Hmmmm... I actually like Vista.

[Simplicity]

So I got a new computer. With Vista on it... And so far I'm actually liking it alot.

Goodness:
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I hit space or move my mouse and my computer is on. It's not a matter of "how long does it take to boot?" because it doesn't boot usually. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of Sleep mode (since leaving the computer in that mode still consumes some power), but for instant-on. I can live with that. Even when I do boot, it's much faster than XP ever was.

Network Topology mapping! I can get a map of my home network to help me find my other machines. This is a very nice touch. I actually was able to connect my computers over the network with this thing finally.

Windows Defender. I can actually get information on running/start-up processes in a semi-reasonable format.

Games Explorer. Okay, it's a cuteness feature, but I like it.

Administrator vs. Standard user accounts. It's actually possible to operate in a standard user account for a change! Yay! Not only is this good for security, it means you can give your kid an account and not worry that they're going to hose your machine. (Or that you will do the same accidentally).

File/Registry virtualization. Older windows games get their file directory structures virtualized so that they can operate properly in the new system's security arrangement.
Civ4 works. WoW works. Thus, it works for me.

IO prioritization. Disk scans no longer suck up all of your machine's IO. That's nice.

Delayed startup processes. Your machine doesn't thrash to death on logging in because 16 thousand processes are starting at once. Yay!

Problems:
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Yes, the initial process of installing/uninstalling software is pretty annoying with the UAC
controls. But, I'm okay with that if it'll protect me from malware. It's better than the alternative (NORTON. God, I hate Norton. When did the god of computer utilities become a vampire hungry for CPU cycles?). You also run into UAC problems patching World of Warcraft... Solved by running the game as an admin whenever you patch). It's mostly a deal with it when you get new software issue.

Some desktop preferences (text size and some icons) are shared between users, when they really don't need to be.

Huh.
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Parental controls. Wow. If I wanted utter dominion over my child's computer life... this pretty much would be the way to do it. What types of games can they play? When? For how long? Want a report of their websites? Want a complete log of their IMing? Want to see what media they watched? Blech.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

There are some nice things about it, many of which you mentioned. Although in my experience the suspend-to-ram feature in XP was just as functional and fast. (And actually, since there are still bugs in the NVidia 8800 Vista drivers, the XP version is currently more functional). The new disk-caching routine results in much smoother system performance most of the time (some games excepted).

The upgrade process for existing PCs is not terribly good, it is still suspect to twitchy drivers (if I play a video file after coming out of sleep, it reboots the PC. Not crashes, or blue-screens, reboots). Also, if I put it to sleep, it sometimes wakes itself back up, and I have no idea why. It's inconsistent, but when it fires off those bright blue LEDs when I'm trying to sleep, I notice!

There are signs that someone that actually uses Windows worked on some of the interface issues. For example, right-click and rename a file now just highlights the name portion, not the whole file including the extension, which makes it life a little easier. Not a big 'feature', but a nice touch. OTOH, you can still get that 'double-click wrong and go into rename mode' thing, which I have never, ever, seen anyone do deliberately.

So, yes, there are some things to like. I don't think it's worth $$$ (or the time or aggravation) for most people to upgrade, but it's ok.

 

[Thanee]

For example, right-click and rename a file now just highlights the name portion, not the whole file including the extension, which makes it life a little easier.

Do they also show the extension now, when renaming, even if it is set to not display extensions for registered file types?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Simplicity]

There are some nice things about it, many of which you mentioned. Although in my experience the suspend-to-ram feature in XP was just as functional and fast. (And actually, since there are still bugs in the NVidia 8800 Vista drivers, the XP version is currently more functional). The new disk-caching routine results in much smoother system performance most of the time (some games excepted).

The upgrade process for existing PCs is not terribly good, it is still suspect to twitchy drivers (if I play a video file after coming out of sleep, it reboots the PC. Not crashes, or blue-screens, reboots). Also, if I put it to sleep, it sometimes wakes itself back up, and I have no idea why. It's inconsistent, but when it fires off those bright blue LEDs when I'm trying to sleep, I notice!

There are signs that someone that actually uses Windows worked on some of the interface issues. For example, right-click and rename a file now just highlights the name portion, not the whole file including the extension, which makes it life a little easier. Not a big 'feature', but a nice touch. OTOH, you can still get that 'double-click wrong and go into rename mode' thing, which I have never, ever, seen anyone do deliberately.

So, yes, there are some things to like. I don't think it's worth $$$ (or the time or aggravation) for most people to upgrade, but it's ok.

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't pay the money to upgrade. But I certainly wouldn't avoid it on a new PC. As for the coming out of sleep issue, I've seen the same thing happen (once). I think it was just the combination of a hyper-sensitive optical mouse and stomping nearby.
The barest touch of the mouse awakens the computer from its slumber.

 

[DethStryke]

Funny that you mention that...

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/inte...tation-avoid-vista-like-the-plague-242107.php

Business-wise, it's totally not ready for prime time. For a Home computer, it's really neither here nor there. If you get it for free and pre-installed, then great. Grab even free offered upgrade versions just to have the license code (what would cost you later a few hundred dollars after it's patched). I've heard and seen situations were entire networks were rendered useless because Vista was not compatible with almost anything. Laptops that couldn't install it because things as primary to the operation as battery management software/drivers were not compatible with Vista. Just one thing after the other.

When you have XP available (say what you will, it works and is way more stable currently), there is no reason to choose a broken, incompatible platform instead just so your desktop will look like a Mac's desktop(!). Vista SP1, maybe even SP2, I'll bother checking in then.

To give reference, my company is a Certified Microsoft Partner. I am one of the MS-certified professionals that has their certifications linked to that partnership to apply for it (you have to have X number of cert holding people to qualify at all). I've gotten at least three versions of Beta and release of all the programs. It's not a surprise to me that it sucks so much. I do not recommend it professionally and will not for *at least* six months.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Do they also show the extension now, when renaming, even if it is set to not display extensions for registered file types?

That behavior is unchanged from XP, etc. In other words, the default setting is to hide extensions for known types, and it does not show the extension when renaming. I had to check, though, because one of the first things I do on any new PC is change that setting.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't pay the money to upgrade. But I certainly wouldn't avoid it on a new PC. As for the coming out of sleep issue, I've seen the same thing happen (once). I think it was just the combination of a hyper-sensitive optical mouse and stomping nearby.
The barest touch of the mouse awakens the computer from its slumber.

Yeah, I thought about that, and disabled everything that might wake it up except the keyboard. Even still something would awaken it.

 

[Mercule]

OTOH, you can still get that 'double-click wrong and go into rename mode' thing, which I have never, ever, seen anyone do deliberately.

Oh! Me! Me! Actually, I'm more likely to select the file and hit F2, but I very rarely right-click/rename. Dunno why, just habit.

 

[Simplicity]

Funny that you mention that...

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/inte...tation-avoid-vista-like-the-plague-242107.php

Business-wise, it's totally not ready for prime time. For a Home computer, it's really neither here nor there. If you get it for free and pre-installed, then great. Grab even free offered upgrade versions just to have the license code (what would cost you later a few hundred dollars after it's patched). I've heard and seen situations were entire networks were rendered useless because Vista was not compatible with almost anything. Laptops that couldn't install it because things as primary to the operation as battery management software/drivers were not compatible with Vista. Just one thing after the other.

When you have XP available (say what you will, it works and is way more stable currently), there is no reason to choose a broken, incompatible platform instead just so your desktop will look like a Mac's desktop(!). Vista SP1, maybe even SP2, I'll bother checking in then.

To give reference, my company is a Certified Microsoft Partner. I am one of the MS-certified professionals that has their certifications linked to that partnership to apply for it (you have to have X number of cert holding people to qualify at all). I've gotten at least three versions of Beta and release of all the programs. It's not a surprise to me that it sucks so much. I do not recommend it professionally and will not for *at least* six months.

One of the benefits of buying the computer with Vista on it is that at least you don't have to deal with driver issues (at least until the next game comes out...). It hardly can be considered Microsoft's fault that the drivers for things just aren't there yet. Vista has had one of the longest lead times I've seen for a PC OS. Third-party hardware people have had a heck of a long time to get their ducks in a row to be compatible. The problem with deploying it at a company is that half of your hardware is going to be on the obselecence fast path, and so you aren't going to be getting new drivers for that stuff any time soon. For a home gamer though, who updates his computers pretty regularly.... I got drivers.

Vista "Business" though is something I can't really speak to, as I haven't seen it at work.

 

[Jdvn1]

Windows Defender. I can actually get information on running/start-up processes in a semi-reasonable format.

To my knowledge, this is a feature of Windows Defender, even under XP.

Administrator vs. Standard user accounts. It's actually possible to operate in a standard user account for a change! Yay! Not only is this good for security, it means you can give your kid an account and not worry that they're going to hose your machine. (Or that you will do the same accidentally).

I may be thinking of something else, but I think I've seen what you're referring to here in XP.