View Full Version : Vista - is it really worth it?
I've been playing with Vista for a day or two, and I'm not overly taken by it, yet. :huh:
To be fair though, I had a bad start - running Vista in a VM on a five year old PC. That was awful. I now have it installed on a brand new C2D box, so that's no longer a problem. However, I've not yet got much beyond the install/setup - so having to stumble my way around the new control panel (long-winded doesn't quite do that justice) and getting UAC prompts for pretty much everything I do. I therefore can't do it justice. I also admit to being very change-phobic (e.g. I only got around to upgrading my main home PC to Windows XP SP2 this month).
So, is it really worth it? Please give reasons. :)
PS - I know I'll have to go to Vista someday, but I could very easily reinstall Windows XP and use it. It's supported until 2009 (with security updates until 2014) after all. :)
Is it worth it? Over all, from my experience, not really. I'm gaining nothing from Vista that I cant already get in XP. However, I do like it very much.
UAC got on my tits while I was poking around, but when you're done messing, you dont see it a great deal. In fact I only normally push the button when installing updates or pulling up computer management. The integrated search is, for me, the most useful addition, but you can replicate that functionality on any modern platform so it's not a deal sealer.
I've had no problems compatibility wise, ethernet router, ethernet printers have helped there. In fact installation wise Vista has been the most smooth install of any doze operating system I've ever used. it even recognises all the camera's we have without any third party drivers.
It's not a mature platform yet, and that'll limit it's use for anything other than a basic end users needs (web, email, IM etc), so it's out from a workstation point of view, but for my home machines? It's staying until any deal breakers come up, so fingers crossed.
Just to be clear for Daz's benefit mainly - it's going to be on my main development PC at work. That probably counts as a workstation. To be fair though I have a work colleague who uses Vista exclusively on the same projects I work on.
I can easily go back to XP as that's what it came with, though I wish I'd imaged it before wiping it as you can never get it back to the way it came from the factory. Minor and unimportant D'oh I guess. :)
Comes down to the development tools I guess. If you're happy they're all working ok, then Vista itself wont get in your way.
It's out for me at work mainly because it's not a mature virtualisation platform yet. We're putting an ESX farm in at the end of the year, so I could re-evaluate the situation then, but I probably wont have any reason to make the change from a work point of view.
I like it - but on old computers it'd be a pain. Compat wise it has been fine for me - though I hope NV get a move on in the driver dept.
It's out for me at work mainly because it's not a mature virtualisation platform yet. We're putting an ESX farm in at the end of the year, so I could re-evaluate the situation then, but I probably wont have any reason to make the change from a work point of view.
That's a particularly salient point as I will definitely be virtualising on it sooner rather than later - I have VMWare Workstation V6 at the ready for that job.
Is that still in beta? I used the beta, and while it was stable, the forced debug options made my VM's too slow to bear :/
Yes. It's quick, it's smooth, it looks nice and it works well.
In previous versions of Windows I've always turned off all the eye candy. With Vista and a DX10 graphics card where all the work is done by the card, I've left it all on with no performance hit.
It works, it works well. I like it. A lot.
Other than the eye candy, could you name any tangible benefits over XP Feek?
It's noticably quicker.
Admittedly I've got better hardware, but it's just a lot smoother than XP and my XP was on hardware well in excess of what's recommended for it.
Admiral Huddy
18-06-2007, 14:11
I have it installed on my Workshop PC and it's very pretty, slinky and complete looking. However,that's about it tbh. I'm sure that once DX10 takes off then we'll see some real benefits from a gamers perspective but not sure from other angles.
Our 3 year road map at work does not include any Vista upgrade. Having said that, XP was only rolled out to the user workstations last year replacing NT 4 haha.
I quite like the media libraries. Something I could use I think.
Is that still in beta? I used the beta, and while it was stable, the forced debug options made my VM's too slow to bear :/
It's released - I (well, work) bought the upgrade.
It's noticably quicker.
Admittedly I've got better hardware, but it's just a lot smoother than XP and my XP was on hardware well in excess of what's recommended for it.
And you dont think you'd get the same or comparable speed running XP on that hardware? Just playing devils advocate for a moment :)
Thanks for the info Mark, might make a purchase (well, work) :)
Stan_Lite
18-06-2007, 15:16
I like the look of it but can't say I notice any real speed benefits - but then, I always have high-end hardware so every OS I work with is usually quick.
I haven't had much of a chance to play with it yet - especially the media centre bit due to lack of soundcard (will be remedied tomorrow).
Setting up a home network seems to be easier than XP for the ordinary user like wot I is. Apart from that, I haven't noticed anything which leaps out at me.
If I build any new machines, I will be using Vista because it makes sense to use the latest OS which will be futureproof for several years but up until now, I see no real performance advantage over XP.
Stan :)
So, the pattern I'm hearing so far is that it's good for eye candy but any other benefit is debateable.
If I'm honest, the eye candy factor doesn't do a lot for me. All the funky gradients everywhere do precisely zero for my eyesight. :(
You can of course turn it off.
Stan_Lite
18-06-2007, 16:20
You can of course turn it off.
As you can with UAC if it's annoying you (it was, so I did :D ).
Stan :)
I ended up persisting with it, as I can see the benefits. Not so much for myself, but for the masses who aren't particularly responsible with their net access/email use (arguably through no fault of their own of course!)
The concept has been used in Linux/Unix for a very very long time (su/sudo), and is a proven effective last line of defence for malicious code execution. Microsoft have just adapted a much more obtrusive GUI version of that system.
Aye - my point is that if I turn UAC and the eye candy off, what benefit is there left?
If none, I may as well go back to XP which is tried and trusted and I've used for years. :)
Integrated search, some nice user experience bits (managing various media types is great in vista, very feature full and intuitive), and greatly re-worked sound and networking components in the kernel.
It's a strange one really because from an admins point of view, there's no reason to move to it, but if you're there and not having issues, no reason to move away either. If anything you're more secure on Vista because of it's small market share compared to XP and new kernel revision.
I must admit I balked at the sound support in Vista. I want my screenful of volume controls goddamnit, not the pesky two that Vista seems to insist on. :)
Networking is a bit of an interesting one as it'll be going into a AD environment and there's a decided lack of support for Vista networking among our IT bods. Bleeding edge or what? :)
Anyway, it sounds like I should give it a try. I'll throw my last-decade software at it and see if it copes. If it does, I'll give it the benefit of a few weeks. :)
LeperousDust
18-06-2007, 18:13
I love Vista, but as Daz says, i love XP too, i wouldn't move to or from either. Vista just came with this laptop, and its staying because i'm too lazy to do anything else with it...
One thing that still gets on my tits is its poor standby support. Loads of weird things happen when my laptop goes into standby or wakes up. Wireless is flaky (limted connection rubbish) after standby. I have to hardware disable wireless and re-enable it to solve that. Bluetooth is the same again, and a few driver quirks between the vista compatible Wireless entertainment desktop (by microsoft for christs sake!) and some of the media buttons on my laptop (it remapped them all, good job i barely use them).
Thats all i can think of so far, but apart from that its bloody good, it just needs ironing out. I like the fact i don't have to pay to upgrade in the future since i've already got it now, but i feel if i could have held out another 6 months/year it would havea been easier for me...
Admiral Huddy
19-06-2007, 09:36
Integrated search, some nice user experience bits (managing various media types is great in vista, very feature full and intuitive), and greatly re-worked sound and networking components in the kernel.
It's a strange one really because from an admins point of view, there's no reason to move to it, but if you're there and not having issues, no reason to move away either. If anything you're more secure on Vista because of it's small market share compared to XP and new kernel revision.
You sounded just like Bill Gates there ;D
It's not worth it enough for me to move over from X64 at the moment. Sure it looks nice, and works pretty well, but so does my XP installation - if it ain't broke and all that... :)
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