Death of Vista-Long Live the King!!

[ATP]

I've never used it, but the general public reaction to Vista was unfavourable - and this was reflected in sales figures of Vista vs XP.
I think that the general - & business - communities have collectively welcomed the news of Vista's demise.

Well, stay tuned, folks. The computer/IT press is now dealing with the beta release of Windows 7, and it is a vast improvement on Vista. It is getting the general thumbs up.

[scarletpeaches]

Oh bugger. Four days after I get a new computer, this.

Never mind, it's not like I paid for it! :D

At first it felt a bit weird because XP was all I'd ever used on my home computers but I'm already used to it, and I like it. Office 2007 is teh shizzle. So I'm happy with it.

Here's hoping this laptop doesn't blow up like the other one did.

[ATP]

MS has indicated that it will no longer support XP, but there is such a groundswell of community support, that various sectors are petitioning MS to continue XP support.

With the very possible favourable reaction from the public for Win7, who knows what will happen? But, we'll have to wait and see what technical issues arise during Win7's 1st year and if MS does over the consumer again. If it's ok, will those on XP switch to Win7? MS would surely like them to!

[Its been awhile SP...]

[scarletpeaches]

The funny thing is, when I got my first desktop about seven, eight years ago, XP had just been released and a computer buff friend warned me off it, recommended ME. I just went with XP and never had a problem with it beyond teething troubles, finding my way around.

And last week when my previous laptop went on the fritz and I realised I'd have to get an entirely new machine, my dad warned me - like the little ray of sunshine he is - that Vista was rubbish, I'd hate it, he'd heard bad things about it.

"Okay," I said, "What bad things?"

-"I dunno. Just a lot of people don't like it."

"What people?"

He couldn't give me an answer so I thought, screw it, Vista it is. At first the navigation was confusing but honestly? I haven't had any problems beyond having to install a Vista driver for my AlphaSmart Neo (recently christened 'Apollo', since you ask).

It runs teh intarchoobs, and MS Office, and as long as that remains so, I'm happy.

[jst5150]

From top to bottom, Vista's run tops for me. I've been running this Vista machine for about 8 months. I've loaded and unloaded software. Typed thousands of words in the new MS Word, done processor-challenging graphic design and some hard core gaming. It hasn't crashed once.

Every driver I've loaded works fine. Vista warns me when something is "older" and then asks if it can find compatible drivers for it.

As with any battle, there is information and disinformation. And there are legions of zealots on either side waiting to spread both. It's important to be open minded about any new process and whether or not it works for you. :)

[mscelina]

Yeah, I'm loving my Vista system. The only problem I've ever had with it is if one of the writers I'm editing is using an ancient form of Windows--like 98--and my comments get lost in translation.

[scarletpeaches]

mscelina, you can save word documents as backwards-compatible documents. Go into the ribbon icon on the top left, to 'save as...' then click on "MS Word 97-03". As thethinker42 reads most of my stuff, I save every document both as Office 2007 and as a backwards-compatible document.

[storygirl]

Figures, I just started using Vista about 6 months ago. It's fairly easy to use (and I'm not computer savvy) and I've been really satisfied with.

[jennontheisland]

I like Vista.

I don't understand the hullabaloo. Seems like something Mac created.

[LaurieD]

I've had compatability issues with Vista - to the tune of buying a shiny new laptop not long after Vista had come out, with the intention of telecommuting to work while on a 2 week vacation at my mother-in-law's (her entire town consists of 2 gas stations and lots of sheep). Imagine my reaction upon finding that the company I work with had not and still has no plans to upgrade any of their programs to be compatible with Vista. I could log on to work, but not actually do anything. Oh happy flippin day

[Del]

Vista was designed by engineers that didn't consider the diversity and simpleminded techniques of 'real people'. It all works, but not entirely friendly to the average user...or so I hear.

Windows 7 is considering input from vista users and addressing the issues that have been reported. So far as I know, Windows 7 is still based on Vista...like XP was based on win2000...but they are rewriting the interface to be more understandable.

Vista was 10 years in the making. They aren't just going to dump it. It's sort of just getting a new suit. :)

[dpaterso]

Vista's fast and stable, for me anyway. I'll be buggered if I'm going to upgrade anything just because some dodgy company that releases notoriously crap software says so. I don't care if my next laptop comes with Vista or Windows3000, as long as it works as well as this one does.

-Derek

[Sheryl Nantus]

we ended up getting a new system a few months ago and it's been working fine for us with Vista.

of course, that's AFTER everyone else found the bugs and so forth.

it never fails to surprise me how perfect everyone thinks the programming world is and how nothing ever is mucked up...

[Del]

Imagine my reaction upon finding that the company I work with had not and still has no plans to upgrade any of their programs to be compatible with Vista. I could log on to work, but not actually do anything. Oh happy flippin day

Vista was never intended to be backwards compatible. It was in fact a deliberate decision not to be, the consensus being they cannot implement the new systems while supporting what they wanted to change.

There are many programs that do run on vista despite not having been written for it. Why? Because the programmers followed the conventions set down by Microsoft and refrained from 'creative programming'.

Incompatibility should point to the program publishers, not to Vista.

[stormie]

We have several computers here all running Vista. The oldest is a year-and-a-half old. No problems so far, and we all like it.

As for Windows 7, I think it isn't set for release to the public until late 2010 or so.

[Clio]

I shouldn't really post, because whenever I say something about my computer.....ssh - it's like mentioning the Scottish Play in a theatre.

But - I'll be brave. I've been running Vista HP for a year now on a brand new Dell. No problems whatsoever beyond having to download a patch from Canon's website for my old printer. At least Canon had the wherewithal to write the patch, though. Seems to me that a lot of the bunkum about Vista being incompatible with this and that hardware is really down to the hardware manufacturers not updating. I mean, come on - they knew Vista was being developed for at least four years before it became available. The ball was in their court, as far as I'm concerned. Many manufacturers did write patches for Vista compatibility, so there's no excuse.

No probs for me.....keeping fingers crossed, as I type.... ;)

[Clair Dickson]

Tip that sometimes works with un-Vista compatible programs... right click the program icon (on the desktop or in start menu). Go to Properties. The third tab should be Compability (if you have no Third Tab, this won't work!). On the Compatibility Tab you'll see the option for Compatibility Mode. Check the check box and select what OS you want the computer to pretend to be (such as XP) when it runs that program.

It may not work for all programs, but give it a shot. (I refuse to give up my precious XP for Vista... but I still get asked to trouble shoot Vista.)

[maestrowork]

I can only say: I'm so glad I'm not working with PCs anymore and not running any Vista... what a piece of crap.

[johnnysannie]

I've been running Vista for almost a year without any problems; I actually like it.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Me too. I've been using it for 1-1/2 years on two computers without any problems.

[Beach Bunny]

Dang! And I just got used to XP. :(

[maestrowork]

"Not having a problem with it" doesn't translate to "it's great."

[scarletpeaches]

It's not awful, either. It does (for me at least) what XP did...but looks better. :D

[DamaNegra]

"Not having a problem with it" doesn't translate to "it's great."

I'll go ahead and say it. Ever since SP1, Vista's great. It used to have its quirks (y'all know I used to fight my computer quite a bit) but now it runs like heaven. I love the interface, I love how fast the software runs on my computer, even though it's not all that powerful. I still get a little confused but that's okay, everything's so nicely labeled I never have trouble finding my way around unknown territory. I've used it for pretty heavy stuff, I've used it for writing, and it's never done anything funny or cost me any work, like some other machines I've used.

Fuck it. I'm starting to get fed up with all this anti-Windows propaganda. Sure, their products aren't perfect, but what the hell, nothing's perfect anymore. I couldn't be any happier after being a Windows user ever since I was about 7 or 8 years old.

Hurray for Windows!!!

[poetinahat]

I didn't expect to like Vista at all - having heard that all the 'improvements' were cosmetic - but, as a home user, I think it's wonderful. (Don't know if I'd want to run it on a lower-spec computer, but on my brand-new box, it's great fun and stellar.)

I don't miss XP at all, and I won't want to have to go back to it.

[scarletpeaches]

I didn't expect to like Vista at all - having heard that all the 'improvements' were cosmetic - but, as a home user, I think it's wonderful. (Don't know if I'd want to run it on a lower-spec computer, but on my brand-new box, it's great fun and stellar.)

I don't miss XP at all, and I won't want to have to go back to it.

And Vista brought me back to you, baby. :kiss:

[ATP]

For those who believe that it is merely an Apple 'disinformation' campaign, or think it part of a general "love to hate MS" sentiment, or even interested in increasing their knowledge of the tools that they use on daily basis, you might like to read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_vista

[tallus83]

No "Computer Buff" would recommend Windows ME for anything.

Your friend was extremely misled by misinformation.

[scarletpeaches]

Or it could be that they merely had an opinion which differed from yours.

Having never used ME, I don't know if that was the case, or if the Microsoft brainwashers really had taken over his mind.

[maestrowork]

Fuck it. I'm starting to get fed up with all this anti-Windows propaganda. Sure, their products aren't perfect, but what the hell, nothing's perfect anymore. I couldn't be any happier after being a Windows user ever since I was about 7 or 8 years old.

I'm not anti-Windows. I've used Windows since 1990, programmed for it until 2003, and have been an IT guy dealing with anything from Unix to Windows for a long time. I'm not anti-Windows. It's just that I know more about what goes underneath these OSs than most people. It's like a mechanics vs. a driver. I'm the mechanics.

The point is, if you only use Windows, you're probably happy with it. It's fast enough; it does what you need to do; you have a world of software to choose from. I have used Windows and Unix and Mac at the same time for work and home, and I can tell you Windows is SLOW. On my friend's Pentium 4 machine with 2GB RAM, Vista takes 4 minutes to start up. I can't really use my brother's Vista machine because it's so slow. It takes my Mac less than a minute to start up. Surfing on Vista via IE or Firefox is significantly slower than on the Mac. Again, I'm not just saying it to trash Windows -- it's an objective comparison in terms of speed. And we're not even going to talk about the virus issue.

So if you're happy with Windows, keep on using it. I'm not trying to convince you otherwise and there's no reason to be pissy about it. But just as you're fed up with the Apple/Mac Kool-Aid drinking, I'm also frustrated to see people saying "Windows is the greatest thing, the greatest OS" because it is NOT.

[C A Winters]

Vista's fast and stable, for me anyway. I'll be buggered if I'm going to upgrade anything just because some dodgy company that releases notoriously crap software says so. I don't care if my next laptop comes with Vista or Windows3000, as long as it works as well as this one does.

-Derek

Ditto!

[DamaNegra]

I have used Windows and Unix and Mac at the same time for work and home, and I can tell you Windows is SLOW. On my friend's Pentium 4 machine with 2GB RAM, Vista takes 4 minutes to start up. I can't really use my brother's Vista machine because it's so slow. It takes my Mac less than a minute to start up. Surfing on Vista via IE or Firefox is significantly slower than on the Mac. Again, I'm not just saying it to trash Windows -- it's an objective comparison in terms of speed. And we're not even going to talk about the virus issue.

Oh, Maestro, you know we can keep at this all day ;)

I can also tell you about the Mac who stopped working in the middle of class and had to be rebooted. It took more than 4 minutes to reboot, causing me to miss most of the teacher's step by step explanation of what we had to do that class. I failed that assignment, btw.

Also, I never said Windows was the greatest. Here.

Sure, their products aren't perfect, but what the hell, nothing's perfect anymore. I couldn't be any happier after being a Windows user ever since I was about 7 or 8 years old.

But I suspect you weren't talking about me directly, the same way I quoted your post but wasn't really talking about you.

[Clair Dickson]

I think folks are only saying "Windows is the greatest for me right now." Being such a subjective statement as it is, it's hard to argue with them.

I am very happy with my WinXP machines right now. So happy that I don't ever want anything to happen to them. That will change, someday.

Three years ago, I was so happy to get my car. It was clean, ran great, and pretty. Today, it's not worth the scrap metal it's made of and I am *dying* to replace it with something nice, newer, and not in danger of losing any number of parts the next time I hit that bump on my way home. But when I got it, it was the bestest car I'd ever driven and I was so happy with it.

If someone is happy with something, and think it's great, that's subjective. Other may disagree. My brother has hated my car for a lot longer than I did (he's the one who has to fix it!) It's all subjective. And it's okay to not like the same things.

[scarletpeaches]

My view of Vista is that it does what I want it to do, at an acceptable speed, reliably.

If you're a writer, you should write no matter what tools you have at your disposal, and if they look pretty - as Vista does - so much the better.

Whatever works, works.

[tallus83]

Scarlet,

Several months after ME was released MS realised how bad it was and told customers to install Win98SE instead. Windows ME had an extremely short life.

It was the precursor to the user campaign of removing Vista and installing XP.

[Del]

Scarlet,

Several months after ME was released MS realised how bad it was and told customers to install Win98SE instead. Windows ME had an extremely short life.

.

I bought ME as a full install...I got so sick of my Compaq and all its BS, so I wiped out the HD (and 98 but never had a prob with 98 either) and built it back driver by driver. No more Compaq proprietary issues. I honestly never had a problem with ME. I still install it on old computers or ones that I'm having difficulty with, because it is a full install. Currently this household has 1 vista, 2 XP, and one ME computer. They all work fine.

As for MS realizing how bad ME was...they never offered to give me back my money.

[JenNipps]

So if you're happy with Windows, keep on using it. I'm not trying to convince you otherwise and there's no reason to be pissy about it. But just as you're fed up with the Apple/Mac Kool-Aid drinking, I'm also frustrated to see people saying "Windows is the greatest thing, the greatest OS" because it is NOT.

At this point, I'm quite pleased with Windows. The only issue I've ever had with Vista (so far) is that Windows Explorer freezes up every time you try to close it. To get around that, I switched to FireFox and have had no problems at all (unless someone else gets on my computer & uses Explorer). I'm also well aware, though, that with some things I want to do in the not-too-distant future, I'll probably have to get a Mac. I'm hesitant, though, because I'm concerned about how much stuff (if any) will I lose during the switch-over?

I think folks are only saying "Windows is the greatest for me right now." Being such a subjective statement as it is, it's hard to argue with them.

...

If someone is happy with something, and think it's great, that's subjective. Other may disagree. My brother has hated my car for a lot longer than I did (he's the one who has to fix it!) It's all subjective. And it's okay to not like the same things.

Good points. *s* If everyone liked the same things the same ways all the time, would we have had the computer programs and advancements that have come along or would they have wanted to stay with the status quo and have us all still using DOS? :scared:

Whatever works, works.

That, IMO, is the crux of it. I have friends who think anything and everything put out by Microsoft is "super-sh*t" (their words, not mine). I disagree, but then again, I open it up to use it, not to criticize/critique it for either personal fun & games or reviews.

Websites on the other hand.... lol

[scarletpeaches]

I'm still discovering cool things MS Office 2007 does and I've been using MS Word a lot this past week. Haven't even opened Excel or any of the other gubbins that comes with it.

Not that it'll improve my writing any; that's all down to me. But these bells and whistles are so purty...

[Del]

I'm still discovering cool things MS Office 2007 does and I've been using MS Word(MB) a lot this past week. .

Set up a style with default Courier New font and double line spacing. And then turn off everything AUTO. Mine still replaces all my double dashes with a hyphen (grrrr) but most of everything else is off. I open Word and am ready to write! Took a while to figure out to do that...and how to do that...and had some really frustrating writing sessions...and so I'm saving you from all that grief. :D

[JenNipps]

Set up a style with default Courier New font and double line spacing. And then turn off everything AUTO.

Good tips! Next time I turn the laptop on, I'll have to do that. :) Never even thought of it, though I did figure out how to create styles already.

[Clair Dickson]

Go to Options--> Auto Format as you Type to stop Word from changing your paired hyphens to dashes.

MS Word 2007 has SOOOO many fun toys. Try the picture formating. You can even lay your picture down, turn it, and do all sorts of new timewasting things with it.

The only problem I really have with 2k7 is that I haven't figured out how (or if i can) customize the toolbars. The layout and stuff isn't bad... but I like my custom toolbars. Oh well.

The new Office is so nice. They did Office right, I think, with the ribbons.

[DamaNegra]

The new Office is so nice. They did Office right, I think, with the ribbons.

Oh did they ever. What a sweet, sweet piece of software.

[scarletpeaches]

I'm feeling the MS Office love in the room.

[adtabb]

We have several computers running Vista. The first is a full size - that hubby bought the program and upgraded. The upgrade meant the computer crashed constantly, so he uninstalled it a few months later ($200 down the drain). At that time he bought a laptop with the then still new Vista - it has 2gb of memory. It crashes anytime he uses it and some unknown program runs in the background.

I waited sixmonths and bought me a laptop with Vista - 1gb of memory. I cannot run FrontPage or any other memory hog program, but it works okay for me. It is extremely slow on start up though, even with almost nothing stored on the harddrive.

What I have learned from the last few Microsoft upgrades (both XP and Vista) - always wait until after Service Pack 1 before buying the new program. If you don't it will crash and have serious functionality issues.

[dclary]

You guys are insane. the ribbon was the worst thing ever in the history of worst things ever.

microsoft took perfectly functional software, made it pretty and fancy, and as a result, entirely inefficient and overly complicated.

I'm the biggest MS whore in this room, and I *detest* what they did to Office so much, I'm never buying another MS product again, until they regain their sanity.

[scarletpeaches]

You guys are insane. the ribbon was the worst thing ever in the history of worst things ever.

No, I think you'll find Colin Farrell's wig collection for Alexander was the worst thing in the history of worst things ever. And I say that as someone who srsly wants to do filthy things to him.

microsoft took perfectly functional software, made it pretty and fancy, and as a result, entirely inefficient and overly complicated.

I'm the biggest MS whore in this room, and I *detest* what they did to Office so much, I'm never buying another MS product again, until they regain their sanity.

Thus speaks a man.

Men do not like change, or pretty things, or things that change into pretty things.

[Clair Dickson]

dclary-- unlearn what you have learned. Only then can you understand. =)

The ribbons are much more intuitive. But, admittedly, Microsoft moved the shifter from the center console to the steering wheel. It's a helluva an adjustment process, but only for people ever used Office before.

I really don't see the ineffciency? Care to elaborate? (Note, I only use a handful of keyboard commands, so if those changed, then I can't comment.) I can find everything I need quickly. Plus, there are NEW toys... ooooo... *drool*

I go back and forth between the Lapdog with 2007 and my fully customized Office2003 at least once a day, usually more. So it's not like I made "the switch". There are only so many copies to go around... Now, I've only been using various versions of MSWord for the past 15 years. It's not like I've gotten too used to things being a certain way.

The only fault I give MS on the ribbons is there is no "Custom" Ribbon for people like me who have to customize everything.

[dclary]

The ribbons are much more intuitive. But, admittedly, Microsoft moved the shifter from the center console to the steering wheel. It's a helluva an adjustment process, but only for people ever used Office before.

I really don't see the ineffciency? Care to elaborate? (Note, I only use a handful of keyboard commands, so if those changed, then I can't comment.) I can find everything I need quickly. Plus, there are NEW toys... ooooo... *drool*


I type with both hands. So if I need to do something "fancy" with my text, I want to be able to do it without taking my hands off the keyboard: because I have no fully articulated tail, I cannot wield both a keyboard and a mouse at the same time.

So I ask you, how do you get a word count in Word?

In the old days I could just type Alt-T, W. -- In fact almost every single thing you could do in Word (except for draw-y things, and that makes sense), you could do without ever touching your mouse. Now, not only does it MOCK you when you use keyboard commands, but there are things that are nigh unto impossible to even FIND, let alone use without jumping major hoops.

I understand that as software changes, I need to change too, and I will. But software has to be *functional.* Microsoft threw so many bells and whistles into office, I might as well have bought a bell and whistle factory. What I wanted to buy was a word processor and spreadsheet.

[scarletpeaches]

Deek, stop thinking with your manboobies for just a moment and listen up.

MS Office 2007 allows you to constantly display the word count on the bottom left of your screen.

See? No key presses, no nothing. You don't even have to take your clawed, webbed hands off the keyboard.

[dclary]

Deek, stop thinking with your manboobies for just a moment and listen up.

MS Office 2007 allows you to constantly display the word count on the bottom left of your screen.

See? No key presses, no nothing. You don't even have to take your clawed, webbed hands off the keyboard.

Huh.

Ok.

I take it all back.

[scarletpeaches]

Right click on the bottom-of-MS Word-toolbar and up pops the list of options; tick 'word count' and problem solved. :D

[Clair Dickson]

Oops... XD

BTW, dclary, you can still change the keyboard shortcuts in Word2007. Go to the Office Symbol--> Word Options--> Customize--> Keyboard Shortcuts: Customize

Go fix it, dear henry, dear henry. Go fix it. =)

BTW, in my experience, most users mouse-it FAR more than they use keyboard shortcuts. You wouldn't beleive HOW many people I've talked to that don't (didn't) even know that Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V are universal keyboard commands... You're an odd bunny.

[groovyville]

I just got my new laptop a month ago with vista, and so far vista hasn't given me any problems. (it was just a pain in the neck when it came to finding out the new way to create a toolbar)

I like the sidebar thing, but I can't seem to remember how to get it to open. LOL
I always do that by accident.

I highly dislike word 2007 though.

I wish they would have stuck to the old menus because those giant icons and whatnot take up so much room, and it's always a pain to find/change the settings I'm looking for.

I also despised how Word 2007 assumes that I want to have all of my documents practically double spaced because I actually loath double spacing, so now I have to change that setting almost every time I write a document.

And for some odd reason, one out of every 2 times I close word, it thinks it had a problem, tries to fix it and then reopens word only for me to close it again. I think it's gone stupid. LOL