I've recently been given a loan laptop by my employer. Nice machine, very nice to use, and 1000% better than my antique lappy I've been
using to tune Megajolt.
The trouble is, it arrived pre-loaded with Vista. My previous machines have either been Linux or Windows 2000. Linux is hard work at times, but
gives the admin total power over configuration. Win2K is not so lenient, but it's still easy enough to dig in and deal with network issues.
Vista seems purpose-built to obstruct me - I'm starting to take it personally! I've spent most of the evening trying to find why my access
to the internet suddenly disappears without warning. When I try to connect, the system says it's down. If I click on the diagnostic it says
"It's not working - check your wirelss access point or speak to an administrator" or words to that effect.
I have really tried to get into Vista, but it seems to get in my way, rather than help me. I use XP at work - that's just seems like enhanced
Windows 2000 and it just works for me.
Am I alone, or does anyone else hate it as much as me?
My IT bod at work has suggested that I put XP on the laptop - I am seriously tempted.
cheers,
David
Vista is the best OS m$ have made. I'm in a minority with this view though. Most people don't like it.
I've always found Vista to be super easy to connect to networks etc, but on the whole I'm not that big of a fan.
Is there some kind of firewall or windows defender thats blocking your access, or even the Router itself as its a new laptop it will be using a
different IP address to what its expecting or allowing through.
The one thing I do find Bonkers is that accessing another computers drive over the network you need a username and passwork even if that computer
doesn't have one!
Yep, go back to xp, I can't say I like vista at all, even when I swatted to do the vista ms exam I couldn't get to like it which is unusual
for me, normally when I understand the reason it's doing that weird behaviour I accept it because of the sensible reason behind it.
The one thing I do like though is the virtualisation of ie7 and vista, this is where the browser runs in it's very own virtual machine so in
theory nasties can't get to the host machine. Neat feature, don't know if in practice it's any good as vista didn't last that long
on my machine to find out 
Cheers
Rich
[Edited on 17/3/08 by RichardK]
I was going to get my PC with Vista a few months after it came out but decided against it after everyone i knew hated it
I had a fiddle with Vista the other day on a brand new laptop.
It certainly got my lap nice and warm (so I assume its quite CPU heavy!!) and ran rather slowly whilst trying to prevent me from doing everything I
wanted to do!!
Nice laptop. Bad OS. Isn't it just a even more patronising (but rather shiny) version of the same old same old?
That about sums it up - very pretty, very shiny, total PITA.
Linux is not easy under the bonnet, but at least it does let you get into the machinery if you know how to do it.
quote:
Originally posted by Benzine
Vista is the best OS m$ have made. I'm in a minority with this view though. Most people don't like it.
I've been using it for years now, since the beta days, and I have to say that it is by far the best os I have used ...... when everything is
Vista compatable. Just make sure that you have the proper drivers and it will be ok - -really.
You should try the 64bit version if you think you've got problems 
I think therefore iMac
I got a new HP laptop from work a few months ago. It was a brand new model at the time (8510p) that came pre-loaded with windows. It took bloody ages to be delivered, the the IT boys spent the next day taking Vista straight off of it.... XP or 2000 only at our work - let the other users figure out the bugs!
Mac all the way for me. No problems, easy life.
I see it this way-
Windows - it'll work but it might stop. You'll definitely find the software you want but it'll cost you.
Mac - it'll work and it won't stop. You might find the software you want, you might not. If you do, it'll cost you.
Linux - it'll work and it won't stop. You'll almost definitely find the software you want. It'll cost you nothing, nor will the
software.
It used to be that ease of installation and use were big divides, but based on my most recent reinstall of a dual boot windows/ubuntu system, linux
was far easier which surprised me. Windows on the other hand needed third party drivers to be found and then all my software had to be sourced and
installed separately. Linux installed all the software I needed from install and recognised every device.
I've used windows a few times to play games since, that's about it. I'm starting to wonder if it's worth using up 10gig for the
partition.
I love it and run it in the Vista and server 08 from and have had to problems. An easy alternative for anyone who has a vista machine but wants to access an XP or Linux feature is to install them as a virtual machine and run them from within vista (any machine that can run vista will be able to run a VM client such as VMware player)
Unfortunately it's a company machine, and we're official Microsnot partners (a fancy title for a development company with close ties to MS) so replacing the OS with Linux is never going to be an option.
Unfortunately any os gets very bad press when it is first launched and therefore everyone is very afraid to jump in and use it while being prepared to
sort out the niggles.
I went into PCW last week and asked about an incompatibilty with my 8Gb flash drive with my 64bit Vista. When I asked if they could try it out on one
of their 64bit systems they said that they didn't have one! In fact they admitted that they ONLY use XP in their teccie department as Vista was
too finicky and the Vista systems were on the shop floor and mostly just for the bling factor!
I suppose that speaks volumes 
I hate Vista. A new laptop I bought came with Home Premium and although I really tried to live with it for a few months, in the end it annoyed me so
much I scrubbed it and installed XP.
Even switching as many of the stupid, pointless shiny bits off as possible, it still nannies you and makes things as difficult as possible. What on
earth were M$ thinking when they got rid of the "Up" button from explorer? Something I use all the time on XP and Win2k, and they replace
it with the stupidly named "bread crumb".
quote:
Windows - it'll work but it might stop. You'll definitely find the software you want but it'll cost you.
quote:
Mac - it'll work and it won't stop. You might find the software you want, you might not. If you do, it'll cost you.
quote:
Linux - it'll work and it won't stop. You'll almost definitely find the software you want. It'll cost you nothing, nor will the software.
Losing wireless networking on laptops is usually a wireless nic problem -- on a lot of laptops even modern expensive ones the built in wireless
networking card is nbg due to arial packaging issues.
Often an ultra cheapo USB wireless dongle works better.
quote:
Originally posted by RazMan
Unfortunately any os gets very bad press when it is first launched and therefore everyone is very afraid to jump in and use it while being prepared to sort out the niggles.
I went into PCW last week and asked about an incompatibilty with my 8Gb flash drive with my 64bit Vista. When I asked if they could try it out on one of their 64bit systems they said that they didn't have one! In fact they admitted that they ONLY use XP in their teccie department as Vista was too finicky and the Vista systems were on the shop floor and mostly just for the bling factor!
I suppose that speaks volumes
quote:
Originally posted by RazMan
In fact they admitted that they ONLY use XP in their teccie department as Vista was too finicky
quote:
Originally posted by onzarob
I probably going to get shot for this, but where is the techie part in PC world?
Finicky= too complicated for them