Does anybody use Vista as their primary operating system?

Leros

Lifer
Jul 11, 2004
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Does anybody use Vista as their primary operating system?

How stable is it? Resource hogging?
 

spyordie007

Diamond Member
May 28, 2001
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The current builds arent even "beta" quality. It's not stable enough to use as a "primary operating system."

Performance tuning is a ways off; it still isnt even feature complete.

Perhaps when beta 2 gets released it will be stable enough to use most of the time (at least I'm hoping this is the case); but suggesting that it will be is pure speculation.
 

Zugzwang152

Lifer
Oct 30, 2001
12,134
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Originally posted by: groovin
but will they get it out the door in 2006?

all signs point to a Q4 2006 release, although people have been saying that Microsoft is behind schedule by a lot.
 

Malak

Lifer
Dec 4, 2004
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Originally posted by: groovin
but will they get it out the door in 2006?

From what I've read, it could happen. They were shooting for a feature-complete version by the end of this year, which means an entire year to have it ready for retail.
 

spyordie007

Diamond Member
May 28, 2001
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all signs point to a Q4 2006 release
Actually signs point to a H2 2006 release with general availability in time for christmas; it's likely that RTM will happen in Q3.
although people have been saying that Microsoft is behind schedule by a lot
They're not, a lot of people are just complaining now because Microsoft didnt release a November CTP build.
 

groovin

Senior member
Jul 24, 2001
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didnt they cut winfs, winsh, and avalon from vista to be released in later service packs?
 

spyordie007

Diamond Member
May 28, 2001
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Originally posted by: groovin
didnt they cut winfs, winsh, and avalon from vista to be released in later service packs?
WinFS is not cut, it will be released seperate from Vista (last I heard H1 2007); it is currently in beta.

Not sure what winsh is.

Avalon has been re-named to the "Windows Presentation Foundation" AFAIK it is largly unchanged.
 

Canterwood

Golden Member
May 25, 2003
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MS will push it out the door whether its ready or not.

They know they've got to deliver and get it released in 2006 and time isn't on their side.

Personally, I'd rather it was released when its done properly, but you know MS is just going to release it half baked and patch it later.
 

MrChad

Lifer
Aug 22, 2001
13,507
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Originally posted by: Canterwood
MS will push it out the door whether its ready or not.

They know they've got to deliver and get it released in 2006 and time isn't on their side.

Personally, I'd rather it was released when its done properly, but you know MS is just going to release it half baked and patch it later.

Given Microsoft's recent history (waiting until XP Service Pack 2 was well tested before releasing it), I have a feeling they'd rather miss their date and have it done right than deal with the backlash of a buggy operating system.
 

stash

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2000
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Originally posted by: Canterwood
MS will push it out the door whether its ready or not.

They know they've got to deliver and get it released in 2006 and time isn't on their side.

Personally, I'd rather it was released when its done properly, but you know MS is just going to release it half baked and patch it later.

This is such crap. Microsoft has never given dates for RTM, they always say that the product will be released when it is ready.

If you think they are so concerned with just pushing the thing out the door, then why do you think they bothered with the 'reboot' of the entire development process about a year ago after working on it for 2 years?
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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Not sure what winsh is.

Monad or msh. The 'next generation' command shell to bring Windows up to par with the way unix has been for decades. Although from what I've seen I think they over engineered it with all of the .NET crap.

And because of the great codename they chose, I'm sure it'll be referred to as Gonad for a while.
 

kamper

Diamond Member
Mar 18, 2003
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Originally posted by: Canterwood
MS will push it out the door whether its ready or not.

They know they've got to deliver and get it released in 2006 and time isn't on their side.

Personally, I'd rather it was released when its done properly, but you know MS is just going to release it half baked and patch it later.

I don't see a huge incentive for a timely release (as opposed to a quality release, that is). Lots of people bitch about how it's been too long between releases, but aside from secuity problems, nobody ever really says why. Aside from those here who don't like windows in general anyway, pretty much everyone seems to have the opinion that xp is a good, stable system. But I think alot of people like the idea that the platform is not so much of a moving target. Less hassle about software compatibility, forced upgrades...

My guess would be that one of their strongest motivators to get it released on time is to generate new sales, for themselves and partners, rather than to rid the world of inferior technology. Since that's not something that a customer really asks for, all they really have to weigh is how long they can wait vs how solid they feel it should be. Like STaSh said, they've already opted for quality in a significant way.

I think that all the bashing about the delays will ultimately not have nearly as huge an impact on windows' reputation as the relative quality levels of xp and vista. (and I've made my share of fun about the delays :eek:).
 

groovin

Senior member
Jul 24, 2001
857
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MS doesnt like bad PR... no matter how you look at it or how fair it is, missing the 2006 deadline will generate bad PR.

monad... its funny, i remember reading somethign balmer said a while back critisizing the unix command line and saying how theres no innovation in it and how old the unix way is... recently balmer said somethign along the lines of "if we could make a better unix than linux, that would be something". but regardless, im glad to see the MS saw the power of the command line and is developing somethign to compete with unix shells... that will only drive the existing unix shells to get better. we all win.
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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MS doesnt like bad PR... no matter how you look at it or how fair it is, missing the 2006 deadline will generate bad PR.

MS is also really good at dealing with bad PR, pretty much every Windows release has been pushed back for one reason or another.
 

Seeruk

Senior member
Nov 16, 2003
986
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To reply to the OP.

I use XP on my main desktop still. But am using Vista as my Media Server without issue for about 6 weeks. It streams to the Xbox360 wirelessley and hasnt been rebooted since install. It's just using all generic drivers apart from the sound card.

I wouldnt use it as my main desktop yet mainly because driver support is still basic. I am sure you would not get decent performance gaming on it yet as it is far from optimized. That said I played BF2 on it @ 1280x1024 when I first installed it without issue. I normally play it at 1600x1200 so it was a drop in resolution in order to be playable. However I found the ATI drivers ropey at the time so removed them and havent used it for anything other than the media side since.

Build 5231
 

spyordie007

Diamond Member
May 28, 2001
6,229
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But am using Vista as my Media Server without issue for about 6 weeks. It streams to the Xbox360 wirelessley and hasnt been rebooted since install. It's just using all generic drivers apart from the sound card.
You're lucky than. The media center software wont even load for me (bombs out immediatly). Media center is one of the least stable components in 5231.
 

Link19

Senior member
Apr 22, 2003
971
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What is Vista really going to offer that is any better besides more bloat? Any significant improvements in the kernel that would be worth it for today's computing? If not, Vista will be a total waste for many of us.
 

jimbob200521

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2005
4,108
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I was going to use it as my only os about 2 months ago, but my mobo fried (unrelated issue) and i just havent gotten around to using it again yet
 

groovin

Senior member
Jul 24, 2001
857
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how do u get a beta copy of vista (legally)? technet gold member? id like to try it, but i never renewd my subscription.
 

spyordie007

Diamond Member
May 28, 2001
6,229
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Originally posted by: groovin
how do u get a beta copy of vista (legally)? technet gold member? id like to try it, but i never renewd my subscription.
Currently it's mostly just MSDN and Techbeta
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
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I was going to use it as my only os about 2 months ago, but my mobo fried (unrelated issue) and i just havent gotten around to using it again yet

Using it right now would be really dumb, it's not even in RC status yet.
 

stash

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2000
5,468
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One of my laptops has Vista on it. I wouldn't call it my primary machine, but it has Office on it, Communicator, Money, Acrobat and some other internal apps.

I usually upgrade to the latest (or later) builds on a weekly basis, and there have been a lot of builds since B1. Stability and the polish are very good for pre-beta 2.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
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81
I haven't tried the lastest betas, but the first beta ran beautifully on my system :)

Actually felt just as fast as XP, maybe faster IMO.

But since i couldn't even get Firefox installed, i decided it wasn't worth keeping, & that partition got formatted...