So what is Vista really like?

I hate it.

See my posts here.

Recently I purchased a new computer and spent a lot of time thinking about whether I should switch to Apple full time or go for a high-end PC. I downloaded Vista to test it out and decided there just aren't enough new features to make it worthwhile, as pretty much everything that had been promised over the last five years has not made it into the final product and the few features that have will be back-ported to XP and 2003 anyway. Basically, I consider Vista to be XP Service Pack 3.

I decided to go for a Mac Pro (ordered day after they were announced) and am extremely happy with my choice.

Sean

It doesn't seem as if it's been built from the ground up (maybe the core of it is though - I wouldn't know). It has greatly improved from Beta 2 to RC1, which I am using now. There is less "Are you sure you want to allow...?" pop-ups, and stuff like that - but it still does not seem finished. Which makes sense as it is not the final version I'm using.

The windows search is a joke compared to Spotlight, and I think it still looks a bit over the top in many ways. It's not as intuitive as OS X, but it does improve on XP in many ways in my opinion. The file-browsing is quite nice, and there is a nicer "preview" built in. To me the biggest difference seems to be in all the stuff that comes with Vista though: DirectX 10, Office 2007, IE 7.0 a.s.o.
But then again - all of those things, except DX10 will also run on Win XP which is quite stable after 5 years of Service Packs and minor upgrades, and XP doesn't require as many resources as Vista either.

I wouldn't spend the extra money on getting Vista once it gets here though - wait untill Vista SP1.

And not all programs have been updated to run under Vista yet either.

In short, there is still room for improvement, but many of the small things might have been fixed in the final version.

I'll probably be going back to XP at some point, just can't be bothered to format my PC again right now.

Hope it spreads a bit of almost unbiased light on Vista (even though I greatly prefer OS X).

Imagine it as XP, but slightly better.

Not worth it if you already have XP, and I'd give it a couple of years before I upgrade to it, but it's not THAT bad.

The User Account Control warnings are annoying, but can be turned off. It's nothing special, I only use it for Windows software that I need to run.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the initial release still 32bit? I thought that the "real" 64bit release wasn't for quite some time yet.

SpookTheHamster said:

Imagine it as XP, but slightly better.

Not worth it if you already have XP, and I'd give it a couple of years before I upgrade to it, but it's not THAT bad.

Click to expand...

And whats worse is SP3 for XP ain't due till mid 2008

Last I heard when RC2 hit Vista had 500 bugs remaining!

Swarmlord said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the initial release still 32bit? I thought that the "real" 64bit release wasn't for quite some time yet.

Click to expand...

http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6118434.html

And I'd assume it'll be auto detect for 32/64 bit hardware.

It sucks. Just like everything from M$

I've never used it, but isn't it true that the basic home edition won't feature any type of built in DVD creation software like OS X has with iMovie, and it doesn't include the 'Aero' look?

At least the graphical experience in OS X, such as expose and the various eye candies, comes with every version of Tiger they sell... oh yea, there is only one version of Tiger

Don't get me started on the different Vista versions - it is laughable. I don't see the point except making more money?

And this is from a guy who wants Windows to be as good as possible - the more competition, the better for us consumers. But Vista doesn't look as if it's going to be anywhere near as good as Tiger is already, and that's too bad really.