Originally posted by: flexy
i am/was planning a longer vista-related posting..if i have time....
Anyway....my personal opinion:
It's exactly those radical changes at the core which are actually causing the problems with incompatibility, software and certain hardware not running anymore. (Respective under Vista with limited funtionality).
I could make a LONG list of software which run fine under XP...but now under Vista, and ESPECIALLY udner 64bit doesn't run at all. I run into those problems ANY fricking day. Just yesterday i wanted to isntall Genie Backup which is a big and otherwise backup package, just another one which does NOT support Vista 64bit yet. The list is long of software and device drivers which are still about to be rewritten so they run fine under V. Some run halfa$$ but with less functionality they had under XP.
There is a compatability tab in Vista, to enable compatability for Win95, Win98, Win2000, WinXP, WinXP-SP2. This usually works pretty well. Also know that if running x64, no 16-bit software will run. This is a limitation of the processors, not Vista. This does not fix everything, but I have run numerous software packages that make it very clear they are not designed Vista, but run fine when using the compatability tab. BTW Genie BM Pro and Home 8.0 runs on Vista 64
The OTHER "features" of vista are those features which have "stacked up" to what's otherwise still XP (IN MY OPINION)...this is: features which VERY WELL could have been part of an "extended professional XP add-on pack" - but are now patr of Vista instead.
Ironically, MANY, MANY of those added features annoy the **** out of me.
Just as ONE example of many, many:
recently i posted a about my problems that, despites a lot of research and trying to turn this off in Vista there is alway a "mobsync.exe" running which also starts an instance of wmplayer (!!!!) in the background. This seems to index devices.
Now i run into the bizarre situation that everytime i wanted to burn a CD/DVD with imgburn i got a message that i cannot access the DVD writer since the wmplayer was accessing it - so i had to kill this process to be able to burn DVDs.
I looked on the web for days already how to get rid of the "mobsync.exe" and wmplayer running without my consent..no success.
You realize that mobsync.exe has been part of Windows since Win2000. The fact that you could not find anything on-line particular to your problem would indicate that your situation is very unique. Probably a setup issue on your side. Don't blame Vista for this. These problems happen in ALL OS's.
So..i went "brute force"....i just renamed the "mobsync.exe". Even this was a pain in the ***.
I firts had to take ownership of the file, set permissions etc..etc...and now finally this thing is gone and i dont see wmplayer running in the background anymore.
This only ONE example.
The difficulty in changing SYSTEM files is not unique to secure OS's. This is a good thing.
I dont mind useful features and new improvements like the new memory management, readyboost, superfetch. (Even THOSE have a disadavantage since a 4GB cache on my USB results in very long shutdown times).
But V has so much stuff "out-of-the box" running without user consent, indexing, scanning, search indexing, media indexing.
Who cares?? All of these thing occur early in the setup phase and become less inrusive after the first week or so. Also, I don't think your readyboost shutdown delay is normal, as I haven't seen that problem posted on the help sites.
I am aware that V is an OS which is supposed to "fine-tune" itself in time...but there is just too much bloat which i dont need and want and some of it is very tricky to get rid of. I am not talking about useful things running, but stuff which is really uneeded, also depending on a user's needs and configuration.
The problem is that stuff that you don't want or think is un-needed is key to that optimization. When you start shutting this stuff down, you actually cause more inefficiencies. Just install the damn OS and LEAVE IT ALONE. Let it optimize and then see how it runs. My stock Vista is most definitely snappier than my XP was on my 2.0 Ghz, Core 2 (T7200) 2GB laptop.
Some people argue that XP is "old" and vista must be good "since it's new". Sorry, i dont agree.
I agree with you. Unless you have a newer system, there is no need to upgrade. If you plan on upgrading, make sure your system is compatible. Add the necessary RAM for your typical usage. However, XP is old, and much has been learned from it and added to Vista. Most of Vista's problems in the public eye have to do with user limitations. This come from the move to higher security. Let's be honest here, most of the "security issues" with Windows had to do with users opening and running malware trojans. As Windows is on 97% of desktops, it's a huge target. I think MS moved a bit fast and hard to lock down the OS, but most of the software on the market wasn't written to that standard. This is why UAC pops up more than it should. it doen't bother me, personally, but I can see some folks getting annoyed that XP never did that. Hopefully Win7, which should be a minor upgrade cleans that stuff up.
IMHO MS should've waited longer with the implementation of the radical core changes and give driver developers more time to adapt to those changes. MANY of the changes actually translate into a lesser user experience and lesser features. Another example:
Now it is virtually impossible for drivers to change in-game gamma anymore since the way how drivers talk to the hw has changed.
There is no way to set direct3d/gamme gamma if a game does not have the option.
Similar story with reduced functionality in regards to sound/eax etc. etc.
This is crap. The hardware folks had plenty of time to get their shit straight. I don't know the exact function, but Gamma correction is possible in-game, however, a patch from the game writer is necessary. The only real audio reduction in functionality was EAX, which needed to go anyway. There is no need to address the hardware directly. If software developers want to use direct hardware acceleration, they can use OpenAL.
XP was and still is a VERY solid OS and i am still amazed how snappy it feels on a machine which is only a fraction as fast as my Vista machine.
Vista DOES have some new features, but they all have a price...and i think that some people should stop just blindly praising Vista as the best thig since sliced bread since the overall and obvious changes compared to XP (in terms of real-life and real experienecable benefits) are indeed NOT as big as you make it sound!
Here I disagree. I think the changes in Vista are definitely big and will be the template for Windows moving forward. And while you want people to stop blindly praising Vista, I would like people to stop blindly bashing Vista. Looks like we both won't get what we want. I think people upgrading with older hardware should assess their situation carefully. To keep on topic, XP will not stop working in April 09, so don't upgrade unless their is something you desperately need. When I upgraded my laptop, I made sure drivers were available, I created an XP image just in case. I had a plan to go back if necessary.
MS still would have a big interest to get a real, native DX10 title going (Say: Alan Wake ???) where its visible for the common user that DX10 is as awesome as stated...since most of the other titles failed in that department with their DX10 implementation.
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