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This might be a bit off-topic, but I just got a new laptop for Christmas (a Gateway) and it uses Vista. I don't see or haven't experienced any trouble with it. Why does everyone seem to not like it?

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Praise Be To Helix!

Yeah, it was extremely off topic, since you posted in a thread that was supposed to be about Linux. I split it off for you, though, for your own benefit.

My experience with Vista is limited to a PC that is extremely weak anyway, because developers at my office can only get one "good" PC and of my three, I chose to have my good one be XP. So, I can't really say due to limited usage and the fact that some of the problems I have with Vista might be due to the fact that I'm running it on a toaster oven.


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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I feel that things are more conveniently placed in Vista than they were in XP. However, Vista is slower. I took it off one of my laptops and put XP on it and it runs way faster. My problem with XP is that it is the biggest pain to use the language packages for the keyboard. XP doesn't have Chinese, Japanese, Korean and all the uni-code keyboards without having to drag out the CD and install them. With Vista, you just go to "keyboards" in the control panel and turn them on. So, my guess would be that Vista seems a bit too user friendly, and maybe those who are more computer savy don't have as much control over everything as they do with XP. When I got my first Vista laptop I tried to establish a network with a friend who had XP and it took us forever to figure it out. Although Vista is convenient for everyday use, it can be inconvenient for more specific use.

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

I have very mixed feelings about Vista. I have a computer I got last year that came with Vista installed on it. It's nice to look at. It's very nice to look at. After a little while I got used to how it runs, and it doesn't really bother me anymore.

My biggest concern is that I have alot of compatibility issues with it. I'm mostly a gamer, and of all the games I try and play, only about 25% seem to work well with them. Another 25% run, but just don't run right. I know that the incompatibility is the programers of the games, and not Vista itself, but I am the one that ends up suffering because of it.

Guess I gotta stick to World of Warcraft, the only game that seems to run like it should, although I'm sure it would run better if Vista wasn't using so many resources.

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"And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped” -Sir Bedevere the Wise

I first encountered Vista on my dads new PC - and I noticed it was a LOT slower. Still, the fact the PC had 256mb of RAM didn't help, but my ancient PC functioned better on the same. It still ran a bit slowly while running on 2GB of RAM. That, and I simply wasn't used to it. Call me lazy, but I'm just not one to get used to a new interface when the old familiar one is at hand.

I have Vista on the laptop that I use for most of my personal stuff and school-related work. To be honest, I don't mind it at all. At first, I was quite iffy about going with it due to known problems with my graphics card, general gaming buggy-ness and all the negative hype the thing gets.

I don't find my system runs any slower than my home pc, which is equipped with Windows XP. In terms of specs, the home P.C. is obviously a stronger machine, but the performance is a noticeable difference. Then again, outside of gaming and occasional sound-editing, I never do anything that would drain my system's resources.

In regards to gaming, I've been able to play anything I've wanted to up until now with absolutely no issues whatsoever. This includes Diablo II, Left 4 Dead, Unreal Tournament, Fallout 3, Starcraft, Farcry 2 and KOTOR 1&2, which is rather nefarious for being a buggy game series.

From an aesthetic standpoint, I love the look of it. Once you get used to the changes from the old Windows platform, it really isn't nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

Lately, I've noticed that a lot of hate on Vista is by Mac users, at least in terms of people I've heard complaining, and generally from extremely limited to no time at all on a Vista machine. I don't know how relevant that is, but in the case of anything, jumping from one side of the world to the other and for a brief time is bound to be a culture shock.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

It's been mentioned, and on my system (with 2 gigs of RAM), Vista consistently uses about 30% simply when idling. As I speak, it's staying just above 46%, though my computer has been running without a restart for just short of four straight days (3 days, 21 hours, 45 minutes, according to my counter thingamajig).

I've run into some unusual issues with Vista, such as the mouse (laptop touch pad) dancing around the screen or flat out ceasing to respond, with the latter issue forcing a restart every time. It also occasionally begins lagging horribly when trying to play a game like World of Warcraft, without any apparent reason. I can't say for sure if those issues are the result of Vista or of hardware malfunction, and I can't say as I've encountered these sorts of issues with any other system.

All in all, though, those issues are pretty minor, in my mind. The mouse locking up is really annoying, and can happen at really inopportune times, and it's little more than annoying.

Regarding memory use: Vista uses a lot of memory by design, because it tries to preload frequently used programs to save on startup time. That's probably little consolation if you have 2GB or less, as doesn't leave much room for anything else - but in theory it does have some benefit.

I run an even more unpopular build of Vista, the 64bit variety, and I encounter very few problems. The only issues that occur happen when I'm trying to install something with unsigned drivers, and those are normally things I shouldn't be doing in the first place. I quite like the operating system and have no need to go back to XP.

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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

I've been put off by the specification demands for games. Recommended RAM requirements for Left 4 Dead: 1GB with XP, 2GB with Vista. Surely that would make it harder to run a download and/or play music at the same time as gaming... right? I'm so used to doing everything at once on XP that I don't want to risk it.

Also some second-hand issues. A customer I had couldn't get their midi keyboard nor their external music adapter to work on Vista. My friend is buying one so I'd rather be sure its going to run without any hassle.

Edit: I almost forgot this. Another friend has a fairly high-spec laptop with Vista, at least double what the recommended specs are for Warcraft III, but for some reason it lags when he plays it. We've been trying everything to make it stop but it still won't run properly. However, on my dad's laptop, which is on XP with much lower specs, the game runs perfectly once the settings are adjusted. That was a real turn-off. Warcraft III is one of the few games I still play.

For me, I just don't want to risk anything going wrong, I don't feel any urge to upgrade for the sake of it, and none of the extra features appeal to me - although I'm sure they do for other people.

This post has been edited by sweetdude on 18th January 2009 13:05

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Scepticism, that dry rot of the intellect, had not left one entire idea in his mind.

Me on the Starcraft.

Quote (Tiddles @ 13th January 2009 19:42)

Regarding memory use: Vista uses a lot of memory by design, because it tries to preload frequently used programs to save on startup time. That's probably little consolation if you have 2GB or less, as doesn't leave much room for anything else - but in theory it does have some benefit.

So, this is to make it faster?

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Praise Be To Helix!

That's the idea, and I understand that if you have a lot of RAM, it works pretty well.