[oicdn]

There are some XP skins and programs you can DL to make it look like Vista (which IMO, isn't that aesthetically groundbreaking). Hell, some Linux Distros and KDE packages already look like that. The only thing new-at least from the website and other forum screens-is the 3d browsing....but honestly, how useless is that other than looking pretty? Tabs work just fine.

Unfortuneatly, eventually we'll HAVE TO migrate over to it. I'm already having compatability issues just finding a damn MP3 player that will work with W2K, as all the newer ones almost require XP (Clix for example). And XP and W2K have the same backbone. I have some simple programs that were called to use XP (like XP burner pro), but they still worked on my system...wonder if the Clix will work...

It's a shame really. Just when you thought 1-2GB was enough ram, and was really only fully utilized by programs warranting the requirement to have that much, Gates swoops in and screws it all up again. Way to go MS!

 

[Jokieman]

Vista=bad
Vista=bloat
Vista=DRM nightmare
Vista=no way in hell

I'll switch to Linux or Macintosh before I go Vista.

I've heard rumors that DX10 is not compatible with DX9 software, that's why Vista has to support both versions. Bloat Bloat Bloat. No thanks.

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jokieman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've heard rumors that DX10 is not compatible with DX9 software, that's why Vista has to support both versions. Bloat Bloat Bloat. No thanks.

That does appear to be true, albeit I've only come across this with EA games, where it errors out and says that you have to have at least DX8 installed (or something like that, I forget now)...

...I've been one of the public beta testers since June/July I think, and I can pretty safely say that I will be going back to XP when my Vista free license runs out (June 1st next year) - I'm running RC2 right now, and the drivers (extra especially graphics) are still really buggy / slow - The only reason I'm sticking with it, at the moment I am rarely ever at home, and don't really have the time to sit here reinstalling everything...

...Plus Vista gobbled up my last license with Apple / iTunes, so I will lose the (admittedly very few) tracks / videos that I have bought from the iTunes store

 

[ogewo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was an official beta tester for Vista 32bit and 64 bit.

I'd be interested to hear you compare the two. Was the beta mature enough to see a significant performance boost in 64 bit? Any other notable experience with one over the other?

 

[Zenja]

I really like some things that they've done internally in Vista but if it's annoying, intrusive, and is a hindrance then I probably won't get it. At first I thought I had no choice because of DX10, but I bought a good DX9 video card recently which I'll be keeping for quite a while, so I don't have to worry about it.

 

[Duncan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ogewo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd be interested to hear you compare the two. Was the beta mature enough to see a significant performance boost in 64 bit? Any other notable experience with one over the other?

I had the x64 version for about 6hrs (running Athlon 64 3700) but, at that point - If I thought the drivers were bad for the x86 version... lol, Creative didn't even have any drivers at all... I would love to get the x64 version so I can actually put my CPU to some kind of official use, but seeing that the 64bit version seemed a good six months behind the x86 version...

 

[patricklang]

Wow, major thread crapping going on here. If you have questions about Linux or *BSD, it would be best to start another thread and also check other forums. So back on the topic of Vista & audio.

I still have not found a working driver for my Revolution 7.1. You'll see the same thing mirrored on avsforum, etc. VIA has not released Vista drivers for the Envy24 chipset series yet, so I suspect it won't be until after those are released that M-Audio, ESI, others release new drivers.

I will try the chaintech av710 again on the RTM build of Vista and see how it goes. I tried on Beta 2 and RC1, and was unable to get the card to do 16/44.1khz output (48khz only), and did not get output on the rear channel through the Wolfson DAC.

Right now I'm dual-booting XP and Vista on my home machine (Sempron 3100+, Asus K8N, 1 gig ram, Revo 7.1, Geforce FX5200). Vista is quite snappy even with these relatively modest specs. I use it for software development purposes at home and work, and the RTM build is pretty fast. As for the background processes & cpu usage, I would recommend doing further reading on it. There is some excellent new disk caching going on, search indexing, plus additional security features, but I'll leave that for other threads.

 

[kipman725]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oicdn /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unfortuneatly, eventually we'll HAVE TO migrate over to it.

nope... onyl have xp on one machine here that has some IDE problems so many linux distros won't install onto it. I would never buy and MP3 player that couldn't just have files draged onto it anyway

 

[wanderman]

for those complaing about the bloat in vista. I was excited to learn (ableit awhile ago) they are making an nlite version for vista. So you can pretty much strip all the crap in vista away.

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanderman /img/forum/go_quote.gif for those complaing about the bloat in vista. I was excited to learn (ableit awhile ago) they are making an nlite version for vista. So you can pretty much strip all the crap in vista away.

But not the DRM

 

[CSMR]

You don't have use the ability to play DRMed files. It's ridiculous that people complain about being able to play DRMed stuff.

As for "bloat" that mattered a lot when computers were slow and had very limited memory and storage but not much now.

My view is it's a shame some things are not in it that were planned like WinFS but it still adds a lot of features over XP and seems better designed "under the hood".

 

[Chiliman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phoenix991 Gentoo does not require days of compiling if you use the stage 3 install. Ubuntu is nice, but, I never could get it to work right with my wireless card... But, you may want to try gentoo, it is highly customizable.

in my opinion it is sooooo much faster if you compile it

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSMR /img/forum/go_quote.gif You don't have use the ability to play DRMed files. It's ridiculous that people complain about being able to play DRMed stuff. As for "bloat" that mattered a lot when computers were slow and had very limited memory and storage but not much now. My view is it's a shame some things are not in it that were planned like WinFS but it still adds a lot of features over XP and seems better designed "under the hood".

DRM is not just about playing those files you just decided to download from MS' music/video store, it is about the right to play any of the media you purchased and perpetually being able to play them when you want how you want. Reread the EULA to fully grasp the limitations Vista has implemented and will continue to implement at their very whim. This is THE lock-in OS and it is no secret. There are about 1000 sites outlining exactly what can be expected (and what already exists) from coding points of views, to legal, to political.

As for the code base, it is a right old mess under the hood. XP is divinely inspired next to Vista. This is first hand knowledge having grown up with 3 OS developers at MS. Not to mention the plethora of second hand knowledge from blogs by ex-MS employees who worked on various parts of the OS. Bloatware isn't an accurate word, something new needs to be coined to fully depict the awfulness that is Vista's codebase.

 

[MikoLayer]

for once and good, could anyone point me to a good and brief read on DRM and how it is going to affect us for listening to music? I tried searching, but got swamped by a truckload of longwinded stuff

 

[CSMR]

Having DRM capabilities is not a limitation in any sense. If you have media that does not have DRM then you can use that indefinitely whether your operating system has DRM capabilities or not. If your media does have DRM you get restricted use if your OS/software has DRM capabilities and no use (or even more restricted) if it doesn't. This is so obvious I don't know why I have to be saying it.