[Kayepur]

Ok, ok, I may have just awakened from the dark ages, but can someone tell me exactly what is so great about Windows Vista? I mean, having grown up with the old 3.1 platform, then Win 95, 98, (never liked 2000), XP, (ME had too many problems), I really like XP. I am looking for an in depth (though not too in depth) explanation of the obvious ( and maybe some not so obvious) features of Vista over XP. Especially since it is rumored that Mcirosoft is taking XP off the shelf (any truth to that rumor either?)

[uxevangelist]

Originally Posted by Kayepur

Ok, ok, I may have just awakened from the dark ages, but can someone tell me exactly what is so great about Windows Vista? I mean, having grown up with the old 3.1 platform, then Win 95, 98, (never liked 2000), XP, (ME had too many problems), I really like XP. I am looking for an in depth (though not too in depth) explanation of the obvious ( and maybe some not so obvious) features of Vista over XP. Especially since it is rumored that Mcirosoft is taking XP off the shelf (any truth to that rumor either?)

Hello, Kayepur!

The benefit of Windows Vista over XP is one which isn't enough to pull me away from XP, if I'm being honest! Like you, I have grown up using the older Windows platforms and XP (can you believe XP is already as old as it is!?) has just been the perfect OS. I don't need to tell you why XP is so great for blatantly obvious reasons, lol, but being the Windows enthusiast I am, I can whole-heartedly tell you that Vista will serve no purpose for you outside of annoyance due to user interface friction, a total overhaul of system file placement, the way you use XP is impossible to do with Vista's OOBE.

Now, I'm an avid Windows beta tester (coming up through the Whistler and Longhorn betas where Whistler was the codename for XP and Longhorn was the codename for Vista), and let me tell you that Vista is quite unenjoyable even for a Windows enthusiast. Most of my enthusiast buddies would disagree but they're also running high-end systems and have tweaked the heck out of Vista to disable the annoying factors and make it run comparablely to XP.

I know this isn't exactly the reply you were looking for but you not receiving a reply until now may be indicative of why... My opinion is to stick with XP or perhaps throw Vista on another system if you have one available and tinker with it. It's not a BAD operating system by ANY means but is it worth upgrading from XP? Not yet.

And yes, Microsoft will be dropping support for XP but the years for support being dropped are classifed as "Mainstream" and "Extended" support. You can read about them on Microsoft's Support Lifecycle page here. Again, I'm sorry for the negative critique but I'm a huge Microsoft fan and Vista just doesn't do it for me enough to upgrade from XP! Keep your eyes posted on Windows 7, though. That could be the release worth making the change to!

-Stephen

[djeuro]

is anyone running vista at the moment? if you are, tell me if you like it, why, and do you have the new service pack. Some people told me it made it better, some say it made no difference, I want to know

[Kayepur]

Thanx for the input, uxevangelist. Glad to know I'm not the only one wary of it. No, i'm not looking at upgrading or anything, I love XP just the way it is.

However, when you say 'tweaked the heck out of it' I'm assuming they had to modify several performance options that the general public wouldn't know about, or begin to understand. (just curious here)

Also, (curiosity killed me a long time ago ) how do you become a windows beta tester, or even a beta tester for that matter? do you just have to be in the right spot at the right moment, and know some things?

[djeuro]

Originally Posted by Kayepur

Thanx for the input, uxevangelist. Glad to know I'm not the only one wary of it. No, i'm not looking at upgrading or anything, I love XP just the way it is.

However, when you say 'tweaked the heck out of it' I'm assuming they had to modify several performance options that the general public wouldn't know about, or begin to understand. (just curious here)

Also, (curiosity killed me a long time ago ) how do you become a windows beta tester, or even a beta tester for that matter? do you just have to be in the right spot at the right moment, and know some things?

i think the easiest way to become a beta tester is to just know someone that works in that department lol and youll deff be one

[Jose]

I would say if your computer is semi old, don't get Vista. I put upgraded to Vista and experienced my computer crashing, freezing and running slowly. I assume my computer was not powerful enough to run Vista, and I did not want to deal with the headache it was, so I downgraded back to XP.

[uxevangelist]

Originally Posted by Kayepur

Thanx for the input, uxevangelist. Glad to know I'm not the only one wary of it. No, i'm not looking at upgrading or anything, I love XP just the way it is.

However, when you say 'tweaked the heck out of it' I'm assuming they had to modify several performance options that the general public wouldn't know about, or begin to understand. (just curious here)

Also, (curiosity killed me a long time ago ) how do you become a windows beta tester, or even a beta tester for that matter? do you just have to be in the right spot at the right moment, and know some things?

Anytime, Kayepur! You know, I think Microsoft quite simply got it right with XP. 2000 was definitely a great OS (I have a friend who still uses 2000 and doesn't want to upgrade to XP! LOL), but ditching 9X and making the NT kernal usable as a client OS was such a great move. Sure, if you don't know what you're doing on a computer, it's pretty simple to end up with a virus on XP but if you know what you're doing, XP is just a solid, solid OS! Now, Vista is also a very solid OS! Quite simply, Vista's issue is performance. That's it. It's very secure, the way it comes out of the box is a little more user-friendly to people who aren't PC gurus, support and drivers are finally coming around (though NVIDIA seems to be struggling with its Vista drivers), I mean... Vista isn't horrible by any means... if you don't mind performance issues. Then again, there are plenty of people out there who don't experience too many performance issues! As with any OS, performance can be subjective to the hardware the OS is installed on.

Yes, when I say "tweaked the heck out of it," they essentially do what you may do with XP if you're a power user, i.e. disable unneeded services ala MSConfig/Regedit, etc. but there is so much more with Vista. To give you an idea, take a look at this Vista tweak guide: Click here. TONS of stuff and guess what? That guide would set you up fairly well but a simple Google search would yield probably an equal amount MORE you could do to further optimize Vista. lol. Alternately, there are programs out there like TweakVista which cost money (though I'm sure there are plenty of freeware ones out there) but do the job quite nicely.

As for becoming a Windows beta tester, all you need is the desire and you're all set! There is a point where beta testing becomes fairly public. Play around on Microsoft Connect for awhile. Basically, once beta testing goes public (still a "private" beta but it becomes very simple to get on board with), you will get a code that you can enter to apply for the beta. Fill out a simple little survey, submit it, then you should be good to go. Now, that's if things don't change between now and the Windows 7 beta, which will probably start sometime next year. To get onto the technical beta (much more exclusive), you pretty much have to know someone. I've been involved in the MS beta scene since around 2000/2001, so I have made some pretty good contacts over the past 7 years or so... but it took time. There is a whooooole beta scene out there where beta versions leak to the public, so if you're patient enough to just wait for those versions, there's really no need to go through the rigmarole of signing up but it's much nicer to have your own keys to install builds and to take part in bug reporting, putting in your 2 cents, etc.

If you're interested, keep up with sites like my blog (shameless plug, lol), Neowin, and AeroXP. There are tons of sites out there but for blogs like mine, as soon as something like a beta code goes public, I'll post it, just FYI. Anyway, I hope that answers more of your questions! Feel free to shoot any other questions my way regarding Windows/MS as I'm definitely well-versed in this area. =)

-Stephen

[Sheerdal]

Yeah UX said alot of good stuff like you all I started in Dos and went to 3.1 then to 95, 98, ME, XP and so on and so forth. Right now I run a Dual boot box of Vista and XP... vista is a tad bit unhappy I don't have quite the memory I need for it unfortunately. Vista has a lot tighter security controls in and that is one thing that most people complain about. XP to be honest is pretty open and allows you to do whatever or Go where ever you want. Vista won't if you have two profiles that login into the box the one profile can't see the other profiles stuff. The same is true as well when I try to view my XP Profile and Document Vista won't let me based on Access rights and privledges. The driver support is ten times better than it was when Vista came out.

Edit: One point to add on the Beta Testing. Connect is for a mess of products that Microsoft offers... so it isn't strictly OS but it covers alot and they are always looking for help. I can attest to that.

[uxevangelist]

Originally Posted by Sheerdal

Yeah UX said alot of good stuff like you all I started in Dos and went to 3.1 then to 95, 98, ME, XP and so on and so forth. Right now I run a Dual boot box of Vista and XP... vista is a tad bit unhappy I don't have quite the memory I need for it unfortunately. Vista has a lot tighter security controls in and that is one thing that most people complain about. XP to be honest is pretty open and allows you to do whatever or Go where ever you want. Vista won't if you have two profiles that login into the box the one profile can't see the other profiles stuff. The same is true as well when I try to view my XP Profile and Document Vista won't let me based on Access rights and privledges. The driver support is ten times better than it was when Vista came out.

Edit: One point to add on the Beta Testing. Connect is for a mess of products that Microsoft offers... so it isn't strictly OS but it covers alot and they are always looking for help. I can attest to that.

Excellent contribution, Sheerdal. Thanks for noting that about Connect; I meant to mention something to that effect. Connect really is great for getting very, very involved with a whole gamut of Microsoft products. The "hottest" products to test are always Windows, Office, and Visual Studio but Sheerdal making (his? her?) point reminded me of another point to mention. If you're interested in testing, let's say Windows, get involved with any number of other products on Connect and the Microsoft connections you can make are endless! The more involved you are with testing and taking part on the Microsoft newsgroups, the more you will stand out. They're people just like you and me, so if you make a good impression and have a good personality, it won't be hard for you to meet a few Microsofties and pass them the question along of if they can help you get involved with Windows beta testing. =) Just another idea for you!

-Stephen

[Sheerdal]

Yeah I have been several Beta's over there I didn't always get the one I wanted but. all the one I have been involved in have been a lot of fun. You have to test but more often than not you can't beat the expierence and you get to help out and form up some really cool ideas.

BTW: I am a him

Tim