IPX does not work which some older games require.. Also IE 6 does not work/cannot install it which is a real pain for me since I need it to code cross browser. The latest release of nero 7 worked fine for me on vista.
Most of the programs work... I mean, all the programs that do work on XP are obvious to work on the new version as well...
Microsoft has no excuse for program incompatibility. There is an open-source project known called Wine that enables Windows programs to run on Linux (and other OSes). I dare say that Wine's list of software that runs is bigger than Vista's, almost certainly in the legacy world. I think Microsoft is in a sad place when a free and open-source software is able to run more programs than its latest version - but I don't hold this directly against them, I just believe they have their money focused in the wrong places. It wouldn't be hard at all to integrate this layer into Vista, and even go so far as to collaborate with the Wine community to provide this functionality.
If you have enough RAM (about 1GB+) then you can run Virtual PC for free. MS has this just for this reason: link Do you own Vista? Because I have much more trouble with wine (on my Ubuntu box) than I do with Vista. Compatibility mode + admin rights fixes almost any program.
luckybee, I've not had a single issue with Wine, except for ActiveSync - I run World of Warcraft and Guild Wars flawlessly.
As a systems admin, vista has several gaping holes that Microsoft should have sorted before release. 1. The Exchange AD admin tools do not work on Vista 2. Running a login script through AD has problems - get this - if the local user is an admin of their machine. If they are not a local admin it runs ok?? explain that one. 3. AD tools for clients have issues - no icons / no drag and drop facility. Programs with problems on vista - SAS (a stats package - won't work - Adobe Acrobat Pro 8 has issues with hyperlinks in documents) Adobe fireworks some tools cannot work in Vista Aero mode - Dreamweaver constantly has low memory warnings on a machine with 2GB RAM and nothing else running!! But hey - it does look pretty
I have burned a DVD (video), but I have not used the program long enough to run into errors. The DVD played just fine on my iBook and my DVD player.
I have no idea about Vista and I don't try it.because I love XP and this i my first and last priority.
the 32bit shouldnt be too bad in compatability with older programs but the 64bit would be a little more troublesome mainly because most are made in a 32bit environment.
The biggest changes required for most programs were with user access to restricted areas. Microsoft has advocated for a long time that program not write to the Program Files directory at run time. Many programmers ignored this (including me). Writing to the Program Files directory, the Windows directory, or HKLM (local machine registry) poses security risks. Everyone complained about Windows security issues, so Microsoft responded and shut down user-level run time access to these areas to beef up security. Microsoft gave fair warning about these changes and offered free betas and release candidates to test against. So software companies had plenty of time and opportunity to update their programs to be Vista compatible. If your software doesn't run on Vista, blame the software company - not Microsoft. For the record, both Nero and Alcohol 120% have Vista compatible updates out: http://www.nero.com/nero7/ena/nero7-up.php http://support.alcohol-soft.com/en/knowledgebase.php?postid=25394&title=Windows+Vista+&+Alcohol