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I got a new VAIO and couldn't find one with XP so had to get the latest unproven version of Monopoly with it aka - Vista.
The only good thing about it is that it is visually appealing.
The bad - it is sloooooooooow, it crashed right out of the box, seems to not like Flash player, Explorer crashed a number of times just browsing the web, you have to play 20 questions every time you want to install something, its sloooooooooooooooow and this computer has 2 GIGs of RAM - there just isn't that much useful stuff that an OS could have to require anywhere near 2GIGs of RAM.
The touch pad comes with default settings that make it very difficult to move the cursor while staying in the current application or web page.
It is better than Windows "crash" Millenium, doesn't hold a candle to XP thus far. Unless you have to, don't get Vista, stick with XP. There is so far no compelling reason to upgrade even if they were giving away the upgrades free of charge.
Buyers Beware!! This OS came with my new Dell Laptop, and it is so slow. Boot time is about 2-3 minutes. Opening a folder sometimes takes up to 10 seconds. Installing software and updating via broadband takes an eternity. I couldn't stand it anymore after about a week of use and had to go back to XP which I thankfully have a copy of because no more of my money is going to microsoft after this vista garbage of an os.
I tried Vista for 44 days for free and I nearly threw up. Everything that I downloaded asked me 3 questions before I could have access to them. The first was run, save, or cancel. Then it would ask me to cancel or allow. And then it would ask me to cancel or allow AGIAN as if I wasn't sure I clicked the right button the first time. Most of my software can run on Vista, but they run as slow as a 1982 Dell Inspiron. Games that I was getting 20-30 fps I'm now getting 2-5 fps. Flight Simulator X to be one of them. God only knows if the game will even run if I try to put up the scenery. Even on the back of most boxes on the OS requirement notice how the Vista RAM is two times higher than Xp. It's a RAM eater. Xp was no dream OS, but I would rather have Xp home than any kind of Vista. Even though it will take 5 years, just wait for the next OS to come out. Hopefully Microsoft learned something out of this all.
Vista Home Premium came installed on my new mid-priced (under $700) Gateway GT5644E with AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 dual-core processor 5000+, 3GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory, 400GB Serial ATA II hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8300 GS graphics with up to 256MB on-board video memory... With all the bad press I read on Vista, I was hoping for the best... Would my HP C5280 printer connect... Yes it did... Would my year old plus SynchMaster 940mw monitor work... With analog connection - No (blue cast on the screen)... With DVI connection - A big Yes (amazing, crisp and clear with great color and DVD's look fantastic).
Software... Dreamweaver 8 - Yes (note - there is a reported conflict in using DW8 with Micosoft office installed)... WordPerfect X3 - Yes (with updated driver)... Photoshop Elements 2 - No... Microsoft Digital Image 2006 Suite - Yes (with updated driver)... ZoneAlarm with Antivirus - Yes... Ad-Aware2007 free version - Yes... Nero 7 - Yes (with latest update)... Spell Catcher Plus - Yes... Firefox - Yes... Most of the other shareware I own, I was able to update with the latest drivers to work fine with Vista... Big surprize for me, I was not able to migrate my copy of Spy Sweeper to Vista, tried twice (hope they figure out a fix).
In some ways it reminds me of Apple OS 9 moving on to OS X, what a jump that was... Vista seems to be more of an evolution, than a totally new OS.
Aero - I like everything but the 'Task bar'... It's black and it's ugly and can't be changed... You can change the color of just about everything else, but not the task bar??? So, I'm using Windows Classic Theme which I have customized to my liking.
Speed and Stability - Yes, no complaints... It is the fastest machine I have owned... I turn it on and off a few times a day (rather than putting it to sleep), starts up fast and shuts down quickly. I've only had to use safe mode once, to un- install Spy Sweeper, but that went smooth.
After a week of use and abuse my fears have been laid to rest... Vista on my Gateway does everything I need it to do and more!
Again, the 'Lord of the OS' proves that it's their ball and you need to play their way. I have one test machine at home running Vista (Business ver), and have configured the Home Premium version for a couple of friends. Main things I've noticed: 1) Don't expect third party software and Vista to play well together - conflicts are us! 2) Be VERY careful when applying any driver updates from Microsoft Update service - have NOT had good luck with most of these, even though hardware is 'VISTA Certified'. 3) Restore points are your friend - you'll visit with them often.
I won't reiterate most of what others have said about the paint on the barn or the requirement bloat. For my real work I'll stick with my XP-SP2 and Solaris boxes - Vista is at LEAST a SP down the road from workability. Save the headache and WAIT.
Considero que Vista es una versión de compromiso de Microsoft, como en su momento fue Milenium (alguien se acuerda de este SO?).
En realidad XP Pro es muy superior a Vista en todos los aspectos, pero en especial en la manera libre que deja ejecutar el soft.
Para hacer el Vista "más seguro" se lo terminó haciendo muy lento por las ventanas de aprobación que aparecen al ejecutar órdenes.
De hecho desinstalé de mi Dell el Vista e instalé XP Pro.
Resumiendo Vista es lento y pesado respecto de XP y no aporta nada nuevo.
Compre Windows Vista Home Premium hace ya 4 meses para usarlo en casa, y en resumen creo que es una buena evolucion respecto a Windows XP, pero no hay nada revolucionario. Sin duda ademas de la licencia disponga de tiempo y dinero adicional para mejorar un poco el hardware y nuevas versiones de software.
Lo primero es definir la version de Windows: en el paquete viene el Vista Home Premium de 32 bit, pero para aprovechar el 100% del procesador encargue, sin costo, el DVD con la version de 64bit.
Un aspecto clave es el equipo donde se ejecuta: yo poseo un CPU AMD Athlon 64 (754) con 1Gb RAM DDR 400.
Sin embargo consideren que puede ser necesario mejorar un poco su equipo, en especial si no es nuevo. Como muestra les cuento mi caso: el disco duro SATA de 80Gb lo cambie a uno de 160Gb; la tarjeta de video AGP Nvidia GeForce 5200 con WEI (Windows Experience Index) de solo 2.1 me motivo a cambiar la placa madre (otra 754 pero con PCI-e) para instalar Nvidia GeForce 7300LE con WEI 3.2 y 3.8 en ambos test graficos. Finalmente el upgrade costo 220USD$ adicionales.
Hay hardware que no funcionara en caso de no existir drivers WIN VISTA 64 firmados por el fabricante o genericos incluidos en Vista. En mi caso fue un antiguo scaner usb marca Agfa modelo 1212U, al igual que un nuevo fax/modem interno v92 con chipset Intel 537EP.
Nota aparte merece el que Microsoft deshabilito dispositivos antiguos, lo que no esta indicado en la caja ni sitio web de Vista. Por cariño mantenia una disquetera de 5.25" de 1.2Mb y a veces utilizaba el puerto serial (COM) para conectar un par de cosas... ahora no puedo.
Respecto al software en si, la navegacion es solida y agradable. No tiene grandes problemas, pero hay detalles menores no solucionados. Si considere que el sucesor de Outlook Express (OE) llamado Windows Mail no fue capaz de importar grandes carpetas de email antiguos OE, por lo que pedi ayuda al call center Microsoft pero el problema no se pudo solucionar en poco tiempo... finalmente decidi no invertir mas tiempo en salvar la correspondencia.
Lamentablemente las funciones de Media Center estan pobremente documentadas y a la fecha la mejor opcion para utilizarlas es comprar una consola de juegos Microsoft X-Box 360 (ahora con 3 años de garantia, al menos en USA).
Mi gran decepcion sin embargo no es Windows Vista sino las aplicaciones, dado que a la fecha la mayoria de los fabricantes si bien han sacado nuevas versiones de sus productos compatibles con Vista, es solo a 32bit (compatible con Vista 64bit via modulo WOW 64 incluido en sistema operativo). Un ejemplo basico es Adobe Flash 9.
La falta de compromiso con 64bit es tal que incluso Microsoft programo su Office 2007 solo a 32bit.
Recuerde que como con todo cambio de sistema operativo hay aplicaciones antiguas que no funcionaran, en especial con Vista 64.
A pesar de lo anterior, Vista 32 o 64 bit es superior a XP en casi todos los aspectos, y vale la pena comprarlo.
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