Laptops: Unfortunately "pre-installed" Vista!

[cdcollura]

Good day,

That is really strange as that I could not get Premiere 6.5 to run in Vista 64. It worked in Vista 32 but would not even install on Vista 64. I will have to try setting up a "test" PC for such things.

Getting back to the laptop, which had Vista 64 on it, and frustrated me so much I brought it back to Best Buy and ate the restock-fee, I am becoming more conviced that my "sour laptop" simply had so much crap on it (worsened by "geek squad's optimization / WTF stuff") to be the culprit. Next time I will make sure my laptop has Vista AND ONLY Vista on it before making bad calls about the OS.

I see many have had good luck with Vista, now I am wondering what will (and will not run) on XP, Vista 32, and Vista 64.

LOL ... Wait until Windows 7 - What's that gonna do?

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Wait until Windows 7 - What's that gonna do?

With any luck, hopefully Microsoft will actually make it WORK this time.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I am very familiar with the differences between 32 and 64 bit. I work in the IT industry. The fact that a 32bit os can only use 4GB of RAM is a lie. The server I run my website on has 8 gigs of ram and a 32 bit kernel

Linux xen.bholcomb.com 2.6.18-53.1.6.el5xen #1 SMP Wed Jan 23 12:33:37 EST 2008 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

It sees all 8 gigs of RAM just fine. Windows could be designed the same way, but why should they when they can just sell you a 'More Gooder More Newer More Betterer!!!!!!!!!!!111111' OS.

I have found many driver issues with 64 bit operating systems, both in the Linux/UNIX world and Windows. I'll stick with 32-bit until something or someone can convince me that my headache to performance ratio will be worth it

 

[Jerry Prsha]

Sorry but this is Microsoft to me at a glance...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/12/31/zune.player.failures/index.html

 

[rdale]

NWS isn't doing much better - they forgot about the changeover too...

NOUS71 KNCF 312117
ADANCF
.
PLEASE PASS TO THE FORECASTERS AND LEAD FORECASTERS:
.
SUBJECT: NWRWAVES 2009 PRODUCT EXPIRATION ISSUE
.
THE NCF IS AWARE OF AN NWRWAVES APPLICATION ISSUE WHERE
PRODUCTS EXPIRING IN 2009 ARE NOT BEING PROCESSED CORRECTLY.
HOWEVER, PRODUCTS EXPIRING BY THE END OF 2008 ARE PROCESSED
CORRECTLY.
.
SITES CAN SUCCESSFULLY WORKAROUND THIS PROBLEM BY ISSUING A
PRODUCT VIA NWRWAVES WITH AN EXPIRATION ENDING IN 2008. SITES
CAN THEN ISSUE THE PRODUCT AGAIN AFTER 00Z WITH AN EXPIRATION
IN 2009.
.
PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT THE FORECASTERS STAGGER THE
EXPIRATION OF ALL NWRWAVES PRODUCTS?..
.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS CALL THE NCF.
.
THANK YOU.
.
NCF/JAB

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I am very familiar with the differences between 32 and 64 bit. I work in the IT industry. The fact that a 32bit os can only use 4GB of RAM is a lie. The server I run my website on has 8 gigs of ram and a 32 bit kernel

Linux xen.bholcomb.com 2.6.18-53.1.6.el5xen #1 SMP Wed Jan 23 12:33:37 EST 2008 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

It sees all 8 gigs of RAM just fine. Windows could be designed the same way, but why should they when they can just sell you a 'More Gooder More Newer More Betterer!!!!!!!!!!!111111' OS.

I have found many driver issues with 64 bit operating systems, both in the Linux/UNIX world and Windows. I'll stick with 32-bit until something or someone can convince me that my headache to performance ratio will be worth it

There are certain versions of Windows that can support more than 4GB of memory, but adding more than 4GB of memory still doesn't change the fact that it is a 32-bit processor accessing a 32-bit memory space. Even if there is more than 4GB of memory each process still has the normal 2GB virtual address space, and the kernel address space is still 2GB, just as on a normal non-PAE system.

A 64-bit system will out perform a 32-bit system, that is why I choose a 64-bit system over 32-bit. I honestly have not ever had any problems using a 64-bit system, I work in IT as well and we run 64-bit systems and never have problems.

 

[Penny Lehner]

I bought a Toshiba laptop with Vista on it. I tried it for a week and returned it. I just didn't like it! It was slow to say the least.

So I went and bought a MacBook. I am still learning the ins and outs of it but so far I like it. It is screaming fast with my internet card. My only real problem with it is the new touchpad. The whole touchpad is also the push pad. I keep clicking on crap I don't want. So I am taking this winter to get used to it before I find myself in a bad situation this spring and I keep loading unwanted screens.

I am pretty much done with windows. Everytime they release a new OS it is worse than the last one.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

I bought a Toshiba laptop with Vista on it. I tried it for a week and returned it. I just didn't like it! It was slow to say the least.

So I went and bought a MacBook. I am still learning the ins and outs of it but so far I like it. It is screaming fast with my internet card. My only real problem with it is the new touchpad. The whole touchpad is also the push pad. I keep clicking on crap I don't want. So I am taking this winter to get used to it before I find myself in a bad situation this spring and I keep loading unwanted screens.

I am pretty much done with windows. Everytime they release a new OS it is worse than the last one.

I know that Windows-based laptops can use a wireless optical mouse plugged into a USB port. I use that on chases, as I cannot stand using the touchpad. The optical/wireless mouse is outstanding. But I would hope that you can use a regular cable-type optical mouse on the Mac - and have the Mac O/S recognize it without any difficulty - too!
Just a thought...

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Bout time:

Is Microsoft Giving Up on Vista?

 

[J Kinkaid]

Windows 7 is great and very fast and runs all the current weather apps. The Public beta will start tomorrow so make your system a dual boot and try it out .

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

To think it had to go this far...
I wonder if MicroSoft will exchange my Vista discs for the new Window 7.
That would be a fair thing to do, considering that their reputation is based on a piece of plastic and a random code number. That's not asking too much from them, when one considers what money I wasted already on Vista.
If they don't voluntarily go there, then they have created a grand scam and gotten away with it.
OR - Time for a class-action suit if they don't make amends!

 

[David Drummond]

Then of course some of us as happy with Vista, think it runs great, and aren't really having any problems with it and don't feel scammed at all.

Sure there were some issues when it first came out that probably should have been ironed out before launch, but those seem to have been addressed in SP1. But by then it suffered from mob mentality about how horrible it was and all that jazz. I hear people say that all the time, then I ask when the last time they used it was, and more often than not, they have never even tried it. They are just going off something someone else said.

I've been working with computers and operating systems since the TI99/4a, and I have seen an unbelievable amount of software and operating systems come and go. I can honestly say, the vast majority of the time when I helped someone with their issue it came down to just 2 things.

1) User error/unfamiliarity of the product
2) User trying to use outdated software on a newer OS, or a newer software/OS on a system that wasn't up to the task.


You just can't go throwing software that is 3 or 4 generations old on newer machines/operating systems and expect there to not be issues. Software doesn't have an unlimited shelf life, unless you are content to keep using an outdated system or OS.

I have some great old programs lying around somewhere that will run GREAT on Windows 3.1 (in fact I still have the floppy discs of Windows 3.1 some place) but I certainly don't expect them to run on Windows XP or Vista.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

I pretty much agree with you David. OK, the 'scam' statement was a bit over the top. I don't think they intentionally meant it to be a scam. They have a reputation of customers that depend upon them to run their businesses and home boxes on. If I were one of the honchos at MS, I would want to generate new business and re-assure past customers by making it right with them. But, if they cannot at least be willing to exchange Vista discs for a reasonable exchange; then they have taken something from their customers ('money') and left us without a remedy. Or have they?

Class action suit? Could be; those are legitimate reasons for asking them to comply. I don't why they wouldn't at least offer to do this - as it would do a lot to shore up any bad feelings and frustration they may have caused. Of course, they just can't come out and say 'Gee; it was a big mistake and we are flogging those involved in writing this O/S". But if they offered to exchange the disc at any local software supplier - I'll bet their stock value would shoot up at least a few points. They have the opportunity to gain a lot and lose a little. That's just good business, and a good business practice I think.

 

[David Drummond]

But, is it really their fault when it's user error? I think they made good when they got SP1 out relatively quickly to fix many things that people were having problems with. I don't really see how blame can be placed on them for old systems, or mis-perceptions about the product from people who never used it.

They launched the Windows Mojave campaign, and everyone that tried it LOVED it, and were quite surprised to learn it was actually Vista.

My point is, I truly believe Vista suffered (suffers) from:

A) A bit of a buggy launch, which was mostly rectified with SP1.
B) A heck of a lot of user ignorance and the general discomfort people feel when changing major ground on something like an OS (pretty much all Windows versions have gone through that). (In this I include those trying to run it on machines that really can't handle it, and trying to run old software on it.)
C) A whole heck of a lot of bandwagon bad-mouthing from people who either never tried it or really ever gave it a chance.

Bottom line, it works differently than what people were comfortable with in XP, and it doesn't always run software that was developed prior to Vista. I'm not so sure that's a bad thing. I think if I can have it running just fine on 5 machines here, with pretty much no issues, that it just can't be that hard for others to do it. My machines are healthy, but not exactly top of the line. The last one to go was my sig other's machine (Dell) which bit the dirt after xmas. She protested loudly about Vista, about how she didn't like it, blah blah blah. She's been on it a couple weeks now and I hardly hear a peep out of her about it, when before I always hear a lot about how she was having problems in XP with something.

 

[Rob Wadsworth]

I think that the MS folks have thrown up their hands and said "We give up; we can't fix it and we need to overhaul it for the masses that aren't computer savvy enough to be able to fix it on their own". But in all honesty; that isn't the whole story.

Windows 7 is probably all that worked/looked like in Vista with Xp underneath. Can't and won't say that is for sure, but its got to be something close to it. The myriads of hardware mfr people that write the machine language (for motherboards, video cards, etc, etc, Not to forget the software mfr's - too) are going to have massive quantities of kittens if that is true. We will see; what else can we do but watch and wait? Is there any driver support for Windows 7 - now that the beta testing is starting tomorrow - as I understand it to happening then? I wouldn't mind downloading a beta copy and putting it on a spare drive that I have. Could be pretty interesting. But that depends on how they have it set up - would we need to burn as an ISO file - or has it included the option to re-partition the drive to have a dual-boot function? I'm gonna go check it out now...