Vista’s Not For Everyone

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USA Today has some basic advice for anyone upgrading to Windows Vista. While I am sure most people will get Vista on their next PC versus upgrading, I’ve been running a beta for awhile and will be glad to get my hands on a retail version. Think you “need” Vista right now? Read Kyle’s Windows Vista ramblings.

Microsoft's long-awaited new operating system, Vista, is finally in stores. Want it? Many people will, thanks to cool new features such as video editing, says Preston Gralla, author of Windows Vista in a Nutshell. But switching to the new operating system is a big change that consumers should consider carefully, he says.
 
Not too be critical of you guys (you are still the best), but I think you are being a little overly critical of Vista. The biggest features in this OS are things you don't notice: the completely redone Network Stack, AACS support (which is actually a good thing despite what the hatebots tell you), and of course DirectX 10. Maybe these features could have been Windows XP Service Pack 3 (DX10 could certainly have been), but I think they are notable enough to warrant a new OS when combined with the hundreds of new bells and whistles in Vista. I for one will be jumping to Vista ASAP on my HTPC, as the new Media Center program fixes the HDTV tuner glitch present in XP MCE.

Could Vista have been Windows XP SP3? Yes. But following that logic, XP should have been Windows 2000 SP5 as well. The industry has to move on, and although Vista may not be ready for immediate adoption, I do feel it is the way of the future and you guys are being ever so slightly overly-critical.
 
My only reason for wanting vista at all will be
A: cable cards if needed.
b: Halo 2 if there isn't a way around needing vista. Honestly maybe we should start boycotting for them taking generally after the time the game looses its luster to release it for the PC.
 
On one hand, I'm excited to get my hands on it and try it out, for personal use. It does seem nice and "friendly" form that perspective.
I'm still running 2000 pro at home, but that's because i'm stubborn and don't agree with MS's Activation, Genuine Advantage and licensing; But I think I'm willing to give that up for Vista (XP didn't really offer enough over 2000 for me to give in to it)

On the other hand for the business side, I'm already fielding questions from clients on whether or not a Vista upgrade is in their near future. Honestly, I'm not sure that Vista will offer my clients all that much. Many of them are already XP/office 2003, and I'm not seeing much of an advantage of switching them to Vista/O2k7 yet. (also considering the fact that for a majority of them we *just* got them on XP/o2k3)
 
Kyle cracked corn and I don't care.

Vista is not an upgrade. If anything it's a downgrade. Here's a few things to think about.

1. It nags you to hell. Have fun running a program only to have a pop up ask you if you want to run this. I think it asks twice but that could be my perception.

2. No 3D hardware sound support which probably due to the DRM. If you spent a lot of money on your sound card then you probably don't want Vista.

3. The 3D desktop does hurt gaming performance by about 15%.

4. The 3D desktop does hurt battery life on laptops.

5. The 64bit version requires signed drivers. Say goodbye to your tweaks and overclocking.

6. Have fun with the DRM which requires you to have a video card and Monitor to be able to play back HD movies.
 
Kyle cracked corn and I don't care.

Vista is not an upgrade. If anything it's a downgrade. Here's a few things to think about.

1. It nags you to hell. Have fun running a program only to have a pop up ask you if you want to run this. I think it asks twice but that could be my perception.

2. No 3D hardware sound support which probably due to the DRM. If you spent a lot of money on your sound card then you probably don't want Vista.

3. The 3D desktop does hurt gaming performance by about 15%.

4. The 3D desktop does hurt battery life on laptops.

5. The 64bit version requires signed drivers. Say goodbye to your tweaks and overclocking.

6. Have fun with the DRM which requires you to have a video card and Monitor to be able to play back HD movies.

1) it can be disabled. Also, XP has this as well, sort of.

3-4) so disable it? any advanced cpu intensive features are going to hurt performance. If thats your concern, dont use those features.

6) blame the movie studios, not MS. if anything, MS is providing you with the ability to watch HD movies on your PC, because without an HDCP capable OS, then the HDCP chain = broken, and no HD for you. (which means as a Mac user, i am SOL for now)
 
2. No 3D hardware sound support which probably due to the DRM. If you spent a lot of money on your sound card then you probably don't want Vista.


I've gotta be honest, I'm actually pretty psyched for this. Sound takes up what, 2% of CPU? Meanwhile, I haven't used a Creative card in years, because I like sound quality (currently using their pro-sumer Emu line, which doesn't have that sound acceleration, for headphones, and SPDIF out to receiver for speakers). For that matter, while they're at it, I wish they'd just ban Creative and their lousy cards and drivers [/rant]

3. The 3D desktop does hurt gaming performance by about 15%.

Put down the pipe and step away. The 3d desktop, unless you're using a DX10 card, completely disappears. It's disabled. Any drops in performance you've seen may be due to something else, or to lousy drivers, or whatever, but the 3d desktop is the one thing that definitely ISN'T the cause.


5. The 64bit version requires signed drivers. Say goodbye to your tweaks and overclocking.

Maybe I'm just odd, but this one makes me happy too. Signed drivers cost the company minimal amounts of money, and if it somehow prevents lousy drivers, even a few, then I'm all for it.

6. Have fun with the DRM which requires you to have a video card and Monitor to be able to play back HD movies.

Any HD movie you can play on XP will play back w/o DRM. The new formats may require it, but do you really imagine that OSX and any legal (key word "legal") implementation of HDDVD/Bluray with ICT on Linux won't have the same DRM?
 
I've gotta be honest, I'm actually pretty psyched for this. Sound takes up what, 2% of CPU? Meanwhile, I haven't used a Creative card in years, because I like sound quality (currently using their pro-sumer Emu line, which doesn't have that sound acceleration, for headphones, and SPDIF out to receiver for speakers). For that matter, while they're at it, I wish they'd just ban Creative and their lousy cards and drivers [/rant]
I hate Creative just as much as the next person but if you own a Creative Sound card then payed for that feature. Even if it does eat up only 2% of your CPU.


Put down the pipe and step away. The 3d desktop, unless you're using a DX10 card, completely disappears. It's disabled. Any drops in performance you've seen may be due to something else, or to lousy drivers, or whatever, but the 3d desktop is the one thing that definitely ISN'T the cause.
We'll let the benchmarks speak.

From my experience disabling the 3D desktop does increase performance a lot in games. Disabling it shouldn't be an option since that's one of the big changes in Vista.

Maybe I'm just odd, but this one makes me happy too. Signed drivers cost the company minimal amounts of money, and if it somehow prevents lousy drivers, even a few, then I'm all for it.
I'm talking about modified drivers. Like tweaked drivers, softmods, overclocking, and etc.

Any HD movie you can play on XP will play back w/o DRM. The new formats may require it, but do you really imagine that OSX and any legal (key word "legal") implementation of HDDVD/Bluray with ICT on Linux won't have the same DRM?
Vista OS seems to be built around the DRM technology that is used to prevent people from pirating HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies. Which has already been cracked and people are already pirating it as was expected by everyone except the MPAA and RIAA.

Which BTW I'm glad they did because nobody was going to deal with this DRM crap anyway. The problem is that most of the limitations I've just explained is probably due to this implementation of DRM.

At the end all Microsoft has done is pissed off the paying users while they accomplished nothing.
 
Vista OS seems to be built around the DRM technology that is used to prevent people from pirating HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies.

..and is also required by law. Using or putting out players or software to bypass DRM technology is illegal under the DMCA. Stop complaining about Microsoft forcing you to follow the law and instead complain to the lawmakers. Geez. :rolleyes:

As for gaming performance, a degradation is always normal when rolling out a new technology. Give it some time for the drivers to mature.
 
Kyle cracked corn and I don't care.

Vista is not an upgrade. If anything it's a downgrade. Here's a few things to think about.

1. It nags you to hell. Have fun running a program only to have a pop up ask you if you want to run this. I think it asks twice but that could be my perception.
For the nTH time, this can be disabled in about 30 seconds.

2. No 3D hardware sound support which probably due to the DRM. If you spent a lot of money on your sound card then you probably don't want Vista.
Uhm? Are you sure about this? My sound card (7.1 channel) works perfectly fine in vista, and actually outputs 7.1 (my receiver even shows it as such)

3. The 3D desktop does hurt gaming performance by about 15%.
And how long does it take to toggle it off? 1/30th as long as it takes to turn of UAC

GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND said:
Toggle Desktop composition on/off:

Ctrl+Shift+F9


4. The 3D desktop does hurt battery life on laptops.
See #3

5. The 64bit version requires signed drivers. Say goodbye to your tweaks and overclocking.
Already been bypassed. Wow, that took forever and a day, didn't it? OH wait.. that happened 6 months ago.
the article said:
Joanna Rutkowska, a Polish researcher at Singapore-based Coseinc, showed that it is possible to bypass security measures in Vista that should prevent unsigned code from running.


6. Have fun with the DRM which requires you to have a video card and Monitor to be able to play back HD movies.
As opposed to Windows XP, et. al which won't play them at all.


Also..
what inorganicmatter (above me) says applies...

Quote:
DukenukemX said:
Vista OS seems to be built around the DRM technology that is used to prevent people from pirating HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies.

inorganicmatter said:
..and is also required by law. Using or putting out players or software to bypass DRM technology is illegal under the DMCA. Stop complaining about Microsoft forcing you to follow the law and instead complain to the lawmakers. Geez.

I applaud inorganicmatter for pointing out the obvious.

Jeesh, dukenukemX.. "Waah, my o/s makes it hard for me to pirate movies!" .. Why don't you just fess up now, or build yourself a ripping box if you need to pirate that much!
[Note, I am mocking dukenukemX, and am in NO WAY advocating piracy. I applaud microsoft as well for at least making an effort {although it is in vain} to stop the rampant piracy of copyright materials]

As for gaming performance, a degradation is always normal when rolling out a new technology. Give it some time for the drivers to mature.
 
dukenukemX said:
6. Have fun with the DRM which requires you to have a video card and Monitor to be able to play back HD movies.

It's really no fun watching a movie without a video card and monitor :)

I want to amend my previous statement about "Xp not being able to play them at all"

What I meant to say was

"As opposed to xp not being able to play them at all, if they are DRM'ed and you don't have HDCP compliant hardware"

I watch HD-DVD's on XP now, with a $160 X-box360 HDDVD Player, on my 37" 1080P LCD through my DVI+HDCP 8800GTS

Do I need an 8800gts for this? No. there are ~$100 video cards that are HDCP compliant.

If I had a BD drive, I could watch them too.
I borrowed one, and it worked fine, but I'm not ready to sink $600 into an optical drive.
 
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