Off Off topic. Windows Vista. M$ hasn't paid me.

[BrendaQG]

Well I am sure you have heard all of the breathless store bought reports on how great windows Vista is. Well if you havent you will soon.

I have had the beta test version of vista for month's now. I personally bought windows Vista myself (to upgrade and not loose my data when the beta's expire, too much to backup). Allow me to warn the rest of you off of windows vista.

My first beef is that by now there are third party additions to windows XP that can do most of the important things windows Vista does. In userspace the abiulity to serach the computer for any type of file from a simple search box is nothing new. Google desktop has had such ability for a long time.

My second beef is that if you have one of those nify AMD 64 64 bit dual core processors....windows Vista ULtimate is the ONLY windows that can really take full advantage of that processor. Windows xp X64 could do it...but it lacks device drivers. Linux can do it, it has the device drivers, but then lots of other things will not work. ( I would like to be able to watch you tube while my computer is crunnching my numbers in mathematica. no 64 bit flash plugin. ). So I have to shell out a further $300 with tax!

My third beef with it is that software that is not so old has "compatibility issues". Mozilla fire fox has such issues, Most of my games have those issues. Heck none of the anti virus software I had works with this os.

My fourth beef is that the more affordable versions are stripped to the point where it seems one is just buying XP all over again.

My fith and final beef is.....It is not all that different under the hood from XP! When one drills down to the low level menu's this is just windoww XP with a new suit! Oh sure it does make some things more convinient and it is prettier. But this is just the same old windows. Nothing special at all. Nothing worth $300 for the top shelf "ultimate version"

Thumbs down. DO NOT BUY VISTA UNLESS IT COMES WITH A NEW PC.!

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

it's a very shameful copy of OS X IMO

and I'm in the same boat as you with the 64 bit proc. Microsoft fucked up once again, to think that this shit costs more than the shocks plus labor on my car (Ultimate) is sad.....................

nonetheless we all know you never buy something when it first comes out, that's what the simps are for

give it a year maybe 2, till then enjoy XP who knows how many years they will keep on supporting it

[suckseed]

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twinci...g/16555680.htm

[BrendaQG]

Yes and now OSX is imitating Linux/unix after having done so much to try and not be Linux/unix. Look at these revolutonary new features... Like separate vitual desktop spaces. OoohhhAhhh.

Just makes me want to run out and buy into a whole new platform.

Edited to add. You know all these peole steal so freely from each other....Piracy seems to not seem so wrong. (not that I would ever do that).

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

I agree to a point, I think the Apple OS platform gives alot of non programmers the opportunity to jump into the pc world without needing to know simple programming code. The beauty & curse of UNIX/LINUX has always been the command line. Beauty for creators & visionaries, a curse for the pc illiterate.

[BrendaQG]

True that. True that. Perhaps as more people become literatin in computers that will not be such a big deal.

[Vicki Richter]

Well I am going to disagree.

First, if you have a dual core processor like the Core 2 or AMD, the OS itself of the cheaper versions will recognize the dual core's just like XP does. The higher end enables 64 bit computing, but that is just a lame buzzword that really means nothing to the average consumer. For example, who out there really needs MORE than 4 gigabytes of memory? I doubt there is more than 2 people here who really need that.

The other advantage of 64 bit is getting data in bigger chunks. This can have a performance benefit, but it's not huge.

That said, the biggest benefit of the dual core processors is the dual processing. I believe all versions of Vista support dual processing.

V

[BrendaQG]

Right. However not all versions of it support 64 bit. Look at the boxes down at your local computer store or google it. You need windows Vista Ultimate to get 64 bit dual core processing.

Going from RC1 32 bit to final version 64 bit. my windows processor rating went from 2.9 million calculations per second to 4.1 million calculations per second. Double. But then that was RC1 not the final version.

I recall you like MTW II I found that the UI "Aero glass" was so demanding that disabling it speed up Medieval considerably.

[Vicki Richter]

2.9 to 4.1 isn't double... It is more like 34% or so.

[Realgirls4me]

If you have the money, save yourself all the friggin' PC headaches and buy a new Imac. Get the best of both worlds (Where have I heard that line before?).

From the WSJ's Walter S Mossberg Technical Column of January 19th:

Q:I am a Windows user who would like to buy a Macintosh but still keep my PC and work in both systems. Is there any way to avoid bankrupting myself by buying the same software on both systems?

A: Sure. Just use the machines for different purposes, and keep each stocked only with the software for those purposes. For instance, because it suffers from essentially no viruses and spyware, you might use the Mac for Web surfing and emailing -- through its excellent built-in software -- and dedicate the older Windows machine to software that's available only on Windows, or where the Windows version beats the Mac version, such as Quicken.

The Mac comes with a much richer collection of bundled software than a typical Windows PC does. For instance, its included iLife suite includes photo, video, music, Web-site creation and DVD-burning software that are hard to match on Windows, even if you spend extra. The new Windows Vista closes this gap some, but not completely. And the Mac has lots of nice little touches. For instance, without any additional software, a Mac can save any document or Web page as an Adobe PDF file, readable by any computer.

On the other hand, Windows offers many more niche or specialty programs, such as small-business software, and programs such as WordPerfect and Microsoft Access that some businesses and professional firms rely upon. And Windows kills the Mac on games.

The only software you might need to replicate on both platforms is Microsoft Office, which comes in versions for both. You can buy the Mac version for about $150.




...I think my last PowerMac crashed, what, twice in 10 years of service, and this G-5, which I've had since November of 2005, has yet to crash.


.