I hate that "Macs last longer argument" ... it's sort of bull ... well not sort of ... it is. The reason you have the assumption that your mac will last longer is because you really don't game on it, and if you -do- game on it, they don't ship any (even the low-level) imacs with horrible video cards.
PC manufacturers ... ugh, i hate them. If you want a cheap PC the first thing they do is use some horrible integrated video card, heck even if you don't ... the laptop market is literally flooded with integrated Intel chips. My friend's mom just bought a dual-core (2ghz) intel-based laptop with 1gig of RAM, "Vista-ready" with an integrated 32meg video card! Now my friend is yelling about how "shitty" Vista is because he can't run it well...
It's all about making the proper choices as a consumer, and not just buying their ultra-mega-cheap bundles. If i never gamed on my PC ... i wouldn't have ever really had to update it since I first installed XP ... that's almost five years... talk about longevity. So, again it's really all about what you use your computer for, and what's put into it, not who makes it.
Also they're not going to 'fix their RAM issues' ... it's not their issue. I idle around 500 or so megs used. Considering the entire UI is direct-x, resolution independant, super-fectch etc. etc. etc. People really need to stop complaining about the requirements. Think of Vista like a game by a leading game developer (Id, Epic, Crytek, et all.) They're showing you the next generation of the operating system ... it's going to need what's considered a "good" machine for some time. People said the same crap with XP came out. I think what's happening here is a really really good thing. They're pushing the market forward. 1Gig of ram will soon become standard ... if you're a high-end user you have that much anyway.. soon 4 gigs will be the high-end defacto standard. If anyone has the influence to push forward the computer market like this it's Microsoft, and it will happen, it's just going to take some time. When Vista SP1 hits, the entire thing is going to light-up like tinder under a campfire.
Till the next one comes. According to a PowerPoint presentation (download PDF) created by a technical staffer at Microsoft Denmark, the software vendor plans to invest in four major areas in the next client version of Windows after Vista. Microsoft has already begun working on its next OS, and one executive indicated last month that the company hopes to ship the follow-on during 2009 -- although Microsoft later issued a statement saying that it is "not giving official guidance to the public yet about the next version of Windows".
Ahh, but what that is missing is that Vista was a complete re-write. What comes after will be built upon it. Much like we had 2000 / xp built upon previous versions of NT. In other words it will be incremental, so you're not going to see the huge jump in requirements that we are seeing going from xp -> vista.
And again we're talking 3-4 years in-between ... which is the correctish update time for a major OS anyway.
Vista is the base for the future, like it or not ; )
Vista idles at 500MB used? Jeezz........ That's not what makes Vista bad though, that's just one piece of the puzzle that makes Vista bad. There's so many other things, and so few improvements, and the price is absolutely insane. Why do people tolerate it all?
the only reason i am running vista is bacause it came already installed in my laptop when i got it a month ago, and my laptop is a gaming system (so they say) and the computer has no trouble dealing with the vista ram drag, and most casual games play fine on it................ otherwise i would install xp on it, but i am lazy and i really do not have a reason to do it right now
later this year i am building a new desktop from scratch and guess what i am running on it............... thats right, windows XP
all i am waiting for is the release of the Nvidia GeForce 9 series............. the new dual core cards are bridgeable and have a gig of internal memory each, so of course i am going to link two of them together
I for one do not believe that.
But time will tell.
Sorry should have been more specific, I meant that Vista was the future of Microsoft's OS's. I'd be more than happy if any flavor of *nix stepped up to bat (exception SuSE). The truth is that linux still isn't there when it comes to mass-marketing an OS, and those problems run deep (sure it's packaged nice, but as soon as something goes wrong you're gonna need to know how to use a terminal), and OSX isn't going to go anywhere special until Apple goes out of their way to unlock that hardware base, the best they're going to do (without a change in plans) is reclaim a good chuck of hobbyists (which they're doing). God help us if they ever do somehow, unimaginably become the size of Microsoft with their current business practices, the entire industry would explode around them, and the anti-trust charges would stretch to Pluto (side note; poor pluto : ( ).
So you can complain all you want, but in a couple years time (i'd say 2-3) some flavor of Vista is going to be the only choice for your typical home user, which means (like in the past) the install base #s to draw publisher and developer attention. Also, you can't discount the fact that there's the superficial barrier of DirectX 10 as well. Geometry shaders sure are purdy' to a developer. Like i said before it's really all just a matter of time, most of what Vista is going through right now is pretty much what happened when XP hit, the only problem is that XP is well done (now, do you guys even remember pre-SP1 XP?), so unlike the XP launch people can't just complain and then said "well at least it's not ME."
Well I knew something was going to happen when I seen a lot of the Motherboard mfg's going to 2 and 4 gig's of ram on the Motherboards.
One of the first programs you will see for vista that will be for gaming will be FPSC.
They are working with NVIDIA and DX10 so the new games will run on vista and DX10.
I see that http://www.alanwake.com/index.html will use the DX10 too.
I think if Ubuntu keeps going the way it is and updating their brand of Linux they may get close to Windows with crossover wine.
Ahh, but what that is missing is that Vista was a complete re-write.
Actually, Vista was supposed to be a complete re-write. But they ran out of time. Their next OS is supposed to be a complete re-write though.
Some unconfirmed rumours even claim that the close cooperation between novel and microsoft lately, is because Microsoft are planning to make their next operating system Linux based.
Ahh, but what that is missing is that Vista was a complete re-write.
Microsoft has never wrote something from the ground up in their life. I would bet you'd still find the original DOS source code somewhere hidden in Vista.
:P
(sure it's packaged nice, but as soon as something goes wrong you're gonna need to know how to use a terminal)
As opposed to a full reinstall when something goes wrong in Windows? Thats REAL elegant.
Multi-core processors only too -- that's going to be one i'm upgrading for = )
Actually, Vista was supposed to be a complete re-write. But they ran out of time. Their next OS is supposed to be a complete re-write though.
Source? I know at one point (somewhere around mid-2004) they scrapped the entire project and started fresh. They made some big tradeoffs there, that's why most of the toted features (winFS, et all) were yanked from the initial release, most of those are planned to start trickling in around SP1 time.
Some unconfirmed rumours even claim that the close cooperation between novel and microsoft lately, is because Microsoft are planning to make their next operating system Linux based.
No ... it was a way for them to be evil and start to file a -lot- of patents to fuck up *nix ... which they're currently in the process of doing, heh.
As opposed to a full reinstall when something goes wrong in Windows? Thats REAL elegant
You do a full reinstall when things go wrong in Windows? lol, sounds like something a retarded tech guy who works at Best Buy would do, but hey it does always fix the problem(s) = )
I think if Ubuntu keeps going the way it is and updating their brand of Linux they may get close to Windows with crossover wine.
I wish! Ubuntu has some problems with their practices though... example;They refuse to support/install by default any official corporate drivers (Ie NVIDA drivers are open-source ones (Project Nouvaeu)), yes you can install the default drivers with a couple clicks (in fiesty), but that's still a big problem. Then there's all the licensing issues; libdvdcss (that library that's used to play DVDs) is still illegal in the US. All the windows codecs are not properly licensed mp3 as well etc. etc. there's a whole host of things with media licensing that are major issues for Linux. I wish Ogg Vorbis had caught on better = (
I'm not a Vista fan-boy here, I just feel like someone has to stand up for it, because there really are just a massive amount of people bashing it just to do so. There is a really amazing technology base that it's built upon, and plenty of spots where things went wrong. I think the pushing for hardware requirements is an excellent thing, as it moves the entire industry forward with it, and drops prices for the consumer.
So i'm going to be fair and list where microsoft messed up now ; )
* There only needed to be three versions of Vista, not six (basic, office, ultimate).
* UAC was not properly tested, nor was it configured in the proper manner for release.
* Vista -does- cost way too many bones if you buy it retail. The smart folks get OEM though = )
* Built in CD-Burning is still horrible.
* In a stretch to get more blanket coverage they're marketing Vista to people with machines that really shouldn't be running vista.
* Games explorer is a great idea, but poorly executed (fixable with patches)
* NTFS is outdated and needs to be replaced. (fixed whenever winFS comes out)
* They destroyed the simplicity of Documents & Settings\Username (now Users/username)... turn on show hidden files and you'll see the directory jammed packed with read-only shortcuts for legacy compatibility.
* They literally pooped on OpenGL ... luckily driver vendors can still work their magic with it, so all isn't lost ; )
* They got cocky and Steve 'the screaming ape' balmer made far too many "Vista will have a billion users right when it launches! type comments."
* UI consistency ... having 300 developers sign-off on notepad means 300 different ways people think notepad should look and behave, bad move.
And here's some things they did right:
* New Start menu
* Resolution Independent DirectX accelerated User Interface.
* Proper thumbnailing support for movies, images, pdfs etc.
* New Explorer (Hated it at first, now that i got used to it, love it.)
* DirectX 10
* Reduced boot times
* New Kernel
* New Driver Models (update your video-card drivers without restarting!)
* Per-application volume levels / new Audio Stack.
* proper IPV6 support
* Much much much improved Windows Update (no more icky website)
* Finally a x64 version of windows that might actually stand a chance
* Like 3 billion usability enhancements.
* Better font smoothing / updated fonts.
blabh lbhal blabh so there's a lot no matter which way you look at it, I think they can only go up from here : )
Thanks pixelat3d for having a nice talk about this.
Some just kind of go off the deep end when you try to talk about something like this.
Was nice chatting about it.
You do a full reinstall when things go wrong in Windows? lol, sounds like something a retarded tech guy who works at Best Buy would do, but hey it does always fix the problem(s) = )
The term is "mentaly disabled", not "retarded" :P
True, I was a bit over dramatic, but usually when things REALLY go sour with a windows installation (my experience with 98 and XP anyways) any non-reinstall fix is usually a temporary one at best. Especially when DLL and/or registry is involved. True, the Windows repair option in XP isn't too shabby and I have to concede: its equally possible to break a Linux install (if not more) and Linux is usually a bitch to configure (which I believe was your point, I was just a bit stubborn )
The two main things that pisses me off about Vista is DRM and the DirectX10 exclusivity. Im just really fed up (even more than usual) with Microsoft, even to the point that I feel I'd rather stop gaming than support them in Vista.
I have only used Vista for a limited time (on someone else's machine) and maybe I'm biased (ok, I AM biased), but I was not impressed. The prospects of having to relearn to do some basic things discourages me and while Aero is pretty I don't think its pretty enough to warrant its rampant resource usage.
Beryl on Linux is just as good looking (if not more) and much more configurable. You can even switch it off too (a feature I encourage Microsoft to copy).
I'm not trying to scare anyone away from Vista, it's you free choice to try it out and decide how good and/or crap it is. I'm just saying it's not for me anymore.
The two main things that pisses me off about Vista is DRM and the DirectX10 exclusivity. Im just really fed up (even more than usual) with Microsoft, even to the point that I feel I'd rather stop gaming than support them in Vista.
me too. I ordered a new graphics card today, and even though the price for the best GeForce 7 card and the cheapest GeForce 8 card was so little that I could just as well have gone for the GeForce 8 card, I went for the GeForce 7 card. I don't want a graphics card that is made for DirectX 10(also, the GeForce 7 card had a lot more memory than the GeForce 8 card I was briefly considering). Mostly because I don't believe that stuff with that there will be no issues at all with running older apps or older games made for earlier versions of DirectX. I have heard that tune before, and I ain't dancing, because there are always some troubles they discover later on. Also, I don't want to have to pay extra for something I will never use. I don't care if they stop making games for XP, I still won't install Vista to play games there. Then I'll rather buy classic games, and play those on my (then) aging Windows XP box. I have even upgraded this PC as far as possible to make sure I will be able to play every possible game made for DirectX 9.
I don't want one of those "made for Vista" motherboards, and I don't want none of that "Trusted Computing" poop in my PC, which is the main difference between "supports Vista" motherboards and motherboards that doesn't say anything about it. I am sure others can appreciate Vista a lot, but I don't appreciate having an operating system that hogs the ressources on my PC like a crazy frog. I even removed SP2, and reverted to SP1 in XP to make sure I get as much out of this PC as possible. When my computer has just booted up, it uses 78 mb ram(!) and I like to keep it that way. Even if I need a 64-bit OS to use all 4 gig of my ram, I'll rather use Windows XP x64 than Vista x64.
Right now it's easy to get a computer or motherboard not made for Vista, but in a year or so it can be quite hard. Also, I am quite happy with how the DirectX 9 based games look. It seems to me like the only new features with DirectX 10, are stuff I don't really care about. I don't want the games to look any more realistic or beautiful now, because then it will be so real that it will be scary. Imagine for example shooting a person who looks like a real person. Even though it's just a game, I find that idea really scary. That's like an interactive movie, teaching you how to shoot and kill people, not a game.
Anyway, what's the point of paying for something that has zero new features I appreciate, but a lot of drawbacks I hate? It's like a reporter said: Vista is like your mother. It nags on you all the time, and complain if you do something it doesn't like.
Thanks pixelat3d for having a nice talk about this.
Some just kind of go off the deep end when you try to talk about something like this.
Was nice chatting about it.
Amen ... no flame wars in an OS discussion! Besides ... i need something to do until tomorrow when the Oblivion expansion comes out = P
pixelat3d: * applauds heavily* great speech. I am sure Mister Gates would've been so proud!
/bow ... unfortunately i don't think Mr. Gates would approve of me calling his company evil and one of his best friends "the screaming ape." Though if I were him ... I would probably thing that was pretty funny, but hey ... i'm an as#&$* = )
fhqwhgads ... I agree with you on a lot of points, no doubt. DX10 is a -forced- upgrade and that smells horribly. The DRM ... eh. If we're talking the issues with HD-DVD and Blue-Ray devices ... it's really a matter of tough luck. It was either implement them that way, or not have them at all, which almost happened at one point then the internets blow'ed up with "OMFG WHY AREN'T YOU SUPPORTING FORMATS!" Oh an i apologize ... i didn't mean to imply the tech support guys at best buy were retarded simply mentally handicapped, Much love.
For the record ... if i had my druthers (wtf IS a druthers, and why can't it be singular?) ... anyway I would run Ubuntu ... but then again I might still only play 90s adventure games, and use L.O.R.D. as my primary online gaming entertainment form (protip: type jennie when you're in the forest = ) ).
I will say that when I first moved over to Vista i dicked around with it for like two weeks, thought it was silly and moved back to XP. Two months later i actually made the went back and made the effort. I haven't even touched my XP install since (it's still there jussssstt in case). I'm not pro-Vista, and i'm not pro-XP ... i'm not pro-Mac and i'm only a bit pro-linux. I'm mostly pro-choice... and i'm pro the little guy -- and for now on the internet Vista is sort of the little guy, regardless of who his daddy is.
I think it boils down to the fact that I just hate microsoft for forcing me to eventually switch to Vista on their terms and not on mine. I'm probably gonna do it, get used to it and maybe even like it *shudder*.
But their gonna have to drag me in kicking and screaming...
Someday Ubuntu might get there. I'm really rooting for my fellow South African Mark Shuttleworth here. Hey and he went to space. With the Russians. How cool is that? (in Soviet Russia you don't go into space, space goes into you... sorry, couldn't resist )
I think it boils down to the fact that I just hate microsoft for forcing me to eventually switch to Vista on their terms and not on mine. I'm probably gonna do it, get used to it and maybe even like it *shudder*.
Don't worry. By the time you have to make the move to do and play the stuff you want to do and play, things can have changed. I have trust in all the anti-trust cases against microsoft these days, that it will lead to more freedom in the not so distant future. Also, the past have told us that the future is hard to predict Even when it should be obvious who will win a fight over who will produce the leading product, things have suddenly changed.
Probably the biggest mistake Microsoft are doing is that they are not humble enough. I am not sure if they are aware that they can suddenly loose their position as a market leader if they are not careful, but from Steve Balmers(head balsam) comments it seems like he thinks Microsoft are invincible. This way of thinking has ended in tragidy before, because in technology you can't fall far behind before somebody picks something else(just look at ATI vs NVIDIA these days, how so many switch to NVIDIA because they want to play DirectX 10 games).
I doubt Microsoft will disappear, and I don't really want them to disappear either. I just want them to have some more challenge, so they know they have to meet the consumers needs to stay alive. The way it is today, they can practically do whatever they want, and the consumer will buy their product anyway. It's like: "what else can I run?". Considering the fact that Microsoft are expert at releasing new standards regulary to throw software that claims to be compatible off(and removing competition), it makes it really hard for a consumer to pick something else when most others they know run some flavor of Windows. But I believe the legal cases from USAs goverment and EU will lead to changes in the end. Even though this is a slow process, I believe it will lead to great changes over time.
Amen to that! One of the few things about the EU that garners my trust and respect is its strong anti-trust offensive with its increasingly numerous and increasingly large fines. In a tv interview a couple of days ago, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes mentioned that this year's total fines already exceed last year's and that she plans to take on at least 11 illegal cartels this year.
So yes, strong people are making a difference and there is reason for some optimism about the long run.
Linux is still ridiculous as anything but an enthusiast hobby tinkering platform, or as an OS for a server machine. Despite improvements in usability, Linux is still enormously end-user-unfriendly.
Linux is user friendly. It just depends on who the user is
Comments
PC manufacturers ... ugh, i hate them. If you want a cheap PC the first thing they do is use some horrible integrated video card, heck even if you don't ... the laptop market is literally flooded with integrated Intel chips. My friend's mom just bought a dual-core (2ghz) intel-based laptop with 1gig of RAM, "Vista-ready" with an integrated 32meg video card! Now my friend is yelling about how "shitty" Vista is because he can't run it well...
It's all about making the proper choices as a consumer, and not just buying their ultra-mega-cheap bundles. If i never gamed on my PC ... i wouldn't have ever really had to update it since I first installed XP ... that's almost five years... talk about longevity. So, again it's really all about what you use your computer for, and what's put into it, not who makes it.
Also they're not going to 'fix their RAM issues' ... it's not their issue. I idle around 500 or so megs used. Considering the entire UI is direct-x, resolution independant, super-fectch etc. etc. etc. People really need to stop complaining about the requirements. Think of Vista like a game by a leading game developer (Id, Epic, Crytek, et all.) They're showing you the next generation of the operating system ... it's going to need what's considered a "good" machine for some time. People said the same crap with XP came out. I think what's happening here is a really really good thing. They're pushing the market forward. 1Gig of ram will soon become standard ... if you're a high-end user you have that much anyway.. soon 4 gigs will be the high-end defacto standard. If anyone has the influence to push forward the computer market like this it's Microsoft, and it will happen, it's just going to take some time. When Vista SP1 hits, the entire thing is going to light-up like tinder under a campfire.
According to a PowerPoint presentation (download PDF) created by a technical staffer at Microsoft Denmark, the software vendor plans to invest in four major areas in the next client version of Windows after Vista. Microsoft has already begun working on its next OS, and one executive indicated last month that the company hopes to ship the follow-on during 2009 -- although Microsoft later issued a statement saying that it is "not giving official guidance to the public yet about the next version of Windows".
http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/BBA73FB7DF79474DCC2572A400761668
And again we're talking 3-4 years in-between ... which is the correctish update time for a major OS anyway.
Vista is the base for the future, like it or not ; )
But time will tell.
later this year i am building a new desktop from scratch and guess what i am running on it............... thats right, windows XP
all i am waiting for is the release of the Nvidia GeForce 9 series............. the new dual core cards are bridgeable and have a gig of internal memory each, so of course i am going to link two of them together
Sorry should have been more specific, I meant that Vista was the future of Microsoft's OS's. I'd be more than happy if any flavor of *nix stepped up to bat (exception SuSE). The truth is that linux still isn't there when it comes to mass-marketing an OS, and those problems run deep (sure it's packaged nice, but as soon as something goes wrong you're gonna need to know how to use a terminal), and OSX isn't going to go anywhere special until Apple goes out of their way to unlock that hardware base, the best they're going to do (without a change in plans) is reclaim a good chuck of hobbyists (which they're doing). God help us if they ever do somehow, unimaginably become the size of Microsoft with their current business practices, the entire industry would explode around them, and the anti-trust charges would stretch to Pluto (side note; poor pluto : ( ).
So you can complain all you want, but in a couple years time (i'd say 2-3) some flavor of Vista is going to be the only choice for your typical home user, which means (like in the past) the install base #s to draw publisher and developer attention. Also, you can't discount the fact that there's the superficial barrier of DirectX 10 as well. Geometry shaders sure are purdy' to a developer. Like i said before it's really all just a matter of time, most of what Vista is going through right now is pretty much what happened when XP hit, the only problem is that XP is well done (now, do you guys even remember pre-SP1 XP?), so unlike the XP launch people can't just complain and then said "well at least it's not ME."
One of the first programs you will see for vista that will be for gaming will be FPSC.
They are working with NVIDIA and DX10 so the new games will run on vista and DX10.
I see that http://www.alanwake.com/index.html will use the DX10 too.
I think if Ubuntu keeps going the way it is and updating their brand of Linux they may get close to Windows with crossover wine.
Actually, Vista was supposed to be a complete re-write. But they ran out of time. Their next OS is supposed to be a complete re-write though.
Some unconfirmed rumours even claim that the close cooperation between novel and microsoft lately, is because Microsoft are planning to make their next operating system Linux based.
Microsoft has never wrote something from the ground up in their life. I would bet you'd still find the original DOS source code somewhere hidden in Vista.
:P
As opposed to a full reinstall when something goes wrong in Windows? Thats REAL elegant.
Source? I know at one point (somewhere around mid-2004) they scrapped the entire project and started fresh. They made some big tradeoffs there, that's why most of the toted features (winFS, et all) were yanked from the initial release, most of those are planned to start trickling in around SP1 time.
No ... it was a way for them to be evil and start to file a -lot- of patents to fuck up *nix ... which they're currently in the process of doing, heh.
http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft/openletter.html
Note bullet point #3 under Patent coverage ... nice how it only applies to two companies isn't it?
You do a full reinstall when things go wrong in Windows? lol, sounds like something a retarded tech guy who works at Best Buy would do, but hey it does always fix the problem(s) = )
I wish! Ubuntu has some problems with their practices though... example;They refuse to support/install by default any official corporate drivers (Ie NVIDA drivers are open-source ones (Project Nouvaeu)), yes you can install the default drivers with a couple clicks (in fiesty), but that's still a big problem. Then there's all the licensing issues; libdvdcss (that library that's used to play DVDs) is still illegal in the US. All the windows codecs are not properly licensed mp3 as well etc. etc. there's a whole host of things with media licensing that are major issues for Linux. I wish Ogg Vorbis had caught on better = (
I'm not a Vista fan-boy here, I just feel like someone has to stand up for it, because there really are just a massive amount of people bashing it just to do so. There is a really amazing technology base that it's built upon, and plenty of spots where things went wrong. I think the pushing for hardware requirements is an excellent thing, as it moves the entire industry forward with it, and drops prices for the consumer.
So i'm going to be fair and list where microsoft messed up now ; )
* There only needed to be three versions of Vista, not six (basic, office, ultimate).
* UAC was not properly tested, nor was it configured in the proper manner for release.
* Vista -does- cost way too many bones if you buy it retail. The smart folks get OEM though = )
* Built in CD-Burning is still horrible.
* In a stretch to get more blanket coverage they're marketing Vista to people with machines that really shouldn't be running vista.
* Games explorer is a great idea, but poorly executed (fixable with patches)
* NTFS is outdated and needs to be replaced. (fixed whenever winFS comes out)
* They destroyed the simplicity of Documents & Settings\Username (now Users/username)... turn on show hidden files and you'll see the directory jammed packed with read-only shortcuts for legacy compatibility.
* They literally pooped on OpenGL ... luckily driver vendors can still work their magic with it, so all isn't lost ; )
* They got cocky and Steve 'the screaming ape' balmer made far too many "Vista will have a billion users right when it launches! type comments."
* UI consistency ... having 300 developers sign-off on notepad means 300 different ways people think notepad should look and behave, bad move.
And here's some things they did right:
* New Start menu
* Resolution Independent DirectX accelerated User Interface.
* Proper thumbnailing support for movies, images, pdfs etc.
* New Explorer (Hated it at first, now that i got used to it, love it.)
* DirectX 10
* Reduced boot times
* New Kernel
* New Driver Models (update your video-card drivers without restarting!)
* Per-application volume levels / new Audio Stack.
* proper IPV6 support
* Much much much improved Windows Update (no more icky website)
* Finally a x64 version of windows that might actually stand a chance
* Like 3 billion usability enhancements.
* Better font smoothing / updated fonts.
blabh lbhal blabh so there's a lot no matter which way you look at it, I think they can only go up from here : )
[edits - typos]
Some just kind of go off the deep end when you try to talk about something like this.
Was nice chatting about it.
The term is "mentaly disabled", not "retarded" :P
True, I was a bit over dramatic, but usually when things REALLY go sour with a windows installation (my experience with 98 and XP anyways) any non-reinstall fix is usually a temporary one at best. Especially when DLL and/or registry is involved. True, the Windows repair option in XP isn't too shabby and I have to concede: its equally possible to break a Linux install (if not more) and Linux is usually a bitch to configure (which I believe was your point, I was just a bit stubborn
The two main things that pisses me off about Vista is DRM and the DirectX10 exclusivity. Im just really fed up (even more than usual) with Microsoft, even to the point that I feel I'd rather stop gaming than support them in Vista.
I have only used Vista for a limited time (on someone else's machine) and maybe I'm biased (ok, I AM biased), but I was not impressed. The prospects of having to relearn to do some basic things discourages me and while Aero is pretty I don't think its pretty enough to warrant its rampant resource usage.
Beryl on Linux is just as good looking (if not more) and much more configurable. You can even switch it off too (a feature I encourage Microsoft to copy).
I'm not trying to scare anyone away from Vista, it's you free choice to try it out and decide how good and/or crap it is. I'm just saying it's not for me anymore.
"Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish."
me too. I ordered a new graphics card today, and even though the price for the best GeForce 7 card and the cheapest GeForce 8 card was so little that I could just as well have gone for the GeForce 8 card, I went for the GeForce 7 card. I don't want a graphics card that is made for DirectX 10(also, the GeForce 7 card had a lot more memory than the GeForce 8 card I was briefly considering). Mostly because I don't believe that stuff with that there will be no issues at all with running older apps or older games made for earlier versions of DirectX. I have heard that tune before, and I ain't dancing, because there are always some troubles they discover later on. Also, I don't want to have to pay extra for something I will never use. I don't care if they stop making games for XP, I still won't install Vista to play games there. Then I'll rather buy classic games, and play those on my (then) aging Windows XP box. I have even upgraded this PC as far as possible to make sure I will be able to play every possible game made for DirectX 9.
I don't want one of those "made for Vista" motherboards, and I don't want none of that "Trusted Computing" poop in my PC, which is the main difference between "supports Vista" motherboards and motherboards that doesn't say anything about it. I am sure others can appreciate Vista a lot, but I don't appreciate having an operating system that hogs the ressources on my PC like a crazy frog. I even removed SP2, and reverted to SP1 in XP to make sure I get as much out of this PC as possible. When my computer has just booted up, it uses 78 mb ram(!) and I like to keep it that way. Even if I need a 64-bit OS to use all 4 gig of my ram, I'll rather use Windows XP x64 than Vista x64.
Right now it's easy to get a computer or motherboard not made for Vista, but in a year or so it can be quite hard. Also, I am quite happy with how the DirectX 9 based games look. It seems to me like the only new features with DirectX 10, are stuff I don't really care about. I don't want the games to look any more realistic or beautiful now, because then it will be so real that it will be scary. Imagine for example shooting a person who looks like a real person. Even though it's just a game, I find that idea really scary. That's like an interactive movie, teaching you how to shoot and kill people, not a game.
Anyway, what's the point of paying for something that has zero new features I appreciate, but a lot of drawbacks I hate? It's like a reporter said: Vista is like your mother. It nags on you all the time, and complain if you do something it doesn't like.
/bow ... unfortunately i don't think Mr. Gates would approve of me calling his company evil and one of his best friends "the screaming ape." Though if I were him ... I would probably thing that was pretty funny, but hey ... i'm an as#&$* = )
fhqwhgads ... I agree with you on a lot of points, no doubt. DX10 is a -forced- upgrade and that smells horribly. The DRM ... eh. If we're talking the issues with HD-DVD and Blue-Ray devices ... it's really a matter of tough luck. It was either implement them that way, or not have them at all, which almost happened at one point then the internets blow'ed up with "OMFG WHY AREN'T YOU SUPPORTING FORMATS!" Oh an i apologize ... i didn't mean to imply the tech support guys at best buy were retarded simply mentally handicapped, Much love.
For the record ... if i had my druthers (wtf IS a druthers, and why can't it be singular?) ... anyway I would run Ubuntu ... but then again I might still only play 90s adventure games, and use L.O.R.D. as my primary online gaming entertainment form (protip: type jennie when you're in the forest = ) ).
I will say that when I first moved over to Vista i dicked around with it for like two weeks, thought it was silly and moved back to XP. Two months later i actually made the went back and made the effort. I haven't even touched my XP install since (it's still there jussssstt in case). I'm not pro-Vista, and i'm not pro-XP ... i'm not pro-Mac and i'm only a bit pro-linux. I'm mostly pro-choice... and i'm pro the little guy -- and for now on the internet Vista is sort of the little guy, regardless of who his daddy is.
But their gonna have to drag me in kicking and screaming...
Someday Ubuntu might get there. I'm really rooting for my fellow South African Mark Shuttleworth here. Hey and he went to space. With the Russians. How cool is that? (in Soviet Russia you don't go into space, space goes into you... sorry, couldn't resist
But until that day... aww crap, now I'm depressed
Don't worry. By the time you have to make the move to do and play the stuff you want to do and play, things can have changed. I have trust in all the anti-trust cases against microsoft these days, that it will lead to more freedom in the not so distant future. Also, the past have told us that the future is hard to predict
Probably the biggest mistake Microsoft are doing is that they are not humble enough. I am not sure if they are aware that they can suddenly loose their position as a market leader if they are not careful, but from Steve Balmers(head balsam) comments it seems like he thinks Microsoft are invincible. This way of thinking has ended in tragidy before, because in technology you can't fall far behind before somebody picks something else(just look at ATI vs NVIDIA these days, how so many switch to NVIDIA because they want to play DirectX 10 games).
I doubt Microsoft will disappear, and I don't really want them to disappear either. I just want them to have some more challenge, so they know they have to meet the consumers needs to stay alive. The way it is today, they can practically do whatever they want, and the consumer will buy their product anyway. It's like: "what else can I run?". Considering the fact that Microsoft are expert at releasing new standards regulary to throw software that claims to be compatible off(and removing competition), it makes it really hard for a consumer to pick something else when most others they know run some flavor of Windows. But I believe the legal cases from USAs goverment and EU will lead to changes in the end. Even though this is a slow process, I believe it will lead to great changes over time.
So yes, strong people are making a difference and there is reason for some optimism about the long run.
Linux is user friendly. It just depends on who the user is