For me the major difference is that Vista is extremely heavy and ineffficient with resources. I used to build computers for Music production, where Ram use and CPU use are taken down to the minimum so that the programs have all the memory they need. I could get XP down to 44MB in static form. I must confess i haven't tried too hard with Vista, but then most installs i've seen have between 180MB and 700MB of ram usage when static. That says it all in my eyes, plus the music industry still uses XP SP2 or the dreaded Mac. I can't remember the last time i saw a XP computer doing nothing yet using 700MB of ram, that's just sick. I also refuse to use it out of principle. Why do M$ throw an old, and now stable, Kernal in the bin, only to replace it with something far more resource hungry? Why can't windows evolve like Linux and the like? We keep getting more powerful hardware and lick our lips at the prospect, then every new OS steals it all so we get little benefit. Did you know Vista scans itself 30 times a second to ensure you're no illegally copying music using hardware not approved by M$? It appears all software is going to "bloat" route though. I recently had the misfortune of seeing someone post NEro upgrade. The NEro 6 they had used 28mb of HD and did everything. The new version, used just shy of 600mb of HD and did nothing more other than install a multitude of rubbish you don't need. Why do i need a search bar by my clock? I can right click a folder for christs sake.
Now I have been a supporter of Vista until I read that. That really pisses me off. I did some research hoping to prove you wrong, but I found otherwise. They scan ALL software not just music stuff, and even have the right to disable it and see if you can reactivate it with legit serials, etc. Not that I'm a huge pirate or anything, but as you said its the principle. Even though I have plenty of resources and no lag, I had no idea that my computer was wasting resources on this anti-piracy scan every freakin 30 seconds. I am not looking for alternatives to Vista for my brand new laptop. I called HP and they said downgrading to xp wasn't possible?
Now, i dont know, iv heard about the copy protection to, but i have maby 600-700 gigs of various pirated things on my drive and never a problem.
I have never had a problem with vista and i have hacking software and Piracy programs up the as on my toshiba vista laptop and never had any annoyances past the first day...
Here's my experience with ultimate: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=4603332&postcount=108 admittedly I'm not joe sixpack and have slightly higher 'needs' from my OS than most... That is on my old hardware setup though, might be interesting to try it since I've upgraded to a Q6600 with 4 gigs and Ge8 hardware across the board - but since XP x64 does EVERYTHING I want, why bother? (apart from morbid curiousity)
I haven't read the other 17 pages but here is my experience: - I loved the flashyness of vista for a week or so (I still like the alt-tab though) but after a week I could care less about them. - I loved the search in the start bar very useful - I like how you can use your thumbdrive and ReadyBoost (microsoft dean't really say much about this but I think it's an awesome feature) Those are really about it. I bought my copy and installed it and 3 months later I formatted and installed xp again. I liked vista while I had it there were just too many things that weren't compatible with it though.
Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves.... instead of being for the good of the world, they are looking pretty bad with stuff like that... not impressed and I refuse to get vista
Umm.....what are you talking about? lol Microsoft isn't for the good of the world, they are a business. Every business (other then non profit) are only after 1 thing....money.
that's not true.... many businesses have owners that are concerned with ethics and right and wrong, all business is not evil, just some are for sure though
This is why most people will not get Vista no matter what. Microsoft should not be spying on it's consumers. Period. What's to prevent Microsoft from looking into our personal information stored in our hard drive. Oh, wait they are already doing this.
Yeah I don't like the fact that they can just peek into my computer. Luckily, my college gives me 1,000's of dollars worth of awesome programs so I never have to pirate anything. If my schooling didn't rely on windows environment based programs I would probably switch to linux though.
When I first got Vista Home Premium, I felt positive about using it along with a high-end computer...didn't have performance issues. However, when I found out that I couldn't tie my computer to a network, that was a real slap in the face -- I paid $150 for a Windows OS that's restricting me from connecting to a network because I need the "Business" edition of Vista. BS...
Seriously, I'm running 1.5gigs of ram & a 3ghz Cleron cpu ....I see it would be foolish for me to upgrade without getting a hardware overhaul. XP is far from being a broke OS so why fix it? Let me get a 64-Bit cpu setup however with 4+ gigs of ram and then I'll be up on nabbing Ultimate.
I still don't see why still some would argue that Vista is better. Even with a top of the line computer, I still don't see a need to upgrade to Vista besides its glossy look. Even then, I would just go with a theme/skin software.
Nobody is upgrading because of the glossy look...that would just be retarded. The look is simply a bonus. It's the cool little features of vista like they way you can switch between windows and gadgets that make people want to use it.
Nah, that's what Server 2k3 or XP x64 is for. Which for someone like me who HATES desktop crapplets, hates transparancies, hates goofy colored buttons, and considers Windows 98 the pinnacle of desktop design, everything since being goof assed eye candy that detracts rather than enhances the user experience... There's a reason I switch to 'windows classic' theme, 'classic' start menu, turn off all the stupid ****ing animated bullshit, rip out 'microsoft agent' and 'search assistant' by the nerts, stripping every Windows version back down to look like 98/NT4. (without that stupid active desktop and channel bar crap - which they keep bringing back in one form or another and we keep killing) But then, I'm the guy who considers Flip3d, Compiz and Expose to still be playing catch-up on functionality to the windows taskbar (with that stupid 'group similar' turned off) and the powertoys task switcher. Does the phrase "For ****'s sake just show me a ****ing list of what's RUNNING" sound familiar? (same category as in web sites with "For ****'s sake, just let me download the ****ing file already!" after clicking through five pages of links saying "download now")