Thirded. I’m throwing it in the closet the minute it shows up.
So let me tell you about my Sunday afternoon. Windows update suggested that I upgrade the drivers to my (intergrated) Nvidia graphics card, so I did. Once I restarted the computer, I got this strange little pop-up saying that the “activation code I’ve entered is incorrect.” Huh. I activated windows the day after I got this computer, so why was that coming up six weeks later?
I went to the windows properities and it now said my computer didn’t have a geniune operating system, and that windows would cease to operate in two days. Uh oh! I decided to enter the activation code which is inconvieniently pasted to the side of the computer and another message told me that the code was “already in use.” No kidding, I activated windows six weeks ago.
Going to Microsoft’s site, I couldn’t find anything in the knowledge base that would indicate why the computer decided not to activate itself. I decided to check out the user-to-user forums and then discovered that a lot of people were having the same problem. And it had to do with a bug in the update for that driver.
I spent about an hour with help folks (via the net) from HP trying to resolve it. The program microsoft gave them to fix it didn’t. Eventually, I was able to get through to Microsoft on the phone and had to enter a new activation code.
I hate Vista. It freezes all the damn time and has to restart applications, disables the right mouse commands at random, and stops opening windows and webpages. Not to mention it doesn’t play nice with a lot of programs. (although several it claims to be incompatable with, like Dragon Naturally Speaking 8 work fine once you tell it to run anyway.) Why couldn’t anyone still have had XP computers the week before Vista was released? I knew this new OS was going to be trouble 
And the reason you didn’t do this first was … ?
Never trust any OS to tell you your drivers need updating, particularly drivers that regularly get updated (i.e. video drivers). Download your own, and call Microsoft (not the OEM) when Windows doesn’t work. As a Microsoft customer, you get free phone support for 90 days. I called Microsoft support (twice) on the first day I had Vista installed and in less than an hour, I had answers to several questions about device drivers, registry keys, and questions about activation and reactivation. It wasn’t that hard, or that big a deal, and outside of hardware manufacturers being slow with updated drivers, I haven’t had a single problem with Vista on any of the three computers I’ve installed and used it on. I don’t profess any in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of Windows, yet it continues to surprise me that so many people who tout their familiarity and/or comfort with XP are struggling with Vista. :dubious:
And just what is it that Service Pack 2 did for XP that made it work so much better than it did before Service Pack 1, or even the XP launch for that matter? Movie Maker? USB 2.0 and Bluetooth support? A pop-up blocker? A firewall? A lousy attempt at malware protection? Yeah, those things would definitely make Vista work better.
I bought a new desktop last week, and it has Vista. I don’t really know that much about computers, but it seems that I’m not having much of a problem with it, so far.
Jinx
It seems to not like Firefox much, as the Firefox program just stops running sometimes. The upside is that it gives me the option to resume where it left off, prior to closing the application. So, that’s good, I suppose.
I don’t really see how it’s much different than XP, other than a few more unneeded bells and whistles.
Fourthed.
(Take the hint, furryman!)
Buying a computer with a working OS is completly different, from going to to a new OS after purchase. They have a working hardwre solution, with the bugs worked out generaly when sold to you.
They tell you it’s a free upgrade, but I found in the past that the prior versions of CD recording software, The backup software, the antivirus software, and other essenals also needed upgrades to work with the new OS, and the company selling the computer didn’t provide free upgrades for them. I had to spend a couple hundred on upgrades or new programs to replace those.
The new OS install can leave the upgrader cursing the unknown problems. It took HP 9 months after I purchased my last HP computer to update the graphics driver to not hang using direct x drivers’ errr. XP and my current machine get along fine and are stable. I ran the VISTA trial software just prior to final sales release, and it didn’t recognise everything. I don’t plan on going from everything works great, to a problematic OS. I waited a year to use XP, and was glade I did.
I think that the default settings of the Windows XP2 firewall were a big improvement, especially for the non-technical home user.
In any case, when I say “I recommend waiting until Service Pack 1 comes out”, it’s not just because I think Service Pack 1 will make things that much better - it’s more of an informal guideline for allowing software companies to adjust to Vista. By the time SP1 for Vista comes out, I would hope that many software packages will be Vista-ready. For example, I hear at work about problems with software trying to do things at an admin level, and the User Account Control popping up an annoying amount of prompts. (No cite as to program names, sorry.)
Bit of a bump here, but for those running Vista, especially on a lap top, how is it going? I’m in the market for a new laptop, and I’ve found one I like except for the fact that it runs Vista. I really only want to get 1gb of RAM, but I fear that I will need to drop another 50 bucks to bump that up to 1.5.
It seems pretty damn ridiculous that I might have to spend more money on hardware to use software that I don’t see a particular reason to use.
Since you bumped this thread, here is an article from the Reg on a bug that makes Vista slow when deleting or moving files. My copy seems to have it.
It sucks on this laptop with .5 G, so if you really need it, I’d get 1.5 - but for me, I’m going to wait until they get it right.
Vista works fine for me and I’m using it as my daily OS.
I have thought about a dual boot setup with XP but I don’t feel like putting in the effort required to make it happen.
The biggest “issues” I have are courtesy of third parties. Creative’s EAX got killed by Vista’s new sound architecture. VLC Media Player isn’t compatible with Aero. I have to press “Print” twice to get my HP printer to understand that yes indeed, I really do want to print something. None of these issues are ruining my life right now.
If you can get Vista for free, go for it. The rest of the software world will catch up to it eventually.
Could you elaborate on this?
You want specifics ? Here you go:
I just bought a new, high powered notebook and opted for extra RAM etc. for optimal performance. The notebook arrives and I embark upon installing my existing applications onto it.
Photoshop 7.0 - check
Premier 6.0 - CHOKE - will not load (yes, I did try to modify the “compatibility mode” settings).
I go to Adobe site, at best any given application is “not officially supported”. At worst, they “do not recommend running earlier versions under Vista”. Both Photoshop 7.0 and Premier 6.0 fall into this latter category. So I lucked out with Photoshop, but am screwed with Premier.
So one of the main reasons I went for a higher powered notebook, video editting, I am SOL on - I need to buy a newer version. And even that is “not officially supported” yet.
I tried to load a CD ripper tool, but that choked as well. But did have some success with some other applications.
So my initial issues with Vista is not supporting older (and we’re not talking THAT old) software. I am still puzzled by what it is that renders these versions “unloadable”.
Given the choice, I would have preferred the notebook come loaded with XP Pro. But I didn’t have any choice, and was concerned about being able to find appropriate drivers and such if I were to load XP myself.
I’ve been running it (the 64-bit edition, I understand 32-bit is slightly better) since business release, since I develop software and need to be compatible. I have two monitors: both wide-screen, one landscape and one (pivoted) portrait.
After four months, using a nearly new nVidia Geforce 7900 video card, Vista cannot correctly determine the (fixed, and very standard) resolution of the second monitor, nor can it rotate it (the “rotate” option appears in both Vista and the nVidia control panel, but doesn’t do anything when pressed).
About 75 percent of the programs I use every day have problems with Vista, ranging from the cosmetic (overlapping fonts or controls) to the unusable (simply won’t install, or crashes immediately after launch). More than half of the programs I’ve installed since launch don’t appear in the Add/Remove program files (now called “Programs and Settings” or something like that). Games are almost pointless – frame rates are about 75% of XP’s, and many of them draw black polygons at random places.
Reboot this exact same system into XP (I’m not THAT foolish), and all of these issues go away – revealing an extra-special bug for the geeks: XP and Vista’s system restore checkpoints overwrite each other – so you can’t use system restore from either operating system after you’ve booted into the other!
Is some of this the nVidia drivers? Sure. Apparently they missed the 5 years of memos that Vista was coming out. But nVidia is the first or second largest chipset manufacturer for video cards: releasing Vista when the drivers weren’t ready was a significant mistake on both companies’ part.
If anyone cares I ended up going with a new laptop, and unfortuantely am stuck with Vista. I ended up getting a great deal on a HP laptop, so I potentially could buy a copy of XP if Vista is crap. What do you guys think the chances of me getting an XP liscense out of HP or Microsoft if I don’t like Vista? I already asked HP if I could get a copy of XP, but that was a negatory.
Well, Boss got a verizon WiMax card, for which there was no Vista driver, but this took many phone calls to determine. The main issue is that every. single. thing. either has a different name, or is accessed by an entirely different menu sequence than under XP. So much so that being fairly fluent with XP is something of a handicap, as you waste time looking for it where it was in XP instead of just hitting the help button. Searching the help topics using the XP terminology often doesn’t work. There is no hope at all of being able to work through the problem over the phone.
I get that this is just because I have no experience with Vista. It is just really frustrating that they felt the need to fix so much that wasn’t broken.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case with certain PCs… :dubious:
I’m not upgrading, but of course I’m still happy that my 2k machine has the best uptimes in my house (Linux doesn’t count).
2k got you way better USB support and stability, XP delivered better drivers and a simpler home-use interface. Vista has an (apparently) even better interface, but is encumbered with DRM, program incompatability, and the bugs of a pre-SP1 OS.
(And speaking of which, MS is already at work on SP1 'cause they know no office will use it before then, so I’d really wait for SP2)
After the ME debacle, we have decided to wait until Vista Service Pack 3 comes out. 
Just a reminder for those who are planning to do this; seems the deadline was the end of this month - at least it was for my upgrade. I sent for mine a week or two ago.
I just bought a new desktop from CDW, and it’s pretty capable. Dual core processor, 2G RAM, two hard drives with 600G storage, and a very nice 22" flat panel screen. And Windows XP. I went out of my way to avoid Vista, even though it could easilly run on this machine (to run Vista decently takes gobs or RAM, like 1.5G or more). But I didn’t like what I’d heard about the new OS, with driver issues, software compatability and privacy concerns. Vista has nothing I want and less than I need. There’s no point in even asking for the upgrade DVD, as I have plenty of unused disks laying around already. XP will work for the lifetime of this machine, and that’s what I want.
Exactly as I said. I will press “Print” and the printer will spin up like it’s about to do something. And then, nothing. If I press print again, it goes right through. I have no idea why.