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Your thoughts on Vista

HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
edited August 2007 in Technology
Now that I have been playing with Vista for a good 24 hours I'd like to hear what long time users think of it.

I am still having difficulty finding things on my hard drive, the worst has to be the way IE downloads files to a download directory that is hidden in a way that you have to look for it rather than having it appear in the "My Documents" area.

I am looking into creating some Gadgets for my desktop. First order of business is to hack/modify the default RSS widget to use FireFox feeds rather than IE feeds.

The "are you sure you want to do this?" dialogs are annoying but I figure I am only seeing them a lot because I am installing and removing things. I do get very annoyed when it just says "unknown program is trying to do something". How can I decide to let a program run if I don't know what it is? At the very least provide me with a file name and location!!!

Why can my Vista machines not see the shared folders on my XP machines?

Why did the auto-transfer agent not transfer over my wife's outlook express settings?

Why did my Firefox bookmarks not transfer over with the transfer agent?

Why did that annoying program transfer over?

I should be all settled in by the weekend.
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Comments

  • zombie a gogozombie a gogo
    edited August 2007
    I've had it for months and I've had no major problems. The problems I've had were easy to work around. Overall I don't know why so many people are having problems.
    Post edited by zombie a gogo on
  • BlattusBlattus
    'Nuff said
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    I just went through hell moving my Thunderbird data over! The Firefox data fit on my thumb drive but the Thunderbird data was about 4GB and I had to use my iPod as a transfer device. Moving 4GB at USB 1.0 speed is an hour long process! Moving it back via USB 2.0 took only 4 minutes :)
  • ThaedThaed
    I have Vista on my laptop. I use the laptop more like an oversized PDA than anything else: email, iTunes, and browsing. I've discovered that Audacity works on Vista so now I'm editing shows while horizontal on my couch. I also play a little Civ IV. So for me, Vista has been just fine. But then, it's just one OS I use. I also use XP, OSX, and win2k pretty much every day.
  • AprecheApreche
    I just went through hell moving my Thunderbird data over! The Firefox data fit on my thumb drive but the Thunderbird data was about 4GB and I had to use my iPod as a transfer device. Moving 4GB at USB 1.0 speed is an hour long process! Moving it back via USB 2.0 took only 4 minutes :)
    Gmail for the win.
  • YoshoKatanaYoshoKatana
    I admit I haven't worked with Vista a lot, but it is absolute shit when setting up a LAN party.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    Windows Vista is a definite improvement on windows but still ain't linux.
    Nice to see someone still loving the win2k.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Gmail for the win.
    Only if you want to come off as an amateur!
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    I've got Vista on my laptop, I've had no problems with it.
  • clxclx
    edited August 2007
    On my main PC I have been using Vista Ultimate 64 for a good few months now so I have had a decent play with.
    Now I'm not usually one to complain too much about my OS, if it runs and I can do what I need to do without too any problems I am usually content. But there are a few things about Vista that nag at me whenever I use it.

    Performance - copying things around my system, just from 1 drive to another takes far too long, its all to do with the new dialogue box that tells you how long you have left to wait, the size of the files left that need copied and the speed. Thing is it takes twice as long to "estimate" the file size (which it doesn't always get right) and the time remaining (closer than it used to be)

    RAM - when they say 2 Gigs is a recommended amount think twice... and double it. I have 2 gig of ram in my machine now, and just booting vista eats half, meaning I have 1 gig of ram left for anything else I do, which isn't a nice feeling.

    Visuals - Well it looks nice and shiny, nice looking boxes and views, but it likes to pick folder views randomly some times. Not all the time... just now and again when you least expect it, I have tried forcing a folder tree to a certain view, but now and again it will do something different, kind of annoying.
    Also, that bar on the right with the gadgets may look nice, but it nibbles at your resources, along with your screen size. Personally it's not something I use, so it was quickly disabled, though I have a sneaky suspicion the process is still running but I'm still to check on that.

    Programs - Anything older than XPsp2 and you are going to have fun searching forums to get them working. I have recently re-installed System Shock 2 and Homeworld 2. Both took some work but I guess the same would be true about either of these games even on XP.
    However other programs have problems too, for the first 2 months I didn't even have a software firewall, only my router to depend on. This wasn't just because I was using a 64 bit version of Vista, no one supported vista fully, and the few options there was didn't offer much protection, only watching EITHER inbound or outbound never both.
    Signed drivers are a big problem for small program makers, programs like Peerguardian haven't got signed drivers so you have to do a workaround in order to have the program running, then once you do Vista gets an update to help with "performance" issues which goes and blocks you using unsigned drivers again.

    "would you like this program to run" dialogue - It annoyed me to the point of disabling it within hours of installing Vista.

    I have lots more little things about vista bugging me, but at the end of the day if it lets me come home from work and play some games or watch some movies I can live with them. After all its pre SP1 (due any time now) so they still have bugs to iron out and people have yet to start supporting it fully. I have high hopes it could be something better.

    Ubuntu lasted 6 months before I reformatted my laptop back to XP last night, lets see if vista can last that long :)
    Post edited by clx on
  • particleboyparticleboy
    clx, have you played any games that were designed with Vista in mind? As in any that take advantage of the DirectX 10?
  • AprecheApreche
    Gmail for the win.
    Only if you want to come off as an amateur!
    How so?
  • clxclx
    I have played Shadow Run on Vista, it runs OK, nothing special, I haven't checked FPS but I don't notice anything wrong with the display (game is slow as hell though, dam nurfing for it to be fair with console players!)

    As for DX10 I'm afraid I don't have a DX10 card....
    If anyone wants to send me one I will happily accept it and do any tests they like :D
    I have a preference for ATI cards, but if its free I wont complain :)

    Other games like C&C3, CS:S, WoW all seem to run fine, with no noticeable performance decrease (except that if you play a long battle in C&C3 you find that there is some kind of memory leak and your ram gets eaten slowly, but that's more than likely the game than the OS)


    My PC Specs for anyone interested
    AMD X2 4400+ (overclocked a little to 4620)
    2Gb RAM (can't remember the speed)
    ATI X850XT pe (no Direct X 9.0c so no Bioshock!! despite my card being faster than other ATI cards that can play it )
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    My Vista PC crashed two times last night leaving me with the Blue Screen of Death. I'll try and replicate it in the future to figure out why.

    Why does gmail make you look like an amateur? The same reason hotmail and yahoo mail do.
  • raquorraquor
    edited August 2007
    Why does gmail make you look like an amateur? The same reason hotmail and yahoo mail do.
    BAH...I actually get quite a few emails from clients via their gmail account. The email address has far less to do with "professionalism" then the content and wording of the email. Remember, always proof read your emails and always reread them at least once to make sure you are saying what you intend.
    Post edited by raquor on
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    edited August 2007
    "Clients" can use whatever free mail they want. If you are a professional selling a service (no matter what it is) you have to have your own domain in the email address. It's just like having a blogspot blog instead of your own domain.

    I'm sorry but when I see an email from someone that is JohnMichaels@hotmail.com as opposed to JohnMichaels@SomeCompany.com I react differently.
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • cosmicenemacosmicenema
    I'm sorry but when I see an email from someone that is JohnMichaels@hotmail.com as opposed to JohnMichaels@SomeCompany.com I react differently.
    Rightfully so.
  • AprecheApreche
    "Clients" can use whatever free mail they want. If you are a professional selling a service (no matter what it is) you have to have your own domain in the email address. It's just like having a blogspot blog instead of your own domain.

    I'm sorry but when I see an email from someone that is JohnMichaels@hotmail.com as opposed to JohnMichaels@SomeCompany.com I react differently.
    OH! That's what you are talking about. Well, I can definitely say that @yahoo.com or @hotmail.com are very unprofessional. @gmail.com is slightly better in that you realize this is a smart person, but it isn't as good as having their own domain. However, this problem is easily solved. We use GMail for domains. While my e-mail address is @frontrowcrew.com, I am actually using GMail to handle all of it. To other people it looks as if I'm all professional with my own domain. To me, I get to use the awesomeness that is GMail. Problem solved.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Ahh... I have a ton of email accounts and use Thunderbird because I like to be able to look over my email when I am not on line.
  • AprecheApreche
    Ahh... I have a ton of email accounts and use Thunderbird because I like to be able to look over my email when I am not on line.
    Google Gears.
  • particleboyparticleboy
    My getting a vista hinges on one thing only: Starcraft 2. But Blizzard can't be so evil...
  • cosmicenemacosmicenema
    I just got a new laptop (firstpost++) and it came with the Vista installed so I've been trying it out. No issues installing anything or transferring files over a network. Changing settings for a wireless router you already set up is an amazing pain. It's so user friendly it hurts but that's expected I guess. I felt the same way about Win XP back in the day.

    I cannot believe the amount of RAM it takes. Holy crap. Is that really necessary? Any recommendations for limiting RAM usage here?I've got it down to 675MB when idle.

    Gadgets are fun and useful which is an interesting change of pace. Installing/removing programs was a total pain but hopefully I won't need it too much. I can VNC into my XP computers fine and shared folders are right where I left them. Didn't use IE so no comment there.

    Any advice on playing some old games? We're talking between Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3. Let me know if you'd installed any of them.

    Over all. Looks sharp but costs too much in resources to use in a Laptop. I can't even get 4g of RAM in this thing if I wanted. [cry]
  • KieyKiey
    I got Vista yesterday and installed it, (my C drive broke over the weekend, and my XP cd was apparently dead when the new HDD came from newegg.) I have to say that although I've only had it for... less then 24 hours. I really like it so far. It was the easiest Windows install I've ever done. It installed, updated, and all the drivers I needed were already there by then.

    I'm still a little weary about what could happen, but so far things are going swimmingly. Hell, even TF2 looks better.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    edited June 2008
    I've been trying out TinyXP (no link, torrents are available) which is a stripped down, optimized version of XP and a as secondary OS to Ubuntu, is really good. I will be getting Vista when I get a new PC but if I get a lot of space on it I might also install Win2k as that was the one I liked best. I generally like Microsoft software (when it works (I'm serious)) but they have really failed with Vista as the features they advertise.. *dramatic pause, air drum solo to "Something in the Air Tonight"* ..most of the features you can get with Ubuntu when they should have gone after the sort of useful integration stuff which you can't get elsewhere and would have really got people interested.
    Post edited by Omnutia on
  • DkongDkong
    I've had a laptop with vista on it since December. Honestly, it's crashed a few times (more times than my XP install did)....so I kinda don't like that much about it. Then again, when that happens, it just restarts itself and (seemingly) nothing bad happens. It's really not *that* big of a deal when it happens.
    Otherwise, I just see it as a reskinned XP. For what I do with computers (which is just internetting, basic gaming, anime, and audio listening), it doesn't feel much different than XP.
    That being said, I'm liking it. I don't think it's any better or worse than XP, I think it's just different.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    You need some Ubuntu mate.
  • DkongDkong
    You need some Ubuntu mate.
    Why? Aside from the periodic crashing (once a month, maybe a little more often), I see no reason to get off Vista.
    Plus, Ubuntu works like shit on my Dell laptop. I'll consider it in the future, but certainly not now.
  • OmnutiaOmnutia
    I meant that for what you use it for you would get a much nicer experience from Ubuntu.
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    edited June 2008
    I dunno... I've tried both and I would prefer Vista to Ubuntu. For one thing, everything just works in Windows. You don't have to wait for the next update to support your particular graphics card properly, or have to read the man pages to get WPA working with your wifi card. In Windows, it just works. If you are smart with your computer and internet habits, you don't even have to worry about viruses or anything like that. I've been running AV free for the past year and recently scanned my computer with AVG. No baddies.
    Post edited by Victor Frost on
  • konistehradkonistehrad
    I meant that for what you use it for you would get a much nicer experience from Ubuntu.
    Recommending Ubuntu every time Vista is brought up is much akin to recommending trepanation to anyone complaining of a headache. Ultimately it is important to recognize that a solution that works for you (be it drilling a hole in your head or running linux on the desktop) is perhaps not the solution that works for someone else.
    You don't have to wait for the next update to support your particular graphics card properly, or have to read the man pages to get WPA working with your wifi card.
    While I feel your pain on the graphics card bit, I will say that networking solutions on Linux have improved dramatically in the last few years, notably with the addition of NetworkManager. Give it a whirl if you've got some free time.
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