Countdown to Windows Vista: The THG Rundown

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pschmid

pschmid

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January 30 is Microsoft's official release date for its new Windows Vista operating system. Microsoft claims that Vista is more secure, faster, more versatile and easier to use. We take a look at the new OS and give you the information you need to know.
 
One reason is that Vistas Kernel is far more secure XP's Kernel as it is more locked down and Vistas Kernel is fas less buggy than XP's.

I've been testing Vista since Vista Beta 2 and even when it was a Beta, It was already far more stable than XP. The RTM Version I've been running is even more stable and faster than the Beta.
 
If I go from XP pro to Vista basic will I loose anything? I prob wont upgrade for another year and wonder which version of Vista to get that is the equivalent to XP pro which has been great for me. Very stable no problems at all.
 
definetly agree about vista being more stable, intuitive, and much less of a hassle overall than xp. been using the rtm version lately, the only drawback is to make sure your hardware is fairly current, that and increasing driver support, but thats pretty much it... hasnt crashed at all, is pretty responsive with all graphical settings enabled, the games i installed performed fluidly on high settings (on an x2 3800+, 7800gt, 1.5GB ram), if an application does crash, it doesnt bring the system down at all either, and overall is just very intuitive and easy to pick up on
 
I wonder if Tom's will devote some time to a hands-on with Ubuntu Linux, which is free, stable and powerful as well - and considering China's decision to go Linux, may end up with as large a user base. I'm thinking that for anyone but an all-out gamer, it's a viable option.
 
I've never upgraded a PC from one version of Microsoft DOS/Windows to another for any reason other than entertainment or technical analysis. I have always organized the timing of PC hardware and operating system to coincide with each other. This includes my personal PCs and business organizations with hundreds of PCs. In fact, I have rarely upgraded productivity software (e.g. word processing) in place over a previous, older version. But, come to think about it - I guess I can recall 1 time in the early 90's having to sync about 150 PCs to the current version of IBM OS/2 due to some budget issues.
 
I'm on W2K and still love the speed and stability. Although I've heard XP is very similar....just a little slower and bloated. I couldn't imagine what Vista will be like.

Unfortunatly IE 7 and a couple other key problems that recently came out only work on XP, so I'm going to be upgrading to either XP or Vista. I'm leaning heavily towards XP at the moment. I could probably comfortably sit on XP for a couple years and run the programs I need to run - and of course my beloved games.

Opinions? Why upgrade? To get stupid widgets or retarded 3D views of my open windows? LOL, geeze these people must need some real work to do.

And if you have good virus software like NOD32 and a hardware firewall - and don't download a bunch of crap software off warez sites then what's the benefit of Vista security? I also keep a clean OS image on hand that I can load up in 5 minutes and have a perfectly clean OS running. My files sit on another drive. Why Vista, why?????? I'm still trying to talk myself into XP!
 
One thing would be stability.

Another would again be security. Even if you have the best anti virus in the world there are still vunderabilities. Vista actually locks down the kernel, system files and registry from being changed. If a program being installed needs to make changes or access them, Vista only allows the relevent parts of the kernel, system files, and registry access and locks out the rest. It's just another layer of security added to an anti-virus.

Oh couse a hardware firewall is great for protecting you from threats. However, for those without a hardware firewall the XP SP2 built in firewall is more lacking than the Vista firewall. The XP firewall does not protect you from outbound UDP connections and the like and is more difficult to configure. Vista's firewall protects you from all connections and is easier to configure.

If you are a gamer, your older games may have a problem running on vista. However, if you plan on playing the next generation games, you will definitly wany to upgrade to vista as it will be running the new DX10 API (DX10 will not be available for XP). Of course you;ll have to upgrade you Graphics card as well. On the graphics side it uses a unifed shader archietcture which eliminates unsued shaders. That's just scratching the surface of the changed in the DX10 API. If you've seen DX10 screenshots they are jawdropping. All of a sudden my Farcry looks like crap.

Honestly the new interface and widgets are a very minor part of why you should upgrade to vista. Most of the changes are under the hood. There are many more changes than just visual in vista and I suggest doing your research as they are too numerous to list here. If you like running Windows 2000 then I would suggest going to vista as it's kernel is actually based on the Windows Server 2003 kernel which basically put's it in the next generation of NT Kernels.
 
Because the MS machine says you should upgrade to keep their coffers full so they can try to crush open source.

They don't mention much about the security being in lockin. They are forcing users more and more into what they want them to do (see trusted computing). The DRM is another reason I would never use Vista. I don't think anyone has the right to tell me where I can watch something I legally purchased or what I do with it.

The DX10 not being available on XP is a joke also. They could make it available if enough people pressured them instead of MS telling people what it's going to do the market tell them what they are going to do.

Ahnilated, happily Vista free. 😀
 
Microsoft claims that Vista is more secure, faster, more versatile and easier to use. We take a look at the new OS and give you the information you need to know.
Click to expand...

No coverage of all the DRM sh**t included in Vista? That alone is enough to make me postpone Vista on my systems as well as my clients systems until at least 2008. Also the UAP is probably the worst idea since Clippy, the Office Assistant - but at least that can be turned off.
 
I saw this link on another thread, I forgot which. I believe it is a must read for anyone that has a computer because Vista's (DRM) Digital Rights Management and (HDCP) High Definition Content Protection are going to destroy the computer industry. Please read it in it's entirety and respond with feedback. I am really interested in whether anyone has any concerns. I know I'm afraid, very afraid. The more you read the more impossible it seams.

A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

If one tenth of this is true, and I think it is, I will go Linux. Class action lawsuit anyone?
 
I Think ill grab it from my school's MSDNAA and check it out.

The RTM is there now.., would that be any different than the final retail? Im thinkin final should be there a week or so after release.

Thinkin of replacing my XP/Ubuntu Dual boot setup with XP/Vista :)
 
There is all this talk about security and stability for windows vista. Well security is going to last about a month before some hacker somewhere finds a nice little beloved patriot in vistas armor.

And stability, please give me a break its Microsoft. Stability is not exactly Microsoft's strong suit (windows 98 bill gets a BSOD, I still remember that one) Not to mention they try to make games, Flight sim X good luck running that with out it crashing 5 out a 10 times(at least for me its like that).

I will give Microsoft credit for this they are and have been making great progress twoard better OS's, but if every program out there didnt need windows there would be no way id use xp or vista. Linux is looking better and better every day to me, but my gaming keeps me shackled to windows.
 
I have Four PC's in my home all with XP on them. There's no way in hell I'm going to replace the OS on those machines at $150 to 240 a pop. There's no reason that I can see for me to change until MS wont support XP anymore.
 
Always lower performance... I wish there were a Vista Lite edition. It's easy to do, M$: Just get the damned install options that 9x had!!!!!!! I don't want voice recognizing, firewall, WinMail, Media Player, crappy games, handwriting tools, etc, etc... Yet it installs the entire thing the same.

I won't be "upgrading" to Vista anytime soon. I used the RC2 and it looks good and whatever, but its painfully slow compared to XP, even with 2 gigs of ram.

I hope I can get Dx10 on XP. That would be nice for the average entusiast.
 
I saw this link on another thread, I forgot which. I believe it is a must read for anyone that has a computer because Vista's (DRM) Digital Rights Management and (HDCP) High Definition Content Protection are going to destroy the computer industry. Please read it in it's entirety and respond with feedback. I am really interested in whether anyone has any concerns. I know I'm afraid, very afraid. The more you read the more impossible it seams.

A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

If one tenth of this is true, and I think it is, I will go Linux. Class action lawsuit anyone?
Click to expand...

I'm concerned and believe MS is heading to yearly licensing fees IMO. Amazing that DRM was not mentioned...
 
I saw this link on another thread, I forgot which. I believe it is a must read for anyone that has a computer because Vista's (DRM) Digital Rights Management and (HDCP) High Definition Content Protection are going to destroy the computer industry. Please read it in it's entirety and respond with feedback. I am really interested in whether anyone has any concerns. I know I'm afraid, very afraid. The more you read the more impossible it seams.

A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html

If one tenth of this is true, and I think it is, I will go Linux. Class action lawsuit anyone?
Click to expand...

I just Googled Vista "digital rights management". I am shocked and chagrinned. I'm embarrassed that I wasn't aware of the ramifications of copy protection built into Vista.
I was assuming that I would put Vista on the next PC I build. At this point there is no way I would purchase Windows Vista for my own use.
 
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