I Think Vista is Fine .. Ron……
It Seems to Me That Microsoft spent to much Time On
“the issue, of attempting to provide a more secure operating system” ..
I Think They Should Have Spent More Time On
Make-In-It . More . - User - Friendly - !!!

They may ave revisited problems to improve their system to reduce headaches, but another question would be: Are people ready to also purchase new additional printers & software compatible to work with Windows Vista too?
The cost is more than just the Operating system, but also the additional CTO that comes with it.

No. The jump forward to a true 64 bit operating system is a nice gesture, but considering how useful and ubiquitous XP is, there isn’t any real need for Vista. I use Vista Ultimate and I find it very disappointing. After Microsoft works out some bugs and puts a nice line-up of extras, it might be worth picking up. Give it time and let other buyers, like me, beta test it until it’s mature.

I think you should always take a closer look at a product before buying it. It’s what we do as consumers, especially when we’re spending a few hundred dollars. A person or a business would be foolish to go out and upgrade their system/s without even doing research on the product. You think I spend $600 on Photoshop before I even got a chance to try it out? Not on yer life. Some people understand and appreciate the value of a dollar and others just blindly throw money into the wind.

That being said, a lot of what i read and hear on and off the web contributes to my decisions when purchasing hardware and software. I think a lot of consumers get wrapped up in the marketing and just go out there and spend money.

So I did tons of reading, asked lots of questions and I had a choice between either a PC or a Mac. And I chose a Mac. And then Leopard came out, and I was going to either get that, or give Vista a try on my PC. Well, I did the math and here I am typing on a mbp and using Safari in Leopard.

It’s your money. Spend it how you want. Use what you want. But always do your research.

I read the (negative) press. To be fair, I tried it a few times.

I found out that the reviews were inaccurate. Instead of negative, they should have been VERY negative. RUN AWAY!! QUICKLY!! MORE USER-FRIENDLY THAN ANTHRAX!! EXPENSIVE!! WILL MAKE YOUR NEW PC PERFORM LIKE AN OLD PC!! IT’S SO PRETTY!!

The final hole in the tanker was all the input the MPAA/RIAA had into the OS. Sorry, Bill, I am not going to be dictated to in terms of what I want to listen to or watch.

Like Patrick Henry said (almost):

“Give me XP and give me linux.”

We have two PCs in our house, both supposedly Vista capable. I sampled Vista on the faster one. Pretty? Yes. Slow? Absolutely. Compatible with my hardware? Mostly.

XP works just fine. The OS, to me, is a bit like my washing machine. If it gets the job done with its less than dazzling controls, then that it is doing what I need it to do.

There is just no reason for me to run Vista. I will run XP until it cannot do what I need it to do, and will “upgrade” to Vista only if there is not then anything else that will do the job.

Over the years I have enjoyed staying on top of the technology curve and bought the latest hardware and software while it was fresh. I have learned that this expense is entertaining for a while, but ultimately unsatisfying and the cost is not worth the benefit. I also have become averse to buying products that add to the waste stream, as do most PC products.

So, until my washing machine, and my PC, get to the point of no return, I will hang on and save my money that would have been spent for better things.

I was one of those who chose to beta test Vista before its release. Within 20 minutes of putting each beta/RC version into VMWare Player…ended up never running it again. Even ME & 98 never gave me as many headaches.

On the other hand…did setup Windows Server 2008 as a workstation on a removable hard drive. The difference between Vista & Server 2008 used as a workstation was astounding! No performance problems & I swear it’s not even the same base OS. The only reason I didn’t replace my copy of XP Media Center with Server 2008 was that my PVR software & some of the PVR hardware refused to work.

Personally…I believe that MS did not put their Tattling Media Nanny setup into server…due to what a server is used for.

I’m posting this for Don Naphen who couldn’t get on the site today:

“Just a few thoughts on VISTA in response to your recent article Ron. I’m using the email route to add my thoughts, as your site is presently “fragmented” (being kind!).

Been using VISTA on a Gateway that was purchased back in Nov. of 2007. I, like many was quite apprehensive with the new OS, and had an OEM version of XP Pro (legal and purchased by me) ready to replace VISTA. I decided however, to give VISTA a try and see just what it was capable of doing. Once I removed all the crappola software, I was pleasantly suprised with its functionality and ease of operation. The big thing in the learning curve is readjusting to the never ending Microsoft practice of renaming certain operations. Once one gets over that hurdle, it’s not that bad of an OS Ron. Of course, it’s a resource hog, and a minimum of 2 Gig of RAM is a must.

Most existing software that I owned (yes OWNED and legally purchased) worked okay. A few programs didn’t, but the manufactures in all but one instance had upgraded versions available to their customers AT NO CHARGE. A big reason to run legal, as opposed to bootlegged/pirated software Ron. I hope this ends up in the regular format, as I intended to use the “Comments” section normally available. Have a great day and hope this finds you well.

Don”

Thanks Don - I believe the problems have been fixed.

I think you are right, Vista got so many bad reviews at the beginning that now no one wants to use it.
I had a lot of troubles with Vista at the beginning, ended up uninstalling it even.

I just bought a new PC, and had to stick with Vista since XP is no longer being shipped on new PCs.
I can say that I couldn’t be happier. Works excellent and havent had any problems at all.
It’s still a heavy OS though :P, having IE with about 6 tabs open and Napster open had my system using around 4GB of memory, which is A LOT.

I don’t know how Vista runs in lower end systems, heh, I’m guessing it’s still is slow.

Thanks to you all for your great comments.
Regards, Ron

The site seems to be working again Ron. I do see a change in the background. Sri to hear about M … I’ve been that route, and it’s not pretty!

Don

I resisted every version of Windows starting with 3.1 And every version eventually became mature and useful, usually after the second installment arrived. I’ve been living with a 64 bit Vista machine for over a month now and everything works swimmingly right out of the box. Well, there is that USB hub that the maker won’t provide drivers for, and The Ultimate Troubleshooter wrote back that they weren’t planning on doing a 64 bit version this year (dam). But once I adapted to the new interface and names, I’m more than happy. Yeah, my machine is a quad-core Gateway with 4Gb of RAM, but it didn’t set me back anything close to that 50Mhz machine with the 210 Mb hard drive I bought in ‘92 for nearly three grand! Give Vista a break. Oh, one major improvement I made is ditching Norton bloatware and installing ESET Smart Security. And an IT friend turned me on to Acronis for backup. I couldn’t be happier.

Hi AvaChava,
I’m glad you are enjoying Vista.
Regards, Ron