Vista: Get it now or wait?

[Michael Morris]

Why? Most corps haven't stopped using Windows 2000 yet!!

Vista's biggest competitor is XP - hands down. The hardware market is stagnated - Vista's beefy requirements on computers is a calculated move to force upgrades, not unlike Windows 95. But unlike Win 95, Vista does NOT offer any real compelling reasons to upgrade, and several reasons not to. For starters, Bill lifted Apple's interface. Arguements as to whether it is better aside, users don't like to relearn things and under Vista you have to relearn a lot ESPECIALLY if you don't use Apple computers. This isn't good - hell Gnome Linux is easier to shift to from Windows XP than Vista is.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Nah, not Linux. OS X Leopard. From what I've heard it will be released for all Intel Processor PC's, not just Apple's own. If that is indeed the case I expect some SERIOUS pain for M$ as Apple is about 2 generations ahead of Windows Vista and 5 ahead of Linux.

Maybe. Apple isn't exactly a non-DRM company. iTunes is all about DRM.

Mind you, you don't see an iPod refusing to play an mp3 or downgrading its quality.

So yeah - I'll admit Apple might be able to do it. I'm with ya.

I do not think that Microsoft will let this happen though. They are counting on inertia, Monopoly, games and pre-installation of the Vista OS to carry the day.

The problem is.... I think Microsoft has made a fundamental error. They have maintained a near Monopoly in the OS business for one simple reason: the vast majority of people see the competition as an overall inferior good. They will pirate MS products as opposed to something else if price is a factor, such that in the end (when price is eliminated from the decision tree) - it's all about desirability of features and compatibility - not price.

This simple law of rational economic choice in a market when piracy is a very significant element in the market means monopolies are inevitable.

Operating systems and application software favors monopolies because of piracy. When you cannot complete with price, you can only compete with features. And that really has not been possible to do against Microsoft over the long haul.

Corel found that out with Wordperfect. You can give it away with motherboards for free. People are still going to perceive it as an inferior good and not install it.

But all of this DRM stuff changes that perception in a flash, and that's why it is a mistake. It will make Vista appear to be the inferior good among a large number of consumers. And should that happen, the rational economic choices that have made Bill Gates the richest man in the world will threaten to bite MS on the ass. It will breathe life into something that has not existed for MS in 15 years: real competition that people are prepared to pay for.

Microsoft will blink before they let that happen; I have little doubt that for now - they think it probably won't happen.

I think they are wrong. When Ars Technica refers to Vista as an "upgrade" in derisive quotation marks = you know all you need to know about how this is going to shake down amongst tech savvy users over the nest year.

If the Linux advocates are against you - it is irrelevant. If the broad stream of tech geeks are against you - it will be another matter entirely.

 

[Xyanthon]

I'm definitely going to wait until XP is not supported anymore. I am a Linux/Unix guy anyway so I'm only keeping Windows around because I can and some things are only supported under it. However, for my home computing, it looks like I'll start plowing ahead again in the Linux direction (I'll admit that I've been lazy in that arena lately). I'm a Sys Admin and we are pretty much all MS based at work and I'm sure we'll stick with XP until we absolutely have to migrate to Vista.

 

[Michael Morris]

Interesting site here

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/en/node

 

[trancejeremy]

The biggest thing going for Vista is DirectX 10. Microsoft will leverage that to sell Vista to home users by publishing PC versions of formerly exclusive Xbox/Xbox 360 games. Halo 2 (and eventually 3, probably 3-4 years after the 360 release), Gears of War, Mass Effect. Even though those games can be done (and in fact were done) using DX9 technology.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I've also got an MSDN subscription and have been running Vista on my two-year-old tablet since Thanksgiving.

Me too.

I've decided to downgrade back to XP though, as the level of irritants about Vista has just grown too great.

#1 Can't use juniper for secure terminal services into work. This might not mean anything to you, but for me it is enormous!

#2 Can't reliably connect to my wireless network after waking up from hibernation. It seems that if you hibernate, then unhibernate away from your wireless network that isn't broadcasting its ssid, then hibernate and unhibernate in your own wireless network again it can't find the network unless you either (a) tell the wireless router to start broadcasting its SSID(!) or restart vista.

#3 I miss the filmstrip view of my pictures

#4 The picture import facility doesn't play so nicely now

#5 I can't get a decent explorer/treeview of my files (it always maintains a few 'favourites' listed at the top)

#6 I can't run visual studio 2005 properly on it

#7 With just a web browser and a couple of apps open it is already consuming 1.2Gb of memory (!)

Now I quite like the sidebar, I do like the search built in to the start button a lot... but I'm getting a whole lot more annoyances and most of the new apps in it are pretty 'meh' IMO.

So I'd advise you to wait until either

a) you get a new PC that comes with it pre-installed
or
b) there is a completely compelling app or game that only runs on vista

Cheers

 

[borc killer]

Windows Vista releases out on Tuesday, and I'm wondering if it's worth picking up now or waiting for potential problems to be sorted out.

I have been running at work and home for months now and I love it... but I would not buy a retail version. I will be able to get a cheaper education version of Ultimate. And you can buy a hard drive from Newegg.com and get a version bundled with it for less than retail as well. That is how I would get it if was you.

How'd the beta go?

Great for me. I had almost 0 interruptions in work or gaming.

Is everything stable?

Everything I use.

How are the drivers?

Has all mine. I would check your video card to make sure it is supported. I have no issues with my Creative sound card.

I'm kinda looking forward to messing around with the new OS on my relatively new PC, so what's the verdict?

Good solid OS that is pretty and usable at both home and office.

 

[borc killer]

I've decided to downgrade back to XP though, as the level of irritants about Vista has just grown too great.

Were you using the RTM? I have none of the issues you have with that version.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Like others, I've been running an MSDN copy for a while. I'm going to have to support it, so I figured I'd bite the bullet and live with it. I wouldn't recommend anyone else do so unless they have no choice.

1. Hibernation is borked badly for a lot of people (and it's actually worse than it was in beta). Since this was supposed to be one area of great improvement over XP, I'm a little surprised.

2. Application compatibility is hit or miss. Some things work great, others not at all. I suspect most stuff that is recent enough will get patches/workarounds, but for older software you may be SOL. This is a pain for me because I have a couple really old apps that are either long discontinued, or the recent versions suck sufficiently that I don't want to upgrade.

3. The User Access Control is good in theory, but it's implementation was ill-considered. The end result will be a minimal increase in computer security for well-implemented business PCs, and probably worse for end-users.

4. Performance on modern hardware actually isn't that bad. I run it on the same PC as XP and the only real difference I notice is a lot of disk-thrashing at odd times and I'm not sure why. Even games are only slightly slower, and I attribute a lot of that to the fact that the drivers for the video board are leaked beta drivers. (For reference, the specs are C2D 6600, 2GB RAM, WD Raptor drives, and GeForce 8800GTS.)

5. Some of the UI enhancements are nice, and I suspect that once I live with it more I'll come to break the XP/2000 mindsent and appreciate it more (although since I still deal with XP on my work laptop and Xp/2000/2003 on all my clients' machines, it will be a long time before I leave that behind).

6. DirectX 10 will probably be the killer app for me, but it will be several months before the first DX10 games hit, and likley a couple years before DX10-only games.

7. The DRM stuff doesn't really bug me since I'm not using the computer as a home theatre PC. And since the driver for the DRM is the content providers, it really doesn't matter whether or not MS wanted to implement it or not. If you want to watch HD/BluRay, you either invest in a console, a stand-alone player, or a HT PC. In any situation, DRM is going to come into play. Vista is no more intrusive than XP for the existing stuff I want to do.

There isn't a compelling reason for any but a small % of people to upgrade. Unlike Win98/ME to XP, there aren't any major technical differences that benefit the home user, and even fewer for the business crowd.

I can live with it as is on my home PC, but I'm nowhere near willing to roll it out in a corporate environment.

 

[IronWolf]

Vista's Fine Print Raises Red Flags