Author Topic: XP or Vista user — take the poll! (Read 86845 times)

Lashiec · « **Reply #75 on:** August 07, 2007, 11:32 AM »

64-bit it's still shaky at best. Better to stay with 32-bit for now. Of course, I don't know what you should do with that extra gig, Zaine

Josh · « **Reply #76 on:** August 07, 2007, 11:49 AM »

Not really a good reason if you ask me, but if you have to grasp at straws, I guess it could be.

mikiem · « **Reply #77 on:** August 09, 2007, 04:15 PM »

The poll doesn't have any "Other" or multiple choice

Any ol' way, & FWIW of course, I've got 98SE, XP Pro, & Vista H/Prem on hdd, Linux on removable disc.

Personally I'm pretty much OS agnostic, using whatever seems to be the best choice *for me* to reach whatever goals I'm trying to achieve at the time; while a MAC has better software for media work, the $1200 hardware difference (based on ads today) is more than I'm willing to pay. I should (& would) say: "Who cares?"... Well, I tend to be pretty average & so I think that’s the way many (most?) average consumers feel.

I think that whatever seems the easiest to the average user -- figuring in cost, popularity (Vista’s eye candy for example), time, effort, and amount of thought required -- will prevail. If subscription biz models are preferred by the average consumer, things will swing that way. If not, they won't. Biz apps are another story, and I can certainly see the appeal of dynamically scaling your costs as the number of employees changes, up or down. At the end of the day what tech oriented folk have to say on the matter doesn’t always mean that much – just look at the auto industry, where mechanics have always and overwhelmingly felt certain cars/trucks utter dogs, but that never caused the company not to continue making them, nor influenced popularity.

Regardless preferences, if the past repeats itself (as with 95, 98, xp...), software will start to work less well in XP; XP hardware driver compatibility will become an issue; XP will become less stable due to new drivers, updates, & software versions; tech docs (How-To’s) will no longer reference XP; as we get used to the Vista interface, XP might seem primitive, maybe even quaint. If it works the same as it always has so far, eventually it’ll become tough to use XP, the majority of people will use Vista, & the audience for Vista complaints will dwindle.

What is sort of new is the explosion of on-line apps. Can’t do everything or as well as with the regular software on your hdd, but how often do folks use everything that software has to offer? It could work to have your OS (say a small Linux build) on a flash drive, along with file storage. If the hardware was set-up to allow it, you could use anything anywhere in the world as long as it had an internet connection – beats carrying the lightest, smallest laptop.

Grorgy · « **Reply #78 on:** August 09, 2007, 05:45 PM »

Ahhh mikiem, i think thats where the web based apps will come crashing down, not everyone has access to the internet, those that do an awful lot still have only access to a really slow connection and then of course there is the security of your data, do you want the governement of (insert country) trolling through whatever you write or do? Im put off internet based apps just by the length of time it takes to logon to google mail or hotmail, a lot of time im on dialup and it can take what seems an age, but is only a minute or so to load. When i do have access to broadband, its via satellite and its not cheap, and the download amount is restricted.

Thems my thoughts, today

Rocker452 · « **Reply #79 on:** August 09, 2007, 11:03 PM »

I use both XP and Vista on my laptop though I use XP most of the time.

quantumrider · « **Reply #80 on:** August 10, 2007, 02:13 AM »

XP here, and I don't plan to go to Vista, my daughter has Vista on her Dell, Vista is cute to look at for 5 minutes, that's about it, I'd rather go with Linux in a few years, I already am using openoffice, gimp and other open source apps, so eventually in a few years a transition to Linux should be painless.

artkaye · « **Reply #81 on:** August 10, 2007, 09:29 AM »

Thanks, zridling for the reference to the ComputerWorld article.

I have a P4 2.4GHz machine and would have to upgrade memory to spruce up for these enhancements.
I surely will stick to XP for the until ...........!

My experience with a friend's new laptop with Vista installed did not impress me. It was S----L---Ooooooooooooo ----W.

Josh · « **Reply #82 on:** August 10, 2007, 09:48 AM »

BTW, there are two new performance patches for vista which greatly improve responsiveness with vista and alot of its functionality. See the following patches on the MS website

KB938194
KB938979

Darwin · « **Reply #83 on:** August 10, 2007, 09:52 AM »

I'm still kicking myself for returning the Toshiba notebook that I bought right before Christmas 2006 - it had a 1.8 Ghz dual core processor (in the 5000 series), 256MB dedicated Graphics memory, 2GB RAM and a 200GB harddrive wth XP Media Centre installed. It was like greased lightning, even installing and running PaintShop Pro XI and Star Office 8 concurrently - every program in Star Office was running whille PSP was open and actively editing a picture, which were the two packages I shoved onto it to test out the processor. That impressed me. Sweet, sweet, sweet... Now I doubt I'd be able to get XP preinstalled when I buy my next computer.

I returned it because I had buyer's remorse and couldn't justify the expense (my current notebook runs fine, though I love to complain about it! Actually, so does my seven year P-IIIE notebook running Win2k...).

dspelley · « **Reply #84 on:** August 10, 2007, 12:46 PM »

My employer provides my desktop, home box, and laptop - all with XP SP2. I work in a pretty conservative industry with some big enterprise systems - so our IT folks do a lot of testing before making changes. I don't think I've ever seen anything on our systems that hadn't already seen a couple of service packs before being impemented.

terribleterryc · « **Reply #85 on:** August 10, 2007, 08:34 PM »

I voted for Vista since I already purchased. If I can sell that computer I will only use XP Pro, mac and Linux.
I prefer XP and think MS ripped me off on Vista Business.
I keep telling people that I am waiting for the Vista genie to appear on my screen, wave his/her wand so that all of my Vista expectations are met. Don't think it is going to happen. Very very disappointed.

changeling · « **Reply #86 on:** August 14, 2007, 10:15 AM »

Having looked at all the info about Vista I am still looking for the must have items that are of actual use to the user. I'm starting to think that apart from the obvious changes to the interface it will make almost no difference in usability from XP and most applications will co what they do on either system. OK the system is fundamentally different from XP but many users will be oblivious to it as all they want to do is run their applications.

A flashy new interface is no reason to upgrade. To satisfy my needs I got Window Blinds 5 ($19) plus the free versions of object dock and Cursor XP and a rather nice coloured glass background. It now looks, with the Vista 2.4 skin, like a cross between XP, Vista and something of my own creation.

I have all the drivers I need for my hardware, I have a stable XP system, I have enough security to ignore almost any security problems and I have escaped from the windows "in any colour you like as long as it's Blue, Green or silver" routine.

As for version numbers, I assume Microsoft consider 95+98+ME as the same system. NT and 2000 are business systems and are numbered differently, hence Windows 7.

Darwin · « **Reply #87 on:** August 14, 2007, 11:46 AM »

Now I doubt I'd be able to get XP preinstalled when I buy my next computer.

Yup - confirmed at my local Futureshop, where not a single notebook is available with XP as an option, let alone preinstalled. This is out of a range of over 40 choices on display. Desktops were the same story. I don't see buying a notebook and then paying $200 for XP as a reasonable solution and, as I have software that will not run under Vista (ESRI's ArcGIS 9.1 - the latest version, 9.2, is not yet Vista compatible and is a $900 upgrade for me!).

edit by jgpaiva: fixed quote tag

Armando · « **Reply #88 on:** August 14, 2007, 03:02 PM »

For what it's worth : Living with XP

Lashiec · « **Reply #89 on:** August 14, 2007, 07:59 PM »

Why is the media starting to treat XP as a dead OS? Is some higher-up trying to push Vista or something? XP is now in the best moment of his life, when the hardware available is far more than capable of running it at top speeds and with excellent compatibility as well.

And they continue to advertise those damn RAM optimizers... When are they going to learn that they're useless? And with RAM sticks so cheap, it's even more out of the question. And that Auslogics defragger is not exactly recommendable. So, 2 GB of RAM, JKDefrag and CCleaner. Now this is a real recipe.

(Armando, no offense intended)

Armando · « **Reply #90 on:** August 14, 2007, 08:54 PM »

(Armando, no offense intended)
-Lashiec (August 14, 2007, 07:59 PM)

Thanks Lashiec. No worries. I just put the link as an extra reference... I don't necessarily enjoy CNET/download.com's material, and I agree with what you said **... Also, personnally, I'm pretty happy with XP and I KNOW (it's a certitude) that Vista is not for me. At least, not for the next 2 years. And then it will probably be Linux, not Vista (especially the huge progress made virtualization software, like VMware, etc.). I wonder which distro will be #1 at that point... PCLinuxOS? Suse? Ubuntu? Sabayon? But that's for another highly speculative thread...

**edit : and the comments at download.com show a majority of insatisfaction with Vista. These people might not be connaisseurs, but who cares : they're unsatisfied users complaining about the same problems most people complain about : software compatibility, resource hog, etc.

justice · « **Reply #91 on:** August 15, 2007, 03:59 AM »

I would love to see the "previous versions" functionality backported to XP though but I guess I'd have to use something like FileHamster or put mydocuments in Subversion if I'd really want the same functionality.

f0dder · « **Reply #92 on:** August 15, 2007, 09:52 AM »

There's a few reasons why you might be forced to upgrade to Vista a bit later...

DX10 isn't going to be released for XP, even though it could be done without too much hassle.

Hybrid flash/harddrives aren't going to be supported for XP, although they easily could be.

More and more vendors will start doing Vista-only apps, because Microsoft wants them to... even if it means adding artificial checks and refuse to run on anything but Vista (like with one of the Age Of Empires games, which was "XP-only" but ran fine on 2k after a little cracker magic).

...and that's about it.

Astralman · « **Reply #93 on:** September 14, 2007, 07:11 AM »

Hi. I'm new. First, I'd like to extend my most sincere compliments to your organization. I can't tell you how impressed I am without getting maudlin, so I'll spare you. Suffice to say you're an island that hearkens back to the original intent of the internet, and PCs. Your forthrightness, clarity and simplicity are much appreciated, and I wish good fortune to all who are involved in this enterprise.

It's odd my first post has to do with this subject. I've used all these operating systems...even Win 16 bit. I'm a veteran of "getting Win95 to work". I was so amazed at XP I couldn't believe Microsoft did it. Now, I have a machine that shipped with Vista, and I have to say I'm ambivalent about it. On the one hand, it's beautiful visually, no denying it. On the other hand, it's like your PC has become your school marm, overseeing in an over officious way every move you make. A lot of its jargon is counterintuitive, and I find myself configuring it to what XP looks like in every way I can. I have an XP Home disk right here in plain sight, and am always fighting the urge to reformat and install it.

If I do that, I'm told by Hewlett Packard, it invalidates my warranty. Also, I don't know specifically what drivers to use, for instance to continue accessing the internet, though I know I can obtain XP drivers for everything else, I'm not sure the DVD/CD combo on this thing will read the CDs if I make the change, so I feel sort of handcuffed.

I'm also quite displeased that the majority of my software that ran on XP won't run under Vista, so I don't get the satisfaction of running programs with my new dual-core processor and 3 gigs of RAM. That is a considerable disappointment. I also have a $150 gaming mouse (USB, Razer Copperhead) that worked just fine at first with Vista, but then I wound up with a mouse pointer freezure and can no longer use it. If I install it, there it is...stuck pointer. I sent the machine to CompuServe's shop, and they used a PS mouse, giving it back saying all was fine...This gets into a layer of complication equivalent to Win95, and I'm no longer willing to run up those "make it work" ratholes. SO, Vista's shine has long since worn off, and the "look and feel" is beginning to look and feel like Catherine the Great's model cities program.

But, you know how you can get trapped in that wormhole: If I can just get the mouse to work, I'll stick with Vista. At this point it's: When my warranty runs out, I'm switching back to XP. However, what the future seems to hold is an eventual abandonment of XP, and an emphasis on Vista. Would doing this mean I'd cut myself off from the programming that will be generated in the future? I'm left with a deep dissatisfaction with what once I met with wide-eyed, boyish delight..."my computer".

I can't help but feel had the "computer industry" viewed this tool in the same way tools were viewed which allowed the western democracies to flourish, all this would have been nonexistent; standardization. You don't have to buy "this guy's screws" to match "this guy's screwdriver." The profits were more important than the functionality, and though they've all become filthy rich, they've done it by selling solid gold leaky buckets; and they've gotten away with it.

Thanks for letting me vent. In future my posts will be more uplifting, promise. I didn't vote in the poll because there was no "ambivalent" response. $:-\$

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #94 on:** September 14, 2007, 07:54 AM »

I have an XP Home disk right here in plain sight, and am always fighting the urge to reformat and install it.

If I do that, I'm told by Hewlett Packard, it invalidates my warranty. Also, I don't know specifically what drivers to use, for instance to continue accessing the internet, though I know I can obtain XP drivers for everything else, I'm not sure the DVD/CD combo on this thing will read the CDs if I make the change, so I feel sort of handcuffed.

I can't see why you would have problems with a DVD drive - most of them don't use any drivers other than Microsoft's ATAPI driver. Check in your hardware devices and I'll bet the driver for that drive is a Microsoft driver so it is almost certain it will work fine in WinXP.

Invalidate your warranty? How - if you were taking the hardware apart yes - installing an OS ... no way. What happens when the next version of Windows comes out and you want to upgrade - or if you want to dual boot a completely different OS like Linux.

There is a free helpful utility (SIW) that you can download from here which will give you a list of all the hardware installed on your system - you should be able to see from that that manufacturers names of the components and model numbers - you can then visit the manufacturer's websites and get the latest versions of their drivers (you should do this anyway as OEMs are notoriously bad about updating drivers on systems, or even listing updates on their website, once they have sold them). Here is an image from SIW showing my motherboard details:

Finally get some disc imaging software and do a full backup of your system to DVD (ensure you verify the backup too). Then you can format and install XP and if there are insurmountable problems simply use your backup to restore your entire system back tot he way it was before you started. There is another thread where you can get Acronis TrueImage 9 for $8 + postage. If you have a large enough disc drive with plenty of free space you could also add a blank partition and backup everything to that partition (much quicker, verifies quicker, and much easier to restore if you need to).

Any hardware you are not sure about start a new thread and post your hardware details and someone will help find the right drivers.

Good luck.

Darwin · « **Reply #95 on:** September 14, 2007, 09:08 AM »

Astralman! Fantastic post - thank you for posting your experiences here.

Curt · « **Reply #96 on:** September 14, 2007, 11:22 AM »

Welcome at DC, Astralman!

--

I think its a good idea to create a partition for your XP - if you have the needed free space.

f0dder · « **Reply #97 on:** September 16, 2007, 12:22 PM »

I've just spent a couple of hours this weekend to get a Vista laptop talking to an access-point that XP had no problems connecting to - and googling shows that multiple other people have the same problem. Finally found some obscure netsh command to turn off some auto-tuning, and then it worked...

On the same laptop, the new IE tends to crash-and-restart pretty often - at least when browsing for various Vista problems $:-\$ . Oh yeah, and defrag has basically no interface anymore, not even a percent-done meter.

Barf.

Lashiec · « **Reply #98 on:** September 16, 2007, 09:23 PM »

During my test, IE7 proved to be fairly reliable under XP, although it crashed quite a bit more than Firefox and Opera (and, unlike those two, it does not have a "Restore session upon crash" feature). And defrag, how does it work without meters? Like Scandisk in XP?

Darwin · « **Reply #99 on:** September 16, 2007, 09:51 PM »

Maxthon 1.x or 2.x adds the "restore sessoin upon crash" feature to all IE versions.

Poll

Windows 7 due in 2010 — will you hold out and skip Vista?

Author Topic: XP or Vista user — take the poll! (Read 86845 times)