Vista: Get it now or wait?

[TwistedBishop]

I thought we were discussing Vista and core technologies built into it? And how is presenting a negative opinion on how a company designs a product that will have a mega impact on the industry "bashing"?

Microsoft and Vista didn't invent or mandate HDCP. They don't even have a vested interest in seeing it succeed or fail. This is entirely an issue with the movie studios and BluRay/HD-DVD.

It's bashing because people keep ignoring that fact, since it would get in the way of slinging mud at everyone's favorite target. Those who have a problem with HDCP need to take it up with the ones actually using it.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

My company (or at least my department) is currently developing new software to run under Windows Vista (though we remain compatibility to XP, as long as it has .NET 3.0 installed).
My company notebook uses Vista, and it works fine.
I have had no crashes on my system (which is somewhat noteworthy because you never know what happens if you make a grave error in your code - though as C# is a managed language, there aren't that many risks). My system is a bit slow from time to time, but that might be because I run Visual Studio 2005 (sometimes with two instances) and a debug version of our new software.

The main issue - if there is any - is that the new User Account Control often shows warning messages and demands me to confirm a specific action.
But this is in a big part due to the fact that older software doesn't use the recommended interfaces or guidelines for Vista (or XP, but XP didn't care about it). Once software developers get accustomed to this, they will put out software that will provoke less messages.

The DRM question is nothing that concerned me much, and it doesn't have anything to do with Vista itself, but with the demands for using the new video formats.

 

[Relique du Madde]

http://images.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple-getamac-security_480x376.mov

That commertial rocks! Apple just sold me on vista lol.. Course, in my version of that tv spot that creepy NSA guy would have kicked Mac's Ascii or sold all of PC's secrets to the gestapo (because we all know why the NSA was involved with Vista's security).


What would have made a better commertial would have been if PC came out dressed like MAC and ended up doing a poor imitation of Mac.

The funny thing about that commertial is that it saids "Vista is so secure that its annoying" and it might also be saying that "Mac doesn't need its security features (turned on)".

 

[Vocenoctum]

I'm betting within a year or so of mass adoption you will find sites that will have playback keys and hacked drivers to run these movies without the DRM. The industry can try, but there are minds just as sharp working against them at every turn.

Thus the futility of the DRM stuff, certainly. But, since I don't expect MS to ignore HD content, and I don't expect MS to open themselves to a lawsuit by using a format that is <Copyright/registered, whatever>, the only solution was for MS to implement HDCP, just as HDTV producers have, and video card makers will.

I don't think it'll be as easy, given the HD drives will be HDCP'd, so you'll have to fake that too, but I dunno, not my job.


Anyway, the solution is, if you plan on using Vista PC for HD video playing, you'll have to buy the drive, plus look at other components that are also HDCP regulated.

For the vast majority of PC users, they will never know, or care, about HDCP.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Just so you know that is not how much memory Vista took up running on your system. That was an app called SuperFetch and it is actually one of the best features in Vista. Vista automatically loads programs you use often into the available system memory so when you access them it does not need to access the hard drive. This is the opposite of how XP works it is basically a more advanced version of how OSX handles system memory. That is not to say that Vista does not take up more system recourses… but not as much as people lead you to believe.

Thanks for the link, I'll read that later.

I've heard about superfetch, and it may well be an app which is preloading stuff into memory - but the fact is that a component of vista was taking up my memory without me asking it (and not providing any visible benefit - everything is that bit more speedy now I'm back in XP land anyway).

Cheers

 

[Lilith]

Wait for it. Not really enough going for it to recommend an upgrade, though if your new system came with, that would be fine.

 

[ssampier]

....

...If you are going to change what OS you are going to use go Linux. At least with that you are allowed to do whatever you want. Just will take you 10 days to figure out how to hit ‘toast’

I use RedHat Enterprise at work and Linux is great at making toast, as long you figure out how to install the jet engine to toast your bread.

 

[themind]

I would like to ask for someone's opinion on this situation. I am getting ready to buy a new computer from Alienware, and it has the default OS as Vista. It also has the option to "downgrade" to XP for $50 (with the ability to get a free upgrade to Vista). Now I normally was just going to go without Vista for awhile, but I don't know if I should spend the extra $50 bucks to get XP or just get Vista and then install XP after I get it.

Another thing that struck me as odd is that it says Vista doesn't support Nvidia SLI functionality, but the only Motherboard option is a Nvidia SLI. Does that mean it won't function properly from the get go?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I would like to ask for someone's opinion on this situation. I am getting ready to buy a new computer from Alienware, and it has the default OS as Vista. It also has the option to "downgrade" to XP for $50 (with the ability to get a free upgrade to Vista). Now I normally was just going to go without Vista for awhile, but I don't know if I should spend the extra $50 bucks to get XP or just get Vista and then install XP after I get it.

Another thing that struck me as odd is that it says Vista doesn't support Nvidia SLI functionality, but the only Motherboard option is a Nvidia SLI. Does that mean it won't function properly from the get go?

The video driver situation on Vista is shaky for now, but it should only get better in the coming months. XP performance is better now, but the future should shift the other way.

 

[Simplicity]

Yeah, that ad should have had a pickpocket in the background deciding to skip the PC/Secret Service guys and move on to the Mac guy. But whatever.

The security scheme was hardly stolen from Macs. Using reduced user priviledges is an old OS concept. Unix has it. This is essentially just a sudo that is confirmed by keyword only rather than a password.

Psionicist, you're right on the money as to what Microsoft is doing. They're looking to expand their "platform" and become a media company. MS has been dying to get into people's living rooms for a very long time. The XBOX360 is helping them to do that now finally. With that nice little box sitting under a TV, they'll now expand into IPTV which puts them in direct competition with cable companies. Quite frankly, Microsoft will win that fight because the cable companies are making the exact same mistake IBM made a long time ago.
Cable companies will keep trying to improve their hardware. But Microsoft knows that people want to buy software, not hardware. And media. Lots and lots of media.