How many of you use Vista full-time (details inside)?

[xbeemer]

A bit of clarifications:

"Not Vista's fault."

So what? That's completely irrelevant to whether or not it does the job for you.

My advice is to avoid Vista and stick with XP because Vista has no real advantage over XP and has several problems involving 1. really heavy handed security that pretty much needs to be turned off to be made tolerable, thereby leaving little or no security; and 2. a lot of stuff that worked fine in XP does not work, or requires serious forum fishing to discover how to make work.

Does Vista work? Well, sure. But it does nothing better than XP. The fancy graphics gets turned off to save memory; the new file Explorer is not better than XP's, it's just change for change sake. The whole thing smells of a marketing driven operation, not a real improvement for users. Unlike the previous versions of Windows that really did offer improved versions.

Except perhaps for Windows Me, which was also a boondoggle. Although it strikes me that Windows Me was a sincere attempt to make Windows more user friendly, it just failed; whereas Vista strikes me as a cynical attempt to force money out of a monopoly.

We saw that a generation ago with IBM, and they were superceded by an upstart, geeky company called Microsoft. I think history is ripe to repeat itself.

 

[calebb]

A bit of clarifications:

"Not Vista's fault."

So what? That's completely irrelevant to whether or not it does the job for you.

My advice is to avoid Vista and stick with XP because Vista has no real advantage over XP and has several problems involving 1. really heavy handed security that pretty much needs to be turned off to be made tolerable, thereby leaving little or no security; and 2. a lot of stuff that worked fine in XP does not work, or requires serious forum fishing to discover how to make work.

Does Vista work? Well, sure. But it does nothing better than XP. The fancy graphics gets turned off to save memory; the new file Explorer is not better than XP's, it's just change for change sake. The whole thing smells of a marketing driven operation, not a real improvement for users. Unlike the previous versions of Windows that really did offer improved versions.

Except perhaps for Windows Me, which was also a boondoggle. Although it strikes me that Windows Me was a sincere attempt to make Windows more user friendly, it just failed; whereas Vista strikes me as a cynical attempt to force money out of a monopoly.

We saw that a generation ago with IBM, and they were superceded by an upstart, geeky company called Microsoft. I think history is ripe to repeat itself.

Thanks for the FUD. I would debunk all those myths you just stated, but that's already been done on pages 1-3 of this thread...

And yes, Vista *is* significantly better/faster than XP. Photoshop CS2 took 10 sec + to load in XP. It loads in less than 500ms in Vista. And I'm not even touching on all the memory management, I/O, gaming, etc improvements that I mentioned earlier in this thread and many others.

Just look at the poll... why would so many people 'stick' to Vista after trying it if it was so horrible.

And, by the way, I'm not running cutting-edge hardware - I'm on an old school Pentium 4 (8xx series).

 

[JTY]

Vista Home Premium on my laptop. Had a couple driver related issues at first, but after updating the drivers, and BIOS the system has been stable and fast.

 

[Pixel Eater]

Vista is like a bulldozer. Smashing all the old software by force.

 

[zacdl]

"Not Vista's fault."

So what? That's completely irrelevant to whether or not it does the job for you.

Even though Vista isn't doing the job, it's the application's job?

Yea... sure.

Like others have said, all the FUD coming from you was already talked about...

I wish that [H] had a digg-like feature, to bury all these inaccurate comments... But all the anti-MS folks like xbeemer here would abuse it and end up burying valid posts...

 

[dot_Zen]

I have two rigs using Vista. One is a retail upgrade. The other is still using the RTM gold build.I've also installed a number on other PC's, not of my own, for 'other' people to use as their daily computer.

 

[dot_Zen]

A bit of clarifications:

"Not Vista's fault."

So what? That's completely irrelevant to whether or not it does the job for you.

My advice is to avoid Vista and stick with XP because Vista has no real advantage over XP and has several problems involving 1. really heavy handed security that pretty much needs to be turned off to be made tolerable, thereby leaving little or no security; and 2. a lot of stuff that worked fine in XP does not work, or requires serious forum fishing to discover how to make work.

Does Vista work? Well, sure. But it does nothing better than XP. The fancy graphics gets turned off to save memory; the new file Explorer is not better than XP's, it's just change for change sake. The whole thing smells of a marketing driven operation, not a real improvement for users. Unlike the previous versions of Windows that really did offer improved versions.

Except perhaps for Windows Me, which was also a boondoggle. Although it strikes me that Windows Me was a sincere attempt to make Windows more user friendly, it just failed; whereas Vista strikes me as a cynical attempt to force money out of a monopoly.

We saw that a generation ago with IBM, and they were superceded by an upstart, geeky company called Microsoft. I think history is ripe to repeat itself.

LOL, I really should let the others, who have deflated your statement, just reply to this; but it's just too tempting ..

So, to measure what benefits Vista has over XP:

1. really heavy handed security that pretty much needs to be turned off to be made tolerable, thereby leaving little or no security; and
2. a lot of stuff that worked fine in XP does not work, or requires serious forum fishing to discover how to make work.
3.Prettier Grpahics
4.A few file explorer changes

Ya know what? Before I start filling your generalizations so full of holes the Alamo would be jealous, I'll give you a chance here. xbeemer, are these the only areas that Vista has improved capability over XP?




btw, I have Google earth and Adobe reader on 2 out of 3 machines, they work without a hitch; for me. I also have a lot of legacy (read: old) hardware that already had driver support pre-loaded on Vista right off the bat; such as RAID cards, printers, among others. I'm not saying all of the hardware out there still works, I currently have no driver support from netgear on their storage technology (will never buy a netgear product again) and HP has/will not support a number of their printers; and I'm sure their are many more..But enough to amaze, even, me that they worked right out of the box.

 

[Prod1702]

I have been using vista as my main OS on my laptop now for about a month. i had one problem with a program (Alcohol120%) that would give me a BSOD and wouldn't let me boot into windows or safe mode. i just had to use last known good settings and run system restore which fixed the problem. since then all is good. I play alot of games on it since it is my main gaming rig here in Iraq. i am using the 158.18 drivers. which i got from www.laptopvideo2go.com All games i have seen no problems with those drivers. i run close to all my games at my screens res with med to high settings. some games with AA and AF. Over all i have to say i am pretty happy with everything vista gives me. All my games run like XP to me.

 

[moetop]

Thanks for the FUD. I would debunk all those myths you just stated, but that's already been done on pages 1-3 of this thread...

And yes, Vista *is* significantly better/faster than XP. Photoshop CS2 took 10 sec + to load in XP. It loads in less than 500ms in Vista. And I'm not even touching on all the memory management, I/O, gaming, etc improvements that I mentioned earlier in this thread and many others.

Just look at the poll... why would so many people 'stick' to Vista after trying it if it was so horrible.

And, by the way, I'm not running cutting-edge hardware - I'm on an old school Pentium 4 (8xx series).

Concerning Gaming. Most if not all benchmarks and comments I have seen show no improvement in gaming YET!. Are you talking about DX10 and the future? I'm not trying to be a smartass. I was just curious what the gaming improvements you are talking about are?

 

[g1xx3r]

I finally decided to get Vista 64 Home Premium and I can say that most of the negative Ive heard is pure BS..No its not perfect yet but if you cant deal with the tweaking neccesary then stick with a Dell or Gateway and whine to CS about it.I dont mind learning new things and Vista fits the bill..So far I am pleased with it..I did have my XP install on a backup drive in case I didnt like Vista but that will be getting formatted for extra storage soon as my XP days are over..BTW..Vista Experience Rating is 5.3 so I do think it has a lot to do with HW and its up to the vendors to bring their SW up to par..My $0.02

 

[onlyspfc]

I use Vista on my main PC and I've only had issues and bsods with Visual Basic.
Running on an FX-60 4GB DDR 400 and a 7950 GX2. Rating is 5.9

Edit: Rating is 5.6

 

[calebb]

Concerning Gaming. Most if not all benchmarks and comments I have seen show no improvement in gaming YET!. Are you talking about DX10 and the future? I'm not trying to be a smartass. I was just curious what the gaming improvements you are talking about are?

Sorry, almost forgot about you q.

Let me paste in a response I made in another thread

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/windows_vista_aero_glass_performance/
XP w/eye-candy (fading windows/show folder contents while draging, etc) versus XP w/o eyecandy: 5% performance penalty
Vista w/ Aero enabled versus Aero disabled: 0% performance penalty





HIGHER 3dmark2006 score in Vista than XP with the same hardware!!


optional reading

<snip>

 

[moetop]

This quote from the article, certainly makes your first point even clearer. And it seems that is a good thing. It still doesn’t directly compare Vista and XP against each other, just the impact of Eyecandy settings. If Vista is %10 behind and you only have a %3 hit in performance in XP then you are still %7 ahead (although this becomes arguably splitting hairs)

"Andrew Dodd: Basically (pretty much because of the new Vista driver model) the Vista OS just suspends Aero in the background, (once you enter 3D exclusive mode it would be a waste of GPU resources to keep running Aero). So that’s why there’s no performance impact

As a result of the changes Microsoft has implemented in Vista, gaming performance no longer suffers when desktop eye candy effects are left on. This is great news for gamers who enjoy the benefits of Aero Glass, but were concerned with its performance impact: there is none."

^^^This is great NEWS!!!

The second link is Canned benchmark stuff. I was looking for more real life examples (real games) Like maybe these 2 links (here and here) which shows XP is slightly ahead.

The optional reading link mostly talks about Vista VS vista new driver improvements, not Vista VS XP Gaming performance.

I would like to see a CURRENT Vista VS XP true benchmark (Not canned) comparison. If we are saying that you should buy Vista now because we can expect better Gaming in the future I am all on board, but if we are talking present day, I'm not seeing it.

 

[zacdl]

Present Day? You aren't going to see a whole lot.

Just like 64 bit processors... takes time for people to write for it. It'll take time for people to write games that work really well within Vista too.

 

[zacdl]

Since the third option really doesn't apply to what I actually wanted to know (Just there for people to [hopefully] click instead of messing with the results), the number of people actually using Vista full-time after trying it are bigger than what it looks like.

In case more people vote, here are the current #s as I type it:
Full-timers: 84
Part-timers: 26

It's actually 76% I would say that's a big majority that end up sticking with it.

 

[SilenceGold]

I started being a Vista user full time when RC2 came out and that MS was giving out those beta serials.

I went back to WinXP in last December.

Just two weeks ago, a friend didn't want his Vista Ultimate so I offered to buy it off him. I ended up going back to Vista. Now I am and have been using Vista full time.

I play Medieval II Total War and Full Tilt Poker on this machine.

So far, I have only ran into few software install issues but like the other poster said, not Vista's fault. I agree.

Those software companies need to play catch up.

 

[niccoli]

Just went to Vista Business and Office 2007 over the weekend and I love it so far. Aero is nice and I like the little touch-ups here and there that just make Vista worth it.

 

[zacdl]

Gunna bump this up again for more people to vote in it, as well as because it has been referenced a few times

 

[sh0gun]

now ive got my office 07 i can get rid of my XP boot, although ive never used it . trouble is im not sure how to get rid of it :s but thats a diffrent matter.

i have one or two complaints about vista though:
1. nVidea get off ur ares and give me drives o0 my 6600 gives me realy realy low fps on bf2
2. try before u bash vista all the threads and artical bashing vista are annoying.

other than that i have no probs in fact it is even better

oh and btw nice to see apple getting sued for copyright infringement and the latest PCzone mac advert piss take

 

[ThreeDee]

I run Vista only at home .. Ubuntu and Fedora core 6 at work

with all the eye candy fluffy stuff I have been throwing at my video card ..either nVidia needs to put out better drivers or my 7800gtx OC just cant handle it ...

playing with dreamscape/view whatever moving background thingy and rocket dock and get an occasional video card error

CS:S runs great tho ...

 

[bigmoneyhvywght]

Running Vista 24/7 on the machines in my sig. The only issues I've had are driver related. M-Audio really needs to get their shit together. If they're not going to support Vista with their consumer cards, they should at least make a statement saying that.

It's just sad when I tell people I'm running Vista and they ask me if it crashes all the time. I guess ignorance is bliss.

 

[carlbme]

I got Vista Ultimate (and Office 2007 Enterprise) through a work purchase ($20 each for legite straight from MS copies) plus I have been running it since RC1.

Initially Vista was my primary machine and I kept "flirting" with Linux every so often (RedHat, Mandrake, Ubuntu). I eventually got tired of the hastle and resource hogging in Vista (my machine only has 1GB of RAM, so therefor a HUGE pagefile), and loaded Ubuntu again.

Now since upgrading from Edgy Eft to Feisty Fawn, I'll soon be blowing away my Vista partition for good as I no longer even use it anymore.

 

[lodingi]

I just installed Vista Ultimate 64 a couple days ago. So far I like it. The only annoyance for me is gaming is not as smooth as XP. That's probably an Nvidia problem & not windows.

 

[Langford]

I have Vista installed on my main system at work. I don't need Vista for anything in particular, but in the interest of remaining current, I have it as my only OS on that one system that I use constantly. It detected my hardware pretty well. The video drivers crash and come back when the monitor comes out of sleep mode, but I can tolerate that for now. The print spooler was stopping intermittently at first, but now that drivers are installed, it seems to be behaving it's self. It runs most of the software I used on XP, with the exception of my CD burning software and PDFcreator. I suspect they will eventually release compatible updates for that stuff. I have various batch scripts to automate software installations, that I will need to rewrite to function with Vista, mainly because of the way Vista handles security. There are a few other systems in my office, running different operating systems, mostly other versions of Windows, but some Linux.

At home, I have a desktop I use for games and for video recording and editing. It runs XP Pro, and will for the foreseeable future. Even after I eventually replace it, it will very likely continue to perform it's video functionality as an XP system hooked to a TV. I also have a tablet PC, which came with XP, but will soon become a full time Linux only system. It ran Ubuntu 7.04 so nice that I just can't say no. I also have various antiquated system here and there running different versions of Windows and/or DOS.

When I eventually buy a new system, then I will decide what OS I want on it. If I continue to do my gaming on a PC, then naturally I will probably have Windows, whether it's Vista or the version that replaces it. Of course consoles have been steeling away so many PC game titles, that I have considered spending the bulk of my money on consoles instead. In that instance I probably won't have Windows on my PC at all, unless something very interesting shows up, which hopefully would include Windows ditching that whole web-veneer interface they have going right now.

 

[calebb]

I have Vista installed on my main system at work. I don't need Vista for anything in particular, but in the interest of remaining current, I have it as my only OS on that one system that I use constantly. It detected my hardware pretty well. The video drivers crash and come back when the monitor comes out of sleep mode, but I can tolerate that for now.

If you have an nvidia card, they fixed that bug with the 158.18 drivers they released last week

 

[gopherscanswim]

Been running Vista 64 full time for almost two months now and I really like it.

Biggest issues are drivers for my sound card and nVidias drivers being crap. Also, Nero doesn't work and I've finally resolved to hunting down something that does work properly in Vista for burning CDs and DVDs, the built in burning software only goes so far.

 

[Sovereign]

Qualification: On my laptop, where SLI/X-Fi are not issues.

 

[GT98]

Been using Vista Ultimate 64-bit version and the biggest issue I have is that HP doesn't have drivers for my printer yet. The Sound Blaster Drivers could be better and the last batch of ATI drivers have fixed my problems I was having with CCC crashing at start up...so far so good otherwise..though it does seem a bit slower then XP on my main rig

 

[blank]

I was dual booting until i realized how much better vista is. I wiped my partitions and am all vista nwo

 

[dark_reign]

I've been running Vista 32-bit Home Premium since last week and it's been running fine for the most part. I love the Aero GUI and new start menu. Speed-wise I find Vista much faster than XP. Stability appears to be as good if not better than XP. I did have some issues for the first few days of running it. Read on:

On the hardware front, the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR150 Vista drivers and application are a little buggy. I was getting an error with the WinTV 2000 app after a few days and couldn't track the problem down. So, I formatted and reinstalled Vista and then installed the more recent beta driver from their Web site and it seems to be working good.

The latest Creative beta drivers seem to be working just fine with my Audigy 2 ZS. The only thing that doesn't work is the game controller, which isn't supported under Vista. But, I haven't used a non-USB game controller in years, so this isn't an issue for me. I just disabled it.

NVIDIA's latest WHQL 158.18 drivers are working great for me. Oblivion and STALKER are running very smoothly. IQ on 8800 cards is excellent. I need a bigger monitor to really enjoy this card.

I didn't need to install the Intel chipset drivers. My monitor needed the proper INF file as it came up with the generic Plug & Play one. My MS Intellimouse 3.0 mouse needed drivers for full button support in games.

On the software front, only two programs I use game me some problems. Alcohol 120% and MP3 Gain. Alcohol 120% game me a BSOD and I could not get back to the desktop if my life depended on it. Having not researched the problem, I had to do a format and Vista reinstall. It turned out that I was using an older version that's not compatible with Vista. The current version works fine.

MP3 Gain game me an error on trying to open it, so I needed to get the FULL version that includes the VB run-time files.

Other programs like Dreamweaver 6 requires you to run it as administrator or it won't let you save your work. Core Temp also requires this just to get it to run.

BTW, Nero 7 works with Vista but you need the very latest version. I haven't fully tested it, but CD and DVD burning work.

 

[calebb]

Been running Vista 64 full time for almost two months now and I really like it.

Biggest issues are drivers for my sound card and nVidias drivers being crap. Also, Nero doesn't work and I've finally resolved to hunting down something that does work properly in Vista for burning CDs and DVDs, the built in burning software only goes so far.

I've had good luck with Nero 7.5.7.0 in Vista 32 bit - I've been using it since ~March.

 

[SpeedRunner]

I've been using Vista x64 Home Premium for a couple months now. It's just an awesome OS and there is no reason at all for me to roll back to XP.

 

[darkangel74]

What about those that have tried Vista and had nothing but problems out of it? And only use XP, for now. Wanna skew the poll?

 

[zacdl]

What about those that have tried Vista and had nothing but problems out of it? And only use XP, for now. Wanna skew the poll?

Those would go under category 3: Threadcrappers.

 

[darkangel74]

So you ignore users that have problems and think it will go away?

 

[zacdl]

So you ignore users that have problems and think it will go away?

This is not a help thread. Nor is it a thread to discuss what is wrong or not wrong with Vista.
A poll, that is it.

 

[djnes]

So you ignore users that have problems and think it will go away?

If you really look around and take a moment to sift through the crap in most of the VIsta threads, those with real problems were given help.

I've read several of your comments now, and I think you're missing one key point. Of those people who have complaints, you need to put them in one of two categories, instead of lumping them all together as you're trying to do. One category are those with legitimate complaints...albeit ones usually traced to a third party, such as Creative, but legitimate regardless of who to blame. The second category are those who bash Windows Vista, Microsoft, and anything else, simply because of the name, without every having tried Vista. This ignorance is what gets people pissed off. We've had threads that have gone on for pages, only to have the threadcrapper finally admit they've never even held a Vista disc, much less install it. We've also had people argue tooth and nail about Vista features, and they weren't even correct in their stances.

If you have legitimate complaints or problems, post them. You'll get help, or atleast some info to say it's not just you. If all you want to do is bash Microsoft for no apparent reason, then go find some kiddie forums on Nickelodeon.com to commiserate on. I'm not accusing you of either one, just making a generalization. I've read about your 4 attempts, and atleast you've pointed blame at the right places.

 

[darkangel74]

If you have legitimate complaints or problems, post them. You'll get help, or atleast some info to say it's not just you. If all you want to do is bash Microsoft for no apparent reason, then go find some kiddie forums on Nickelodeon.com to commiserate on. I'm not accusing you of either one, just making a generalization. I've read about your 4 attempts, and atleast you've pointed blame at the right places.

Theres the dismissive comments again. About going to find a kiddie forum. Theres where my problem lay. You and fellow folk claim some sort of higher maturity level. Words like that certain people will stand up and say that ain't right.

I choose to stick with Xp. And based on comments like what you just said, I wouldn't consider anything said here to be actually help. I refuse to be insulted. Thats where your creditability fails in my eyes fails and thats why I overlooked your unsolicited help. Its not help but rather condensing tone. "If you don't like my help then leave."

The poll should reflect those that are sticking to XP and not have a back handed comment about people that never have used Vista. Its like that ABC poll that left out one of the Presidential Candidates. This poll doesn't reflect a unbiased view and neither do you. You rather smash people that have a different view. I asked this before what personal stake do you have in Vista if people bash it?

And I said I chose to go back to XP because of X-Fi support I didn't say Creative was to blame. Creative drivers are better on XP.

 

[djnes]

Actually, you do have an option to choose above. I'm not really going to say much about your comments anymore, because Catweazle did a wonderful job of pulling them apart one by one already in another thread. You also joined on April 8, which means you missed out on quite a bit of the fun before hand....fun that would easily explain the wording and options of the poll above.

My comments above were only meant as an explanation of why people get so pissed off around here in Vista threads. That is why I suggested in my very first sentence to read up on some of them if you ever get the free time. I'm going to say this without meaning it as an insult....you missed out on a lot of the Vista BS before joining. You don't really know all that's gone on, and the attitudes and BS that was going on, especially in the early going. If so, you'd perfectly understand what is meant by the last option in the poll, and how it doesn't have the least amount arrogance to it.

You came in late to the game, after the main rumbles, if you will. Many of your comments echoed those we've seen before, in much worse terms than your's. Simply put, you're starting arguments with some people who have dealt with the worst before you even joined.

In your thread detailing you're problems, you switched back to XP rather quickly. It's your computer, and you can do what you want with it. Also, no one said you're issues were ridiculous or made up. The point people have been trying to make to you is this. Had you been willing to give it more time or follow the suggestions you were given, you may have resolved all of those issues, aside from the driver issues. Even those often times, have workarounds. Then you go on to tell us how you don't have time to tinker with your system, which is fine. Where you start to raise eyebrows is the fact that you still show up in all of these Vista threads, mixing it up with a different person in each one. You have your reasons for giving up on Vista and going back to XP, which is fine. I played around with OSX before, but I don't use it. I'm sure as hell not going to go nito the Apple section and start arguing with people using it over how good or bad Leopard is going to be. See what I mean? You're falling into the third category of our poll above, as someone else already mentioned.

If you really want to be heard on Vista and participate in all of the Vista discussions, use it first. You had issues on your primary system, so use a Virtual Machine or set up a second computer (shameless plug, that I'm selling a cheap one in the FS forum) to run it on. What is getting others so riled up is that you've made it known you stuck with XP (perfectly fine) but you continue to argue/discuss/debate Vista.

Also please note, I'm not one who's riled up about it at all. I moved my primary work computer back to XP because I've had issues with Vista, regardling folder redirection and login scripts. I am running it on a second machine however, under the same environment for further testing.

 

[Dan_D]

I use Vista full time on my personal laptop, and my gaming machine. I have a secondary gaming machine that also runs some older software I use for doing the motherboard reviews and it has remained Windows XP Professional w/SP2. My work laptop is Windows XP but not by my choice. I would love to throw Vista on it.

My personal laptop has worked very well with Vista. On my gaming machine I've had an issue or two, but mostly because of third party drivers.

As of last night on my gaming machine, I am also running Windows Longhorn Server Beta 3. I'll be redoing my machine in the next couple of days and Longhorn server will get moved again, but for the time being, I've enjoyed screwing around with it.