Windows

The Windows Vista Question

Posted by on Jan 31, 2007 | 7 Comments

From Lockergnomie Dan Mowry:

Chris, just wanted to thank you for the Vista reviews. To be honest, I think I’m going to avoid it. I don’t watch high-def tv/video on my computer but some of the DRM that seems to be in there, coupled with the apparent lack of peripheral/driver support makes me nervous. Don’t laugh, but I’m running a big Dell XPS and everything is pretty current, new, and name-brand but still.

Do you think you might elaborate in your podcast / Lockergnome more on what a person might be faced with in getting Vista along these lines? I’m thinking worst case scenario ends up that digital cameras, printers, game controllers, etc. all take a dump and all we’re left with is a great assortment of Windows eye candy… but all our “non supported” toys and gadgets collect dust for a year until drivers get updated. It might be overdone, that worry, but there’s so much hype both ways regarding Vista I know I feel I’m at a standstill. When I’m at a standstill in my decision making… I don’t act. What’s worse, is I own Photoshop CS2 and several other graphic/design oriented pieces of software, as it’s all part of my day job, and I can’t afford to have Photoshop or Illustrator flip me the bird.

So, consider this a friendly vote in case you were considering more material on the Vista “should I /shouldn’t I” subject. You’re a geek and understand what importance is attached to all these tools working for us.

This Vista thing is gonna be here for a while… better get used to it, eh?

[tags]vista, windows vista, microsoft windows, vista tips, vista tricks[/tags]

  • Toby Tolentino

    Curious question about the installation of Vista. I’m aware of the imaging installation scheme Microsoft is going with on this variation of Windows. My curious question stems around if during the installation process will Vista prompt for a selected Drive Letter to install the OS files/folders( ie., do you want your Windows OS files on say your C drive.)? Reason i’m asking is that I find it handy to install Windows OS files and folders on a non standard drive letter…basically installing it on something other than C: . I find that installing at least my current version of XP on my system on another drive letter cuts down significantly on the amount of Malware that would normally accumulate on ones system had the OS been installed on the default C: drive.

  • Len Cleavelin

    “This Vista thing is gonna be here for a while… better get used to it, eh?”

    Well, yeah. but the corollary to that is, “This Vista thing is gonna be here for a while, so what’s the rush?”

    I’m a firm believer in the proposition that no Microsoft product is truly out of beta testing before the release of Service Pack 2 for that product. Regardless of whether one believes that or not, what’s the rush in moving to Vista, especially if device driver support is flaky at this stage? Best to sit back for a bit and wait for the bugs (and we *know* there are bugs there just waiting to be uncovered) to shake out.

    But that’s easy for me to say–I only migrated to Windows XP late last year. :-)

  • DDmak

    That’s right, the Vista thing is gonna be here for a while.
    So the early people get used to that idea, the better it is.

    This is the same song and dance as when Windows XP was released. Some people avoid it because they worried about bugs, or because the geek reviewers said it is not good enough or whatever….the point is most people changed to WinXP eventually, with most users changed in a year or two since release.

    After using WinXP, almost no one wanted to go back to Win98 or W2K. It will be the same with Vista. Humans don’t like too much changes, we are a creature of habits. But once a person learned the new way, humans can adapted very easily.

    So instead of focusing on the negatives, concentrate on what we can accomplish with Vista. There are so many new features that do not exist on WinXP.

    Lastly, get used to the idea of bugs in software. There is no such thing as a bug free program, especially the size of Vista. Bugs in software is just a part of computering. Maybe people are brainwashed by those Mac vs PC commercials. :)

  • http://www.colliercmc.com Paul Collier

    Prof Michael Geist at U of Ottawa had interesting legal view of Vista in Toronto Star, Jan 29. Column is “Law Bytes – Vista’s legal fine print raises red flags”
    Link: http://www.thestar.com/article/175801

  • Randolph Way

    Anyone who’s concerned/curious about Microsoft’s DRM implementation in Vista should check out this detailed study: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html
    For me, it’s a horror story most people are completely unaware of, and has definitely turned me off of Vista.

  • Sid Warren

    Got any hopes of a seemless Vista experience… you might want to wait. After three days of computing misery, I am heading back to XP.

    Vista looks nice but everything else has been short of a disaster. At this moment, I have no DVD-RW or CD-RW drives, no HP 1020 Laser printer, and my behemoth OfficeJet G55 works 50% of the time. All that seems to work flawlessly is my network connection. Weird thing is that on the initial install everyting worked okay until I started adding software (slowly and methodically). With the addition of each new program, one thing tanks that worked before.

    I should have waited and have learned my lesson but I have to live with my decisions. In the current state, my computer is simply inoperative. I can put Vista on the shelf to collect dust until a MAJOR fix (SP1/SP2) comes out.

  • Mike

    Now …… I really feel vindicated after our customer’s new Dell computers with pos vista on them wouldn’t run Dell’s own printers .
    .
    We asked Dell for help and they finally gave in and sent out new hard drives with XP PRO ……….4 hours later all was well in customer land :-)
    .
    The Dell guy stuck to his guns about vista until I esplained that it was “his” printers that wouldn’t work right ………….
    .
    I still believe that vista was a “cash cow” that ms needed for a cash influx… not a decent product offering at all :-(
    .
    I was asked for my opinion from the beginning and thought that they were definately going down the wrong road ……. needed too much ram …. was too “cutsie” …… was too controling ……. and too much of a problem child …… right from the start :-(