Two years with Windows Vista!

[HannibalX]

It's been two full years since I started using Windows Vista as my main OS for both work (as an IT professional) and at home (as a forum slacker and hardcore gamer).

I first downloaded the July 2006 Vista Beta off my corporate MSDN subscription and installed it on my work PC which at the time was a Athlon XP 3200+ (2.2 GHz) with 1GB of ram and an ATI Radeon 1650 Pro 512MB video card. I was surprised at how well the OS ran. It was faster, more stable and more secure then the current patched version of XP-Sp2.

To date I have had exactly one issue with Windows Vista and that has been audio drivers. I never was able to get my Creative-Labs SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 to work properly in Vista. I've tried all sorts of custom drivers and such but it never was quite "right". That's it, my only issue.

It's been a great two years, here's to two more! 🙂

 

[Jeff7181]

Same here... got Vista Business 32-bit from Power Together in Feb. 2007 I believe. Since then I've installed Vista Home Premium 32-bit on a secondary computer, got a new laptop with Vista Business 64-bit, and a new desktop with Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I run XP in a virtual machine for stubborn software, or questionable software.

 

[Bateluer]

Been using Business 64 on my main desktop since Oct 07, I don't see myself going back to XP at all. My next laptop will definitely be Vista based, and I'm going to pick up a copy of Vista Home Premium for my current notebook when I turn it over to my younger brother later this year.

 

[nerp]

I was a powertogether person myself, liked it enough to buy another copy.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I finally made the switch to Vista just last month and I honestly don't know why I waited so long. I bought into the Vista FUD regarding XP and just resisted upgrading without actually having tried it out for myself.

 

[Aberforth]

I've been using Vista since the betas came out, got my retail copy back in January 2007- since then I've had only minor issues that got resolved through Windows Update- since then it's running fine as ever with no reinstall, corruption or malfunction.

 

[VinDSL]

I've been running Vista Home Premium since March 2007 - although most of my machines are still W2K Pro empowered, if you will...

I never have figured out what all the anti-Vista angst was about!

Truthfully, I don't like Vista enough to upgrade all my other machines - so maybe its nothing more than that... 😉

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: VinDSL

I've been running Vista Home Premium since March 2007 - although most of my machines are still W2K Pro empowered, if you will...

I never have figured out what all the anti-Vista angst was about!

Truthfully, I don't like Vista enough to upgrade all my other machines - so maybe its nothing more than that... 😉

its about people trying to upgrade old crappy computers to vista. Then they complain that it runs like crap. Well of course thats how ALL new OS's are. Even Mac!

I have ran vista since beta no problems. I am also a poweroftogether vista user. AKA got vista business retail for free. Only issues i had was with old athlon i couldnt get sleep to work very well. But todays stuff runs great!

rant warning!
Funny thing is what a hog macs leopard is, it uses more memory than vista and it seems to need more hardware. Though you never hear that from someone who spent thousands of dollars on a mac. Hmmm i wonder why? I currently am running leopard and vista dual boot on my PC. And I dont know how long I will be able to stick with leopard, to many headaches, such as finding programs for mac that are so readily available for vista. Also the mac version of explorer is so damn weak.

 

[Griffinhart]

I think the perception war about Vista is finally starting to turn a bit. On the tech podcasts I normally view/listen to I am hearing more and more that Vista is fine.

You still have a few hold outs, but mostly from those that don't actively use it. I was amused on the latest Cranky Geeks broadcast that the guests had good words for Vista and Dvorak (one of the more outspoken in the anti-vista crowd) seemed taken back by the comments.

In the meantime, I've been running Vista for a year and a half with fewer problems than some friends with XP!

 

[Excelsior]

Even if the perception is changing among the techies, the general public still has a ways to go. People coming into my store to buy computers are still woefully ignorant about computers, including the OS situation. "Do all of these come with the Vista? I don't want that mess." or some such sh!t. So then I proceed to tell them I've used Vista for over half a year with great success and that its really not a bad OS. Like someone else said, this same sh!t happened when XP came out, so given enough time the people will turn around.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Excelsior
Like someone else said, this same sh!t happened when XP came out, so given enough time the people will turn around.

Yes, but then they start bashing the next MS OS. 😛

Next year, Vista will 'morph' into a great OS while Windows 7 is horribly bloated and unstable. 😛

 

[XBoxLPU]

Been using Vista x64 for about six months and it has been rock solid. Wonderful little OS

 

[SandEagle]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
It's been two full years since I started using Windows Vista as my main OS for both work (as an IT professional) and at home (as a forum slacker and hardcore gamer).

I first downloaded the July 2006 Vista Beta off my corporate MSDN subscription and installed it on my work PC which at the time was a Athlon XP 3200+ (2.2 GHz) with 1GB of ram and an ATI Radeon 1650 Pro 512MB video card. I was surprised at how well the OS ran. It was faster, more stable and more secure then the current patched version of XP-Sp2.

To date I have had exactly one issue with Windows Vista and that has been audio drivers. I never was able to get my Creative-Labs SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 to work properly in Vista. I've tried all sorts of custom drivers and such but it never was quite "right". That's it, my only issue.

It's been a great two years, here's to two more! 🙂

I've got the same audio device running on my Vista x64, no issues. Been using Vista for over a year now and it's rock solid, not one single complaint....haven't had any driver issues with anything so far.

 

[uclaLabrat]

I have issues with the audio. Vista can't seem to boost the gain on the mic...weird thing is, most of the time it works fine, but a few days ago my mic just stopped working. Tried to configure it with the speech wizard and it won't detect any input. Rather frustrating, and apparently common.

 

[Genx87]

Been using Vista since May 07. I am currently on 64bit ultimate. And havent had any major issues. Everything seems to work great.

 

[esquared]

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
Been using Vista x64 for about six months and it has been rock solid. Wonderful little OS

Been using Vista since the beta testing in Oct 2006. Everything has been fine. When I built a new computer, I loaded x64 Vista and I was sure there would be one or two drivers it wouldn't see. Like the crappy little no-name USB wireless card. I was wrong. It found everything.

I did have to load the OS with 2 GB of memory first and then apply a patch and then put the other 2GB of memory That was the only glitch I ran into.

 

[earthman]

Do you guys actually do any real work with this system? There are all kinds of issues getting legacy software to work with it. Do you know frustrating it is to tell a guy who just bought a new Vista laptop with all the bells and whistles that he can't use the software everyone else in his company has been using because it won't work and it's not supported, and never will be? Or sorry, I don't know why you can't join the wireless network that worked with XP, or sorry, yes you have to enter the whole UNC path every time you want to join the domain...no, sorry, it won't give you a dropdown. I just talked to a guy who can't use software that costed him $4000 for a license for, because Vista isn't supported. So everything is not coming up roses with Vista. I got rid of the one copy I had, because frankly, it seemed like a dinosaur out of the box. Sluggish on a dual core CPU with 2gigs of RAM. My ATI TV card wasn't supported after more than a year on the market, either. I don't know that I"ll buy any more Windows products, ever.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: earthman
Do you guys actually do any real work with this system?

I do lots of real-ish work with mine. I filed my taxes with Quicktax, I keep track of expenses in Excel, I write reports in Word, I print this stuff on an HP Laserjet 1012 printer, I scan financial records with an HP PSC 1510, and I import pictures from my Kodak digital camera. Most of this stuff worked without a hitch, but the printer was a bit of a pain. It's not so much the drivers or anything like that, but the Print Spooler itself crashes when trying to print sometimes. It's really damn annoying.

I also put Vista on my dad's computer, and so far he hasn't had any problems. MS Office XP still works, his version of Quicken from around 1992 still works, the printer works fine, his mp3 player works.

The major problem with Vista is hardware with very specialized software. Printers are not a problem because they're basically all the same, cameras are the same, etc. It's weird stuff like label makers that use a serial port and were made in 1998; stuff like that may not work in Vista. That doesn't apply to most of us, but it's a very real problem to the people who do use things like that.

I got rid of the one copy I had, because frankly, it seemed like a dinosaur out of the box. Sluggish on a dual core CPU with 2gigs of RAM

Your computer is broken. My Sempron 3100 laptop with 1gb of ram is running Vista Business, and it works fine.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: earthman
Do you guys actually do any real work with this system? There are all kinds of issues getting legacy software to work with it. Do you know frustrating it is to tell a guy who just bought a new Vista laptop with all the bells and whistles that he can't use the software everyone else in his company has been using because it won't work and it's not supported, and never will be? Or sorry, I don't know why you can't join the wireless network that worked with XP, or sorry, yes you have to enter the whole UNC path every time you want to join the domain...no, sorry, it won't give you a dropdown. I just talked to a guy who can't use software that costed him $4000 for a license for, because Vista isn't supported. So everything is not coming up roses with Vista. I got rid of the one copy I had, because frankly, it seemed like a dinosaur out of the box. Sluggish on a dual core CPU with 2gigs of RAM. My ATI TV card wasn't supported after more than a year on the market, either. I don't know that I"ll buy any more Windows products, ever.

No OS is perfect since there will always be users with issues, even with XP as well so don't kid yourself,as to my real Vista experience well 3 vista PCs on a network with one XP PC(two of the Vista PCs are in wireless mode) all working fine,legacy software is always trial and error regardless of the OS in question however all my old software that I currently use works fine,I'm even running some old games too on Vista x64 like Might and Magic 7,Planescape Torment, check when these games came out (1999 & 2000).There is always a difference between home user and business user when you consider the software etc that they typically use.As to your ATI TV card well thats not an OS problem,if Leadtek can release a Vista 64 bit DTV driver for my Vista x64 within 5 weeks of Vista's launch why can't other companies?...I would take it up with AMD/ATI not Microsoft....Driver support is always down to the hardware company in question.

My verdict for what its worth is Vista has been a great OS for the last 18 months of my daily usage,I still miss my DOS 6.22(those were the days) but have moved with the times as they say,I'm looking forward to Windows 8 more then Windows 7.

 

[videopho]

Just over a year on Vista 64.
Usage: 70% gaming, the rest is anything.
No looking back, no way!

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: earthman
Do you guys actually do any real work with this system? There are all kinds of issues getting legacy software to work with it. Do you know frustrating it is to tell a guy who just bought a new Vista laptop with all the bells and whistles that he can't use the software everyone else in his company has been using because it won't work and it's not supported, and never will be? Or sorry, I don't know why you can't join the wireless network that worked with XP, or sorry, yes you have to enter the whole UNC path every time you want to join the domain...no, sorry, it won't give you a dropdown. I just talked to a guy who can't use software that costed him $4000 for a license for, because Vista isn't supported. So everything is not coming up roses with Vista. I got rid of the one copy I had, because frankly, it seemed like a dinosaur out of the box. Sluggish on a dual core CPU with 2gigs of RAM. My ATI TV card wasn't supported after more than a year on the market, either. I don't know that I"ll buy any more Windows products, ever.

Has there ever been a new Windows version where these types of issues never happened? The vast majority of legacy applications that were made for 2000 on up do work well with Vista. You might have to right click on the icon and set it to run under XP sp2 compatibility mode or to run as administrator. Outside of corporate settings, most consumers will rarely encounter software older than that for Windows 2000.

If you are buying a business computer, it is your own damned fault if you experience compatibility issues because you failed to research first to see if all your hardware and applications are supported. Microsoft offers a downgrade policy for a reason.

It is not Microsoft's fault that application developers refuse to patch their software for Vista or that hardware makers refuse to provide drivers.

 

[earthman]

Microsoft, the biggest software company in the world, spent the better part of 5 years developing Vista, and what do we get? Transparent title bars? Is this really a feature that matters?Tons of hidden DRM? Like alot of people, I'm still waiting to hear what makes it better than the previous version. It's certainly not faster, not cheaper, not more stable, and not easier to use. And why did they design a system that has such ridiculous system requirements, making it mostly unusable on anything more than a couple years old? Why did they break the networking? What used to take two steps now takes seven? Is it surprising people are not impressed? The software I was talking about is vintage 2006, not 2000. And do you really think business software developers are going to drop working on XP and Server 2003 in favor of Vista, when the earlier versions are the bulk of their customer base? It doesn't work that way. All businesses have limited resources, they may not be able to afford to restructure their whole enterprise because Microsoft can't get it right. They did well in the past preserving compatibility, this time they totally hosed it. Vista is their biggest failure since Millennium. I will never use it, and will never recommend it.

 

[allies]

Originally posted by: earthman
Microsoft, the biggest software company in the world, spent the better part of 5 years developing Vista, and what do we get? Transparent title bars? Is this really a feature that matters?Tons of hidden DRM? Like alot of people, I'm still waiting to hear what makes it better than the previous version. It's certainly not faster, not cheaper, not more stable, and not easier to use. And why did they design a system that has such ridiculous system requirements, making it mostly unusable on anything more than a couple years old? Why did they break the networking? What used to take two steps now takes seven? Is it surprising people are not impressed? The software I was talking about is vintage 2006, not 2000. And do you really think business software developers are going to drop working on XP and Server 2003 in favor of Vista, when the earlier versions are the bulk of their customer base? It doesn't work that way. All businesses have limited resources, they may not be able to afford to restructure their whole enterprise because Microsoft can't get it right. They did well in the past preserving compatibility, this time they totally hosed it. Vista is their biggest failure since Millennium. I will never use it, and will never recommend it.

+1 for ignorance!!

 

[soonerproud]

Originally posted by: earthman
Microsoft, the biggest software company in the world, spent the better part of 5 years developing Vista, and what do we get? Transparent title bars? Is this really a feature that matters?Tons of hidden DRM? Like alot of people, I'm still waiting to hear what makes it better than the previous version. It's certainly not faster, not cheaper, not more stable, and not easier to use. And why did they design a system that has such ridiculous system requirements, making it mostly unusable on anything more than a couple years old? Why did they break the networking? What used to take two steps now takes seven? Is it surprising people are not impressed? The software I was talking about is vintage 2006, not 2000. And do you really think business software developers are going to drop working on XP and Server 2003 in favor of Vista, when the earlier versions are the bulk of their customer base? It doesn't work that way. All businesses have limited resources, they may not be able to afford to restructure their whole enterprise because Microsoft can't get it right. They did well in the past preserving compatibility, this time they totally hosed it. Vista is their biggest failure since Millennium. I will never use it, and will never recommend it.

The ignorance in this post is absolutely amazing.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: earthman
Microsoft, the biggest software company in the world, spent the better part of 5 years developing Vista, and what do we get? Transparent title bars? Is this really a feature that matters?Tons of hidden DRM? Like alot of people, I'm still waiting to hear what makes it better than the previous version. It's certainly not faster, not cheaper, not more stable, and not easier to use. And why did they design a system that has such ridiculous system requirements, making it mostly unusable on anything more than a couple years old? Why did they break the networking? What used to take two steps now takes seven? Is it surprising people are not impressed? The software I was talking about is vintage 2006, not 2000. And do you really think business software developers are going to drop working on XP and Server 2003 in favor of Vista, when the earlier versions are the bulk of their customer base? It doesn't work that way. All businesses have limited resources, they may not be able to afford to restructure their whole enterprise because Microsoft can't get it right. They did well in the past preserving compatibility, this time they totally hosed it. Vista is their biggest failure since Millennium. I will never use it, and will never recommend it.

Your FUD amazes me,I suggest you read up on the real improvements in Vista over XP,when you have done that look at the improvements XP has over 2K/98 and tell me which OS has had the major improvements etc..,I give you a clue its no brainer begins with V.
Ridiculous system requirements? You do know XP was released back in 2001, it has had 6 years head start on hardware development,Vista is designed for today so come back in 6 years time and tell me Vista has ridiculous requirements ,FYI my humble X2 3800+ CPU and DDR1 ram runs Vista not only fine but fast too even compared to my previous XP PC.

How much is a decent cpu now,how much is 2GB or 4GB ram ,I do know a lot cheaper then it was back in 2001,infact ram is now cheaper then an OS.

You should be thankful we now have it so good.