let's cross that bridge when we get to it.
10. wrong. commerical customers who have too much time and money already invested in microsoft have no choice. we, "the people", do.

your rebuttal is a joke, and it sickens me to think you make money doing this.

Frank:

Hi,
What I did not see in this argument is that not only will Microsoft charge top dollar for its product, it's also releasing it in 5 flavors, only one of which will actually have all the features.
Um... am I the only one who has a problem with that? Not only do I not want to buy a product that isn't fully featured by the design, I also don't want to be reminded every time I want to use the technology that should be there but isn't, that it would be a great idea for me to upgrade. And you know Microsoft is going to remind you again and again and again until you give in.

I don't think that's a polite way of doing things. I don't want to buy a half-assed product. When Apple charges some money to upgrade the system the outrage can be heard as far as Andromeda. Software development costs money, money somebody has to pay. I don't mind paying for software but Microsoft is going to charge money for buying the product and then it's going to whine about it not feeling great until I upgrade to the full version. At a price, of course.

My idea of a system is a tool that offers full featured functionality across the board at a decent price. Microsoft is starting to develop a system like car manufacturers produce cars: you can have a simple car for this much money, if you want the stuff that you actually wanted it's going to cost you n much more.

Thanks a lot, Microsoft.

Anonymous:

Nice list.

I wish though that people would stop saying OSX and Linux do this and that.
They don't.
They do equivalents, but not the same.
Especially Linux. Yes you can get open source this and that, but unless you are a techie, forget the support.

The main reasons why we buy Windows is:

A) because it comes with the PC we bought.
B) All the software I already own licenses for works on it and if I wish to upgrade that software, the upgrade is either cheaper than an alternative or I get real support for that software.
C) We all know how to use it. I've tried Linux once a year every year for the last 10 years. Every time I am unable to do something as easily as on Windows.
D) Yes you can run apps that let you play games but not at the speeds and frame rates as on... Yup... Windows.

I could go on, but I'm getting bored now.

Until the day Linux, OSX, etc can be PROPERLY compared to each other including support for them, Microsoft truly does own your rear end.
(I'm English, we're polite and do not say Ass or Arse)

Oh and a final point. Will people please stop typing M$! It immediately looks like you are employed to hate Microsoft and spread nastiness around about them. In effect, you ruin your own credability.

Anonymous:

Go ahead, take the plunge and replace your bloated PC apps with mac equivalents (or just use Parallels!)

I did this and the user experience is BEYOND COMPARE. Microsoft can ape some of the cool features of OSX but is totally incapable of turning out a well-integrated, well-thought-out, well-engineered experience.

Instead they leave it to the users to figure out how to salvage usefulness from the dumptruck full of disconnected parts they deliver.

Try this, then re-read your post; you will see how sheltered it sounds!

Anonymous:

You've never used OS X as your primary system. 99% of these features are already available and are so easy to use you'll never go back to a PC/Windows based machine. I code html/php/java on a mac, design on a mac, and do all my personal functions: email, word, internet, audio etc in OS X...

My old PC collects dust and I no longer have to constantly buy new equipment and upgrade/spyware check or reload XP Pro every six months.

The biggest shock in switching to OSX is that you don't have 1000s of software titles to choose from because 80% of what you need is bundled into the OS and works better than the products you end up buying to supplement the OS on your PC.

Why else do you think Windows based it's design more or less on OSX?

serge:

the first game that comes to mind that i have needs an Nvidia Geforce 6 series graphics card or equivelant at least, guess what, as far as i know, Nvidia doesnt have the neccessary drivers for Vista to support Geforce 6

Anony Mouse:

Most of these 10 are usability features which we already have or expected to see back in 2000 (now it is too late).
1..7 - you gotta be kidding! I think you missed the graphical user interface and the mouse navigation "extra features" from the list.
8. sounds like a nice idea
As for 9. - this is exactly the reason why nobody would need Vista. Save up a bit more money and buy a game console.
10. Let's get back to this in 5 years time...

kill-9:

@Anony Mouse said -
"As for 9. - this is exactly the reason why nobody would need Vista. Save up a bit more money and buy a game console."

actually, consoles are actually cheaper than PCs in the longrun.

the xbox hit the market at $400 (USD) in 2001 and was replaced by the 360 in 2006, but not before the price dropped to $150, all the while playing every xbox game that hit the market.

try keeping a $400 (USD) PC around for 5 years, playing every game that comes out for it, without needing to buy more memory or a new video card, or downloading and installing new drivers.

Anonymous:

Replying to corresponding arguments:

1 - As you said, all those features already exist, none of them are new on Vista. Micro$oft is late... as usual.

2 - Pre-installed image = no computer specific optimizations... Hail the Linux custom kernel (it's actually incredibly easy to do.)

3 - Open-source drivers = recompile, go. Closed source drivers = wait 3 aeons until you get you HW to work.

4 - Already on some desktop environments. Again, not new/late.

5 - Windows and reliability are volatile when mixed. It has been proofed time and time again.

6 - You (purposefully) didn't mention the slowdown it incurs on the environment. Anyway, already exists.

7 - Is that an argument?

8 - Well, disk size has been increasing considerably, so there's actually no drawback on having multiple copies of the same document, this however is not an OS feature, but a specific program's. Office has it already, as well as many other alternatives.

9 - OpenGL 2.1 has been out for a long while. The innovations of DX10 are not new. Also Micro$oft's argument in not having the graphics driver on kernel mode is (again) not new. And, having the system itself use DX10 all the time is a useless waste of system resources. Unless Micro$oft comes out with a way to unload all those eye-candies, gaming won't happen on Vista.

10 - I have choice and viable ones: Linux, FreeBSD, Mac, you name it. Vista will be a fiasco just like all other Windows releases. And just like the never-released Cairo (Longhorn's old brother that was never born).

Bob Bobland:

You have "proofed" your point beyond argument.


And PS: Cairo was not an OS, it was a project focusing on creating and stabilizing bleeding-edge technologies for Microsoft. All but one of Cairo's technologies have been implemented in Windows. And even if it were an OS, the project ran from 1991 to 1996. High competition for Vista indeed.

mark:

The funny thing about this list is, while some of these things may be new to Windows, they've existed in other OS's for some time. OS X, Linux, etc...so really, this is MS playing catch up after 6 years of trying to come up with something innovative and eventually just settling for something very sub-par to it's original hype.

The only way to have a choice is to make the choice. MS Windows is dying, I give it 10-20 years before other OS's take over the market and MS is resigned to Office apps and xbox's. Why? Simple: the next generation is more technology literate, and MS Windows is too dumbed-down: especially Vista.

Anonymous:

...the majority of your Top 10 list should be modern-day OS no brainers.

Wow, a desktop search...Go Microsoft!

Ford Prefect:

I had the choice not to use Windows 95.
I had the choice not to use Windows 98 or the even crappier ME.
I had the choice not to use Windows 2000.
I had the choice not to use Windows XP.

Please tell me why I would not have the choice not to use Windows Vista now.

Higgielk:

seems for years now, people as a whole have resistied change in OS's. As for the thirdparty software problems, is that Microsoft's fault? Even with 95, it took a year or two for software to catch up...
even longer for the much maligned ME...

I have finally updated all my pc's to XP, and will start slowly with Vista. took me 5 yrs for XP.

Yes, there are alternatives, but Linux is still in a geek world. I've tried using it, but for the average person its too complex!!! Never tried Apple, don't have a need to.

Bottom line, with all the systems that have come and gone, Microsoft has made computing easy for the average user. There will be howls of disdain about that, but look at the sales, and yes, Microsoft does own us, just like the car company's and whatever else you would like to compare.
we have a choice, but who wants to ride a horse 200 miles.....

Anonymous:

*ROTFL* Very convincing arguments.

So the real advance in Vista is the game API*? They should call it TOY OS then!
* (everything else and more is already available in MacOSX and Linux, in most cases way better implemented!)

About pt. 10: I pity you. It actually shows the ugly situation you're in. You've become so dependent on Microsoft, that whatever they bring to market, the MS fangirl section has to hype it - even if it's bloatware like Vista (must be heavy to be an MS shill while other OSes run circles around Windows).
Nobody is forced to use Vista, no matter what you say. There is definitively live without Microsoft. Millions of users don't rely and pay for the latest crapware from Redmont and are happy about that.

mattumanu:

1. UI built for the era of video and digital photography

Might be nice, if it can also read other file formats. My adobe PSDs don't come up in any file search as thumbnails.

2. Image-based install

Unanswered questions: how does it handle backups? Is it automated? Does it do it at all?

3. Up-to-date driver base and better driver handling on installation

My Printer will no longer work under vista, so says microsoft's own upgrade advisor. So with Vista I'd have to buy a new printer.

4. Desktop search and search folders built in

Funny, I don't have that much trouble finding stuff on my computer. I can't remember the last time I "searched" for anything on my computer. Oh Well.

5. Sleep mode that actually works.

That would be nice. But then again, how easily is it broken? What software will cause it not to go into sleep mode? Screensavers? More Unanswered questions.

6. Rock-solid laptop encryption

Rock-solid Encryption? LOL!! Make him stop! Help me someone, I'm dying laughing! LOL!! It hurts!! LOL!!!!

7. Better file navigation

We'll see if it's actually better or not. It could just be that it's new is why people say it's so good. Once the novelty wears off, it might be that all of the new 'innovations' will turn out to be hogwash.

8. Inbuilt undelete

As long as I don't have to fly a spaceship to it to get to my old versions of files, I'll be fine.

9. DirectX10

Not everyone plays games. And, I think it's crass of MS to withold it from XP users when MS says they will support XP for "X" number of years... Again, Oh Well.

10. Face it, you have no choice

Sure I do. XP professional is still a choice, as well as Mac OS X, and any number of linux editions... If MS blows it this time, that's it. It's over for them.

Anonymous:

First off, reasons 2 and 3 are not reasons at all. The general populous already has XP installed; the fact that the upgrade is (supposedly) easy is no reason to actually do it.

Reasons 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8 are already in other, better operating systems; some have been for many years. These aren't reasons to upgrade, they're reasons to switch.

And reasons 9 and 10 are not only incredibly bad reasons to switch, but they're downright insulting. I'm actually offended that you consider the fact that they don't even offer you a choice as a reason to stick with Microsoft.

As for reason 5, I feel compelled to point out that Windows' ACPI support is only due to Microsoft's influence in developing a deliberately convoluted standard to hinder competing operating systems, a monopolistic business practice that borders on antitrust; however that's irrelevant to users. What is relevant, however, is the fact that I know dozens of Windows users, and Sleep works fine for all of them. Sleep works fine for me too, on both XP and Linux. There's nothing here that Vista could offer me.

BurningFeetMan:

The user will always have choice. Your article doesn't really inspire me to go out and purchase Vista either. I think I'll choose something else to buy instead.

Laer:

Yeah, like a spare version of XP, just to have on hand. They're going pretty cheap right now in some stores. ;)

Woomera:

After dealing with the general "public user"
since DOS6 do you really think that they give a rats ar*e about THOSE 10 reasons, what a lot of crap!

Griffyn:

Man, really scraping the bottom of the barrel with this article. "Finally, you don't have to rely so much on third party apps to work with your files." Not sure how this is a selling point, considering most 3rd party apps are free, reliable, often updated with features that users WANT, and do the job without requiring licenses, DRM, etc.

In fact, reading through, I spent my time saying, "don't care" except for No.8

And DirectX 10? Are you kidding me? Only the kiddies with their $1200 video cards will be lying awake at night waiting for that. Nobody else cares.

In fact, this whole article should be deleted in my opinion. It offers nothing to anyone except poor, misguided, argumentative tosh.

DarkDust:

Except for the undelete and the search, all those reasons given here are so weak it really hurts. This reads like a desperate "really, there IS a reason to upgrade to Vista" cry from a fanboy.

APC administrator:

I'm anything but a Microsoft fanboy actually... read the "about me".

DarkDust:

I don't want you to call a fanboy, but to me this list reads like that, sorry. I've used Linux for seven years now and now switched to Mac, and while reading through this list I constantly thought, "what's the big deal, I already have that" except the undelete (which sounds like Timemachine in the upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard).

Let's go through the list:

1.: Okay, nice. Mac has that, KDE has that (kind of).

2.: Since an OS I have to reinstall often is broken, so if you think it's a good reason you haven't missed the fact that there's something wrong here. (And even then it's a weak reason to upgrade)

3.: Okay, nice. Whatever. Six months from now you have to go to the vendors homepage for current drivers anyway.

4.: Okay, nice. Mac has that, Linux has that although it's not really good. Available on XP as third party app, AFAIK (I don't use Windows, so I may be wrong).

5.: I don't get why "they finally fixed something that shouldn't have been broken in the first place" is a good reason. Okay, it may be a good reason for laptop users, I don't know HOW broken the sleep on XP is, but last time I've seen it on a friends laptop it seemed to work alright.

6.: For enterprises, this is a good reason. Again, Mac has that, Linux for a long time now (although as always, it's not very userfriendly on Linux).

7.: Nice, but not a reason to upgrade, IMHO.

8.: Now THIS is the only compelling reason. That's a good one, and not available anywhere else (although Mac OS X Leopard will have that as well, they call it Timemachine and the developer builds show that it already works; so this time Microsoft really has a headstart with a new feature).

9.: Noone uses it right now. It may be different in a year from now.

10.: My arse doesn't belong to Redmond since I left the Windows world in disgust after I've been frustrated with Windows 98 for a few months. Haven't looked back. So no, this is no reason at all.

To me, this leaves one reason for home users (undelete) and another one for enterprises (encryption). The rest is either really dull or not very impressive and no really good reason to upgrade (or in my case: switch) to Vista. I really don't want to insult you, but since there are only two out of ten reasons that seem valid to me, it sounds like a fanboy defending Vista to me, sorry.

DarkDust:

You missed a REALLY good reason, BTW: the better security through better privilege separation. Especially in IE. It's something that UNIX users have for decades now, and that Mac OS X users have as well, but it's really, really important and will really matter to people as it MAY help decrease malware (at least for a short period until the malware developers find enough loopholes to automatically install their stuff again).

Jazzor:

There are two situations here:

a) Some of these posters are running either Mac OSX or Linux right now.

b) Some of these posters are running either XP or 2000 right now.

Solution for users (a):

Keep the OS you are running right now, if it works fine for you, simply ignore the thread and don't do the upgrade (by the way, I'm not quite sure you can upgrade for OSX or Linux to Vista, unless thats another top feature reason to upgrade ). This thread was intended for those who are running an OS which offers a way to upgrade to Vista (like XP for example?) - So I really don't see the point of wasting your precios time posting in a thread which doesn't even match with the kind of situation you are or will pass throught. Leave it to those thinking about upgrading, not switching. If you want to make a switch, buy it and install it. If you don't like it, then go back to your old OS. Remember, you can always get a free demo copy of Vista before you install. Microsoft has always made that availablefor the end user.

Solution for users (b):

The same one about getting your hands on a Demo version, try it out, install it on a test computer or run it under Virtual PC 2004 or 2007 beta (both are free!). If you don't like it, stick with your old OS and move on.

The funny thing is that most of these whinning users are likely to upgrade their pcs to Vista sooner or later... nobody sticks with an old pc like everyone whines about "oh my old pc aint going to handle Vista, and I love it so much and I'm so way behind new technologies that I'm sticking with my computer running Windows 98 SE" For christ sake, if yall don't help in the advance, then we'll stay stuck forever. One reason why OS take so long to become real OSs (like XP, it took 3 years to XP to be a real worth thing, right after SP2) is the poor and delayed adoption.

Vista is an improvement, and worth the upgrade. Remember, leave the Ultimate to the ones that can pay for it. Microsoft is offering Home Premium (Media Center 2005-like) for only $159. XP- Home was $199 when it came out.

KVron:

I know a lot of people who have been using Linux or Mac for a long time and they're not going to change (or go back) to any Microsoft OS. So, what's their point in this discussion about Windows Vista??

Yeah, many of us alreay know that a lot of the "improvements" in Vista are already in other OS.. so what?? Is this a reason not to change?? I don't think so!!

In fact, I think XP users have more good reasons to upgrade to Vista: most of its "new" functions have already been tested by Mac OSX and Linux users, so go and test Vista Now!


Jazzor, yours is one of the wisest comments here, you are f*ckin' right man!

Anonymous:

To be honest, I started reading this article just so I can understand what MS enthusiast see as vista greatest advantages. If these are really the top reasons to change to vista, then the 10 reason not to are a lot more compelling reasons to stay away from
it.

heck, most benefits of getting vista listed you can have them by switching to linux or mac; without having to worry about all the Digital Restrictions Management, restrictive license, and tremendous hardware requirements!

Roy Batty:

actually get paid to write this?

Anonymous:

"Face it: your arse belongs to Redmond."
thanks to god, no. I use linux from 5 years, and don't remember almost anithing of windows systems... And I am absolutely happy.

Anonymous:

I am not going to say that both the "10 reasons to get" and the "10 reasons NOT to get" Vista are unashamedly biased and lack of professionalism, but in fact APC Mag is owned by ninemsn :)

"Formed in 1997, ninemsn is a 50:50 joint venture between the Microsoft Corporation and Australia's leading media company, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL)."

Richard:

Thank GOD for Virtualization so I can run Vista but kick Windows off the hardware FOREVER. Windows belongs in the nice padded walls of a virtual machine,

Anonymoose:

1. Face it, they tried this 'folder view setting' crap with XP too, and I shut it off. Frankly, I don't know anyone who knows how to turn it off that has it 'on'.
2. Useful for IT departments and OEMs, but they can do similar stunts with XP too. For the home user? I thought Vista with its new kernel model wouldn't need reinstalling. Also, there's the new licensing - only one install. Somewhat mixed messages here...
3. Hmmm... Best drivers? Maybe in a year or two, but right now this is just not true.
4. Wow, they took the suck out of XPs search. How hard was that?
5. Ok, I admit it. It's useful.
6. This isn't even on my top-100 list of things that need fixing.
7. This sucks so miserably I just want to shoot someone.
8. Mildly useful, but more of an evolution than a revolution. Personally, I use SSafe or superversion if I want revision handling.
9. Ah. Here it is - an actual reason it will hit off. By keeping DX10 from XP, they will assure that gamers will eventually move to Vista... Or another OS that offers a good gaming experience.
10. You call this a _reason_?

Also, I'd like to add 'OEMs will deliver new machines with Vista pre-installed'.

BobSongs:

Well, I can't offer ten reasons why I'd buy Vista. But I can offer ten as to why I wouldn't buy it.

1. I used Microsoft O/Ses since DOS 3.2 and Windows 3.0 (missed version 2) up to Windows XP Pro SP2. I watched each upgrade from Windows95 to XP released yearly (Win95a, Win95b, Win98, Win98SE, WinMe, Win2K and WinXP). Then the retooled O/Ses stopped... unless you want to add Windows Media, or WinCE, or Win2003. XP users like me waited 5 years for something more than patches. And these days 5 years for an O/S upgrade is like Pony Express to Internet. There's no justification to leave us waiting so long.

2. If I had a nickel for every re-installation ... I'd own a small tropical island by now. Translation: I've had enough. Even if the new install is faster... it still means doing it again and again... simply faster. I prefer the Mac O/S. Get it in... and... that's it.

3. My 2nd household PC runs Ubuntu GNU/Linux commonly called "Dapper Drake". My family is satisfied. No demands for Vista forthcoming.

4. My main PC is ... no longer a PC; it's a MacBook Pro. And if you think I'm going to run out and buy Vista because Microsoft is selling it? heeheehee. Yeah, right.

5. The ten reasons why NOT to buy Vista sound far more reasonable to me.

6. My posterior has never belonged to MSFT. Some of my money went their way. My licence number for XP died the same day I installed Ubuntu Linux. I figured this was a sign from above that it was time to retire Windows as my main O/S. This happened over a year ago. I've not gone back since.

7. Do you honestly know what Vista will report to Microsoft? Think of it people: you can say to yourself, "If I'm legitimate there's nothing to worry about when Windows sends Microsoft my personal information." What on earth are you thinking?! Do you send all your personal mail on postcards for all to read. Sure, you're not terrorist. But don't you use sealed envelopes? Well? Keep buying Microsoft products. Go ahead. Tell yourself you need it for DirectX 10 and your oh-so-important games.

8. When I download Linux and install it: it belongs to me. You can't say that about Microsoft Windows from version 1.01 till Vista (all flavors). The software isn't yours; you only purchased the right to use proprietary software. I hope Microsoft doesn't revoke your right to use it. Have you read and fully understood the End User's Licence Agreement? It tells you before you install Windows that you must read it carefully. Have you? You know you'd have to print it up and bring it to a lawyer before you'd begin to understand it. And yet... you click "I Agree." heeheeeheee.

9. I doubt that it's that different under the hood. Oh sure, the interface is new. But it's going to get gummed up with viruses, malware, zombieware, spyware and adware within a few months. Users will complain about how it keeps getting slower. Friends who don't use Vista will still drop in and fix things. The few cosmetic changes won't be enough to justify purchasing it to get used to it. Besides, is Google going to die the day Vista is released? Googling for answers is still going to be the norm. And fixing Vista with Google's help won't be much different than what it is now.

10. I remember the wait for Windows95. It was going to be a huge upgrade from Windows 3.x. The time span was quite long (1992 - 1995), but the wait was worth it. Win95 had long filenames, plug and play, so and and so forth. Vista offers... what? The fact that it's new? Some tweaks here and there? Is it going to be worth it before Service Pack 1 is released? If your system gets trashed... hope your back up software was recently used... or ... oh yeah: it won't be compatible with Vista. heeheehee.

Beamage:

You guys give me a headache! What a load of crap Macs do this and Linux does that and have been for longer. A lot of what we call new and cool was released with Novell fifteen years ago.
I am an Education administrator and work with all the platforms and have done so for 15 years. Yes Macs get viruses’ and yes you can hack a Mac as well as a Linux box; in fact I know an 8th grader that can get through the Linux security faster than Vista security. The problem with Linux and Macs is the user is usually too high on themselves to even realise they are infected, just about every Mac I fix around town has a virus. Have you tried installing something in a Mac, hardware wise they always crash and software costs twice as much, and yes programs crash when you install something that conflicts with something you have already installed.
Linux? What software? Yes it’s all free open source crap that I don’t want and the average user can not get help from the kid next door or any where else.
I do like the Mac server platform, but cost keeps it out of the day to day market as the X Serv with its SATA is to expensive. Give ma a big Intel Raid SCSI server any day!
I have been running Vista at home for over a year now and before that I ran the beta versions; I have never had to reinstall any of those original installations. For the money and over all experience like software libraries and hardware upgrades and over all performance MS is the answer. Like it or not!
Vista is beautiful and I have liked it from day one.
I like my Dual core Mac, it is the best Mac yet! But it cost a small fortune compared to my PC.
Yes I do like Linux, as a server, not as a workstation, I have better things to do with my time than spending hours to try and make a popular sound card work.

Why do we mock what we do not understand?

James Andrews:

Hi,

I recently received my copy of Vista and have just finished installing it. My reason for installing it was that I am an IT professional and my customers (since I live in the MS space) are likely to want to install it so I am somewhat obliged to "dog food" (to use an MS term) the latest stuff to become familiar with it. From my short (2 days so far) experience and experience with many other OS's I can refute most of your reasons. So here goes:

1.) Digital video and photos. Might be fine for home use, but most corporate users wont need to bother. It just adds bloat to the OS in a corporate setting. Its annoying that MS tries to be all things to all people all the time. And if you want most of those features you have to get Vista Ultimate, the most expensive and probably most appropriate for the home user. What is MS doing here? The poor home user is getting ripped off and the corporates are getting feature bloat.

2.) Image based install and speed of installation. Okay I heard about this and I am a huge advocate of it. However WHERE THE HECK IS THE BENEFIT WITH THE VISTA INSTALL!!! It took me over an hour to install Vista from scratch on my 1 year old 2GB 3.4GHZ HP Pavilion Desktop replacement laptop (not a slow or under spec'd machine). For the record, Windows XP takes about 40 minutes at most manual install, about 25-30 if I script the install and 10-15 if I image my laptop. Vista, the newest and supposedly with this new fangled install takes at least twice all of those times to install. On the Linux front, both Fedora and Ubuntu take between 10-15 minutes from scratch to install. The install time for Vista NOT good.

3.) Up to date driver handling. The first few times I installed the installation failed due to either Hyper threading being turned on (something it _should_ handle) or my wireless keyboard being plugged in (even though it worked during the install phase!). Both things seemed to kill the install at the last step. Vista didn't log anything, or even give me a meaningful message about where it had failed. It just bombed out. If it had up to date drivers and driver handling it _should_ have been able to recover from that. Note that none of my hardware is odd ball. Probably the keyboard is the only thing that might be problematic (Belkin? A relatively known brand) , but that shouldn't have killed the install making me start the whole 1 hour process over again! Once installed though Vista did a good job of finding all my other devices, better than XP, but you have to get there first!

4.) This is good for sure. I will happily concede this. However the indexing appears to be slow. No evidence, just initial observations.

5.) Sleep mode. Okay fine... My linux install worked better than XP at doing this. Hardly a huge deal to make you go out and buy the OS. XP worked once you configured it properly.

6.) Data Encryption. Again, WHAT THE HECK IS MS THINKING?!?! You need the Ultimate edition to get this. Who would probably benefit from this the most? Corporates! But to get it you need to buy into the feature bloat and all the stuff you don't need. So you pay for a whole bunch of features you neither need nor want to get one that you do. Its a con!

7.) Better File Navigation. Haven't really had enough time to form an opinion. But initially I think that it is different, but not necessarily better, I have found the way it obscures some things quite frustrating (from a technical users point of view) but it might be better for the average users. Will re-visit this when I have had a better play! However, again for corporate users, I am not sure the usage learning curve and re-adjustment is worth the cost of the upgrade quite yet.

8.) Inbuilt undelete. Another useful feature for sure, but not worth the upgrade. It will drive HDD sales thats for sure! As your shadowcopies (or previous versions or whatever they are called) grow your disk space shrinks. I imagine you can control it, but hey its something that is available in XP if you want to a.) buy a 3rd party product (add the feature yourself) or b.) if you are in a corporate environment you may already have it via ShadowCopy on Windows 2003. (Network shares etc) so again its not a compelling reason to upgrade, but it is a good feature.

9.) DirectX 10. Good for gamers but not much else. Generic corporate users don't really need it. Not a compelling reason for a corporate upgrade. Maybe if you are a hard core gamer and know some titles that support it you will be compelled to upgrade because of this. However a games published that only makes games for Vista in the medium term, will not sell to many games. So rest assured the gamers will still be fine on XP for at least another year to 18 months and probably longer.

10.) Can't avoid it. Probably right, but if I were running an IT department (which I am not) wouldn't upgrade for at least 18 months. It doesn't appear worth it at the moment. But you are right, when the batches of pre-loaded Vista machines start rolling out, its going to get all over the place. But this time round I wouldn't be surprised to if there were a backlash and XP gets support for a bit longer than previous OS's.

Well that's my 2c worth. I think I'll have a few better informed impressions once I have been using Vista for longer. But for now, its nice eye candy, but functionally not a super compelling upgrade.

James

Anonymous:

if I were running an IT department (which I am not)

I do.

1.) Digital video and photos. Might be fine for home use, but most corporate users wont need to bother.

Most corporate users don't deal with videos and photos. Most of cubicle dwellers can't even play videos decently on their TNT2 cards. And besides, there is nothing wrong with videos and photos in Win2K or XP - you can open them and play them, what else is there to do? XP even previews photos as large thumbnails, that's quite enough.

Up to date driver handling

Does that include driver revocation mechanisms too? Companies do not want to buy thousands of video cards which can be "bricked" overnight because the driver is not secure enough, according to opinion of Disney.

Search. This is something cubicle dwellers almost never do. The reason is that there are indexing systems and rules enforced by the administrators and managers, and by the software used. You can't possibly imagine working on a project and dropping files all over the disk. Most CADs won't even allow you to do that, once you define a project. All files go into that project. There is nothing to search for.

Sleep mode. Works fine on every XP box I tried; all notebooks have fully working sleep modes by definition. Solution to a nonexistent problem?

Data Encryption [...] Who would probably benefit from this the most? Corporates!

You are dead wrong here. BitLocker will be outlawed by every company because it depends on users managing keys. You can't afford that, and you don't play with with strong encryption and company's files. XP already has EFS for that, and those keys are managed by the domain admin, as they should be. Anyone wanting laptop encryption can have it on XP instantly, and Vista offers zero advantage here.

Better File Navigation

The best navigation is the one that the user is familiar with. Thank you very much, MS, but my users aren't liking your Luna theme and the "new" useless start menu even, what is the chance they like to relearn the basic skills of moving around the FS?

Inbuilt undelete

There are already 3rd party utilities for that, and they work with XP. It's a nice thing to have, but hardly worth of upgrading the whole OS and the hardware!

And, of course, I must mention the DRM and activation and reinstall hassles that Vista offers. No company can afford to reinstall Vista on a production box if a motherboard dies, for example, and exactly the same spare m/b is available. That defeats the whole idea of spare parts!

APC administrator:

You need to do some more research on BitLocker vs EFS.

• EFS is easily broken
• BitLocker is whole-drive encryption, including the virtual memory and operating system.

And quoting from Microsoft's literature on Bitlocker:

1. Set an owner for the TPM by creating a TPM Administration Password.
2. Escrow the TPM Administration Password to Active Directory (AD) and/or save it to a file.

 

Anonymous:

His number one reason to move to Vista is bogus. All the "features" he says you get with Vista are already in XP. If you set your folder view to thumbnails you can see a little thumbnail of all the pictures in a folder with pictures or a screen shot of the beginning of any videos you have in that folder. And when you store music in a folder it will if you set view to details show you your id tag info for any mp3's you have in that folder. There are not really any compelling reasons to move to Vista and least not for a long time. XP have finally become pretty reliable and stable and most anything will work with XP which you wont have in Vista at least not for quite sometime. On top of that the big selling point or should I say one of the big selling points for movine to Vista is DX10 which while it might have some nifty new features is not worth it IMO since you can still produce games with the DX9.c API that look just as good as games made using the DX10 API the only benefit of DX10 is it makes the rendering of the game a little easier (from what I have read) but the point still stands most anything you can do in DX10 you can do in DX9.0c already.

Anonymous:

I'm not touching it. Its' UI is annoying, it doesn't have any features I want*, lacks many of those I can't live without, and just has so much /****/ that every time I hear of I think, "I'm glad I don't have to deal with that ****."

Redmond don't own me, and they're not getting my computer either.


*"How do you amaze windows users?"
"Show them workspaces and tabs."

Anonymous:

The blatantly copied items being :
1 & 7 : Nautilus file manager
2 : burn image to disk (actually LEGIT under Linux) .. yes, you dont need Norton Ghost for that ..
3, 5 & 6 : Well, Linux kernel does that for ages

.. so, that leaves :
- DirectX10 (not sure why anyones needs that ..
- File versioning ... some research project has to have some file I can try on Linux, but sure, it's not built in ..
- Mandatory upgrade ... well, I guess you should speak with the EEC and anti-trust agencies in your country if that's what you feel .. I, for one, am perfectly happy with my penguin ..
- The last one you forgot : adding some more money to a man who still can't buy (most Northern-hemisphere) countries ... :)

Anonymous:

I have a dual boot system, having recently decided to try Linux. I have installed the 3D display that kicks Aero's ass, and runs on next to no system resources when you use it compared to Aero. But my experience of XP and Linux can be summed up with these stats;

XP from boot, 510MB RAM, 400+MB Cache
Linux from boot, 280MB RAM, 0MB Cache

And with the 3D desktop, the processor is not breaking a sweat running it. Both at boot running the same applications I use in both OS's.

No need for DRM, so no need for Vista - no sale. Linux is not hard to install or use, just takes a bit of getting used to layout etc. etc. Linux will become my main OS soon enough. You should not need to buy a new computer just to "upgrade" an OS.

Freedom Fighter:

Who needs Windows anyway?
http://www.ubuntu.com
;-)

peace and love

JimmyJackFunk21:

Vista's Bitlocker sounds like it is a good data privacy product, but I like Voltage Security's stuff better. Anybody else?

G:

Microsoft has forgotten that it built its business from products that empowered its customers, not hampered them.

NOT!...it built its buisness by selling a product and letting the angry customers tell them what was wrong and then fixing it.

XP has had over 400 fixes to it. All Vista is is XP with all the holes patched and a few new insignificant changes.

But you have to hand it to Bill, it's a great scam.

drmastermind:

1) display video in thumbnails, and id3 tags of mp3's.. oh you mean like XP already does? (hint: in explorer check out view->choose details)

2) so every time windows freaks out and destroys itself or you get the virus of the day you get a pretty reinstall.. how nice. I think in the last 5 years I've actually seen the install screens for linux once and that was the day I installed it.

3) wow.. new drivers for a handful of hardware.

4) more stuff built in? Are you sure we really need more junk built into the os?

5) hibernate in XP has worked fine for me for years now.

6) EFS (encrypted filesystem) has existed in windows since windows 2000.. nothing new here kids

7) explorer was too complicated?

8) ok the flip side to this is.. it takes harddrive space to keep those backups. XP has a recovery option as well.

9) The only point you have.. gamers rejoice

10) We have no choice? What planet are you from? We have plenty of choices: stay with XP, move to Linux, OSX.. just because MS says it's ood doesn't mean everyone should jump at the first opportunity.

remember that quite a few of your existing apps and hardware are not going to function once you upgrade. There's also the new hardware that your going to need to keep vista happy

Funkstick:

Ever actually used encrypted file system and had to get files off a HDD and you didn't have the password? I have and it is dead easy. That is the problem.

Every single time there is a major update, there is first a huge group of negative people and a small group of postive people. It's funny how over time the 2 groups slowly shift in size to eventually they are the opposite.

I have seen the future, it happened 5 years ago. Still, I am not afraid :P.

For all the pricing nutters. XP pricing was pretty similar at the time of launch so get over it already.

Lisa:

"Face it: your arse belongs to Redmond."

...well, MY arse belongs to 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino! :P

Anonymous:

Download Vista for free when some smart cracker makes pirate copies of it.. It will happen... And for those who wants it to work proper... buy it from MS.. It will problably get cheaper by time.. I actualy liked 98Me.. except for the major crashes all the bloody time..

brodiepearce:

I'm only going to make one comment, your VERY FIRST point.

XP has everything you mentioned in that paragraph except the basic photo editing.

Otherwise, your 'colleague's' article "10 reasons not to get Vista' had many technical points and detailed them. This article merely gives us several aesthetic benefits, 'skin-deep beauty' if you will, whereas the opposing article featured deep, technical disappointments in Vista.

Greffin:

Sure, Microsoft is pricing its products. Why shouldn't they? There's not a whole lot of free none open-source products out there. They have a lot of employees, and they all need salary (I know that I, as a coder, wouldn't work at Microsoft just out of the goodness of my heart), not only the support department. By the way, how much does it cost to subscribe to support with a linux distro like Mandrake, Red hat or Suze?

And yes, Vista has some glitches in its system. But what new product hasn't? And so what if most of the new features presented in Vista has been seen in other OS before. It's a thrill for me that these features have become available in the OS that our companys customers require me to run.

I think you guys throw Microsoft a whole lot of crap just because the company is worth a lot of money. That's just predjudice and narrow minded. The choice is out there. If you like Mac, use it. If you like Linux, use it. If all the features in all the OS are equal, the competition is at least fear for all parts.

I've been running Vista for a bit over a month now, and I'm very satisfied. It is running on a 2.5 year old Dell Latitude D800 with no problems at all. Took me 20 minutes to install from scratch, and I must say, it's a real joy to work in. But I'm quite open minded. If my company's customers demanded that I used Mac, I would probably find some good features there as well.

And to finish off, Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 is the very best IDE of them all. MSDN online is the very best online resource and reference site out there. And there's not any other OS that listens more to users than Microsoft. Ref: Microsoft Problem reporting tool. The problem is just getting users to actually use the tools that MS provides.

You guys state that all the features Microsoft presents in Vista has been out for years in other OS. Why is it then, that most of the computers in this world are running Microsoft OS?

Hammerheal:

Exactly, Windows is the best out there, cause its easy for people to use. Not everyone is a computer genius. Hell my dad wouldn't even know where the graphics card is, in the computer.

Its the same with Bigpond Broadband. Sure, we know it sucks, but because they make it easy to sign-up and use, they get the most customers.

When everyone becomes excellent with computers, then we shall see a change into which OS is being used.

I already have XP and probably won't change until XP loses support. Or if we get another computer. Regardless, I'll still stick with Windows, because its the easiest to use, without having to know advanced programs like Linux and the like. All i want to do is look on the internet, play my video games, and maybe watch some videos with Media Player.

01:

Let me see... Some of the top resons to get Vista are a cleaner UI, that it is almost as good as Google and iPhoto at displaying photos and the basically you have to? Wow, am I regretting my switch to a Mac...

Richard:

to quickly jump ?!

Hundreds of people read this and noone has commented on this glaring error.

Split infinitives look and sound untidy. Consider the alternatives:

allowing you to jump quickly
quickly allowing you to jump

Anonymous:

What if the the "quickly" was describing the actual speed of the jump and not the readiness of the jumper

raindog:

You really need to get out more Richard!! While you spelling & Grammar Nazis are earnestly seeking out such things others are busy living meaningful and worthwhile lives. The onus of writing in a PC publication is more about good communication than obeying some contrary set of rules. Or is this something the new Office 2007 spell-check picked up that just had to be shared. Really!

Anonymous:

face it, your top 10 reasons fail.

they are pretty much useless reasons to buy an OS.

i say if you buy it, wait one year.

Anonymous:

in my oppionion vista is simply a wannab osx and linux ripoff with some of the values and asthetics of windows os, vista is a definate no no purchase and will not go as mainstream as xp did as it xp did revolutionise the windows os's, but as a user of the several platforms and xp being one of my main platforms that i use, i think people will simpoly stay with xp or venture to linux based os or macs. and in the case of sound, images and video expericence mac's are far superior and better to use for media

Manettas:

These forums create a reality distortion field. Take your comment: "i think people will simply stay with xp or venture to linux based os or macs." Are you serious? Do you really think the masses will stay with XP once they see the serious candy on Vista and once all software makers start switching to Vista versions, and games companies bring out Directx 10 games? This will be a Vista world, my friend, within 12 months. As for Linux, forget it. Apple Mac (now with Intel hardware, owner of the massive iPod generation, and maker of great looking OSs that also match Vista in usability) has a far better chance of cementing itself as the boutique alternative to Vista.

Anonymous12345:

Pft, you are all taking this far too seriously. I am a graphic designer and have used both Mac and Pc for ages now. I can tell you that while os x does have more personality theres absolutely nothing you can do in os x that you cant do in windows 98 and upwards. At the end of the day its all just a marketing gimmic but you have to admit vista is a huge improvement on xp visually.

I think within a year with service pack updates it will be equally secure as XP and with all those extra goodies you would have to be really stubborn and anti microsoft to not upgrade.

Mike:

Aside from everything in this article being a bunch of crap I do have to say I agree that these features are more a listing of power toys that could have been released years ago for XP I do want to point out anyone wanting a large driver pack please see http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/ if you slipstream these driver packs you will no need to download a driver after an XP install ever again oh and they are constantly updated so as to never run out of that "fresh baked" feel. Please do more thorough research on an article so as to not open it up to so much debate and hole poking.

Krishna:

"Face it: your arse belongs to Redmond." This, to me, is the most convincing argument in the article :-).

I would rather spend my dollars supporting the development of viable options.

Check out http://www.badvista.org. I am not religious about it, but feel its a good alternative to selling microsoft my ass :-).

Krishna

Mattio:

I got vista and it is stupid. The only thing that is different is the looks.

DAMO:

i have VLK version of vista ultimate i like it bcause it is a striiped down version of it the kernal is smaller etc

Cletus_Delroy:

2. Image-based install:
meh... big deal

3. Up-to-date driver base and better driver handling on installation:
what version of Vista did MS give you? most people are now becoming familiar with the that old Chestnut - "the BSOD' again...

4. Desktop search and search folders built in
Huh have you monitored your disk activity? Vista's indexing is a total resource hog. Google desktop search does it much better.

10. Face it, you have no choice
Amen to that


If we get lucky mayber Steve Balmer (or his kids) will get pissed off enough at his workstation and force Development to actually make Vista a decent OS on the next service pack...

RchUncleSkeleton:

If we all went mac when the eventual force of vista comes....then microsoft would be SOL! :-) Macs can now run OSX, XP, and VISTA. So you can still have your computer and drive microsoft down!

raindog:

Explain to me if you will RchUncleSkeleton how will purchasing a shiny new copy of Vista and loading onto the nearest Mac be bringing Microsoft down. Apart from a few rodents, keyboards and giveaway notebooks I dont seem to recall Microsoft being too active in the hardware stakes.
I doubt Microsoft would be too concerned if you tried to run their software on your popup toast or that old Microbee as long as you keep buying it.

davedave:

First my objections, then I'll tell you why I think I'm right.

1. Vista can't play .wav files encoded on any other version of windows (no DSP True Speech tm codec).

2. If you don't buy a new computer you can't get drivers that WORK.

3. Vista breaks software on a scale that makes XPSP2 look like a storm in a tea cup.

4. The 'more secure options' are simply boxes you click on.

5. Ask someone to turn on speech recognition and send them an mp3 with the phrase 'format ... c drive ... yes' and laugh at the results

Why do i think I'm right - the usual a uni degree in software engineering and electronic engineering with plenty of helpdesk/troubleshooting in a company based on writing and developing software.

Zeke Shadfurman:

sure Vista sucks now... probrably more than other releases. But it's microsoft! I wish linux was as easy to use, but I've tried and more times than I have fingers and NEVER got thru the learning curve. BAH! I won't upgrade yet just cause of the driver incompatibility issues, specially with 64bit. More people use windows, more programs are written for windows (at least commercially, if not open source) and microsoft picks up the slack. Up until the last time I tried to do linux, there were NO drivers for my hardware. So don't complain about that. I didn't upgrade from 98 to XP till xp was four years old... prob will do the same with Vista. I understand why peeps knock it... but did they REALLY expect anything else. in a couple years software will run on it, your'll have drivers for all your hardware and it'll be about as secure as xp is now. WHATEVA!

Mystified:

I keep reading repeatedly how Linux and MAC OS's are so superior in every way. If this is the case why do the majority of users continue to stay with MS Windows???

raindog:

Beta was a better solution than VHS but marketing saw made the lesser player reign. VHS is now mostly irrelevant see the parallels?

Microsoft's recent offerings have made it time to re-evaluate the alternatives. I dont see any of those alternatives are there yet but the gaps are closing.

pixidustedu:

People use Windows because that is what has been sold in stores exclusively for almost 2 decades. General population thinks computer = windows.

Windows computers are so widespread because they can be installed on any set of hardware. However, getting it to work or being able to sit down and do what you planned to do is always plagued with troubleshooting the OS/drivers/installations/feature use.

Macs and other OSs, on the other hand, have always been sold and distributed, but were pushed out of prime markets by Microsoft - and so the general customer is not familiar with them.

Macs are built on a specific set of hardware, and the OS is built to make use of every ounce of performance. So when you sit down to do what you planned to do, you get it done fast because you didn't have to troubleshoot.

So to answer your question:

"I keep reading repeatedly how Linux and MAC OS's are so superior in every way. If this is the case why do the majority of users continue to stay with MS Windows???"

When cars were built, the majority of the population still drove horse-drawn carriages.

Majority is a shifting population - where will you be?

*hands you a saddle and whip*
"Yeee-haw!"

Have fun with Windows.


___________

www.apple.com/getamac

Getamac:

People still use Windows because it is the norm. Stores sell computers with Windows, and nothing else.

Windows is so popular because it can be installed on any computer with any sort of hardware setup. But regardless of what setup you put it on, you will spend a great chunk of your time troubleshooting it or "just getting something to work".

Apple Macs, on the other hand, come on a set configuration of hardware, with an OS that squeaks out every bit of performance of the hardware inside. And because the hardware is controlled, there are fewer problems and it "just works".

To answer your question:

"I keep reading repeatedly how Linux and MAC OS's are so superior in every way. If this is the case why do the majority of users continue to stay with MS Windows???"

When cars were built, did everyone start driving one? No. Most people kept driving their horse-drawn wagons.

\hands you a pretty whip
"yeee-haw!"

Have fun with windows.

Bec:

I don't understand why people need to be angry or offensive about an operating system. There are alternatives to Microsoft, Linux has gained considerable ground over the past few years but is still a million light years from the market share that MS has. This doesn't make MS a better product. But what is right for you isn't for everyone. Vista has some cool features, some average features and some pointless ones, what's new. That happens with every new release from every large company. The pricing is the biggest draw back for MS. It pushes all the tech's away, cause they know they can either Pirate it or use an alternative. If you have the time, you can make XP do just about everything that Vista can and given time, either MS or someone else will make XP direct X10 compatible. But this is where MS get thier way and their market share. The techs are the only ones that want to allocate significant time to choosing the right OS. The users will take what is written in the most adverts. They may also buy Mac because their adds are cool too. Vista has made some significant changes from XP, and if you can afford it, well, It'll probably average out to be as useful as XP, and a fair bit prettier, but also has a massive tendancy to nag you about everything. Give it time, it has potential to be a worthwhile project but right now, it is mostly an overpriced, resource hungry OS kind of like having a good looking but nasty girlfriend/boyfriend.

Peter da Silva:

When Microsoft brings out a major renovation to Windows, you can choose to ignore it for a year or two, but then the device drivers start drying up [...] Face it: your arse belongs to Redmond.

I'm still running Windows 2000. I haven't seen a good reason to upgrade to Windows XP yet, including driver problems, so why should I be in a hurry to downgrade to Vista?

Lord_Zarniwoop:

I don't know why your worrying about drivers for Win XP I get by fine with Windows 2000 its a perfectly stable operating system just without all the 'enhancements' of XP. As for things like DX10 how hard is it to make it for Linux?

Douglas:

Reason 8 is only available on Business, Enterprise and Ultimate.

Alicia C Simpson:

Desktop search and search folders built in--meaning it will be easier for others to steal all your files (including Microsoft!).

Another Anonymous Person:

I quite agree with 10, in a negative way, yes, your arse does belong to Redmond, so you could use it as a toilet (or in other words, so you could sh*t on it)

Heavenkittykat13:

I bought this laptop prob 6 months ago. It is designed for XP but it is windows vista premium compatible. I got a free upgrade for windows vista business from sony and I installed it in my computer and I absolutely like it. I like the new graphics and design. I like the general look. I like the security features. I like the fact that my computer runs normally and about as fast when I was using my xp. I can costumize the color of my aol browser and all of my windows and I like that. I'm not a computer addict or a techie i suppose, I am just a regular consumer. But contrary to all the posts, I like vista over xp...

Douglas:

I agree. I have used Vista, and I really like it. The design is slick, not Playskool like XP is. I also like thefact that you can make it any colour you want under Aero, instead of having Blue Green & Beige, Silver Grey and Green or Green and Beige in XP. (I know it's a small thing, but I get bored with my UI quite easily, and don't want to replace explorer!)

regret:

Whoever wrote this obviously doesn't have the slightest idea as to what is actually happening in the computer world, and is apparently, a gleeful participant in the methods of our own computational future. I personally regularly use Slackware Linux and Apple OS10.2 and I have never had a something come up that I absolutely had to use a Microsoft Operating (if it ever operates properly) System to do. And take this from someone who gains a linux/apple convert at least once a week...Microsoft is not forcing your hand, it's not dragging you to the water and making you drink. You HAVE a choice and that choice my friend is Ubuntu (if you don't feel like purchasing a Mac). It takes all of 30 minutes to download (for FREE mind you), about 30 minutes to install (tops), and can do anything/everything a Windows computer can do right out of the initial reboot.

ITPROSUPPORT:

unlike most of these idiots i work for ms vista research and I am well aware of most of these myths about vista. You are quite correct, that you have several operating systems to choose from....choose one, case closed. But why do these woodstock hippies think that stealing intellectual property should not be punished?

John:

What the hell are you talking about with IP stealing?
Microsoft claims IP theft, but come up with no proof. Thats right, 0 proof.
Standard MS FUD (Fear, uncertainty, doubt) How about you give some evidence before you starting making allegations?
You are in vista research? Hang your head in shame. vista is a terrible terrible blight on the computing world. It is also a waste of money. With all the crap microsoft has forced into it, the user has no control over their own system anymore. To anyone readingt this, research palladium, and then make up your own mind as to whether you want anything MS on your system. Have a look at Ubuntu if you want a decent operating system.

adam:

Well, As long as I have a distro with repositories that still exist, I'm pretty comfortable with my Linux box. I have the ability, community, and right to know what's going on in my machine, as it is MY hardware, not Redmond's. When I do a fresh install I'm not asked to register or activate, I'm asked if I want more software!!!!

If I bought an Apple product, It is all encompassing and I would know that going in. However, the x86 platform was based on being upgradeable, modular, and, a word that MS and Apple are both distant from anymore, affordable.

Mr. Torvalds has allowed me stability, performance, and most importantly, liberty in choosing what goes on in my system.

Anonymous Vista User:

Despite dx10 being revolutionary and great. Those of us with dx 9 cards or below will see great loss in performance because of vista. Vista uses up to 800mb of ram on my computer at some points. At the moment my new dell box is running the same frames per second on 3d engines as my old 5 year old box....

anonymous user:

Thats all this is. Pure fud.

Desktop searches are better when they're in applications because you can actually choose what to do with the program, among other things.

Up to date drivers are also a laugh, the OS was just released, of course its more up to date than a stock XP install right now. That's like saying "Ubuntu is great because it has new drivers" but for open source every day is a new release, so there is no issue of being "behind" for the most part. The difference is that such a thing only happens once a service pack for windows (so every 2-6 years probably).

"Breadcrumb navigation"? Uh, pass.

Undelete? Already in XP. Similar functions available and programs do it better than XP does even with NTFS, lots of freeware.

Also NTFS support? now in XP. Read a linux mount from Windows? Also in XP.

DX10? already usable in xp. http://alkyproject.blogspot.com/

Face it, we all have a choice. Linux is it. It's easy to use, there are walkthroughs, and it looks 1000x better (go check out beryl videos)

serge :

1. EULA sucks, http://wendy.seltzer.org/blog/archives/2006/10/19/forbidding_vistas_windows_licensing_disserves_the_user.html that site has a short analysis of 6 horrifically anti-user EULA points. "You may not work around any technical limitations in the software."- thats one of said points
umm, that really sucks, can i work around a doc that doesnt open properly? probably not since thats "working around a technical limitation"
2. That fancy Aero Desktop, uses %20 of total processing power and RAM, thats a lot
3.NOTICE ABOUT THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD. This software includes MPEG-4 visual decoding technology. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice:
USE OF THIS PRODUCT IN ANY MANNER THAT COMPLIES WITH THE MPEG-4 VISUAL STANDARD IS PROHIBITED, EXCEPT FOR USE DIRECTLY RELATED TO (A) DATA OR INFORMATION (i) GENERATED BY AND OBTAINED WITHOUT CHARGE FROM A CONSUMER NOT THEREBY ENGAGED IN A BUSINESS ENTERPRISE, AND (ii) FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY; AND (B) OTHER USES SPECIFICALLY AND SEPARATELY LICENSED BY MPEG LA, L.L.C.- that is a notice posted conviently somewhere in the EULA as well
4.that nice Sleep thing is faster right, so if its faster it takes more info and keeps ones hard drive running at a faster rate, therefore its wasteful and i care about the environment, plus if it is *sooo* good than it should boot up pretty fast anyways

Home User:

These are just eight things that XP didn't do out of the box. Not one of them doesn't have a third-party app that solves the perceived problem. The game isssue? get a Wii, or a PS3, or (god forbid) a 360 xbox. Oh, and we do have a choice. And people who ask me about Vista issues in two years will be treated to a look at the 19" Powerbook that I'm saving up for.

meinrosebud:

The only reason to run Vista is that you are a masochist and you love to constantly solve problems. lol Puts on his flame proof suit.

kereme:

As some people commenting here told the only credible argument here for buying Vista is 10.

Yes it can show your pics in a folder, id tags for music. But due to codec incompatiblity issues codecs do not always work. I have soem folders where movies are shown as thumbnailds but sometimes thumbnails are shown upside down and this is sometihng I never solved. Players are another pain in the neck. My good old BSPlayer always compalining now that the file I want to play does not exist as it starts to play later. It is not easy to move forward and back in movies soemtimes it wont in other cases it will take much time to do so. Due to some security issues it is not possible to display any jpg picure placed over the desktop or some subfolders on it.I was not able to convert my flac files to mp3.

It is now patched but Vista was not even able to copy large files between volumes !!!! If you dont beleve jsut check M$ forums to see how many pepole suffered from it for motnhs and a solution to that just arrived.

My good old Zone Alarm refused to run from the first day on. I neeed a new version for my Net Limiter. My Nero Imagedrives never worked so as other software which claimed to work as an ISO image drive.

My diskeeper needed 2008 upgrade to work. Most programs suffered its supervisor permisisons thing complained about lcould not access when not run in the adm mode but when in adm mode could not locate files and folders for configuration.

Bluetooth was another problem it did not fully integrate with my cellphone kept telling that some feature need to be upgraded by the manufacturer while none was ever available.

Even my Mcirosoft Flight Simulator X had problems with my dual head monior and needed a fix before it could run.

Finally the the system score did not update after I've upgraded my processor.

Memory management sucks too. Although I have 2 GB of low latency memory after opening up some pages it even complained there's not enough memory.

It was not having a disk dragmentor software like diskeeper but my hard disks were always busy with soem hidden os pocess but since it refused to run my diskeeper disks got slower and slower.

Finally I decided to run an optional ATI upgrade and which made my Vista to restore from the restore poind and practically ruined the OS I finally revert back to XP. I ma truuninng every application without a problem since than. Oh whatS more M$ dediced not to end ists support for XP since pepole are not willing to migrate to Vista with all of its problems sit there witing for a SP or two.

When I saw XP for the first time I'd liked the way it loked it was stunnig after Windoed 98 / ME but I don't think Vsita interface is much more intoitive and stunning as XP once was. It is more like Linux XWin more than any MS Windows system.

I don't have plans to go back to Vista before it is supported by most vendors and 2 SP's already relased. I won2t suggest anyone to do so too.

Vista Mista:

Jus how big is the Vista os anyway. Because i just got a laptop of 120 gig and when i checked my C: drive it told me i had 60 gigs of empty space. what the hell happen to the rest?

Lee D:

3. Enjoy the just-baked driverbase while it lasts (19,500 drivers large). If you do need to use a special disk driver during installation in the future it won't have to be on floppy disk. Now you can use a USB memory key or CD

Sorry? I don't think I've used a floppy since the last millenium. On what planet are you living?

On point 4: What, you can search for content in the filesystem? NO? Please get real: it's called grep. It was invented in the 1960s. (Admittedly, M$ couldn't get it working properly even as late as XP, bless 'em.)

Eric Blade:

Funny, almost all of these sound like reasons to avoid it quite a bit, to me.

XP and Linux Fan:

There is no compelling reason to upgrade to Vista now or anytime in the future. I have Windows XP Home and XP Professional. My (arse) never did or ever will "belong" to Microsoft. If I "need" a new computer, I can purchase a new laptop or desktop with Windows XP right now in mid December 2007. If need be..I can purchase new computers with no OS on the internet.

If Vista was a huge success like some have claimed to be, why are people still demanding XP machines? Why are people installing XP over their new Vista computers? Why has there been a huge increase and awareness in Linux (namely Ubuntu) in this past year (since Vista was "released")?

This is nonsense that DRM had to be included in Vista so that one could play protected media. XP handled protected DVD playback just fine as well as DRM protected subscription music from Napster with the Windows Media Player. So I need DRM in Vista to play protected content? What a load of crap.

And if I wanted to watch a Blue Ray movie, well I would just as soon go out and buy a standalone Blue Ray player for my HD TV. The last place I would want to view a Blue Ray or High Def movie is on some cramped 19" computer monitor.

As far as Linux goes, there are a few Linux distros that will do streaming audio and video out of the box such as Freespire 2.0 and Linux Mint. One can install Freespire 2.0 and be up and running under 1/2 a hour...so much for the complex nature of Linux. Anyone who has the capability of pressing the power button on their computer can install Linux.

Is Vista a mistake? Is it Windows ME II ? Is it the worst product that Microsoft ever released? I leave it others to answer those questions. Never mind that respected magazine PC World has listed Vista as 2007's Most disappointing product.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140583-page,5-c,techindustrytrends/article.html

In the silicon.com poll ...65% will not move to Vista.
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,62035342,00.htm

In yet another poll...90% of Windows users have concerns about moving to Vista...44% of them are considering moving to Mac or Linux. Thats 961 IT Professionals surveyed.

http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/infrastructure/applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=6258

From here is goes downhill for Microsoft and others. New Zealand wants open source.
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/NZ-Ministry-of-Justice-We-want-open-source/0,130061733,339284547,00.htm

The Dutch adapts to Open Source
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071213/ap_on_hi_te/netherlands_open_source

Times...they are a changing....MS glory days of the 90's are just about over. There is a new kid on the block...more like the MOB. Its Linux, Apple and of course Vista's # 1 competition....Windows XP :-)



This is 2007. This is not 1997 anymore, and Windows no longer has a "monopoly" on the computers anymore. No one is going to just instantly upgrade anymore just because Microsoft releases it. No one is just stuck with MS or Apple, there are over 100 Linux variants just for the asking..for free...no activation,no WGA, no DRM, no serial numbers, no client access licenses,no bloatware...

El Duderino:

Some people clearly have forgotten their manners and are VERY condescending from the comments posted below...some people especially need to grow up.

Before I am flamed, you can keep your opinion because I am happy with my purchase (which IS all that counts). I have drifted between Apple and Microsoft products over the years as my needs change. Each have their own pros and cons.

At present I am what you may call "the typical user" whom Microsoft designed Vista for, have no intention of "messing around" with the internals or software of computers, and have no interest in the "nerdy details" of computers...that's what I pay people like yourselves to deal with which keeps you employed. Sorry but truth hurts!

All I required was a grunty, reliable, easy to use, cost-effective laptop which can do internet, email, word processing, photography, music, video and run Flight Simulator. I couldn't care less about the technicalities of "who owns my arse", etc. So long as it works and does what I want it to...besides I buy all my software.

I bought a (top-line)Toshiba laptop with Vista and have been VERY impressed by it. There are many simiarities with OSX, but it is a logical and easy to navigate OS, has the best organisation for files (specific to their type). Vista is a huge step forward for "non-nerds" (an area why XP lost me to OSX), and is admittedly what Microsoft should have brought out earlier, and the changes to the licencing I would imagine force everyone to buy (not copy) software, making it cheaper in the long-run and not punishing the honest.

There's plenty more I could add to this article but will leave it for now...to be continued

Wazza (Cornerstone member):

The sleep function isn't that great actually.......

Johnrambo (New user):

Reason 10.
I do have a choice. And my computer belongs to me alone.
Not a dictator in Redmond.
This is all crap.
Like you have to swallow all MS offers you. What a joke.
95 % of the people only surfing the internet, or send a mail.
There are other Operating Systems doing that for years.

lubau (New user):

can you all guys tells me where i should get directX 10 for XP....?

frustrated new vistaowner (New user):

these are the reasons for getting vista based on my current experience:
1. You ADORE getting a new system that is much slower than your old obsolete one - 2 gb of ram on my new computer is much slower than 1 gb on the old xp

2. You LOVE having to go to task master to end tasks that are not working (like outlook) and so you have to reboot them, added bonus a new extra message that windows is looking for a solution (you get to wait through the message too!! - windows has no solutions). I have to do this about 10 times a day so you will have no end of fun

3. You find it really CUTE that the old commands that made things happen no longer work

4. You think it HILARIOUS that old standard favorite programs no longer work at all or (and this is especially funny) do not work until you have logged onto them as administrator (and here you were thinking you set up the computer to be administrator - you idiot why shouldn't windows know better than you who is administrator.

it goes on and on but you get the picture