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Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Pugnate on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 01:23:02 PM

Title: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 01:23:02 PM
Quote
Windows Vista Home Basic
Similar to Windows XP Home Edition, Home Basic is intended for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use. The Windows Aero theme with translucent effects will not be included with this edition. 64-bit Home Basic will support up to 8 GB of physical memory, and will be supported until 2012. $199.00
 
Windows Vista Home Premium
Containing all features from Home Basic, this edition will also support more advanced features aimed for the home market segment, such as HDTV support and DVD authoring. Extra premium games, mobile and tablet PC, network projector, touchscreen, and auxiliary display (via Windows SideShow) support, and a utility to schedule backups are also included. Home Premium supports 10 simultaneous peer network connections (compared to 5 in Home Basic). The version of Meeting Space included will also allow for interaction (in Home Basic, you may only view meetings), but Remote Desktop sessions may only be received, not controlled, in this edition. This edition is comparable to Windows XP Media Center Edition. 64-bit Home Premium will support up to 16 GB of physical memory, and will be supported until 2012. $239.00
 
Windows Vista Business
Comparable to Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows Vista Business Edition is aimed at the business market. Includes all the features of Home Premium with the exception of Windows Media Center and related technologies, Parental Controls, and Windows DVD and Movie Maker HD (the regular Movie Maker is included). Includes the IIS web server, fax support, Rights Management Services (RMS) Client, file system encryption, dual processor (two sockets) support, system image backup and recovery, offline file support, a full version of Remote Desktop, ad-hoc P2P collaboration capabilities, Previous Versions (Windows ShadowCopy), and several other business features not in Home Premium. 64-bit Business supports 128 GB of memory. Mainstream support for Business ends on 4/10/2012; extended support ends on 4/11/2017. $299.00
 
Windows Vista Enterprise
This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and is a superset of the Business edition. Additional features include multilingual user interface support, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support. This edition will not be available through retail or OEM channels, but through Microsoft Software Assurance. Since Enterprise is a benefit of Software Assurance (SA), it will include several SA-only benefits, including a license allowing for multiple virtual machines to be run, access to Virtual PC Express, and activation via VLK. [34] 64-bit Enterprise supports 128 GB of memory. Mainstream support for Enterprise ends on 4/10/2012; extended support ends on 4/11/2017. Part of Software Assurance enterprise licensing N/A

Windows Vista Ultimate
This edition combines all the features of the Home Premium and Enterprise editions, a game performance tweaker (WinSAT), and "Ultimate Extras". On January 7, 2007, at CES, Microsoft began to announce what some of these Ultimate Extras will be. When Vista launches to consumers on January 30, Microsoft will immediately make the following Extras available for Ultimate users: "Dream Scene", a utility that will allow for full-motion video desktop backgrounds; "Hold'Em"; "Hold'Em", a Vista-customized version of the Texas Hold'Em poker game; Multi-user interface language (MUIL) packs, designed to allow individuals fluent in different languages to share the same PC; BitLocker Online Secure Key Storage, where Ultimate customers will be offered a secure place to store their BitLocker encryption keys in the Online Vista Marketplace; and "Digital publications," a collection of tips and tricks, blog links and other resources for getting the most out of Ultimate.[35][36] After that, many more are expected to be announced through 2007, including a photo editing and merging tool shown at CES called "GroupShot". More detailed information regarding some of these extras can be read at the Vista Ultimate website here The Ultimate edition is aimed at high-end PC users, gamers, multimedia professionals, and PC enthusiasts. 64-bit Ultimate supports 128 GB of memory. Mainstream support for Ultimate ends on 4/10/2012; extended support ends on 4/11/2017. Another upgrade variant of Windows Vista Ultimate is the Windows Vista Ultimate Signature Edition, a limited, numbered edition of Windows Vista Ultimate that features Bill Gates' signature on the front of the packaging along with its unique number. $399.00

So I saw Vista in action, and like Scottws I was a bit impressed. So I thought I may as well go for it, considering I've got a direct x 10 compliant card and many of the games I own are getting direct x 10 patches. Company of Heroes is expected to have a DX10 patch that upps the visuals next month.

So basically Vista Business isn't for people like us, as it is stripped of all the multimedia options -- which is senseless. They all seem to have Aero which is fine, but I don't understand why Home Premium is limited to 16GB of RAM usage while the Ultimate is at 128GB. WTF!

Anyway I really want the Ultimate edition, but then I saw the price... what a heart break. $400!!!! For software! Would I rather not buy a 360?

So if I go for home premium I miss out on all the business ed. options, which is fine. But I hate being limited to 16GB RAM. Who knows how the future will shape out. So I don't care for the business edition options, then what am I missing out on?

a game performance tweaker (WinSAT): Well... I wonder how well that would work anyway?

Dream Scene", a utility that will allow for full-motion video desktop backgrounds: Sounds cool, but worth it? Nope. The rest are pretty meh. I find the following very interesting though:

Quote
Customers in Canada and the United States who purchase the Ultimate Edition (full or upgrade) before June 30, 2007 will be able to purchase additional licenses of Vista Home Premium at a cost of $49.99. These licenses will be sold online through Microsoft's web site.

That is very interesting. So could I basically sell licenses of Vista Home Premium on eBay and make some of my money back?

edit:

Had a look on eBay. Vista Ultimate upgrade and OEM are going for $250. Hmmmmmmmmm.

What's the disadvantage of going Ultimate OEM?



Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Quemaqua on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 01:41:27 PM
I want no part of it.  None.  Not even a little bit.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: idolminds on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 03:39:55 PM
Why would you want video as your desktop? I find some still images as wallpaper make icons hard to read/find. I couldnt imagine a freaking video.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ren on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 03:46:33 PM
You can make video as your wallpaper with VLC on XP. I don't see why you would need Ultimate Edition except for the RAM thing. I don't think we'd go over 16GB in the next 5 years or so though.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Cobra951 on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 04:23:34 PM
I want no part of it.  None.  Not even a little bit.
Check, for me too.

You can make wallpaper out of DVD playback too, with WinDVD (under XP, of course).
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: iPPi on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 06:55:02 PM
Vista is pretty impressive.  I know a couple people who use it and it is pretty good.

I've got a copy of Vista Business on its way pretty soon myself for my laptop.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ScaryTooth on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 08:35:10 PM
I may check it out. $400 is a lot of dough though. I may wait for a hacked copy...
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Quemaqua on Sunday, January 21, 2007, 09:13:50 PM
Even if I wanted it, which I don't, I can't afford it and find the prices entirely offensive.  Makes me want to throw my fucking 360 out the window.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Monday, January 22, 2007, 05:00:16 PM
We've got a few machines running Ultimate here at work but it's a 30 day thing only. Looks nice and that's without Aero as the GPUs aren't up to snuff. I might pick up a OEM from a contact I have but that'll still set me back a fair wack - or unfair as the case may be.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: gpw11 on Monday, January 22, 2007, 05:02:13 PM
If I cave and decide I really want Aero Glass I'll probably find a way to get it for free if possible. 
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Monday, January 22, 2007, 08:34:37 PM
I decided I'll stick with XP for awhile, I think.  It works just fine.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 01:19:41 AM
Well the upgrade edition of Ultimate is going for $250 as is the full OEM.

The home premium which is just as good is going for $130 upgrade and full OEM is $150.

From what I understand with an upgrade edition you can do a clean install. When you are installing and it asks you for your previous windows all you need to do is insert your old XP disc which it checks and that's about it.

That's still a lot of dough.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 05:34:37 AM
From what I understand with an upgrade edition you can do a clean install. When you are installing and it asks you for your previous windows all you need to do is insert your old XP disc which it checks and that's about it.
Yep.  That is correct.  When I reformatted Jennie's mom's computer, she had the XP Home upgrade edition.  It asked me to insert a previous version of Windows, so I inserted the ME disc that came with her computer and it accepted it.

I've always wondered though if you need a previous version with the same license type.  For instance my XP is a (legal) volume license key version.  What I do not know is whether or not a Vista Upgrade verison with the retail license would work with my VLK-licensed XP.  Probably, but do I really want to take the chance?
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 05:37:33 AM
Well the thing is that at installation time it has no real way of checking to see if the cd key is valid.

I am probably going to go for Windows Vista, but I am just hoping it dual boots with XP OK.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 05:38:46 AM
I wonder how much Jennie's mom can get it for...  I know she was able to get Jennie's sister Office 2003 Professional for $60.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 07:27:54 AM
How is she able to get discounts?
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 03:57:58 PM
Ummm she is a Microsoft salesperson.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: gpw11 on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 05:13:31 PM
*cough*hook me up with office 2007 *cough*
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: gpw11 on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 05:16:53 PM
Oh, and can you dual boot and have the two installations share a partition with, say, all your game and media files and stuff on them? 

I mean, ideally I'd like to dual boot OSX86 and XP on my next system, but if I could get OSX86 and Vista going as two seperate partitions and then have a small partition with XP that has access to a lot of my Vista files that could work pretty well as a fall back if I run into any early vista compatibility problems with certain programs.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 05:22:22 PM
I am sure you can.  I don't know if the two Windows will automount the other partitions, but I would think probably and if not I'm sure you could get it to work.

Edit:  Actually, that's not totally correct.  Data will be fine:  music files, images, movies, documents, spreadsheets, etc.  But programs would need to be installed on both Windows installations so that the registry would be populated with the program information.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: iPPi on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 05:31:38 PM
*cough*hook me up with office 2007 *cough*

Office 2007 is fucking awesome.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: gpw11 on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 07:35:47 PM
Yeah, data is my primary concern.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 07:40:22 PM
Yeah, data is my primary concern.
Yeah, shouldn't be an issue at all.  You should be fine. 

Hell, my music folder in my Ubuntu installation is just a link to the Windows Shared Music folder.  If you can do that between Linux and Windows, you can bet you can do it between Windows and Windows.  If you end up having trouble, post about it and I'll help you figure it out.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ScaryTooth on Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 05:45:54 PM
Think I might go with the OEM from newegg at some point when I have the money.

Bam! (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116215)

Not sure how activation and all that shit works in Vista. Hopefully, if you build a new system with a new mobo, and such, you won't have to buy another copy.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: iPPi on Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 05:52:09 PM
I should have gotten the Media Center Edition of XP for my laptop to get Vista Home Premium.  Instead, I went with XP Pro (dunno why I did in retrospect), and I get Vista Business.  Oh well.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Wednesday, January 24, 2007, 08:01:39 PM
Not sure how activation and all that shit works in Vista. Hopefully, if you build a new system with a new mobo, and such, you won't have to buy another copy.
I think Vista's EULA is much more clear about what is considered the computer.  I believe they consider the motherboard to be the computer.  So you probably can't switch motherboards with the OEM copy, though there might be an exemption in the case of failure, but even then I would think they would require you to replace it with the same motherboard.

I also know that even the retail license is much more restrictive now.  You can only install Windows Vista on two different computers ever (one at a time).  Then it's done.  Previously the retail license didn't restrict how many machines you migrated the Windows OS to.  Some guy named Paul Thurrott argues otherwise, but this guy is a moron.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Thursday, January 25, 2007, 12:05:09 AM
Think I might go with the OEM from newegg at some point when I have the money.

Bam! (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116215)

Not sure how activation and all that shit works in Vista. Hopefully, if you build a new system with a new mobo, and such, you won't have to buy another copy.

I was thinking of going OEM as well, but the problem is that an OEM seems to be limited in the number of installs when you upgrade your machine.

The upgrade edition shouldn't have an issue, but I am just worried if it is going to be the exact same thing as the regular edition.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Thursday, January 25, 2007, 12:07:28 AM
As said previously (sort of), the full install version and the upgrade version is the same except the upgrade version asks you to prove that you previously purchased another version of Windows.

There is no other difference.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ScaryTooth on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 02:02:44 PM
I've been reading, I guess with the OEM version, you can't upgrade at all. Not even a video card, which is really shitty.

So retail it is. Now, should I got 32-bit, or 64-bit? I'm thinking 64-bit is probably a driver nightmare.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 02:54:36 PM
64 bit isn't a good idea, because a lot of software won't run as well. Oh and the upgrade version won't allow you a clean install.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5887

This obviously sucks.

Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 03:26:52 PM
I've been reading, I guess with the OEM version, you can't upgrade at all. Not even a video card, which is really shitty.
That bites!!!



Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ren on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 04:32:42 PM
As said previously (sort of), the full install version and the upgrade version is the same except the upgrade version asks you to prove that you previously purchased another version of Windows.

There is no other difference.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5887

This site goes against what you're saying. It says it doesn't just check for the disc, it checks the previous Windows install.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Xessive on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 04:47:38 PM
Man, this whole business with Vista is becoming too complicated for me to ever bother with Vista at all. If Microsoft make owning Vista too much trouble (i.e. can't customize/upgrade my hardware conveniently) I may just switch to something else altogether, probably Apple.

Here's a link to  Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116213) @ Newegg.com. This seems like the best option for people like me (emphasis on System Builders).
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ScaryTooth on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 05:02:10 PM
Maybe you can reinstall it after you build a new system (http://news.yahoo.com/s/zd/20070126/tc_zd/199653)

It's still not extremely clear though. If I can reinstall it after I upgrade or whatever, thats fine. I just may buy the OEM.

I'm still not sure about it though. Do I go 32-bit, or 64-bit? Worried about driver problems. I hear Vista pretty much breaks EAX if you have a soundblaster audigy card, like myself.

It's still really tempting though. And I mean, everyone is going to have to upgrade sooner or later. Driver support for XP will start vanishing, XP will start toget fazed out. Might be smart to wait a few months, huh?
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 05:36:59 PM
Man, this whole business with Vista is becoming too complicated for me to ever bother with Vista at all. If Microsoft make owning Vista too much trouble (i.e. can't customize/upgrade my hardware conveniently) I may just switch to something else altogether, probably Apple.

Here's a link to  Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16832116213) @ Newegg.com. This seems like the best option for people like me (emphasis on System Builders).

It's not that complicated, it's no more complicated than it is with XP. yeah there's more product versons but you'll be looking at either Premium - either a full copy or an upgrade, or if you’ve the money got for ultimate. Done.
As for this matter of using an upgrade CD to do a fresh install I’ve never seen this work. With every new OS that comes out this always comes up, and I’ve tried it with an ME upgrade (don't ask it wasn't my machine) and it didn’t do jack just like every other time someone else has tried it with any other upgrade. I’ve never seen this happen.

And Driver support of XP wont fade any time soon either, there's really no hurry to upgrade other than the importance that you yourself place upon it. Let the OS hit the streets and see what comes of it, there might be a shit storm waiting when the dust settles or there might not be but there's no harm in taking your time in upgrading.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 06:14:58 PM
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5887

This site goes against what you're saying. It says it doesn't just check for the disc, it checks the previous Windows install.
I was basing my quote off of every previous release of Windows ever.  I didn't realize they changed that for Vista, so I apologize.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ren on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 06:17:29 PM
I'm confused with the 32/64 bit thing as well. Which one is the one to buy?
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 06:19:09 PM
As for this matter of using an upgrade CD to do a fresh install I’ve never seen this work. With every new OS that comes out this always comes up, and I’ve tried it with an ME upgrade (don't ask it wasn't my machine) and it didn’t do jack just like every other time someone else has tried it with any other upgrade. I’ve never seen this happen.
I did it myself just six months ago on Jennie's mom's computer.  Windows XP Home, upgrade version.  All I did was insert her copy of Windows ME that came with her Dell.  It works.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 07:40:23 PM
I did it myself just six months ago on Jennie's mom's computer.  Windows XP Home, upgrade version.  All I did was insert her copy of Windows ME that came with her Dell.  It works.

hmm I say hmm....
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Sunday, January 28, 2007, 11:07:12 PM
I was basing my quote off of every previous release of Windows ever.  I didn't realize they changed that for Vista, so I apologize.

No lol you don't have to apologize. This is what we all assumed after our experiences with the upgrade editions of the past. In fact before this particular news, every tech junkie on the internet said the same thing. I think they brought about this change because they will be able to check the authenticity of the first copy if it is installed first.

Quote
I'm confused with the 32/64 bit thing as well. Which one is the one to buy?

I asked the same question. Everyone says it is much better to go for 32 bit because 64 bit compatibility hasn't been refined yet and probably won't be for a while.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=33&threadid=1994820


Quote
Man, this whole business with Vista is becoming too complicated for me to ever bother with Vista at all. If Microsoft make owning Vista too much trouble (i.e. can't customize/upgrade my hardware conveniently) I may just switch to something else altogether, probably Apple.

Here's a link to Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Ultimate for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM @ Newegg.com. This seems like the best option for people like me (emphasis on System Builders).

BLASPHEMY!

It is worse coming from you haha. No I don't think it is complicated. I'd suggest the upgrade edition still since most of us have a legal copy of Windows anyway.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Xessive on Monday, January 29, 2007, 04:38:37 AM
Hehe yeah I'm the Anti-Mac :P I respect Macs as tools, but they're not ideal for me simply because of how inflexible they are compared to my PC.

Well, of my two systems only one has a genuine Windows XP install, the second I've upgraded and changed too much that it won't install, so I resorted to Corp edition. Fortunately I may be able to get a legit volume key from one of the companies I worked for while I was in Canada, but it's still a really bitchy move from Microsoft. Protecting your OS is fine, but by basing it on my hardware profile is retarded. The way Is ee it, I paid for the OS, I should be able to install it on my system regardless of how many times I upgrade or alter it (unless it becomes a compatibility issue).
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Monday, January 29, 2007, 05:38:41 AM
The way Is ee it, I paid for the OS, I should be able to install it on my system regardless of how many times I upgrade or alter it (unless it becomes a compatibility issue).
Microsoft will argue that you paid for an operating system license, and that the license says you can only install it one computer ever and even upgrades to the computer may violate the license, requiring you to purchase a new one.

That's the reality of the software industry.  I think Vista's license is okay for a business where you are not generally going to be doing videocard upgrades and stuff like that, but it's pretty incompatible with the enthusast home user.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: idolminds on Monday, January 29, 2007, 12:51:07 PM
Its almost like MS wants people to pirate it or use something else.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Monday, January 29, 2007, 02:52:42 PM
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/29/xp-vs-vista/page4.html#3d_games

Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Xessive on Monday, January 29, 2007, 03:10:04 PM
Its almost like MS wants people to pirate it or use something else.
Seriously man! This is why I respect Linux.

The licence thing is alright, but the licence should be to me not to my hardware. Imagine having to get a new licence every time you tuned your car or got a kit for it, or if you got a new car. Imagine having an individual licence for each car you owned (if you had more than one), and you'd have to pay a fine or go to jail if you were caught driving one car with another car's licence!

Those benchmarks make sense. I don't think the driver support for Vista is good enough yet. I'd give it a while before we start seeing some performance improvement.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: iPPi on Monday, January 29, 2007, 03:25:11 PM
Those benchmarks are somewhat interesting, but not overly surprising.  Like Xessive said, driver support is very limited right now for Vista, and I know that there are several applications that have problems working in Vista.  Have some patience and everything will be alright.

Thankfully, I'm getting Vista business for my laptop, which I do not intend on using for gaming very often and is primarily for productivity work, so it looks like I won't have too many problems with going to Vista as soon as it is delivered to me for my laptop.  I'll definitely wait a bit before I go to Vista on my desktop though.  I don't want to have too many problems with software and drivers at the moment.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Monday, January 29, 2007, 03:46:18 PM
Seriously man! This is why I respect Linux.

The licence thing is alright, but the licence should be to me not to my hardware. Imagine having to get a new licence every time you tuned your car or got a kit for it, or if you got a new car. Imagine having an individual licence for each car you owned (if you had more than one), and you'd have to pay a fine or go to jail if you were caught driving one car with another car's licence!

Those benchmarks make sense. I don't think the driver support for Vista is good enough yet. I'd give it a while before we start seeing some performance improvement.

Yes I am definitely holding on my Vista purchase for now. But while I understand what you say, the issue is differentiation. What is the difference between a new system and an upgrade? Also if they allowed you to install your copy of Windows on your new system with a new mobo and stuff then what's stopping you from installing that very copy on a 100 other systems?

By you, I am don't mean 'you'. I am just thinking out loud. :P

Also I think the reason both of us had limited XP installs was because we both bought the OEM from Mobile Comp.

Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Xessive on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 04:43:45 AM
Haha Oh man, we got scrooged with Mobile Computers! I am so glad that shop closed down! It was too abd they closed down right after they screwed me over with a processor.. I had paid for an AthlonXP 2500+ (1.83 GHz) but I later discovered it was an AthlonXP 1700+ (1.46 GHz). I was pretty pissed off, but there was nothing I could do, since the shop closed down literally the following day.

That's all long gone now. I hope that when the time comes it won't be a fuss to just get Vista and have it for my personal systems.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 01:45:57 PM
An interesting tidbit about Vista that I didn't know about until recently - http://pc.ign.com/articles/759/759538p1.html (http://pc.ign.com/articles/759/759538p1.html)
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Cobra951 on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 02:34:46 PM
Fucked up audio, until it's sorted out by new hardware, drivers and software.  That's like the last straw, isn't it?  Everything in this thread tells me to stay far away, for months if not years to come.  Seriously.  Look at the whole picture.  What we have here is a misbehaved, high-maintenance infant.  He needs to grow up before he's worth any money.

But if you still feel like babysitting, Microcenter (http://www.microcenter.com/index.html) has prices much lower than what I've been reading about here, on OEM versions.  (I assume and hope the meaning of "OEM" is still the same it always has been.)
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 02:39:09 PM
That is so freakin' arrogant of MS. It is obvious that so many people will left feeling extremely upset over having a $200 audio card not performing, yet MS have the audacity to not care. It seems their attitude is that their OS is worth it, so that's that.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: PyroMenace on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 03:08:38 PM
Yea, I have an audigy card so my audio is fucked in Vista, openAL or not.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 03:34:00 PM
Unfortunately I am in the same boat as you. That is such b.s. though. Not only do we spring for a new OS, but some hardware becomes obsolete as well? That's just not on.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 04:55:07 PM
That is so freakin' arrogant of MS. It is obvious that so many people will left feeling extremely upset over having a $200 audio card not performing, yet MS have the audacity to not care. It seems their attitude is that their OS is worth it, so that's that.

yeah it's not a great move but I wouldn't go as far to call it arrogant, but the article does have a quote regarding hopw MS gets blamed left and right for the OS crashing when its actualy the drives or some other thing causing it - this is just them protecting the OS which is a good thing.
But this provides little comfort as I'm in the same boat with my audigy card too  :(

I remeber when XP came out you had to buy a new copy of Anti virus and such becuase they made changes to the OS that none on the market at the time (prior to XP's release) would worked - hmmm I think the same could be soad for this release to I'm not sure.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ScaryTooth on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 05:34:16 PM
I went to CompUSA tonight to get a can of compressed air, and I messed around with Vista while I was there. I have to say that it's really really nice. The layout of everything is where you would expect it to be. The interface is extremely slick, and functional. Loved the 3D scrolling. It seemed just gimmicky at first, but I see how it can be really useful. Same thing with the thumbnail preview of minimized window. And gadgets are really neat. I especially liked the clock, notes, weather, and the news headlines. I make notes to myself all the time. I have a post-it pad here with me at all times, to remind me of certain thing. To pay bills, or make calls. And I stick them all over the monitor, but to have this little thing on the gadget bar was really cool. I'd probably use it all the time over the post-it pad. Headlines were updated in real-time, as was weather which was really nice. Another thing that seemed rather gimmicky to me but ended up being pretty nice.

It seemed really stable, and quick. I was trying to make it do something funky by opening a a bunch of shit, and running searches and all that crap at the same time, but nothing seem to really do anything to it.

I have to say, if it wasn't for the EAX thing, I would totally buy a copy right away. It was really really neat.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Xessive on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 06:17:07 PM
Man, Vista may be appealing, but this is the most attractive desktop OS to me right now:

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/)

Click on View Demo and check out some of the features.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 06:37:45 PM
I just got back from Best Buy.  They had a 2GB RAM system with a Intel Core Duo 2 E6400 processor, with an onboard nVidia 7xxx something.  The Vista media center was crawling.  Even my friend's brother, who works for Best Buy and likes Microsoft, was complaining about how slow and choppy it was.  In fact, he went as far as to say "Vista sucks."

I see a lot of people in this thread saying it's bullshit that Vista almost renders older sound cards incompatible.  But if you read closely, it's not even necessarily the sound cards themselves.  It sounds like even if you have a Vista-compatible card, older games will still call up DirectSound.

As far as Linux, I'm definitely much of a Debian-based distro fan.  I hate Red Hat, and SuSE is based on Red Hat.  I tried SuSE 10 (not Enterprise) and I found many of it's features extremely slow.  Looked nice though.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 11:39:21 PM
hey Scott perhaps Best Buy have a pre release copy because we used those and they were horrible and slow. But we've got a trial retail copy and it hums along on 512, 2.4P4 and a built GPU this is the same machine that the pre release betas crawled on. Whatever Best has isn't a good example at all of what Vista can do.

But as for the sound card issue thing I posted earlier I had a thought about that - a lot of people must have known about this and yet for all the reading I did leading up to today I heard nothing about it. For example I'm really surprised a site like Windows Supersite never mentioned it and yet that's the one place you know would have discovered such a thing. So What the hell did MS keep this change to themselves and implement it at the very last second?
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: ScaryTooth on Tuesday, January 30, 2007, 11:46:27 PM
So, I've been reading. Creative have made a wrapper for openAL. But it currently only supports the X-fi line of sound cards they have. So if you have a X-Fi card, and vista, you can still run games with 3D sound. I guess they plan on implementing it on the older Audigy and Live cards and such in the future. But for now, us Audigy users are shit out of luck. Hell, I'm still using the first Sound Blast Audigy Platinum. Think I've had it for about 6 years now. I think they are only going to offer support for Audigy 2 and up.../sadface.

May have to upgrade my sound card here one day.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: idolminds on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 12:10:15 AM
Its rather shitty if Creative has to fix this and not MS. I mean DirectSound was their deal, afterall.

And for MS pimping this OS out to gamers and making press releases saying Vista will revitalize PC gaming...messing up the  sound from all your old games is a pretty big fuck up.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 01:54:29 AM
hahaha there is a loophole:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 02:08:55 AM
Interesting.... but that sounds far to easy and like the guy says why would MS leave that sort of thing in retail? But it would be interesting to try though  ;D

Well MS don't write drivers but I'm more pissed that only X-Fi owners get a fix, what about everyone else dam it!
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 02:35:51 AM
And we know Creative doesn't really excel at driver releases.

Well this is interesting. Just read G-Spot's article on Vista, and it looks like the OS holds its own against XP.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6164940/p-3.html

With at least 1GB present, Vista seems to do better in WoW and Burning Crusade than XP. In Oblivion the performance is the exact same, as long as RAM is sufficient.

In Company of Heroes, XP holds a bit of an advantage, but the new COH patch should sort it out. Then again Vista is still earning at least 70FPS in most setups so it doesn't matter.

NWN2 seems to have some issues with Vista, but that's not entirely surprising heh.

Overall if you have 2GB of RAM, then you should in some cases get better performance than XP, though in most it is roughly equal or a bit worse. I am sure things will be worked out with patches, but this is an excellent start.

Coupled with the Upgrade Install work around, I am interested again.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: scottws on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 08:41:57 AM
I'm still not.  It doesn't really add anything that I feel a great desire to have.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, 02:45:39 PM
As far as i'm concerned the OS comes with a PC, I will not fork out money just for the OS. That's how I ended up with XP it simply came witht he new rig... it'll be the same way with Vista.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Wednesday, February 07, 2007, 02:29:48 PM
Gamespot covers Vista pretty nicely:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6165439/index.html?tag=topslot;title;2&om_act=convert&om_clk=topslot
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Jedi on Wednesday, February 07, 2007, 02:57:33 PM
Seems like this is for real then - http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp
 (http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp)
I have to give this a try at some stage, but I wonder if MS will lock this down but I don't know how they'd do it though.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Wednesday, February 07, 2007, 10:44:54 PM
Oh yea that walk around is real. So far a whole bunch of sites are reporting it.

Also check this out:

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2174211/microsoft-won-patch-vista

Quote
Tom Sanders in California, vnunet.com 06 Feb 2007
ADVERTISEMENT
<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/34f3/3/0/%2a/p%3B70521298%3B0-0%3B68%3B14017311%3B4252-336/280%3B19788175/19806069/1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://www.europe.redhat.com/promo/appstack"><IMG SRC="http://m.uk.2mdn.net/1371550/rh4202_336x280_1_0_en.gif" BORDER=0></A>

Microsoft will not close a loophole that offers consumers a cheaper way to upgrade to Windows Vista.

As vnunet.com reported last week, users can install the upgrade version of the new operating system as a fresh installation, even if they do not currently own a licensed copy of Windows XP. 

The procedure is time consuming, but allows users to save about 35 per cent of the purchase price for the regular Windows Vista.

"People without a licensed copy of XP that use this workaround are violating the terms of use agreed to when they purchased the upgrade version of Windows Vista," a Microsoft spokesman told vnunet.com.

"As such, we believe only a very small percentage of people will take the time to implement this workaround, and we encourage all customers to follow our official guidelines for upgrading to Windows Vista."

Microsoft added that it does not have any plans to disable the workaround at this time.
Title: Re: Yes another Vista thread. I apologize in advance.
Post by: Pugnate on Thursday, February 08, 2007, 06:24:59 AM
Interesting:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5952