NationStates Jolt Archive

Microsoft has released its beta version of its newest OS, Windows Vista (formerly code-named Longhorn), full-blown version is expected to be released sometime in 2006. Now some of you might be excited because of the cool features Microsoft maybe adding, and some might not because of u know whats gonna happen. Do u think Vista may be better than XP or worst?

POLL WARNING

some of you might be excited because of the cool features Microsoft added

What "cool" features? They got rid of everything worth an update because they couldn't deliver it.

i heard micros~1 is making IE7 similar to firefox. sad

anyway, LONG LIVE LINUX!!! lol

Neither I am not a Microsoft hater *though I am a nix fan *
It may or may not be cool I like some of the changes but I got to learn about their implementation more

I think they will do fine for their target audience (just a feeling) but how that translates into my PERSONAL satisfaction I have yet to see.

According to Micros~1, in order to run Windows Vista...
Processor (CPU)

As a general guideline, just about any mid-range and better processor shipping from Intel or AMD is a good fit for basic functionality in Windows Vista. The lower end of the current processor range will work, but those processors won't provide the optimal experience for most users and definitely won't provide the best experience for high-end gaming or video editing.

Both AMD and Intel are starting to ship dual-core processors at the upper end of their processor lines. These powerful processors will be excellent choices for Windows Vista.

Now is the time to decide whether you're ready to make the jump to a 64-bit processor. The current x64 processors from AMD and Intel will be excellent processors for Windows Vista, and I think we'll see a widespread move to 64-bit by the time Windows Vista ships. The x64-enabled processor lines include the AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon 64 FX, Mobile AMD Athlon 64, and AMD Turion 64, Intel Pentium 4 with EM64T, and Intel Pentium 4 Extreme Edition with EM64T. Because these x64 processors will run 32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft Windows equally well, and because these processors are at the upper end of the processor spectrum, they are an excellent choice in getting ready for Windows Vista, and they let you build a system that's ready to move into the 64-bit processing world whenever you're ready.

Memory

To take better advantage of Windows Vista functionality, you should have at least 512 MB of RAM, on your PC. This provides enough memory for both the operating system and a typical application workload. And while 512 MB is great for many scenarios, more advanced users will want 1 GB of memory or more. If your typical workload is heavy, you do a lot of image editing or development, or you run multiple applications all the time, then more memory is good. In general, an investment in additional memory is wise, and you should certainly make sure that the computer you buy has room to add additional memory later.

Graphics

One important thing to keep in mind as you're thinking about the graphics capability of your new system is that while Windows Vista will have a new and graphics-intensive look, it will also be able to automatically and gracefully degrade down to the current graphics look of Microsoft Windows XP.

The new graphics capabilities in Windows Vista will require a powerful graphics engine if you want to take full advantage of all the new and cool stuff, such as the new AERO Glass look. While more information about specific drivers or video cards will come later, some general rules can prepare you for getting the most out of Windows Vista. You probably want to avoid the low end of the current GPU range and make sure you get a GPU that supports DirectX 9 and has at least 64 MB of graphics memory. Then, if you're building a PC, choose a design that includes a separate PCI Express or AGP graphics card. This way, even if the card you choose ends up not being an optimal choice, you can easily replace just the graphics card. And the choice of AGP or PCI Express will ensure that you have sufficient bandwidth to support the enhanced graphics of Windows Vista.

If you chose a system that has built-in graphics, again make sure that the system has a PCI Express or AGP slot that will let you add a graphics card later in case the onboard graphics chipset doesn't fully support Windows Vista.

When choosing a notebook for use in Windows Vista, you run into the obvious trade-off between better graphics or thinner and lighter form factor. The notebooks with the best graphics capabilities tend to be the larger, heavier, desktop replacement notebooks, and not the thin, light, Tablet PC-enabled ones. Exactly which chipsets will end up fully supported is still open at this point, but specifying the higher end of the chipset choices from NVIDIA or ATI is probably indicative of the range—and more concrete information should be available at a later date.

Storage

Windows Vista will enable some exciting new capabilities for digital image processing, and those capabilities will push the need for large amounts of storage ever higher. If you're buying a PC, specifying one with a large hard disk is a good idea, but even more important will be the ability to add one or more additional hard disks later if you find you need the extra storage capacity.

Because the hard disk is generally the slowest core element in your PC, you can often get useful gains in overall performance by carefully selecting technologies that improve basic hard disk performance. The typical Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) hard disk has a speed of 7500 RPM and a 2 MB cache. By selecting a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) drive with an 8 MB cache and Native Command Queuing (NCQ), you can give your system a boost in performance, especially if your typical workload involves running several different applications simultaneously.

A DVD drive that is capable of both reading and writing DVDs will be an important element of a Windows Vista PC. These drives have come down in price dramatically, and you should look for a drive that can handle both -RW and +RW formats (i.e., DVD±RW) to ensure maximum compatibility.

Networking

Windows Vista will take full advantage of the connected world in which we operate, so you should make sure that the PC you buy has the latest networking capabilities built into it. For a laptop, this means built-in 802.11 wireless capability, and for the home PC, you should include at least 100 Mb of Ethernet capability. Adding wireless 802.11 capability to a home PC gives you greater flexibility in where you use that PC and makes it easy to connect your mobile laptop to your home network.

WTF? Its like u need an Alienware Area-51 PC to run this shit.

The biggest gripe I hear about Vista is that it's largly a cosmetic update.

Which is funny, because the cosmetic update is the *primary* reason I'm excited about Vista. XP has been rock solid stable for me, but it's ugly as sin. I've been playing around in the Vista beta for a few days now, and I have to say I can't imagine being any happier. The slick looking interface of the Mac has been the only thing I've envied of any another platform, and Vista has slickness to spare.

As much time as I spend on my PC (for work and recreation), it's almost a second home. And like a home, I want utility AND pleaseing decor. I'm excited that Windows can finally offer me *both*.

According to Micros~1, in order to run Windows Vista...


WTF? Its like u need an Alienware Area-51 PC to run this shit.
I am running a dual opteron 246 with 4 gig of ram ... and an x700 pro ... I will be fine lol

According to Micros~1, in order to run Windows Vista...


WTF? Its like u need an Alienware Area-51 PC to run this shit.

It'll still be a few years though, so that will be standard then. Isn't it supossed to be out '07?

EDIT: '06? Late '06 I'll bet.

The biggest gripe I hear about Vista is that it's largly a cosmetic update.

Which is funny, because the cosmetic update is the *primary* reason I'm excited about Vista. XP has been rock solid stable for me, but it's ugly as sin. I've been playing around in the Vista beta for a few days now, and I have to say I can't imagine being any happier. The slick looking interface of the Mac has been the only thing I've envied of any another platform, and Vista has slickness to spare.

As much time as I spend on my PC (for work and recreation), it's almost a second home. And like a home, I want utility AND pleaseing decor. I'm excited that Windows can finally offer me *both*.
Agreed windows xp has been like a rock (unless I fucked it up myself ... that is a different story lol)

Actually besides this cosmetic I would enjoy some built in at least *nix “emulation” (like cygwin) that allows me to easily create and implement solid lower level programming (as well as I enjoy *nix text based interface at times)

POLL WARNING
Shit shit shit shit *ducks*

Shit shit shit shit *ducks*
I seen him yelling it like chunk from the goonies "canon ball!!!"

if you use C++ on this 64-bit processor they keep talking about, will int be longer than long int?

According to Micros~1, in order to run Windows Vista...


WTF? Its like u need an Alienware Area-51 PC to run this shit.
I think that microsoft will make it so you can turn off all those new, memory-eating peices of eye-candy. Why? The will not make as much money if people need to buy a new computer to use it. Would M$ give up the chance to make a easy buck? Not in our lifetimes.

No MAc option in the poll? What a ripp-off.

No MAc option in the poll? What a ripp-off.

Heh, for real. I'm getting as many hits with safari as I am from explorer or firefox on my site, so must be a few of them around. Mac users seem to be very quiet about it otherwise.

I say GUI's are over rated and we should all go back to dos.

Like Mac OS X Tiger the new Windows seems to be about shitty falshy looking things.

Sorry, but we've had most of them in extensions for KDE already, and no-one uses them because we don't want all our ram full from the OS (like my brothers Powerbook) - we want to run some programs!

And 64 bit? Linux has been 64 bit ready for eons compared to MS.

Concidering that microsoft have rewritten a lot of it from scratch, it is pretty much guaranteed to be very buggy. Also, more, potentially irritating, bloat without any functional value seems to be the main update, so there would be no reason for me to use it. I'll stick to XP and Ubuntu Linux. I wonder how much more DRM-crap they have squeezed into it, by the way...

Happy that they've slowed down the cycle... that 18 month upgrade cycle back in the 90s sucked!

The more features Microsoft adds, the more it doesn't work, and the more juice it sucks out the PC.

Let's all go back to MS-DOS!

WTF? Its like u need an Alienware Area-51 PC to run this shit.

busllshit!!! i can run all of that and my pc is a home made creation, costing a meer £400 pounds.


the fact everyone says windows sucks is bullshit also, yes they are not the nicest of coorporations, but 98% of all problems with computers running windows is because of other software put on it that has trouble with running with windows so stfu if you saying otherwise, i not like windows cause linux has different features, and all the ram eating crap can be turned off so quit complaining... you dont like it go somewhere else, buy linux or go get a mac, hell even go back and use dos for christ sake dont sit and whine about it...
that is my rant over im sorry for the foul language.

busllshit!!! i can run all of that and my pc is a home made creation, costing a meer £400 pounds.


the fact everyone says windows sucks is bullshit also, yes they are not the nicest of coorporations, but 98% of all problems with computers running windows is because of other software put on it that has trouble with running with windows so stfu if you saying otherwise, i not like windows cause linux has different features, and all the ram eating crap can be turned off so quit complaining... you dont like it go somewhere else, buy linux or go get a mac, hell even go back and use dos for christ sake dont sit and whine about it...
that is my rant over im sorry for the foul language.

fyi one of the reasons software has issues running with windows is because Microsoft won't properly open their code to developers.

Oh, and you don't need to buy linux, you can get most flavours free. If your new, try Ubuntu (www.ubuntulinux.org)

fyi one of the reasons software has issues running with windows is because Microsoft won't properly open their code to developers.

that is fair enough, but if microsoft gave their code out, hackers and virus creators have a much better chance of finding features they can use to their advantage, i believe that microsoft could be more handy to the developers of third party items and the like, but it could cause a security breach, so if you look at it microsoft is looking out for its customers on one side, and on the other making more money as other companies cant rip them off.

that is fair enough, but if microsoft gave their code out, hackers and virus creators have a much better chance of finding features they can use to their advantage, i believe that microsoft could be more handy to the developers of third party items and the like, but it could cause a security breach, so if you look at it microsoft is looking out for its customers on one side, and on the other making more money as other companies cant rip them off.

Maybe if there weren't so many security holes for people to find releasing the code wouldn't be a problem?

Linux source code is freely available, but it's still more secure than windows.

Maybe it'll finally be worth upgrading Win2k.
But probably not.

do you need to buy a new computer if you want to use Vista when it comes out? and will it be backwards compatible? like with games and files?

woo for macs

and OSX 10.4

which rocks

and was not delayed nearly as long as vista.

do you need to buy a new computer if you want to use Vista when it comes out? and will it be backwards compatible? like with games and files?

considering XP pissed all over backwards compatibility I wouldn't hold your breath

considering XP pissed all over backwards compatibility I wouldn't hold your breath

i thought xp did a good job for backwards compatibility, and if you want to play dos game use 98 or earlier all i gonna say, xp provides options to use programs in a state they would of been used on on 2000, 98, and nt so i think it did very well.

i thought xp did a good job for backwards compatibility, and if you want to play dos game use 98 or earlier all i gonna say, xp provides options to use programs in a state they would of been used on on 2000, 98, and nt so i think it did very well.

doesn't work for my old games. vey few of them ran at all. I am still using 98 (on dual boot with SuSE)

doesn't work for my old games. vey few of them ran at all. I am still using 98 (on dual boot with SuSE)

did you set them using xp to run in compatibility mode for the older os's???

that is fair enough, but if microsoft gave their code out, hackers and virus creators have a much better chance of finding features they can use to their advantage, i believe that microsoft could be more handy to the developers of third party items and the like, but it could cause a security breach, so if you look at it microsoft is looking out for its customers on one side, and on the other making more money as other companies cant rip them off.

Actually there is little evidence to support the claim that Microsoft is looking out for their customers when they depart from the standards. There is however tons of evidence to prove that they do it to sabotage third party software that accepts the international programming standards, for the purpose of stealing the rival concept, copying the program, including the box, and calling it their own. They have been sued, charged, and found guilty of this practice now more times than I can count. They have admitted to it, signed letters of agreement stating they will end this practice, been forced to release portions of their code, yet continue the same lame non-competitive, monopolistic behaivor just as if it is business as usual.
To say that altering the internationally accepted standards in their own programming is for the purpose of protecting their material doesn't hold water, because it decodes exactly the same as if they would accept the standards. It's only possible purpose is to ensure that only their own similarly coded material works correctly.

did you set them using xp to run in compatibility mode for the older os's???

naturlich. Didn't help though. I've more or less given up on windows. I just use open source games or fiddle with Wine to run windows programmes.

some of you may know i generally like MS (in a necessary evil that has good qualities kind of way), but there's one feature to Vista i've heard about and, if actually included, will mean i will be boycotting the OS alltogether, and i hope the rest of the computer-savvy world will too. i'm talking about some features that will apparently make both filesharing and dvd-copying (for backup purposes only of course) impossible to do. i'm fuzzy on the details (and someone else may have mentioned this already - i only read half of page 1 of this thread...), but if this is included there's no way i'm getting the new OS. not that i can fileshare at the moment thanks to my ISP, but its the principle of the matter!

however i don't know if MS will be able to include these features anymore as, according to the latest PCFormat, French courts have just ruled that Digital Rights Managment on MP3s and DVDs violates the consumer's basic rights. the same is true in the UK and British courts are soon to follow suit, apparently, and rule that anti-copying code and software must be removed from these mediums.
read into that what you will

The more features Microsoft adds, the more it doesn't work, and the more juice it sucks out the PC.

Let's all go back to MS-DOS!

Disagree!
I've worked with MS since 1990 (MCSE). XP Pro on this Dell laptop has been the most stable platform I've ever had with Windows.
I like my Red Hat and Solaris, too, but for most work purposes, I rely on this laptop just slightly more than my pen...