OT: Windows Vista.....yes or no on upgrade?

[ChicosBailBonds]

I got my free upgrade sent to me today but haven't installed it yet.  I'm running Windows XP right now.


Anyone upgraded yet?  Good, bad, indifferent?

[MarquetteVol]

My suggestion is to buy a Mac then you'll never have to ask yourself this kind of question again.

[rocky_warrior]

Anyone upgraded yet?  Good, bad, indifferent?

Bought a laptop with Vista.  Pretty indifferent - not an awesome upgrade.  The "wow" factor is overblown.  Nothing terribly cool over XP if you ask me (that is, if you're just looking for a functional operating system). 

The Mac commercial where they have to ask the security guy for permission for everything is fairly accurate.  Well, at least when you're installing a new program, or changing system settings.  Popups abound - and they call this security even though I've already trained myself to always answer "Allow" whenever I get asked if I really want to do something.

Haven't tried an actual upgrade yet.  I'd say if you have a functional XP system, stick with it.  Save Vista for your next computer.

[ChicosBailBonds]

My suggestion is to buy a Mac then you'll never have to ask yourself this kind of question again.

I can't, I like the games and other stuff too much that the MAC doesn't have.

[maxpower773]

I've got vista now and I really haven't had any problems. I have a printer that isn't compatible yet, and just had to download a couple drivers, but nothing major. I like the look better and the ability  to customize and change things are easier, also the search is a lot better. The permission stuff doesn't bother me at all, its nice because I know if anyone dumb uses my computer it'd take a lot to even mess it up if they downloaded the wrong thing.  I'd say test it out before anyone buys it, just go to bestbuy or some store where it is on the computers there. It's nice, but some people could care less and just want to be able to use the internet and word.

[nathanziarek]

I can't, I like the games and other stuff too much that the MAC doesn't have.

Mac isn't an acronym and doesn't need to be capitalized.

As for Vista, if what you've got now works for you, I wouldn't upgrade. I love the shiney newness of updated software, but typically live through the headaches of being an early adopter. If you are up for that, then by all means. Otherwise, run the Vista Advisor upgrade tool from Microsoft, see what won't work (things like virus scan are almost guarenteed not to work without a new version) and go from there. No sense in having the newest OS if it means you can't print, right?

Nate

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Like Rocky Warrior I bought a new laptop with Vista on it.  It just takes some getting used to.  It's not spectacularly better and the security pop up boxes do get annoying after awhile but it has it's plusses over XP.  One issue I came across is finding accessories that are Vista capable.  Dell sent me a webcam that isn't capable with Vista.  I've since found a couple that are capable but there isn't much of choice at the moment which I son't like.

[thekahoona]

as a friend pointed out: "Greatest. Vista. Review. Ever."

http://chalain.livejournal.com/43015.html

[ChicosBailBonds]

Thanks...I've decided to keep it shrink wrapped.

[tweakers_suck]

Once you go Mac, you never go back !   

[MUCam]

Windows Vista is not worth the update, unless you purchase a machine with it already installed. Installing it on an existing computer may (and with microsoft, probably will) cause complications from which your old data may never recover.

Best to wait a few years as Microsoft irons out the kinks.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Once you go Mac, you never go back !   

Tweekers, I actually started PC, went Mac in the early 1990's and came back to PCs.  I had the IIIc and something else...the si or something.

Could never find any damn software for it when I went to the store, it was 95% PC software and a little table of Mac stuff.  That drove me away.

[MarquetteVol]

Mac software is getting much better and you can now run Windows Boot Camp on the new machines: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/. It lets you run Windows on Mac for the occasional situation where you want to play a game or something else that's not available on the Mac platform. I'm not employed by Steve Jobs or anything, but I use a Dell laptop at work and a Mac Powerbook at home. I enjoy using my Mac infinitely more than the PC. I'll probably eventually get boot camp so I can use certain things like ESPN 360 or use my BlackBerry as a tethered modem. For the most part, though, I rarely encounter situations where the Mac prohibits me from doing anything. The only thing that's prohibitive is the cost of purchasing one.

I made the change to Apple in the late-90's because I took a lot of publication design classes at MU and preferred the Mac versions of the Adobe program, Quark and such. In the past five or six years, Apple has just turned the corner. Their OS is phenomenal, customer support is great (I think there are about half-a-dozen Apple Stores in SoCal and you can actually walk in one and get on-the-spot tech support), and the overall experience is good. They remind me of DirecTV in that they go out of their way to make you a proud owner and invest personally in their brand.

That said, I share the opinion of many others in that I'm overly cautious about new Microsoft releases. Windows 2000 was a nightmare and XP had its share of problems initially. It's easy to assume that you'll hit some snags with Vista, although the payoff of a better interface may make it work better.