Ok, here's the story.

I am looking at a great deal on a laptop. It has everything I need and some things I don't, but it is running the Vista OS. (Home edition, I think)

I will be using this as my work PC and want to use my older hardware and software. I don't want to do troubleshooting or face a steep learning curve on everything when I have work to do.

I have stuck with XP so far and like it. Any thoughts or opinions on how friendly or stable Vista is lately? (especially to pre-Vista hardware or software)

My laptop has vista home edition and I have not had any issues with it. That said, Kim Kommando, the digital goddess, recommends against it. She says to get the premium at a minumum. See if this helps

http://www.komando.com/buyguide/index.aspx?id=3192

There is a program call PC Decrapifier. It will remove all of the stuff the laptop manager added to Vista that slows it down. After running it on my wifes new $400 Compaq Laptop with 1Gig RAM, Vista runs great:

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

That might be asking a lot. My company is getting ready to roll out Vista. I'm in the IT dept but not on that project. The team had to upgrade A LOT of software to get Vista compatible versions. YMMV.

Good luck. I bought a Mac instead.

Kind of sad that something like pcdecrapifier is needed. But I'm sure glad you mentioned that. I'm inheriting a laptop with Vista soon.

KISS Kelly

I have to admit that after SP1 and other updates that Vista is running better on my laptop. But it still does some funky things that you just have to accept, I guess.

Software can be a problem. If you use Microsoft Office for instance, you got to buy the 2007 version (and it really sux).

That is my biggest concern. I looked through my software last night and it appears that I have exactly one package that mentions Vista. The rest do not since they were purchased before it came out.

Things like CAD software, statistical packages, and MS Office will certainly be another expense as well as a learning curve. Not to mention the other things like photo/video, graphics, flowcharting, and business planning software.

I suppose I could buy a new hard drive and put XP, software, and files on it then use it in a new machine. However, that does take some of the fun out of it.

Can you put 2 OS's on the same drive? IIRC, it was possible in the past...but maybe that was just me hoping for a better solution.

Amen. Why on earth did MS choose to completely change an interface that has worked fine for years? To make it look more like a Mac?

I'm still avoiding Vista on my laptop despite repeated inquiries by our IT person to see if I want to "upgrade" my laptop from XP.

Another nag. USB a digital camera to a computer and its memory card shows folders, seems to behave like any USB storage device. But that is because the CD for your camera installed a custom driver for that particular camera. Go to a different OS, even within the MS family, and that driver may no longer work. Bye-bye faithful digital camera.

Kelly

Yes, it's relatively easy to load two OS on one hard drive. You have to create a dual-booting MBR, but it's easy to do. PM if you want details.

Oh, I also had to upgrade Adobe Photoshop Elements to 6.0; but 5.0 will also work if you get the patch. Anything below 5.0 will not work.

Vista = Fail

It amazes me how such a large company with such high bandwidth (to barrow a favorite phrase from Gates to indicate "smarts") can lay such an egg.

Perhaps not the stinking rotten one that ME was, but an egg non-the-less.

I guess you can get away with it when your installed base is so large. However, if they keep this up...

And can someone explain to me why so many flavors? Wow. What a brilliant idea.

As someone who is thinking of getting back into the private computer support business, I always tell folks to stay away from anything "Home" edition.

One simple reason.

No remote desktop connection support.

Oh it's actually in there. It's just that the great MS purposely broke it (by design as one of the selling points to pay more for one of the upgraded editions) so it don't work in the home editions.

That one right there is going to cost a lot of my paying clients an extra $50 more than once.

So hey! I guess I gotta love the crippled Home Editions.... right?

I've never bought anything other than the pro/premium/uber editions of any OS for exactly those kinds of reasons.

Err, the "Home Editions" are MS apps, right? I am on Windooozzz, but for the most part I do not run MS apps.

da wude wan

This is not a Vista issue, it is the computer makers who pre-install all those programs to make money from other software vendors.

This is an incorrect statement. Older versions of Office run on Vista. My wife is using Office 2000 on her Vista laptop.

My kids have a lot of Win95/98 games but their computer was way old to run anything. I bought them a very fast dual-core, 3 Gigs RAM, 300 GB HD (pretty good for $265). I then downloaded VirtualPC and installed Win 98 on it. Now they can play all of their games that won't work on XP or Vista. Using XP on a VPC might be an option.

Also, as stated previously, you will be surprised with what will still work on Vista. There is also a setting to emulate XP when laucnhing an application.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-windows-vista-compatibility-mode/

I see what you mean. This Acer laptop came with a whole lot of junk that is not MS. I will definitely be giving the pcdecrapifier a try!

Kelly

Kelly,



Starting with XP, some bright bulb at Microsoft thought it would be neat to offer different versions of an OS.

XP had "Home" and "Professional" editions with Home being a crippled version of the Pro edition that sells for a little less.

Early releases of Home were buggy as all get out. I guess when they went through it to disable all the features that cripple the Pro edition to make it "Home", they really crippled the whole thing.

With Vista, they really went overboard with the different edition junk.

Here is the comparison on MS's web site.

There are actually even more editions, but the four listed on the linked page are the main ones in the retail channel.

Funny thing is that when you buy any of the editions, the DVD has images of ALL editions on it. It's just that the installer knows which to lay down on your hard drive.

For some, the Home edition will suffice, but I see that as someone who only wants to browse the Net and use e-mail and even then it can bite you in the back side.

I just do not see any reason for any of the Home editions to exist other than to make MS more money.

Many who start off with Home will end up needing features not available with Home and will then need to upgrade.

If anyone is buying a new computer, it is well worth the very small up-charge to get it with the "Ultimate" edition.

And for those who are going to do an upgrade of an existing computer, don't waste your time or money on anything less.

Shop around, you can find the retail box of the Upgrade version for about $120.

I guess Sony was particularly notorious for loading their computers up w/ "crapware". They recently offered a "Fresh Start" computer as an ordering option w/ all trialware, etc removed. Initially they tried to charge $50 for this option, but I believe they have now dropped that charge.

Sony’s amazing crapware-free PC - ZDNet


I'm not techie enough to give insight on Vista vs. XP but I work remotely and the tech support I deal w/ told me they don't support Vista. I recently ordered a Dell laptop w/ XP the last day Dell said they were offering XP for this reason. I haven't checked out Dell since, so there may still be a way around ordering Vista from them. My Dad has a laptop w/ Vista and is happy; he is a light user though.

I may just go ahead and get the laptop. It is a good deal and if I need to run programs that only run on XP, then I will do a dual install or just put it on an XP-only HD and slap it in the machine.

At least that way I'll KNOW it does not have all of that other stuff on it.

Hi Woody,

My name is Rick and I work with the Windows team. I saw that you were concerned with all of the rumblings you have heard about Vista. Vista offers speed, consumes less power, and offers a better online safety then XP and Vista is compatible with over 77k hardware devices. What is your specific concern? Maybe I can help.

Rick

The last guy who posted from the Windows team gave us all free laptops. Offer still good?

At least a free upgrade from home edition is in order I think.

On a lighter note...please make sure whoever is working on Vista's replacement understands USERS do NOT want 15 MILLION different WINDOWS to CHANGE related SETTINGS. I've been an outspoken supporter of Vista for the reasons you site since it's inception. However, after spending the past two days setting up about 5 Vista powered computers...having issues with each of them, i've become frustrated with the dam setup.

Why does one have to toggle between 5 windows to control NETWORK settings?

Buy some Apples and take ques from how simple, concise, and well-thought out their setting panels are.

Thanks!

Right (that being the left) coast, wrong state.

I know that not all MS folks are in Redmond (VPNs are wonderful), but I get suspicious when someone shows up claiming to be from MS and has an IP not even close.

I would also question the wisdom to offering "support" via such an open channel.

Such a thing can come off smelling more like Marketing.

Here's to hoping Windows 7 fulfills Vista's promise.

Some regulars may feel the need to call in the calvary once in a while.

I guess perhaps some are really taking this to heart?

The above partial quote is from an e-mail allegedly from Mr. Ballmer (Head Fred In Charge at MS for those who don't know) to all MS employees. This e-mail is making the rounds in the blogsphere. I am guessing it is real, but will not bet our boat on it.