10 Reasons For/Against upgrading to Windows Vista

[Jason]

Interesting "shortcut" articles if you're interested in Vista...

10 reasons not to get Vista
http://apcmag.com/5049/10_reasons_not_to_get_vista

    *  21st January 2007
    * Ashton Mills
    * Kernel Knowledge, Linux, Vista, Windows

It's all too easy to get caught up in the million dollar marketing engine as we approach the consumer release of Windows Vista, so lets not forget that it isn't the second coming, and by all counts is an upgrade you can do without.

There are many lists out there on why to get Vista, so here's ours on why not to.

1. You don't actually need it -- No, think about this. Vista doesn't do anything you can't already do with XP. About the only significant shift requiring Vista is DirextX10, but as no titles support it yet and, according to John Carmack (the godfather of modern gaming) there's no need to yet either.

2. Cost $$ -- It's so blindingly obvious, most people will be blinded to it. You already have XP, and alternatives like Linux are free. If you really want to throw money away, go give it to a local charity.

3. On that note, it's outrageously overpriced -- at least in Australia. As revealed in the current APC, even after taking into account the profit margin Microsoft Australia previously applied to XP (as well as exchange rates, as you would expect), Australians are paying hundreds of dollars more for their copies than in the US. In fact, it's cheaper for Australians to buy Vista direct by mail order from the States. If you think Microsoft Australia is reaming us, vote with your wallet.

4. Upgrading hardware -- XP was demanding at release, but Vista more so. If you have an older machine that struggles with XP at the best of times, Vista is out of your ballpark unless you spend even more money to upgrade. If this is you, see point 1.

5. Driver support -- Key hardware like video and sound is crippled at the moment -- while Nvidia is working furiously to get a stable driver for the 8800 out by the 30th, there's still no SLI support for any of the Nvidia range. And thanks to the removal of hardware accelerated 3D sound in Vista, Creative's popular DirectSound based EAX no longer works at all, muting this feature for just about all gaming titles on the market today. Creative is in the process of coding a layer for its drivers to translate EAX calls to the OpenAL API which is seperate from Vista, but going by past experience with Creative drivers we won't see these any time soon.

6. Applications that don't work -- there's been plenty of coverage about applications that won't work without a vendor update. These include anti-virus, backup and security software such as those from Symantec, Sophos and ilk; CD and DVD burning tools like the suite from Nero need updated versions to work; and even basic disk management and partitioning tools such as Paragon's Hard Disk Manager are awaiting an update for Vista to be compatible. How many more will fail as Vista enters mainstream? Even Firefox has issues with Vista.

7. It's a big fat target -- with a new and untested in the global wild architecture, virus and malware authors are going to work overtime exploiting the holes Microsoft missed. In fact it's already happening. Loath though I am to use the word 'security' and 'Windows' in the same sentence, Windows XP has at least been patched to the hilt and can be used with a plethora of reasonably effective security tools that work now, without waiting for an update down the track.

8. UAC -- Oh yes, the Microsoft solution for an operating system where mutli-user was an afterthought. Sure, you can disable it, but the OS then makes it clear then that the onus is on the user for any damaging programs that got to run with permissions, rather than with Windows in the first place. If you do have it on, it is going to annoy the hell out of you. It pops up far too frequently, and even on a fast PC, the UAC screen takes too long to come up and disappear.

9. DRM -- And to a lesser degree TPM -- were made for the RIAAs and MPAAs of this world, and the even tighter integration of copy protection mechanisms and 'Windows Rights Management' into vista are nothing more than a liability to you, the user. This ComputerWorld piece says is succinctly: 'it's hard to sing the praises of technology designed to make life harder for its users.' As for TPM, this short animated video shows just how far the rabbit hole goes. And to think you pay for the privilege of having the use of media you purchased and own dictated by third parties, even on your own system.

10. The draconian license -- somehow, Microsoft has forgotten that it built its business from products that empowered its customers, not hampered them. Of course, we forget that Microsoft's customers aren't you and I, afterall (see point 9). Aside from the backward thinking that is licensing, and not actually owning, your software new terms with Vista include being able to transfer the license only once; half the limit compared to XP for Home Basic and Premium on how many machines can connect to yours for sharing, printing and accessing the Internet; limits on the number of devices that can use Vista's Media Center features; activation and validation governing your ability to upgrade hardware and use Windows itself; and outlawing the use of Home Basic and Premium with virtualisation software, and Ultimate only if DRM enabled content and applications aren't used. But then again, who reads these anyway?

10 reasons you should get Vista
http://apcmag.com/5082/10_reasons_you_should_get_vista

    *  22nd January 2007
    * Dan Warne
    * The Invistagator, Vista, Windows

My colleague Ashton Mills published the top 10 reasons you shouldn't get Vista this morning.

I see his point on some fronts -- admittedly, Microsoft's official publicity material hasn't done a great job of explaining the basic benefits of Vista.

Microsoft's talk of Vista's 'richer experience' and 'getting ready for a new day' just makes the hardened tech user roll their eyes and move on.

However, I've been running Vista at APC since the earliest leaked builds, and witnessed its extraordinary evolution as Microsoft meandered its way towards the final product.

Sure, the earlier versions included some bold features which were dropped for the sake of familiarity in the final version, but there's still lots to appreciate about the "RTM" version of Vista.

I'm not talking here about a nicer user interface or security - I figure APC readers already know how to run a secure XP box and how to de-Fisher-Price it.

Here are the real benefits: things that will actually make a difference to you day-to-day.

1. UI built for the era of video and digital photography
It's not actually Microsoft's key selling point, but the thing that everyone will probably find the most useful about Vista is that photos, videos and music are not treated the same as Word documents any more. When you open a folder of photos, they come up as they'd appear in Google Picasa or Apple iPhoto. There's inbuilt basic photo editing. Music folders come up in columns of ID3 tags, a bit like iTunes. Finally, you don't have to rely so much on third party apps to work with your files.

2. Image-based install
PC enthusiasts spend a lot of time installing and reinstalling Windows for their own and other people's PCs. The Vista DVD is actually a pre-installed version of the OS in a compressed form, making it substantially quicker to install. It's also much easier to customise for unprompted installation with the correct defaults, and you can even install your own software automatically at the time Vista is installed - like slipstreaming service packs but on steroids. Read more...

3. Up-to-date driver base and better driver handling on installation
Enjoy the just-baked driverbase while it lasts (19,500 drivers large). If you do need to use a special disk driver during installation in the future it won't have to be on floppy disk. Now you can use a USB memory key or CD. Also, Microsoft is now making much greater use of Windows Update for provision of drivers that aren't present in the Windows RTM driver base. Windows Chief Jim Allchin talks about it here.

4. Desktop search and search folders built in
Yes, you could already get umpteen desktop search apps including Windows Desktop Search from Microsoft for XP, but you can't underestimate the importance of it being installed on every single Vista PC. Now when your mum rings saying she's lost a document she's been working on all day you can just direct her to the start menu. Also, desktop search folders are handy for finding stuff you haven't necessarily got stored in one folder but that is useful to gather together from time to time (e.g. documents with "tax, invoice or receipt" in them).

5. Sleep mode that actually works.
It's a small thing, but makes a big difference: Vista has finally caught up to operating systems that can sleep near instantly and wake up reliably, in a couple of seconds. Read more...

6. Rock-solid laptop encryption
The data on your laptop is worth a hell of a lot to an identity thief. Vista's "Bitlocker" encryption (only in Enterprise and Ultimate versions) does heavy-duty, full-drive encryption, so you can be certain that unless a thief has your password there's simply no way they're going to get in. Read more...

7. Better file navigation
Vista now has some time-saving features like favourite folders displayed in the left column of every Explorer window, as well as "breadcrumbed" folder lists allowing you to quickly jump backward and forward through a path. Sure, these should have been put into Windows years ago, but at least they're here now.

8. Inbuilt undelete
Or, depending on how you look at it, inbuilt rolling backup. Every time you make a change to a file or delete it, Windows keeps the previous version. As a result, the "oh !@#$ I just overwrote my entire PhD with Document1" feeling can be quickly assuaged. Read more...

9. DirectX10
OK, this isn't so much a benefit as your hand being forced: DirectX 10 will never be made for XP, and a raft of games have already been announced 'exclusively' for 10. Admittedly it does take gaming graphics to the next level, but it's very much tied to Vista.

10. Face it, you have no choice
When Microsoft brings out a major renovation to Windows, you can choose to ignore it for a year or two, but then the device drivers start drying up for older versions of Windows, your friends start asking questions about their new PC that you can't answer, and even if you use Linux, you'll inevitably need familiarity with Microsoft's latest interoperability blockers. Face it: your arse belongs to Redmond.

[The Librarian]

I just bought a new PC and it has XP Media Centre Edition on it.  It's pretty good for what I need it for, which is mainly graphic related, I dont game so much.  It has a free upgrade to Vista but at the moment I have no intention of upgrading.  I will have to check if its a time limited upgrade, and then maybe upgrade before it runs out, but right now, I'm not interested.  Kinda like 'if it ain't broke dont fix it'

There seems to be quite a lot of things I use that would not be compatible with Vista and I cant afford to replace them.

[Jason]

I'd kind of like to test it on a lesser-used machine first before I make any changes to my present system. Although, my current box is due to be rebuilt this year so it could be time...

Ideally, I'd be abandoning it for Linux.  If I can find the time to test a few more apps, I'd prefer to go that route about a million percent moreso than Vista.  The sad thing is the amount of software and $$ I have invested in Windows-based apps.

If I didn't have that, I would've moved to Linux years ago.  The test box I have it on is so much enjoyable to use than windows.

I'm going to move to Open Office on my pc shortly (maybe this weekend if I have a few hours to play with it).  That's step one of my conversion plan

[Mark]

My personal #1 reason NOT to upgrade is... drum roll please...

The fact that there is already a Service Pack 1 for Vista in the works even though it hasn't even been released yet! Yay.

I made a weblog post on my thoughts of Vista and wanting to leave Windows behind if you are interested.

http://www.somesecretplace.com/2007/01/26/time-to-get-a-mac/

Don't mind the fact that it's a random babbling and I was in a hurry when I posted it.

[Jason]

Do I see a "mac" in that url?  I think I'll skip it. 

Just kidding, mac is good with cheese!

Kidding aside, I've never been a mac person but I have nothing against them.  I just like having more control over my pc.

[Mark]

Well, yes you see mac in that URL but you don't see the ? it's more of a question and random thoughts on Vista. So it's "Time to Get a Mac?"

If you didn't read it, I'm just pointing out that for those of us with older hardware (or in my case, slower laptop) will need to spend more than the $400 it costs for the Vista Premium (full version, I hate Windows upgrade versions) just so we can get the hardware that supports Vista well.

If you don't upgrade your old hardware you don't get to use the fancy new bloated GUI and with older sound cards you will have trouble listening to music or videos with old or no DRM embedded into it.

I too have never been a Mac user, but we have a Mac here at work so that we can learn how to use them (we are seeing a lot more Mac based networks now a days) and it's growing on me.

[Jason]

I'm just giving you a hard time. 

Have you looked into Linux for your laptop? It will revive old hardware -- you'd be surprised 

[Mark]

Yes, as a matter of fact I had tried various Linux distro's but unfortunately my built in Wi-Fi card is not supported even with ndiswrapper. So even though it worked great in general and I would love to make it my main OS, I couldn't get online without an Ethernet cable. And I love to sit and browse the net in my living room, wireless.

[Jason]

Aren't there "request" places where you can list drivers you'd like to see built?  If not, there should be!

[Mark]

I think so, but I wasn't ready to put that much effort into it at that time.

[ShaneR]

I had the chance to spend some time with the RTM release of Vista.  I was actually quite impressed and, although I agree that there is no need to upgrade, I don't see any reason not to if your system and wallet can justify it.  As far as the system goes, you don't need as much power as some are saying...you'd be surprised.  Again, we saw all these arguments when xp was due to be released and how many were going to stay with '98 or 2000--it is happening all over again with Vista...I basically just tuned everything out until I could try it out for myself.  I like it

As for Linux, I want to love it, but it still has some work to do before it is ready for desktop primetime, in my opinion of course.  For the average user, it is still not what I would consider user-friendly in the Windows/OSX sense...again, my opinion.

Oh well...should be interesting

[Jason]

Oh well...should be interesting

Definitely    It's about time too!

[weekend camper]

For the average user, it is still not what I would consider user-friendly in the Windows/OSX sense...again, my opinion.

Oh well...should be interesting

this is NOT directed to you ShaneR, just a comment that I read awhile ago that you reminded me of:



"Windows is only 'easy' to use because people have spent years using it."




While obviously not the whole truth (driver availability being but one hurdle), at least there is a kernel of truth in there somewhere....




Haven't seen anything any in Vista that interests me personally.... although my buddy loves the parental controls he can place on his (young) daughter's account.

[Mark]

OK, so I went through a Windows Vista Business Edition upgrade on a business use laptop of mine and now I can honestly say, DON'T DO IT!!! No matter how bad you want to, just wait.

After a handful of hours of installing and configuring and a million and a half headache inducing problems, I'm still stuck with a not fully working PC. It sucks, Vista sucks.

I could make a laundry list of things that are wrong but here's a small one...

• My PDA and Vista Don't Get Along - Even though I have a new PDA with Windows Mobile 5 (which is supposed to be the most compatable version) I cannot get it to connect worth a damn! I've tried everything I can think of, and the Windows support is firing off cookie cutter answers left and right.
• I'm getting bombarded with pop-up after pop-up of these stupid security windows saying that I have to be logged in as Admin when I want to administrate stuff even as small as desktop settings... even though I AM logged in as an admin user. I click OK and proceed, there is no need for that pop-up.
• I'm having minor issues with various programs I've installed, such as Photoshop CS2.
• Video runs a little choppy every now and then, on XP it was much better.
• Vista's Internet/network safety features are so secure, that unless you disable the warning pop-ups, you will see them with every page you load.

List goes on and on...

EDIT: Typos

[Jason]

YIKES!

Thanks for the head's up.  I think I'll wait until SP23 comes out.