Buzz Out Loud Lounge: Silent Vista-loving majority?
Vista, meh...
by amelieann - 5/8/08 7:34 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI bought a new Toshiba laptop a few weeks ago, mostly for convenient web surfing while watching TV in my living room. I'm not a computer dolt, but not really a power user either. I'm a Windows veteran, in the sense that I've had computers running 3.1, 95, XP and now Vista. I got the upgrade to Ultimate because Best Buy was offering it for $99 and I had read that Ultimate comes with the right to downgrade to XP, in case I found it necessary.
So far I haven't had a lot of trouble with Vista. Although I haven't challenged it much either, because I haven't installed any peripherals or much software, since I don't have discs for most of the software on my XP desktop. I have installed Norton 360 and Firefox. My two biggest complaints with Vista so far are that they seem to have moved a lot of features that I used regularly on the Control Panel, for no apparent reason. I had to click through about four different levels of menus from the control panel to find the settings for the damn screen saver--ridiculous. My other problem is that sharing and copying files between my Vista and XP machines over my wireless network seems to have some crazy bugs. I copied a huge folder and subfolders full of text docs, photos, music and videos from my XP desktop to my Vista laptop and some of the audio and video files would not copy and I got a message saying that I did not have permission to copy them. Which is absolutely ridiculous, seeing as I am the originator of all the files and the only user on either computer. I still haven't figured that bug out, other than I can copy them over if I issue the command from the XP machine to the Vista one, but not if I drag and drop from the shared folder on the Vista laptop to a folder on the hard drive. It's frankly a pain in the ass. But I suppose I will get used to Vista eventually. What I have no use for is Microsoft Office 2007. I don't need the hassle of trying to learn where they moved everything to, while still using the older Office software on my desktop and work laptop. I ordered a copy of Office 2003 Pro for my Vista laptop and will not change until my company upgrades and forces us all to learn the new Office software.
Vista works for me
by sciggy87 - 5/8/08 7:34 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarBought a new low end PC with Vista Home Premium installed, ran windows update and installed SP1. Everything worked great; my wife was able to transition from XP to Vista with absolutely no training. I swapped the Vista machine for the XP machine and she just kept on working. File transfer worked great, no driver problems, the new machine is easily 5 times faster than her old machine. Here is my take on why this worked so easily: By buying a preconfigured machine, the vendor was on the hook to make sure that all the required drivers were in place, the Vista machine has 2Gb of RAM and all my printer and other external devices less than a year old.
Now is Vista that much better than XP? Hard to say, it looks nice, I like the way it organizes photographs, it has been extremely reliable but there is nothing compelling me to upgrade any of my other XP systems. On the other hand, when I buy another preconfigured computer there is no reason to get XP, Vista is OK.
Vista
by sachem - 5/8/08 7:38 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI am a silent majority because most of the posts in the forum seem to be compaints and I don't have any. Also, any positive response garners immediate comments from the Mac/Linus/Opera/Foxfire/etc. group and I don't wish to elicit that type of respose. As with any change, there are going to be those who are not going to like it but it is inevitable. How else are we to move forward.
Vista Windows
by mrigby - 5/8/08 7:39 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarIt has definitely improved greatly since its release. I tried, many times, to "downgrade" to XP but could never get it done (At the point of selecting a drive to install XP on it couldn't "see" any drives. Now I am less inclined to begrudge my inability to downgrade and am starting to quite like it. I still get frustrated that I can't get it to open windows in full-screen mode, it keeps defaulting to a smaller size. But that's a minor complaint.
Sure, I'm loving Vista
by johnheehaw - 5/8/08 7:40 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI've been using it for about 10 months and I immediately noticed its advantages. It's ability to restore to older versions of a file has saved me on several occassions... same with it's backup feature. There are many convenience features that I like... I prefer typing "calc" in the start area to find the calculator, rather than navigating through Start->Programs->Accessories->Calculator. I also like the WinKey+Number functionality for launching programs in the quick launch area. I have had problems with the messaging platform at work because there they are still working with a system that was designed for OS a few generations back. They'll catch up... they'll migrate to Vista probably by the time Vista has been superceded by one or two newer versions.
Kind of love it now SP1 is out.
by hawk318 - 5/8/08 7:40 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarAfter just building a new blow out gaming machine, I decided to go with Vista. (BTW To a few of you I communicate with, I put up some pics & stats on my site in the photo gallery)
I loved it...until I kept getting "Windows explorer has stopped working"... This caused games to crash and other heavy usage programs....
I was told to try SP1 (which was available for manual download) and WOW!!!
No crashes, no problems now for over a month and a half.
Perhaps it's having build a top of the line PC and having tons of power and memory (4GB), but maybe its also that MS is really getting the bugs out.....
The only thing I don't like is the addition of 5 rows of menus at the top of every folder and no way to remove them (dislike the "search" immensely) It makes open folders too big..... Minor though to say the least, as MS has really done so much right in Vista....
VISTA
by nudelmann - 5/8/08 7:41 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarIn this avalanche of incompetent and confusing software from Microsoft Vista is [just a teeny bit] less incompetent [but still a lot confusing].
Love Vista
by htfilms - 5/8/08 7:44 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarFrankly, all this Vista-bashing is quite annoying. And sadly, I fell for it, at least for a while, when I was about to purchase another system for my office. We already had 4 XP systems, and were quite worried about replacing one of those with Vista... worried about compatibility problems, warned that older printers wouldn't work, made to feel as if none of our software would run. We even ordered an XP system, but it came damaged, ordered another XP, and it came damaged, so decided to bite the bullet and get one with Vista. Well let me tell you, it is great, MUCH MUCH better than XP. No more blue screens of death, Visa had faster boot up and shut down times, so all this nonsense about Vista-bashing is just that... nonsense. It is Microsoft's best operating system so far. Not perfect, but a heluva lot better than XP!
Very Satisfied...
by ash-ster - 5/8/08 7:45 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI bought my Sony Vaio back in december, dreading the thought of Vista and dealing with all the kinks that come with a new OS. But so far I have had no issues what so ever, and in fact I think Id say I love it. I like the security features, and the network features are so easy to use. It took a little getting used to (as any new tech device does) but I have no complaints. Perhaps Id be singing a different tune if I had an older printer or other older various devices I was always using but for me my camera, ipod and printer work just fine.
Like Vista, sort of....
by Sooupper - 5/8/08 7:45 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI really do like Vista. I have had less crashes with it than with XP. I have been using it on a new machine for over a year with no major problems. Within the same time spand, I have had to reload/rebuild my husband's XP machine twice. What I dislike about Vista the most is the Adminstrative access query with appears everytime I open an admin enabled program, Also, if I disable this alert, Vista keeps telling me it is not protected. I am the only "user" on this machine and it does not see me as an administrator. I dislike this "shadow" administrator user.
Using Vista; Liking Vista
by golfgal - 5/8/08 7:46 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarSince it was time for a new computer anyway, last January I got one with Vista Home Premium already loaded. Other than a scanner driver that was missing at the time of purchase (due to Epson, not Microsoft), everything has worked well. I haven't had any "blue screen" problems, though I've had two lock-ups since purchase (actually fewer times than my boss has had problems with his Mac purchased about the same time).
I am on-line all day at work, so with this computer at home, I mainly play games, check e-mail, and surf.
I didn't upgrade my monitor yet, so I am not able to see changes with Aero, but Vista is working well for me with virtually no problems.
Vista Love-Hate relationship
by Thomas Turrentine - 5/8/08 7:47 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI admit there are benifits to the new Vista OS, but so was the Millenium OS Update. I am enjoying working ( sludgung) my way through the slow compatability issues but overall I am impressed with Vista.
I fine the most of the people I talk with about it are disappointed not beacuse of the OS itself but the lack of hardware.
I certainly hope there will be resolutions to present issues soon, or I will be forced to revert back to XP. I am now on my 10th page of "sorry for the inconviences but a solution is being worked on" error messages. BTW...some fixes are easy yourself....It remindes me of playing Myst games.
I am sure it will prevail sooner or later....it is the wait that is killing it.....
Vista worked for me as well as XP
by dghampton - 5/8/08 7:49 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI waited 1 year because of my experiences with XP. I then set up Vista Ultimate, Vista Home Premium, and Vista Home Basic systems. All has gone better than it did with moving from WIN98SE to XP.
I play games on the Vista Ultimate system, using nVidia 8800 GT video. That has gone well, I have had a few system lock-ups, but no BSODs.
I see no practical user difference in the function of Vista versions, and my every day home system is the home basic version. I like it in many ways better than XP. I have 3gbs DSL and downloads are about twice as fast as with XP, and I have no idea why it is faster, but that definitely falls into the better category.
I have no complaints about Vista, but I do still run some things on an XP system, because of driver issues and lower memory requirements and the XP is paid for.
Waiting a while for the dust to settle certainly made my move to Vista easier than jumping in the day it came out.
Vista is working GREAT for me........ now
by frankwick - 5/8/08 7:59 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarI have to admit, I NOW love Vista. It's smooth. It's stable. It's visually appealing. There aren't that many monthly updates (although I don't mind updates).
I had two major problems when I first went Vista:
1. The UI is so different, I though it was messed up. I had used XP since 2001 and it was just natural. Going back to XP now seems old-fashioned. It reminds me of how XP users think of Win 3.1!!
2. The stupid Nvidia drivers were horrible!!! I got some blue screens, some lock-ups, etc... However, the problems now seem to be worked out with the latest Nvidia drivers. Honestly, I'm now scared of Nvidia products. I will think twice before buying again.
There are some things that need to be changed for Win 7:
1. More componentized. I think Windows server 2008 is the best MS OS. Win 7 needs to look/act more like this.
2. The sidebar needs to feel more like the OS itself, and not a separate app.
3. The UI still needs some tidying up. Some parts feel like the old OSes are still there while there are new Vista elements.
Vista File SYstem Problems
by rmailman - 5/8/08 8:00 AM In reply to: Silent Vista-loving majority? by chustarAlthough some of the changes were positive, I see four areas of major improvements needed (based on my regular use of three Vista boxes):
1. The new file system has/had bugs that should be corrected immediately. Moving files/folders using CTRL-X/CTRL-V almost always hung with the original Vista release (much better since SP1, but still happens occasionally). Still, folder contents do not update automatically if they remain open when a file is addded or modified by an app (meaning one does not seen correct content unless one presses F5 manually).
2. Hibernating a machine causes the screen to go black leaving the user in the "dark" -- XP handled this better (and faster).
3. Whomever made the decision to offer the infinite numbers of Vista version should be shot. There should be no more than two versions (something like Home Premium and Ultimate/Enterprise); anyone needing a stripped version could use XP or a linux variant.
4. When I tried to report the file system bugs to Dell and HP (makers of the three PCs in question), both vendors maintain they had no way of communicating with MS. Either they are lying or it is unconsciounable that Microsoft provides no way to correct reproducible and demonstrable bugs. It was nice thaat SP1 addressed this, but why did one have to wait for months living with this problem and having no way to pass it on?
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