Thoughts on Vista

In case you are the last person in the known universe to have heard this,
Vista has been released. No, don't run out to Best Buy or Circuit City, you
won't find it there. But Beta 2 (build 5384) is in "public" Beta, meaning
that soon billions of computer users worldwide will be using Vista. (say by
mid-July of this year, 2006)

I've installed it on two different computer systems. Before installation, I
ran the upgrade advisor downloaded from Microsoft. Both systems passed,
with one minor exception. System 1 didn't have enough hard drive space.
That was solved easily by re-partitioning the hard drive. ODDLY, the
upgrade advisor ignored a few hard drives on that system with several
HUNDREDS OF GB OF FREE SPACE and told me that I didn't have enough space to
install Vista because drive C: only had about 10GB free, at the time.
But like I said, a quick re-partition freed up about 30GB of free space, and
then the upgrade advisor gave the green light to both systems.

System one was a total disaster. Oh the installation of Vista went
perfectly, no glitches at all. But then I learned the hard way that there
is a quite common security "feature" in Vista that prevents people from
logging in with valid user names and passwords on many systems. The way it
works is this: You click your user name, type your valid password, see
logging in, loading personal settings, logging out, and you are back to the
login screen. The workaround is to log in using the same user name/password
combo in SAFE MODE. (which of course is crap)

System two wasn't much better. Oh, the installation of Vista went OK. At
least I got a working system, kind of. The upgrade advisor failed to
mention that my very common nvidia chipset (6600, no letters following it)
video card wasn't supported by Vista. (oooooops!!!). Oh it had video, but
it was very choppy. Moving the mouse would cause the whole fricking screen
to move (did I mention I have an LCD monitor?). I was getting seasick just
trying to figure out how to fix it. Luckily, nvidia had beta drivers
available to fix that problem. Other problems were harder to work around.
Like my firewall which I'd read was Vista compatible wasn't. I'm still
looking for a compatible firewall. And I had to change antivirus programs.
Luckily I found avast!, as a temporary solution. Then I discovered
Incredimail is not Vista compatible. That's fine with me, but my wife won't
use anything else for e-mail, so I had to downgrade to Windows XP again.

Thank God for Acronis True Image. Had both machines back to Windows XP with
all software installed and fully configured in less than half an hour total
for both systems. Luckily I'd imaged both C: drives before I started the
Vista thing.

I think Vista is going to be great someday. Note the someday. I'm guessing
2010 or so, it will be running great. If you think your hardware is ready
for it though, think again. It is REALLY power-hungry. I'm talking the OS
only. Forget Microsoft recommendations, try the following:

200GB hard drive (well, 30GB or so is needed, but you need room for apps,
data files, etc. also), 10K minimum RPM, 16MB cache. Otherwise, it will
take all day to install.
Geforce 6600 or later chipset video card with 256MB or more of RAM. Graphic
intensive OS, just like running a GAME constantly.
2GB of RAM MINIMUM. Again, this OS is just like running a game constantly.
DUAL-CORE processor with minimum 3GHz clock speed (not to be confused with
speed rating). The 3GHz because it's like running a game constantly. The
dual-core because Microsoft says so.
Dual layer DVD burner. You need to back up the OS disk, which is on DVD
media. If you buy a DVD drive, it better be dual layer.

But if you've got the hardware, you will probably like the OS, when the bugs
are worked out. It does a lot of unnecessary hand-holding, but once the
hand-holding is turned off, it's a darn nice OS. The Aero interface alone
is worth the upgrade. IMHO But the non-expanding start menu and gadgets
area are nice, also. -Dave

Actually, the final product will have about 6 different marketing levels.
They are listed he

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

You are probably getting the full blown edition with the beta.

-g

I have a top box. The video card alone is a BFG GF7900GTO
.... and I can tell that Vista is using every resource it possibly
can. The install is going fairly well, but F-secure antivirus
bluescreened it, and I had to roll back and uninstall it. Even
then I could tell that some damage to the OS had occurred.
The side bar was darker for one ?? Right now, I'm installing
a bunch of apps that run well under XP:
MS Office Pro
Adobe 7
EZ Antivirus .. which is corrupting, and I'm in que to the tech.
Several engineering apps .. EES, TK Solver, AutoCAD.
EES is an oldie .. and will only run as a W2k - 256 color app.

Vista would not ID my modem, so I'm going to force XP driver.
The nForce4 sound driver worked fine. Network is fine.

Also, like Mike saw .. Vista can't partition or format a drive
correctly to save its ass. I partitioned the 160 gig SATA drive
to install Vista on a 60 gig partition .. .leaving 100 gigs not
partitioned. Vista promptly installed itself on the 100 gig
partition, and ignored the 60 gig. ????????

Later .. if AutoCAD works .. I'm going to install a few games,
and run game benchmarks to compare against same in XP Pro

johns

AutoCAD installed fine, but would not start at all. Heh!
3dMark2001 under MS driver about 18,200
under nVidia 64 bit driver about 18,900
switched to Classic Desktop about 19,100

Same benchmark on other hard drive in box which has
WinXP Pro .... about 27,000

AquaMark would not start at all under Vista.

Printers installed but then complained about drivers.

johns

Have to agree with Mike. Vista is not ready at all.
Every other program or game I installed failed in
some way. Syberia II had poor stuttering sound.
The hard drive is running constantly. Far Cry
stutters because the hard drive is turned on
constantly. CoD2 same problem .. video looks
fine, but stutters. All of these programs run great
on the other hard drive on this same computer.
I'm just switching the SATA power and data
cables between them, so they are in the same
configuration. Vista is not even at a respectable
Beta-level yet. It will never make it to the desktop
by November. More like November 07.

johns

"johns" wrote in message
oups.com...

Have to agree with Mike. Vista is not ready at all.
Every other program or game I installed failed in
some way. Syberia II had poor stuttering sound.
The hard drive is running constantly. Far Cry
stutters because the hard drive is turned on
constantly. CoD2 same problem .. video looks
fine, but stutters.

Saw something similar with the Microsoft video drivers. See if there are
beta drivers available from the chipset manufacturer for your video card
(ati, nvidia). Ironically, the install went smoother on the system with the
ATI card. I'd read elsewhere that nvidia cards work better on Vista.
Ummmmm, well, not with the Microsoft drivers, they don't. -Dave

On 12 Jun 2006 16:54:37 -0700, "johns" wrote:


AutoCAD installed fine, but would not start at all. Heh!
3dMark2001 under MS driver about 18,200
under nVidia 64 bit driver about 18,900
switched to Classic Desktop about 19,100

Same benchmark on other hard drive in box which has
WinXP Pro .... about 27,000

AquaMark would not start at all under Vista.

Printers installed but then complained about drivers.

johns

Hmmm. Microsoft's marketing strategy is beginning to take shape.
Vista appears to be primarily aimed at those users who also opt for
preventive root canals.

Charlie

Mike T. writes:

In case you are the last person in the known universe to have heard this,
Vista has been released. No, don't run out to Best Buy or Circuit City, you
won't find it there. But Beta 2 (build 5384) is in "public" Beta, meaning
that soon billions of computer users worldwide will be using Vista.

Billions?

I've installed it on two different computer systems.

You must have a lot of free time on your hands. And I presume you
either have more than two computers, or you don't run any production
on your systems.

Thank God for Acronis True Image. Had both machines back to Windows XP with
all software installed and fully configured in less than half an hour total
for both systems. Luckily I'd imaged both C: drives before I started the
Vista thing.

As long as you have backups, you're always safe.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Mike T. writes:

In case you are the last person in the known universe to have heard this,
Vista has been released. No, don't run out to Best Buy or Circuit City,
you
won't find it there. But Beta 2 (build 5384) is in "public" Beta,
meaning
that soon billions of computer users worldwide will be using Vista.

Billions?

Yup, Billions. Look at the U.S. alone. I've read that Microsoft is issuing
2 million product keys for the U.S. Each product key is good for up to 10
computers. There's 20 million potential installations in the U.S. alone,
and this is a world-wide beta, with an RC1 to follow. So after you figure
out how many machines will be running beta worldwide, double that figure to
get the number of machines that will be running vista. Could easily hit
billions, very soon.

You must have a lot of free time on your hands. And I presume you
either have more than two computers, or you don't run any production
on your systems.

Oh I have several computers. But the catch is, only 2 of them are Vista
ready. One of THOSE is a production machine. But being an IT manager, I'm
not afraid to tinker, even on a production machine. For the production
machine, I had multiple redundant backups made before I started. I couldn't
get Vista to run on it in any useful way (although Microsoft says it is
fully ready to run Vista), but had it back to XP within about 10
inutes. -Dave

Mike T. writes:

Yup, Billions. Look at the U.S. alone. I've read that Microsoft is issuing
2 million product keys for the U.S. Each product key is good for up to 10
computers. There's 20 million potential installations in the U.S. alone,
and this is a world-wide beta, with an RC1 to follow. So after you figure
out how many machines will be running beta worldwide, double that figure to
get the number of machines that will be running vista. Could easily hit
billions, very soon.

There aren't that many PCs in the world to begin with. And the very
vast majority of PCs in the world cannot even run Windows XP, much
less Vista. Some are still running MS-DOS and Windows 3.1.

Oh I have several computers. But the catch is, only 2 of them are Vista
ready. One of THOSE is a production machine. But being an IT manager, I'm
not afraid to tinker, even on a production machine.

Tinkering on a production machine is a great way to become an ex-IT
manager.

For the production machine, I had multiple redundant backups made
before I started.

No matter what backups you have, you never tinker with production
machines.

Anyway, the whole notion of "Vista-ready" reeks of marketing, and
obviously is intended to benefit only Microsoft to the detriment of
its customers. Why on Earth would anyone want to throw so much
hardware out the window and get nothing in return? Just to ensure
that Microsoft can pay a dividend next quarter?

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.