I was thinking about challenging those who claimed that Vista sucks on a new thread but found this instead... just to explain why I'm digging up a topic.
I bought Vista deliberately (insane no?). I'd previously run Windows XP Pro both 32bit and 64bit. Now I'm not a programmer or someone who knows precisely what each memory address means but I am a constant tinkerer with computers. Most often an OS only survives a couple of months with me before it fails due to the fact that I've confused it by trying to mess with all the settings... not that I just randomly switch stuff on and off (not all the time
) I do my research and I try to gain a little performance tweak or some kinda of setting tweak like altering the boot screen away from the M$ horrible nasty graphics (why oh why if Vista is soo swish once it's loaded does it have the equivalent of Pong as a loading screen???) but still it crashes. Usually because some programming nerd hasn't firstly taken the time to consider that a human will be operating this software, secondly has decided to write all of the "hints" in gibberish so they can get paid large sums to tick a box, thirdly have hidden half of the blasted settings in a nest so vast that lab rats would die before they found the way out and finally have the audacity to claim compatibility! I'm sorry but I don't classify "works sometimes" as compatible.
Now I hesitated for ages about buying Vista mostly due to the horror stories about how it ate memory and was really slow etc etc. Well after having set Vista up (admittedly this is my third install... not that such is unusual in my case
) but I keep on finding tweaks which makes Vista much better than XP for this tinkerer.
Now when I went out to buy Vista I chose to grab the 64 bit version. Basically it's been irritating me since XP64 came out that most cretins still buy 32bit which makes all the manufacturers cling to 32bit and holds the whole process up (trying to find drivers for XP64 is often annoying). Some may, and did, question my sanity at signing up again for the 64bit shuffle of drivers. My argument was and still is that although I may have the occasional trouble with drivers it pales in comparison to the fly paper 32bit M$ which gets drowned in all those little apps running all over the place. For some reason if you run 32bit you end up with all the apps in the world running on your machine (and deleting/ un-installing/ just stopping it loading only further confuses the matter), try 64bit and half of those apps don't recognise it so things stay nice and clean (I hate messy computers!!).
Now I expected trouble with not only having bought the dreaded Vista but also plunged into 64bit trouble... but no. It was all a doddle. What's more, my MP3 player... it won't recognise XP64 at all but it installs without argument on Vista 64.
Now having run Vista for a few weeks I find it consistently faster than XP at similar tasks, the tweaks are better documented and easier to implement, once done Vista is not only more efficient than XP (mainly because Vista doesn't sit on 90% of your memory and refuse to use it [that's what freaked half the reviewers apparently]) but it looks better, it's more user friendly and I have my system the way I want it and not some generic blob on the screen defined by some one's a zero's idiot who just happens to be able to code.
Oh and I've tried Linux. Almost all the flavours of it. I've tried BSD. Compared to Windows, yes they are perhaps cleaner and more professional but they're also a pain in the ass! I do not want to have to learn how to code to install a program. I want the OS to do it.
So as far as I'm concerned I reckon the horror stories about Vista are based on bad information, poor advise and basically a bunch of IT people yet again dumping the "latest and greatest" on the general populace without proper support to justify their own existence where as if they actually thought about the human end of it then they'd be needed a lot less.
Oh and if you are stuck with Vista and you just don't get it but want to learn and perhaps get it to work how you want it to then go to
TweakGuides.com .
Also, if the constant Vista nanny drives you batty... there is a way past it. Look on google as to how to switch the administrator account on (don't ask me why they hide these things... the way I see it is it's my computer and I wish to stuff it up in my own way so back off with the nanny thing). I've done that and it's much more relaxing now that I'm not being badgered 24/7.
So yeah I guess Vista may require a little more work than XP to start with. I just think that the performance gains I'm getting and the much better appearance and interface are worth it. Hell I tried for ages to get Linux to work because I liked the interface.. unfortunately though Linux is still mostly unsupported (chicken and the egg anyone?). It'd be soo nice to have an alternative to M$ (it may make them competitive for once) but I guess as long as I want a machine capable of running whatever game I fancy then M$ is the way to go.
