Microsoft extends XP--for budget laptops only.

[oldfart]

Microsoft extends XP Home 2 years—for budget laptops only

On a forum topic concerning killer apps I mentioned that I understood the definition of a killer app as software that was so desirable that it encouraged people to upgrade in order to run it.  In every case I know of it was a game that demanded an upgrade of the hardware.  Vista is the first time I've heard of an OS straining hardware enough to force upgrades.  Microsoft really screwed the pooch on this one.  Until there is some serious software out there that will run only on Vista, there is little chance of people upgrading their computer just to run an OS.  Sadly, until there is enough of an installed base, who is going to write a killer app for the Vista?

[cranioscopical]

Well, the scuttlebutt is that 64-bit Photoshop will be Vista only (at least to begin with). 
It was to keep abreast of Adobe apps that I first moved from W98 to XP.
Doom 3 was just a bonus 

[Carol Haynes]

If Adobe insist on 64-bit Vista I think they will find a huge group of people cross grading to the Mac. Who in their right mind would want to be forced to use Vista for PhotoShop ?

I have been playing with Vista (32 bit) for the last couple of weeks - my biggest gripe is the HUGE (and I mean exponentially H...U...G...E) waste of disc space. I installed a fresh version of Vista Home Premium (mainly because I got a free OEM copy) and updated it from Windows update - by the time it was complete it had used 16Gb of hard disc space before installing any applications!

My new Notebook arrived with 1Gb of memory and 2 core Intel CPU and just running Vista Home Premium without doing anything else the memory usage was nearly 90% and the CPU was permanently clocking at around 40% usage.

OK I added anoth Gb of memory and things settled down a bit but nevertheless it is a mad OS.

I haven't tried running PhotoShop on Vista yet but I can't imagine it will be a pleasant experience. Add to that the lack of support for a 64 bit OS in other applications and supported hardware addons (not least graphics cards) the WTF are Adobe on - or is it all a plot to kill of MS with the humiliation ?

[cranioscopical]

If Adobe insist on 64-bit Vista I think they will find a huge group of people cross grading to the Mac. Who in their right mind would want to be forced to use Vista for PhotoShop ?

Well, it is only a rumour so far, and one can still use the 32-bit version on XP. Anyway, can one access a ton of memory with Photoshop on the Mac? I thought that was fairly limited too.

HUGE (and I mean exponentially H...U...G...E) waste of disc space.

I don't like the idea of that but, I suppose on today's systems it scarcely matters. (Remember when we all felt that Windows 3 was profligate with resources?)  What kind of brake does that put on access times?

I've not even tried Vista and I'm not very interested in doing so. It'll be forced down my throat soon enough I'm sure.
There are a few reasons why I have to use Windows, and XP is by far the best Windows experience I've had. For the moment I've no desire to  rock the boat.

[Lashiec]

Well, this was expected, but kudos to Microsoft for doing the right thing. It's a shame they're extending Home and not Professional though.

I have been playing with Vista (32 bit) for the last couple of weeks - my biggest gripe is the HUGE (and I mean exponentially H...U...G...E) waste of disc space. I installed a fresh version of Vista Home Premium (mainly because I got a free OEM copy) and updated it from Windows update - by the time it was complete it had used 16Gb of hard disc space before installing any applications!

Vista using 16 GB of HDD space it's not good news, such requirements suggest the use of vLite to cut down the bloat.

If Adobe insist on 64-bit Vista I think they will find a huge group of people cross grading to the Mac. Who in their right mind would want to be forced to use Vista for PhotoShop ?

Er, only the 64-bit edition of Photoshop CS4 requires Vista, AFAIK there will be a 32-bit version. BTW, Mac is not getting a 64-bit version, so I'm afraid people will cross grade to Vista from the Mac using Boot Camp, now that's funny

[Carol Haynes]

What if 32-bit CS4 doesn't support XP and you have to move to Vista? I think that would be a good incentive for people to move to Mac who primarily use this kind of software - I can't imagine anyone wanting to run Photoshop on Vista of any description - it must be an absolute dog of an app under Vista unless you really par Vista down to skin and bones.

[justice]

BTW photoshop is excellent on vista, it loads so much faster as do other large applications as applications that were once slow get superfetched into memory without noticable performance penalty which means photshop starts from cold in around 7 seconds (CS3) on this pc. (would probably be quicker if i used it more often) Don't run anything older than CS3 on vista though because there's severe issues with that. But photoshop will still come in a 32bit version. Seems that the bigger the app the better vista becomes compared to XP. (Except for games - this might change)

[cranioscopical]

I suppose it's inevitable -- and seems to depend so much on the roulette-like chance of having the right hardware/drivers combination -- but this whole
Vista is a dog vs. Vista flies dichotomy is a bit too widespread for comfort.

I'd hate to endure Carol's tribulations
                                                   
but I'd love to enjoy the kind of experience reported by justice
                                                                                     

[J-Mac]

New notebook with Vista Ultimate and even though this notebook was built to Vista standards (even with 4 GB mem!!), it is still not exceeding fast in some things, while blazingly fast in others. And it DOES definitely take a lot of space up. More than any OS I've ever used.

That said, I haven't yet had any real difficulties running it yet.  Now Office 2007 is another story altogether....    (I'm STILL looking for some commands in Word and Excel!!)

Jim