First, here are my system specs:
3000+ Venice @ 2250 mhz
MSI K8N-Neo2f
2GB Corsair Value PC3200
PNY 6800GT @ Ultra speeds
Audigy 2 ZS
1x120GB PATA HDD, 1x160GB SATA HDD
And here are some extra peripherals I have:
HP Deskjet 5550 Printer
60GB IPod photo
An old Intel webcam that came free with a PM subscription
As you can see, I have quite a simple little setup. My first impressions were quite good. I didn't have to insert the floppy disk to install my SATA drivers like I had been doing with my previous version of XP. This is a nice little minor convenience so I don't have to keep track of the driver floppy. I booted into an OS that was somewhat peppier than the 32 bit XP. I downloaded the 64-bit drivers from the nVidia website, Creative Labs site, and the MSI website for the motherboard drivers. The drivers for the nForce3 platform were listed as beta stage. I installed all the drivers, rebooted, and was greeted with no boot into Windows. I reinstalled the OS and traced the problem down to the driver set that MSI provided. I may have mistakenly downloaded and installed a 32-bit driver, but what I downloaded appeared to install correctly. If I did get a 64-bit driver, the result was totally inexcusable. Some inherent instability and probelms within a new platform is understandable; rendering the system inoperable is not. After I was up and running again, I never bothered to install the IDE drivers from the website.
After the first debacle, everything installed correctly. The video card and sound card have clearly marked 64-bit drivers available for download from Creative and nVidia. The printer was not so easy to install, as it required a workaround to achieve in a minimum degree of function. I am currently unable to change the print quality or even select what cartidge I want to use. Additionally, the workaround is now identifying my Deskjet 5550 as 9xx model. From what I understand, printer support in x64 is nonexistent at worst to crude at best. There is a very rudimentary level of support for my printer, but at least I am able to print. My iPod installed correctly and works fine. The old webcam isn't supported, but I've had it since at least 1999 and I won't fault the OS for supporting an archaic peripheral.
All the software that I've installed since last night runs fine. I've tried Nero 6, BitTorrent, Azureus GUI, Office 2003, Firefox, and GAIM. I've also played Quake 4, Battlefield 2, and Age of Empires 3 with no perceptible differences between the OSes. Stability overall seems excellent; I've yet to see one BSOD or closed program. More extensive testing would be necessary to get a better idea of long-term stability, but the initial results for this OS appear very promising.
To be honest, I believe that many "problems" with this OS with relation to software usability are overblown or are fairly isolated cases. Older software may not run properly on this OS, but newer stuff will likely function. Hardware support is another story. There appear to be some real problems here. I noticed that many newer HP printers weren't supported at all under XP-x64 or required a workaround to achieve a basic level of support, while older models had dedicated drivers. This is not the fault of MS, but you may simply be out of luck if you have a newer model HP printer. I would wager that similar situations exist for major hardware brands, with older hardware or hardware from smaller manufacturers receiving late driver support if it gets any at all. This is a tremendous problem in itself. With that said, many people who have purchased the OS probably didn't check to make sure all that all of their hardware will be usable under XP-x64. I believe that many bad reviews for the OS come from people who were negligent in checking hardware compliance, but that doesn't excuse hardware manufacturers for not embracing this OS more fully. I couldn't recommend this OS to the casual user who has little computer knowledge. There are simply too many compatibility issues that will likely crop up and will just frustrate the end user. However, hobbyists and power users will likely find it quite pleasant to be free of many of the problems with 32-bit computing.
__________________
3000+ Venice @ 2250 mhz
MSI K8N-Neo2f
2GB Corsair Value PC3200
PNY 6800GT @ Ultra speeds
Audigy 2 ZS
1x120GB PATA HDD, 1x160GB SATA HDD
And here are some extra peripherals I have:
HP Deskjet 5550 Printer
60GB IPod photo
An old Intel webcam that came free with a PM subscription
As you can see, I have quite a simple little setup. My first impressions were quite good. I didn't have to insert the floppy disk to install my SATA drivers like I had been doing with my previous version of XP. This is a nice little minor convenience so I don't have to keep track of the driver floppy. I booted into an OS that was somewhat peppier than the 32 bit XP. I downloaded the 64-bit drivers from the nVidia website, Creative Labs site, and the MSI website for the motherboard drivers. The drivers for the nForce3 platform were listed as beta stage. I installed all the drivers, rebooted, and was greeted with no boot into Windows. I reinstalled the OS and traced the problem down to the driver set that MSI provided. I may have mistakenly downloaded and installed a 32-bit driver, but what I downloaded appeared to install correctly. If I did get a 64-bit driver, the result was totally inexcusable. Some inherent instability and probelms within a new platform is understandable; rendering the system inoperable is not. After I was up and running again, I never bothered to install the IDE drivers from the website.
After the first debacle, everything installed correctly. The video card and sound card have clearly marked 64-bit drivers available for download from Creative and nVidia. The printer was not so easy to install, as it required a workaround to achieve in a minimum degree of function. I am currently unable to change the print quality or even select what cartidge I want to use. Additionally, the workaround is now identifying my Deskjet 5550 as 9xx model. From what I understand, printer support in x64 is nonexistent at worst to crude at best. There is a very rudimentary level of support for my printer, but at least I am able to print. My iPod installed correctly and works fine. The old webcam isn't supported, but I've had it since at least 1999 and I won't fault the OS for supporting an archaic peripheral.
All the software that I've installed since last night runs fine. I've tried Nero 6, BitTorrent, Azureus GUI, Office 2003, Firefox, and GAIM. I've also played Quake 4, Battlefield 2, and Age of Empires 3 with no perceptible differences between the OSes. Stability overall seems excellent; I've yet to see one BSOD or closed program. More extensive testing would be necessary to get a better idea of long-term stability, but the initial results for this OS appear very promising.
To be honest, I believe that many "problems" with this OS with relation to software usability are overblown or are fairly isolated cases. Older software may not run properly on this OS, but newer stuff will likely function. Hardware support is another story. There appear to be some real problems here. I noticed that many newer HP printers weren't supported at all under XP-x64 or required a workaround to achieve a basic level of support, while older models had dedicated drivers. This is not the fault of MS, but you may simply be out of luck if you have a newer model HP printer. I would wager that similar situations exist for major hardware brands, with older hardware or hardware from smaller manufacturers receiving late driver support if it gets any at all. This is a tremendous problem in itself. With that said, many people who have purchased the OS probably didn't check to make sure all that all of their hardware will be usable under XP-x64. I believe that many bad reviews for the OS come from people who were negligent in checking hardware compliance, but that doesn't excuse hardware manufacturers for not embracing this OS more fully. I couldn't recommend this OS to the casual user who has little computer knowledge. There are simply too many compatibility issues that will likely crop up and will just frustrate the end user. However, hobbyists and power users will likely find it quite pleasant to be free of many of the problems with 32-bit computing.
__________________
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