Comments on: Windows Vista: “Just Say No!”

By: Nomen Nescio

Nomen Nescio — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:38:01 +0000

for desktop computing needs, unless you simply must have either MS Office (and not just “a decent word processor and spreadsheet”) or some other specific application that runs only on Windows, Ubuntu does pretty much all you’re likely to need. that plus EasyUbuntu gets you a perfectly good home and home office desktop.

Fedora 7 is a good OS for a server computer, not the best for a desktop, although still serviceable. currently i myself run Ubuntu 7.04 at home, Fedora 7 at work, and if it weren’t for having to support coworkers i could avoid Windows entirely.

By: thirdpower

thirdpower — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:08:51 +0000

I got forced to go to Vista when I bought the new computers. It took me two days to figure out how to disable all the handy dandy little bundled programs. So far I’m not thrilled.

By: Guav

Guav — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:01:47 +0000

I know dozens of people who have left Windows for Mac OS X … yet I do not know one single person who has every left Mac OS X for Windows.

Anecdotal? Sure. But I still think it says something.

By: Ian Argent

Ian Argent — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:41:36 +0000

I’m having flashbacks to the intro of XP here… How many of you swore never to upgrade from 2000 to XP?

Microsoft is not responsible for lack of drivers.

Microsoft is not responsible for lack of applications (except for apps that they produce).

The only 2 complaints I’ve seen about Vista that Microsoft is responsible for is system requirements and excessive security prompts. The first is semi-legitimate, but trivial; a decent machine runs Vista jsut fine. Yeah, they specs look rather high compare to even a 2-year-old machine, but I’m running Vista on a Dell D600 laptop (admittedly with 2 GB memory) with no difficulty. The second - well, the second is in response to all the bitching and moaning about security (or lack thereof) in XP. It’s so annoying and difficult to click a “are you who you say you are” button (/snark). If they come up inappropriately, why is the APPLICATION requesting those privileges? App vendors have gotten too used to unsecure systems.

I’ve been using Vista since before launch (RC1 on a machine that was NOT powerful enough to run it - was evaluating pre-release drivers with what I had on hand). I may be building a new machine next year, and will be running Vista on it.

That having been said, Sebastian, you’re absolutely right to hold off on upgradin gyour office. I’ve done IT work for pharma, and that’s not an environment to be changing as a new fad comes up. And even though I’ll be running Vista on my new machine, I will be keeping my old OS and dual-booting for a couple of games that I suspect will NOT run under Vista (being Win98 16-bit games and I’m planning on going 64-bit)

By: Shane

Shane — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 14:18:02 +0000

Vista is not quite there yet. Too many apps don’t work right. I’d wait until things settle down more before pushing Vista in a work environment. If you install Vista now, you are just paying for the privilege of being a “Beta Tester” for Microsoft. BTW, I’m a systems integration engineer so I have been around the block a few times with many OSs.

At home, I will never install Vista. I’m done with Microsoft at home. I’d be running Linux right now if I was not still into gaming on my computers. XP is fine for that. I’ve replaced Outlook with Thunderbird, IE with Firefox. Office to OpenOffice is next. It’s only a matter of time until I go open source with my OS.

By: the pistolero

the pistolero — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:14:57 +0000

…that was suppsed to read, “for the house…”

By: the pistolero

the pistolero — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:13:53 +0000

Now, all we need to do is get him to say no to Windows Vista by getting a Mac :)
I like the way you think. ;-) I’d been using Windows at home since…well, since I got a computer, but Mac is the standard in my line of work. Earlier this year when I bought a new computer, I picked up a regular MacBook got the house and love it. Don’t think I’d go back to Windows, at least not till Microsoft gets the bugs worked out of Vista. Maybe not even then.

By: Jim W

Jim W — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:01:18 +0000

Hah, I’m still on windows 2000 and windows 2000 advanced server at home.

By: Greg Morris

Greg Morris — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:37:11 +0000

Yeah, I got a “free” Vista upgrade CD when I bought my laptop… haven’t done it yet, and I don’t think I will. I’ve heard anything less than 2Gb of memory, and you’d be better off installing Windows 3.1.

At work, I run XP and Server 2003, because I have to… At home, I have XP on my laptop, Ubuntu on my “server”, and my wife’s computer is an iMac. Everyone plays nice together. I’m always afraid of new M$ operating systems, because they tend to “extend” various protocols, making them inoperable in a multi-OS environment. I also never install any M$ product until at least SP2 comes out.

By: Danno

Danno — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 05:42:19 +0000

While Bill Gates is trying to force Vista down our throats, I’m thinkin’ Linux keeps looking better and better! In the meantime I’ve considered upgrading the spousal unit’s PC but I won’t do it if Vista is a requirement. I just don’t see any benefit, just lots of cost in terms of more memory & faster CPU’s just to feed the OS.

In the meantime, A friend lent me an old laptop with Fedora 7. If I can get everything I need up and running there, M$ft can KMA and I won’t look back! I need to get access other machines on my LAN, I’ve never owned a share of M$FT but if I did, I’d sell every share! Hmmm… if I believed in the short sale game, I think this is a ripe situation!

Danno