I've got Vista

[Grandtheftcow]

Managed to get my hands on a full version of Home Premium after searching through a bunch of stores that thought the completely useless upgrade version would be good enough for everyone.

I'm still discovering all the little changes since I just installed it late afternoon yesterday. So far the cons are

-Internet Explorers interface, it's just tiny little buttons and the menu bar is off by default.

-Spellcheck doesn't work in Firefox

-Couldn't install Office 2001 (guess it's Openoffice for me)

And minor nitpicks

-New start menu is more compact and will take some getting used to

-Lack of useful sidebar programs, even if its a nice feature

Despite the few problems this really is as big a leap as XP was to 98.

I haven't installed any of my games yet and I've got quite a few oldies I'm hoping will work.

Anyway if anyone wants some more info on the features or screenies I'll get them later during the day.

[RThurmont]

In response to the title of this thread, I would reply, so what? I've got XP (Pro, Home and Tablet PC Editions), 95 (on an ancient box), Mac OS X, and a demo of QNX, and those are just my non-free OSes (I also have a lot of Linux distros, can't remember how many, plus more on disks uninstalled, Solaris, PC-BSD, and I have disks/media for Haiku and Syllable, among other OS oddities). Having Vista really just means that (to be very frank) you're dumb enough to buy a retail copy of an operating system that has massive problems with backwards compatability (as you yourself discovered when trying to install Office 2000), obnoxious DRM, onerous licensing restrictions, and a high price tag.

The only case where I could see myself using Vista is if I buy another Tablet PC, in which case running Linux would be too much of a pain. I don't want to seem like a FOSS zealot in this post, although I just spent the weekend at a Linux convention (SCALE), so I do sort of have free software on the brain...

In Vista's defense, though, I will say that Aero's translucency effects look nice.

[Seggybop]

Despite the few problems this really is as big a leap as XP was to 98

orly? What can you do now that you couldn't before? What justifies the expense and bugs? It seems like if you're using Vista now, you're paying Microsoft to work for them as a beta tester.

[Stark]

I've not read anything about the widgets, but not having any useful ones is quite common. The most useful OSX ones are reference, calculator etc, and things like Yahoowidgets have much less actual useful content as opposed to gimmicky nonsense.

[Netko]

Yesterday I upgraded (had to wipe and install clear because you can't update the theoretical Ultimate version (RC1) with Business) from RC1 to Business RTM (MSDNAA subscription) and I'm really happy with it. They fixed a lot of minor annoyances that plagued the RC1 version, it recognized all my hardware either directly or with the assistance of its online driver download, including a lot of esoteric stuff (integrated webcam for example). I'm on a relatively recent laptop (bought Nov '06) so this is a welcome surprise, especially because it found my wireless card without problems, unlike RC1 which had major issues. I only manually downloaded Radeon drivers so that I can get more functionality using the control center.

Office 2k3 installed without issue and was patched by Windows Update also without issue. The easy migration tool actually worked this time around!

As I mentioned in a previous thread, no, this transition isn't that revolutionary on the user end, however it does bring a lot of tiny improvements that put all together make it a pain to go back to XP.

From my experience with RC1, compatibility is mainly a problem with system affecting stuff like drivers, tweaking utilities, etc. That is to be expected however. I've yet to run into a user program that didn't work under Vista bud did under XP - note that sometimes you have problems with the installer that can be fixed by elevating to admin privileges, but once installed no problems yet.

All in all, a no-brainer upgrade for me, however I did get it for free so for others the conclusion might be different. MS's strategy of hooking technical students to their products while their young seems to be working splendidly

Oh, and in the widget category, the most esoteric I've seen yet (but also useful for its intended users) is the Muslim prayer schedule one! Now your computer can be annoying and warn you each time (5 times a day) your duty to Allah comes up!

[Stark]

Mmar, does the driver download thing actually work now? I have never in my *life* had XP's 'search the internet for drivers' thing work, EVER.

[Netko]

As I said, it found drivers for everything that didn't have drivers on the disc, and I even got a lot of driver updates (including graphics) when I ran Windows Update for the first time. So yes, its up and running quite nicely now.

You still have the issue of the downloaded drivers being very vanilla ie. not including any interfaces beside the standard Windows one. For most stuff this doesn't matter or is actually a blessing in disguise (think of all the drivers for minor things that like to shit on your system and drop 3 icons into the tray), however it does force you to download drivers manually for graphics and maybe some other stuff (none yet for me).

[Arrow]

Despite the few problems this really is as big a leap as XP was to 98

orly? What can you do now that you couldn't before? What justifies the expense and bugs? It seems like if you're using Vista now, you're paying Microsoft to work for them as a beta tester.

I've been using Vista Ultimate for over a week (I got it through my office's MSDN subscription). The only bugs I've seen come from beta graphics drivers and the couple programs I have that are known to be incompatible with Vista. The interface is much cleaner and more responsive, new security features work (yeah, the annoying at first, when your install all your programs, but after that it stays mostly out of the way) and overall, its a much better experience. Don't knock it until you've sat down with for a few hours.

@Grandtheftcow: Spellcheck does work in FireFox. I'm using 2.0.0.1.

[Praxis]

I've not read anything about the widgets, but not having any useful ones is quite common. The most useful OSX ones are reference, calculator etc, and things like Yahoowidgets have much less actual useful content as opposed to gimmicky nonsense.

I don't know what Vista has, but the widgets I use most are reference ones like dictionary and yellow pages and movie times lookup.

[General Zod]

Is there a list of games anywhere that Vista has known graphics issues with? And will upgrading from XP break any currently installed software if someone decides to?

[Arrow]

Is there a list of games anywhere that Vista has known graphics issues with? And will upgrading from XP break any currently installed software if someone decides to?

The game issues really depends on your graphics card, but its a safe to say that games written before XP came out probably won't work (you can try the compatibility options, though). For Nvidia drivers, check the driver release notes, the Nvidia forum and the Nvnews.net forum. So far, I've tried Oblivion, BF2142, Medieval 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, CoD2, Company of Heroes, Titan Quest and the Supreme Commander demo, and they all work (the current Nvidia driver has some issues, but you can play all of them just about as well you could under XP). I understand that Half Life 2 and Lost Coast work, but with a fog glitch, but other Source Engine games need a patch first (this might be for 64-bit installs only, I don't remember). Also, the Creative ALchemy project does work - it will patch some games that used hardware DirectSound in XP to use OpenAL under Vista, so you can still get EAX support with the X-Fi.

I don't know how an actual upgrade works, but using a full install copy, my old user folders, program files and Windows directory were moved to Windows.old folder (the installer tells you this, too), and the Vista registry didn't copy over any other the settings. To be safe, plan on reinstalling your programs (I'd recommend a clean install, anyway).

[General Zod]

Looks like I won't be bothering with an upgrade for some time then, as I have a few games I'd prefer to keep working. I also have several emulators and a few older titles I like playing from time to time, so. . .yeah. No Vista for me.

[phongn]

Looks like I won't be bothering with an upgrade for some time then, as I have a few games I'd prefer to keep working. I also have several emulators and a few older titles I like playing from time to time, so. . .yeah. No Vista for me.

Actually, quite a few older titles will work, though in some cases you may need to change permissions on various folders since older games like to writeback to their own directory.

-Internet Explorers interface, it's just tiny little buttons and the menu bar is off by default.

That's an IE7 thing rather than a Vista thing (it has the same UI under Windows XP SP2)

Spellcheck doesn't work in Firefox

Works here for me.

Couldn't install Office 2001 (guess it's Openoffice for me)

Office 2001 doesn't exist for Windows ... if you mean Office 2000, it should run.

[Durandal]

Office 2001 does exist ... for Mac OS 9. That could be why it's not working under Vista.

[Grandtheftcow]

Office 2001 does exist ... for Mac OS 9. That could be why it's not working under Vista.

LOL yeah it’s 2000, don’t know why I was thinking 2001.

Anyway here’s what I’ve got so far on it.

Photoshop CS 2 – OK

Microsoft Office - Failed to install first time due to missing font files but installed on second attempt with no problems. Only difference is a new installation of DirectX was done beforehand.

Finale 2006 – OK

Guitar Pro 5 – OK

Total Annihilation with The Core Contingency – OK

Fruity Loops 4.1 – OK

Warcraft II – OK

Command & Conquer Windows 95 edition – LOL yeah right

Risk(Win95) – OK

Macromedia 12 in 1 – CD wouldn’t load unless I ran it as an administrator. Dreamweaver 4.0 ran fine but told me access to an unknown file was denied when I quit, uh OK. Flash MX was just fine.

Stronghold – OK

Tropico Mucho Macho Edition – OK and I still love the music in this game

Sim City 4 Deluxe Edition – OK

Unreal Tournament – Ran fine but the sound quality is poor, must be a sound card driver issue.

I’ve still got about 14 games to go but so far everything that ran on XP works just as well on Vista. Either the earlier versions of Vista had trouble supporting games or the “Old games won’t run on vista!!!” line is bullshit.

orly? What can you do now that you couldn't before? What justifies the expense and bugs? It seems like if you're using Vista now, you're paying Microsoft to work for them as a beta tester.

What bugs? I haven't really had any problems with the operating system yet. It's performing just fine.

I've not read anything about the widgets, but not having any useful ones is quite common. The most useful OSX ones are reference, calculator etc, and things like Yahoowidgets have much less actual useful content as opposed to gimmicky nonsense.

Yeah it’s not an important feature but it’s just neat to have. I especially like the one that tells me my CPU and RAM usage.

@Grandtheftcow: Spellcheck does work in FireFox. I'm using 2.0.0.1.

I found the problem. For some reason Firefox didn’t have any dictionaries installed.

[Sharp-kun]

Looks like I won't be bothering with an upgrade for some time then, as I have a few games I'd prefer to keep working. I also have several emulators and a few older titles I like playing from time to time, so. . .yeah. No Vista for me.

I'd try and see. I remember back with XP people crying "Oh noes! No old games will work." For me, they did.

[General Zod]

Looks like I won't be bothering with an upgrade for some time then, as I have a few games I'd prefer to keep working. I also have several emulators and a few older titles I like playing from time to time, so. . .yeah. No Vista for me.

I'd try and see. I remember back with XP people crying "Oh noes! No old games will work." For me, they did.

Unfortunately trying out a new operating system tends to be expensive. And I don't know of anyone with Vista on their PCs at the moment.

[Beowulf]

Looks like I won't be bothering with an upgrade for some time then, as I have a few games I'd prefer to keep working. I also have several emulators and a few older titles I like playing from time to time, so. . .yeah. No Vista for me.

I'd try and see. I remember back with XP people crying "Oh noes! No old games will work." For me, they did.

Unfortunately trying out a new operating system tends to be expensive. And I don't know of anyone with Vista on their PCs at the moment.

If you just want to try it, you can try Vista for up to 120 days. Any version even. For free.

[Spyder]

I'd try and see. I remember back with XP people crying "Oh noes! No old games will work." For me, they did.

Unfortunately trying out a new operating system tends to be expensive. And I don't know of anyone with Vista on their PCs at the moment.

If you just want to try it, you can try Vista for up to 120 days. Any version even. For free.

That sounds like a pain in the arse unless you happen to have a spare partition/PC handy.

[Sharp-kun]

That sounds like a pain in the arse unless you happen to have a spare partition/PC handy.

Depends how you've set your PC up. For me formatting and reinstalling an OS isn't really that much trouble, as I've got all my media on another drive, as well as any apps that don't require the registry (MPC, Putty, Virtualdub...). Installing and getting back to where I was takes about 3 hours tops.

[General Zod]

Unfortunately trying out a new operating system tends to be expensive. And I don't know of anyone with Vista on their PCs at the moment.

If you just want to try it, you can try Vista for up to 120 days. Any version even. For free.

That sounds like a pain in the arse unless you happen to have a spare partition/PC handy.

The 15 gigs of free hard space at minimum seems a pain in the arse by itself. My notebook only has an 80 gig disk, and I rarely have more than ten free at any given time.