Dogblinkers
@sbcglobal.net
| [Vista] What "Exactly" have you found "right" with Vista
I like vista and to be fair with my last post " What Exactly did you find wrong with vista", I have found new operating systems force the hardware manufacturers to increase speed and performance of their hardware. What have you found "right" with vista? |
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gsm
join:2004-09-29
Renton, WA
 ·Comcast
| everything now I am a big fan of vista. so much so that I bought 3 copies of it. Home pre upgrade anytime upgrade to ult and a retail box of ult  + the wfp so I somehow ended with 5 copies of vista |
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H2OuUp2
Happy to be here
Premium
join:2002-03-15
Oklahoma City, OK | reply to Dogblinkers
Didn't like it at first, but....
NO crashes EVER (ymmv). |
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Keizer
I'M Your Huckleberry
Premium,MVM
join:2003-01-20 | reply to Dogblinkers
After doing a clean install of Vista, with SP1, my biggest complaints are gone. Games are running awesome on Vista, USB 2 speeds are right in the ball park, and lets face it, it's a really good looking OS if you have the hardware to back it up. |
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DOStradamus
MVM
join:2003-11-04
Santa Rosa, CA
| reply to Dogblinkers
I'm a proponent of 2k8 Server (Windows Vista's sibling "Server" product), to be the best desktop OS I've ever run, and I have run several (not just from MS as my NIC might imply)
2k8 Server was released with SP1 already installed (its Windows 6.0A), and MS nicely packaged all that I see as "bad" in Vista as an optional package for me - "User Desktop Experience", which, of course, I didn't install.
Vista w/SP1 may surprise a lot of you... Microsoft has released some of its *best* OS (and other) versions either as upgrades or "very next versions" of some of their worst releases:
Windown98 -> Windows98SE
MS-DOS 4 -> MS-DOS 5
..and, VS 2005 finally gave us VS6 users something to upgrade to.
2k8 Server, IMHO, runs just as fast as 2k3.
If Vista SP1 isn't the "Next 98SE", SP2 should be. Hang in there. Things will speed up.
-NK |
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djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
 ·AT&T U-Verse
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 ·DSL EXTREME
edit:
May 7th, @10:46PM
| reply to Dogblinkers
The installation DVD. Both the install process and recovery tools are light years better than XP.
I do like Aero and the elegant fading animations when you minimize and maximize.
Better handling of duplicate files when doing copy operations through the gui.
Searching on the start menu is great.
Control Panel organization is better (except when you enter networking, ugh).
Vista Media Center's new plugin API has potential (c'mon My Movies, release that Vista version...)
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Laser eye surgery rocks! I love frickin' laser beams. |
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takeahike
join:2005-01-07
Woodland Hills, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| reply to Dogblinkers
It's real stable, great search, great graphics and animations, allows for much more fun and 'involvement' with the computing experience, some good shortcut tricks!
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"Windows is for boys, Linux is for men, OSX is for adolescents." Attributed |
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Pole883
join:2004-01-27
Schenectady, NY |  reply to Dogblinkers
Vista..........I'm lovin' it! |
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Skeedatl
Ah, push it - push it real good
Premium
join:2007-12-26
The Cloud
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edit:
May 8th, @08:04AM
| reply to Dogblinkers
To me it's the little things. Zone copying and better drag and drop of elements between applications. Being a regular OS X user, I missed having that functionality in XP but Vista does it very well.
Another thing I liked about OS X that XP didn't have was good wallpaper fitment. You had only tile, stretch and actual size. Vista you can fit the wallpaper to the screen height or width without having to edit the pic and resize for good fit like I did with XP.
Another OS X tool I missed in XP was a good screen capture tool. I ended up having to use 3rd party tools. But with Vista, it's built in with snipping tool and it works great.
Fax and scan for me is a good replacement to the now dead Winfax Pro.
Lots of handy widgets, particularly RDC.
Windows Search and Shadow Copy
On the majority of my machines, it boots and shuts down faster than XP did.
More secure in default configuration.
The mobility tool is a handy consolidation of stuff I check regularly.
But my fave is Vista Media Center, IMO FAR superior to MCE 2005. It's very stable, fast and the transparent interface awesome looking. Network sharing and integration with WHS is flawless. And unlike TiVo, no friggin banner ads on every screen or recording of infomercials. Plus it's free. |
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PeteC2
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-20
Bristol, CT
clubs:
·AT&T Yahoo
edit:
May 8th, @08:34AM
| reply to Dogblinkers
said by Dogblinkers :
I like vista and to be fair with my last post " What Exactly did you find wrong with vista", I have found new operating systems force the hardware manufacturers to increase speed and performance of their hardware. What have you found "right" with vista?
Dogblinkers, an interesting observation, but to be honest, to me, it appears a bit "backwards", no offense meant!
Vista did not "force" hardware development...that is an ever-ongoing process quite regardless of the software developers! Rather Vista is taking advantage of the reality of what today's more powerful processors bring to the table.
Intel and AMD (as was Motorola, and other manufacturers in the past) will always be looking for ways to increase the capabilities of their processors...Seagate, Western Digital, etc., will always be looking to improve the capacity and seek times of their hard drives...Nvidia, AMD, Intel, et al, will forever be looking to extend the boundaries of graphics processors...and on it goes...because if they stop? The competition won't, and they will go out of business! Technology never stands still! Try going out and buying a 25" console, black and white t.v. without a remote, and a mechanical tuner... 
What I find interesting in regards to what is "right" about Vista, is that it truly is in the eyes of the user!
For example, to me, the automated, let Vista do the "housekeeping" defragging, is a good feature! Why on earth do I want, or need to monkey around with defragging? IMHO, the hallmark of a sophisticated OS is that the end user need not concern his/her self with mundane background operations...and yet...there are certainly a number of users who feel (not rightly or wrongly, their opinion, after all!) that not being in intimate, direct control of the defragging process gives them less "control" over the OS operation!
I also absolutely like the Aero interface...it is a pleasant, evolutionary graphics improvement...but again, some folks decry the extra resources that a spiffier appearance does take...this is an "issue" with each succeeding OS, and legit enough. Some folks like a very graphic interface, some want every last bit of performance, and dislike anything that "frivolously" uses any resources.
The other thing that I think Vista "got right", and again, this is dependent on what hardware/software that you are running, is that it is every bit as stable as XP, of course, the exception being if you do have an app or hardware device that was not Vista compatible or yet had Vista drivers...and despite the complaints, Vista came out of the box with a much longer compatibility list than any previous OS, including XP. Certainly I suspect that my good response with Vista has quite a bit to do with the fact that I bought a computer that was designed to work with Vista in the first place. Probably, as with XP before it, the older the system, and hardware/software, the more likely that something might not "play nice"...
Also, "Superfetch" really does work pretty much as advertised...processes that one uses most frequently, do come up quite quickly. Along that note: I like that Vista actually puts available memory to good use! One of what I believe to be one of the mis-understandings of Vista, is that just because much of your ram is being constantly used...that is not a bad thing, as Vista is good at releasing it to other tasks as called upon! What is the point of having 2- 4 gb (or more) ram, if it is just sitting idle much of the time?
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...something is happening here but you don't know what it is...do you, Mr. Jones? |
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weaseled386
join:2008-04-13
Port Orange, FL
 ·Verizon Wireless B..
·mybrighthouse
| reply to Dogblinkers
I love Vista, but I'm unable to run it on my Dell D620. I bought Vista Ultimate, installed it and shortly thereafter my laptop started overheating & shutting down. However, I have a thread over in the Road Warrior forum about how abusive I am to my systems...
What actually attracted me to Vista, as lame as it may sound, is the bubbles screen saver!!! However, when I tried to run it my laptop's cooling fan would ramp up three speeds, and shut down. It got better after disabling Aero, but still died when trying to watch a DVD. So I said mess on it and went back to XP Pro.
This isn't a Vista issue!!! As stated above, I've beat this laptop into the ground. Leaving it running in a locked car in the hot Florida sun, working underground in dark hot & damp telco sites and even dropping it.
I did just purchase a Dell XPS M1530 with all the bells & whistles. I bought the cheapest version of Vista I could get on it so I can upgrade with the copy of Ultimate I already own. Waiting on this build I've turned into the most NON-patient person. I'm checking the build status 15 times a day, etc.
My favorite aspect of it is the user interface. In a close second is networking.
WHAT I HATE ABOUT IT: No HyperTerm. I'm not forced to download a 3rd party term software that I use multiple times daily. I guess I'm in the bottom 5% of Windows users who acutally used HyperTerm (also for telneting into old BBS'!). |
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Snowcat
join:2004-02-02
Nashville, TN | reply to Dogblinkers
I have just had it for a week, but one neat thing I noticed is that my router shows up in the network settings, something that I wouldn't see in XP. I can even click a link that goes to the configuration page of the router. |
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rmrper
join:2006-06-13
Garland, TX
·Verizon FIOS
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to Dogblinkers
Improved Media Center experience on a fresh install. Getting Media Center and my Xbox360 extender, as well as the WMP11 media sharing was just much simpler. On XP SP2 Media Center, I had to go through some funky installation order so my ATI HDTV card would work without having a 2nd NTSC tuner installed. Then, of course, I had to get an MPEG2 codec, and install .NET and various Windows Updates for it to all work. Vista set everything up on install but one driver for my HDTV card. I told it to check Windows Update for a driver from Device Manager, and it found it and I was on my way. Then, I turn on my 360 and Vista says "New Extender Found. Do you want to set it up?" Follow the prompts and I'm done in 5 minutes.
Additionally, it is nice that Windows Movie Maker can now edit the dvr-ms files from Media Center. I can quickly edit out commercials and save a WMV file for my wife to watch on her laptop, as she travels frequently. |
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dellsweig
Extreme Aerobatics
Premium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
| reply to Dogblinkers
said by Dogblinkers :
I like vista and to be fair with my last post " What Exactly did you find wrong with vista", I have found new operating systems force the hardware manufacturers to increase speed and performance of their hardware. What have you found "right" with vista?
Actually - I like it allot - for what it is... I have 10 machines in my house - 6 Vista (all flavors) 2 XP and 2 Linux. I will be upgraded one of the XP's to Vista this weekend and the last is my work laptop. The only reason for XP on that is the Nortel VPN client does not work in Vista and I need that to connect. Oh yeah - I run a XP VM on my Vista desktop for accessing work.....
If you are looking for a consumer grade OS - Vista is what you are looking for. It is relativly stable, well supported and seamlessly runs all the home user apps.
If you are looking for a server or performance - Linux cannot be beat.
2 markets - 2 OS's |
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Alcohol
Premium
join:2003-05-26
Edison, NJ
·Optimum Online
| reply to Dogblinkers
Heres my top 5.
- Ability to sound control different programs (No more windows sounds = Win)
- Aero
- Windows sidebar
- New folder view
- Dreamscene
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I found the key to success but somebody changed the lock. |
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Chillin
COLTS OWN
Premium
join:2002-04-22
Schwenksville, PA | reply to Dogblinkers
- Stable
- Folder Views
- Search
- Stable
- Aero
- Stable
- Media Center
- Real Stable
- My GF loves the blue loading circle... lol.
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Graphic Disorder |
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james1
join:2001-02-26
antarctica
| reply to Dogblinkers
I really like the start menu quick search. I can type the first three letters of the program I want to run and then hit enter and it runs, depending on if there are similar.
I'm not a fan of some of the folder views, especially when an irrelevant one is assigned to a folder. Sometimes I have to go through a bunch of work just to do something simple like sort by file size. You can disable it, sure, but it's enabled by default. |
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MattE
Obama '08
Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
·North State Commun..
 ·Corporate Colocation
| reply to Dogblinkers
said by Dogblinkers :
I like vista and to be fair with my last post " What Exactly did you find wrong with vista", I have found new operating systems force the hardware manufacturers to increase speed and performance of their hardware. What have you found "right" with vista?
After switching back from XP to Vista 32 (instead of Vista x64), I've not had a single problem and I am actually enjoying Vista. I think a huge part of my disappointment with Vista compatibility was simply 64-bit software incompatibilities. Vista, once booted and allowed to "do it's thing" (caching perhaps?), is much faster than XP. It doesn't seem like it at first, but once you perform an action, the second time that action is performed, it's damn near instantaneous. I didn't really notice this until recently. I think this may be why most benchmarks show Vista as slower. It *IS* the first time you open an app, or look at a huge directory ... but if you repeat that action, it's instant. I don't think benchmarks take this into account.
I've gone so far as to upgrade from Vista Business to Vista Ultimate (since I've got tons of free licenses for each) and I'm digging the Media Center functionality/integration with my XBox 360 and the Dreamscene MPEG backgrounds. I love the sidebar w/ my XM Radio plugin. WMP would always time the session out every 2-3 hours and I'd have to log back in.
The combination of SP1 and 32-bit software has made Vista rather enjoyable. It probably helps I dumped my Athlon 64 system for a Core 2 Duo E6750 system right before the upgrade also.
I still don't care for the Network Sharing Center, especially the VPN disconnect functionality as I have several different VPN connections I use simultaneously throughout the day, but that's really my only complaint. |
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SierraRob
join:2007-01-10
Prather, CA
edit:
May 8th, @11:17AM
| reply to Dogblinkers
I am running 64-bit Vista Business SP1 on my month-old quad-core machine with 4Gb RAM. After disabling UAC and some of the resource-hogging background system protection stuff (since I do frequent backups anyway), I find it to be better than XP, and very responsive and stable (no system crashes yet).
One of the things that impresses me about it is that system standby WORKS - this is the first machine I've owned that I feel comfortable putting on standby instead of shutting down. Every computer I've had before this one (with XP, 2000, etc.) would wake from standby with the WiFi connection not working, or the sound not working, or some such annoyance. I think this is due to the fact that Vista's new device driver model (especially under 64-bit OS) forces the driver writers to actually deal with things like standby mode rather than just ignore them. (Probably a major reason why many hardware vendors were still struggling to release Vista drivers even when Vista was released.)
I would not install Vista on any machine more than a year or two old, though, and definitely not on a single-core machine. Vista needs multiple CPUs to really shine. |
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anoncoward
| reply to Dogblinkers
All spot-on reasons listed above, but for me it is security. Vista lets you run in a limited user account in ways simply not possible with XP. Users who refuse to migrate simply don't realize their boxen's potential by upgrading! |
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