Buzz Out Loud Lounge forum: Silent Vista-loving majority?

I'm ok with the new OS, Vista. I bought full version, not a upgrade.
that was very inportant to me. I never upgrade, period! The only
problem is on my sys. is the sleep and hibernate fuctions don't
work anymore. is there any downloads that can restore these issues?
I set up my computer for auto updates from dell and microsoft and appears to work well since I received computer, but now theres no low
memory shutdown. 2gb of ddr2 667 memory. intel core 2 duo 1.86mgh cpu. 320g hd. low level sound card and 256mb ati video card. Vista Home Premium w/64 bit chip. Thats my only issue with Vista, but is there a fix to the problem I have? help!

I haven't upgraded my development desktop yet, but it came installed on my wife's laptop and honestly, I'm a little jealous.

sort of. It does have its problems and SP1 refuses to install on my Dell "Designed for Vista". I sometimes, way to often, compare Vista to Millennium. My main complaint it that it is way to slow in doing just about anything.

The best part about Vista is that you don't get any spyware, adware or viruses. That is why XP is obsolete.

I've been working online for 15 years, and have used a variety of Macs and Windows machines side by side throughout this time. I'm currently using a Dell Optiplex running Vista Business alongside a G5 iMac running OSX Tiger. The Dell has a 2 gigs of RAM, a good HD, dual core MB, and a separate video card. I'm very happy with Vista. It operates the tablet technology I need for my Wacom board (which I can't on the Mac without VM). Vista has been quick and stable (even pre-SP1), and I've only had one BS of Death - stupidly installing ancient XP drivers for my scanner. Also, I like the graphics in Vista much more than Tiger.

My Mac, on the other hand, stalls much more often (via the pinwheel of death). It's mouse action is a bit odd, esp when I want to bring the cursor onto a specific object - it slows down more than it should. The Mac is definitely slower, though the (expensive) new iMacs in our office seem to be running Leopard quite well. Of course, for the money we've laid out, they should!

All in all, I like Vista. It's laid out well, it still has the Windows desktop organization I prefer (I've never like the gimmicky OSX dock), and it's very fast and stable. Like Mac people who always upgrade their hardware to appropriate levels for new OSX releases, Windows people need to keep their hardware as current as possible. I think that will keep things running nicely.

I think people tend forget the problems with previous versions of Windows. I've used everything from DOS 4.0 to Vista (don't even mention ME) and they all had issues. XP is remembered now for the "wonderful" OS it became. I thought it sucked in 2003 and still have problems now. Yes, I have it set up in dual boot mode for those few games that can't be made to run in Vista, but it took a lot of years to get here. I have had problems with Vista, some of my own doing, some of Microsoft's and some I just don't know, but it clearly has more potential, and much better "fixit" response, than any OS I've used. (Don't talk to me about Mac or Linux until either can run Crysis, Halo, SupComm as well as Vista). Gary

I adopted it early on and have never looked back! You can't run it on older/slower PC's - you gotta have good equipment with plenty of memory available. I run it on 4 computers, two are converted from XP, not as good. Those are a Sony Vaio laptop and a Toshiba laptop. Okay results, but slow.
My two newest PC's, a Dell XPS M1330 laptop with 4 gigs main memory, and a Dell XPS desktop - same memory. These came with Vista Home Premium and are as good as it gets.

My favorite feature: I stopped running programs and now run "documents". In other words, when I want to work on a report, I don't start Word and search for the report. I just start typing in the name of the report and click when I comes up. I know, like a Mac!

It is a new work paradigm for me, all because of Vista.

I built my current computer for gaming. Quad-core processor, Nvidia 8800GTS (soon to get a 9800GTX), 500GB HDD, etc. So naturally, I wanted DX-10 capability, and since MS doesn't seem intent on letting it work on XP, I got Vista. I don't really love it per se. People complain about the User Account Control, but you can change your preferences. I haven't had any compatibility issues, because I bought all my components new.
One complaint I have to level is the amount of RAM used. I have 4GB installed, so it's not too bad for me. But this thing uses over 1GB in IDLE. That means when it's sitting there, not doing <i>anything</i>, I'm using more memory than my father's laptop has. Until they patch Vista to make it more memory efficient, I don't recommend most people get it.

Vista caused me to stop offering Dell systems to my customers. After several go-rounds with Dell over refusing to ship computers with anything except Vista I stopped offering Dell. The first problem was that I had clients order new laptops only to find the applications they HAD TO HAVE would not even install on Vista. These were business clients who did not have another option and that meant they simply could not accept Vista. Dell was hopeless about understanding their need to have XP and demanded customers pay extra to downgrade. I had the customers return the Dells for a refund and they bought Gateways which they could get with XP.

I suspect that Dell and Microsoft have a pact to force anything MS puts out down the throat of buyers even if it does not work and is not what they want.

As a result I will no longer sell or suggest Dell. I am starting to work toward Linux instead.

Both MS and Dell and others have become software bullies insisting that people must buy what they want to sell the customer rather than what the customer really needs.

Vista is a big, fat, bloated, overblown OS with so much crap crammed into it that many machines simply will not run it. Probably 90% of what the typical user does can be done quite well with Win2k or XP. I still use Win2K for all my office machines and will not upgrad to another MS experiment.

What happens when MS stops supporting Win2k and XP and people's machines can't handle the fat Vista? That may be the turning point at which Linux has the advantage. There is no shortage of Open Source programs already out there and Linux installs at least as easy as anything MS has to offer...probably easier !

I say Vista may be what Linux needs to take off.

Vista may be all you (not me) wanted for an OS. I use my computer to work for a living. I spent over 10K on software that causes Vista to respond (huh, what???) Throught a dual processor, DVD, 17" (I want my 10 key back) laptop would be great. Every computer seller (except DELL) came preloaded with Vista and only Vista. XP could install a DOS based program (my clients found what THEY wanted--not Gates!). Vista machines could probably have been made to allow XP just like XP allowed W2000, W98, WinME, W95, W3.11, etc. but either Gates did a major screwup or all of the techs I talked to (literally around the world) were totally wrong--saying XP & Vista could not be on the same machine and be dual booted. A little more is creeping out there on the possibility of doing this. More programs (No not MS Office crap) are becoming Vista only--but let me work and make a buck (not easy with today's Congress) so I can buy (aka spend, aka "stimulate") the Vista stuff (if it works). Right now--Vista, thumbs down and XP rules!
Business Consultant--Thor (No I didn't have time to read the archives)

I do like the way it handles some aspects of graphics issues...but that's all. Frankly, I think the only reason you're running this "positive" question/response poll is that you're getting heat from Microsoft and you want to keep their advertising.

Love it

I got Vista with my new computer and I have to say that I am very impressed. I was expecting to hate it cause I do read the boards here but we have our fair share of Microsoft haters logging in to trash anything that Microsoft does...I just thought I would put my two cents worth and say that I will be upgrading to the ultimate version since I had the opportunity to purchase for $99.00 with my new computer at Best Buy. I find that I am still adjusting different things but all in all I like it. This is the first computer that I have purchased because my mother board fried and died during tax time and I only had one day to get them done. I usually built them so I was prepared to go back to XP as soon as I was done with Uncle Sam BUT I don't think that I will.

Like most of us, no Microsoft product will ever win raves from me.

However, I find it no better nor worse than XP (I have several XP PCs, and two Vista ones). I find my peripherals work fine, both new and old. I find that my software - some of it open-source, like OpenOffice -- works fine. Downloads, etc., seem to be working OK.

I have fewer glitches, and I have had WAAAAY fewer viral problems, such as slowness, blackouts, blue screen of death, etc. (Knock wood!)

So it's not terrible. Not a rave, but reality.

Vincent in CT

I first started using Vista with Beta 1. I progressed through RC1 and by RC2 it was my full time OS. I've been extremely happy with it for several reasons.

The first reason is the new interface. Computers have changed dramatically since Windows 95 but the interface has largely stayed the same. I'm glad that Microsoft isn't afraid to re-evaluate their interface for something better. The new interface has improved my day to day work efficiency quite substantially. It not only feels more intuitive but it looks great too. It may be a turn off to some at first but if you take the time to play and get familiar with it you'll see it has enormous benefits. Many of explorer's new features have proved so useful that Linux has seen fit to rip them off.

Second. Hardware accelerated desktop. For well over a decade computers have had 3D accelerator cards that were used almost exclusively for video games and CAD. Every Windows OS previous to Vista has always rendered its interface using the CPU. While this may be fine for some, it makes my video card useless for day to day activities. Vista's entirely new hardware accelerated graphics system is a dream come true. Not only does it offload all rendering to the video card but I can now run smoother, nicer looking desktop graphics without any penalty. That's petty awesome!

As a corollary to the new graphics system I have found Vista to require the least amount of color correction of any previous release. This is important to me as I do a lot of professional graphic work where color accuracy is of extreme importance. So kudos to MS for improving color accuracy!

Over the years i've had the luxury to be able to work with Mac OS, Linux and Windows on a fairly regular basis. At my current job I get to work with each system daily. In regards to security, one of the things that i've long disliked about Windows and loved about Unix/Linux systems is that no users are an administrator. Everyone is a basic user. This idea that you should never run as a privileged user is at the core of why Unix/Linux systems are safer than Windows. With Vista's User Account Control we finally have the same safety measure for the Windows world. While some hate the prompts I find they can be a blessing. I've even been so bold as to turn up the settings to require my password be entered whenever something requires admin privileges. This is great for me because it prevents random people using my computer from installing stuff I don't want or making changes I don't want them to. I know people complain about this feature "always popping up" but in my day to day experience I never see the prompts. So if you're seeing the prompts regularly maybe you should be asking yourself why you're installing or tweaking your system so much. Is it really necessary?

Another thing I like about Vista is DirectX 10. If you've ever had a chance to see a game in DirectX 10, it's hard to go back to anything previous.

In terms of compatibility and system stability i've had nothing but good experiences. I use a lot of multimedia applications (Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere, Flash, Dreamweaver, Maya, Live) and they all run just fine. My system has been rock solid stable since Vista RC2. I've also been fortunate to not have any hardware problems with the exception of nVidia's crappy drivers. However that's nobody else's fault but nVidia's. ATI had fully functional drivers with zero performance loss from the first day of release. While nVidia has finally fixed the performance loss problem they still don't have perfectly stable and feature complete drivers. There's simply no excuse for it. If ATI can do it, so can you nVidia. So get off your fat butt.

Overall i've been very pleased. The improvements to work efficiency alone have made the switch well worth it.