Originally posted by: dawks
Yes, they definatly will not outlaw 99% of computer systems. Windows Vista will scale to lower end hardware, though probably not as low as XP.. but it will work on many of the current systems.
Avalon, or the new fancy accelerated interface will automatically adjust its feature set based on the current video cards capabilities.
Well, if prior major OS releases have been any indication, it seems that all of the hardware mfgs get onboard to essentially use the OS upgrade to drive hardware re-purchases/upgrades as well, so don't count on being able to run Vista on today's hardware at all well.. it will probably be like running Win95 on a 386 with 4-8MB of RAM - something that could run Win3.1 fairly well, but runs like a dog with Win9x.
Don't forget, too, that Vista will be the first version of Windows with DRM integrated and embedded into it. Depending on how MS decides to proceed with their DRM plans, and whatever deals that they make with the record and movie industry bigwigs, you may find that you do need to purchase a brand-new PC to run Vista, because only those systems will contain the necessary hardware underpinnings for the DRM system in the system chipset and CPU. MS did nearly the same thing with XP MCE, by not selling it as a normal upgrade (until recently, after much outcry), but only bundled with new OEM systems, with special hardware (hardware PVR support) onboard.
I'm not planning on ever running Vista, I've made up my mind already. I prefer to support at least minimally-open systems. While I've been an MS customer in the past, I've decided to draw the line here. Hey, I'm sure that there are still some WordPerfect for DOS users out there somewhere too, and a handful of classic Amiga users too... so I'm in good company.
😛
Edit: Interesting thread in the Video forum related to HDCP content-protection of HD-DVD video
here which backs up my assertion.
