Definitive guide: Windows Vista and XP head to head
By Alex Zaharov-Reutt
So you’ve heard all the hype about Windows Vista, but wonder what it means for you. Here’s the definitive guide on how Microsoft’s Windows Vista stacks up against XP:
SECURITY FEATURES
XP: In the original Windows XP, and with the first service pack or SP1, both versions still in use today, Windows XP has a built-in firewall that gave relatively good protection against hackers breaking into your computer.
The 2nd service pack, or SP2, improved the firewall to protect you from people trying to get it, and bad programs trying to get access out to the Internet, but it is still considered relatively basic compared with commercial offerings. Anyone serious about security should replace it with a good third party firewall or Internet security suite. All versions of Windows XP are also able to be set to download Windows updates automatically.
VISTA: Vista has a similar but improved firewall to Windows XP SP2, but anyone who is serious about their security will still replace it with a third party firewall or Internet security suite. Internet Explorer 7 has an ‘anti-phishing’ filter, but is known to slow down your surfing experience a little as sites you visit are checked by Microsoft’s servers for phishing attack dangers.
However IE7 and Firefox 2.0 have both been rated as only having partial success in detecting phishing sites, and as such have both earned a rating of ‘pretty terrible’ for anti-phishing prowess by us at Free Access (Tech.Blroge).
A new ‘user account control’ system tries to protect you from yourself, so you don’t accidentally make changes to important system settings without being warned first. However pressing the ‘ok’ button lets you do whatever you want anyway, and experienced users will just be annoyed. What did I do? I turned it off completely and am not bothered by it anymore. You’ll probably do the same, too.
Windows also has a new ‘randomization’ layer, which slightly changes the memory configuration of every Vista machine to make it harder for co-ordinated attacks to affect scores of machines at the same time.
Vista also has made protections to the ‘kernel’ or core of the operating system, with a protective measure known as ‘PatchGuard’, but this only extends to the 64-bit version of Vista, a version which most of us won’t be using for at least a couple of years. Most consumers will be using the 32-bit version of Vista which does not have ‘PatchGuard’ built-in.
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
XP: Windows XP has always been able to play mp3 and video files, CDs, DVDs (with third party software), streaming media files and other forms of digital media with relative ease over the years.
An updated version of Windows XP, known as the Media Center Edition upgraded the digital media experience of Windows, giving it a dedicated interface to watch, record and pause live TV, play photos, videos and music, listen to FM and online radio stations and more.
VISTA: Finally, the Media Center capabilities comes built-into most versions of Windows Vista aside from the basic, entry level version. It has also been enhanced over the previous version, although reviewers claim it has not received as much of an improvement as the rest of Windows has over previous versions.
Vista also plays most other forms of digital media through it’s own Windows Media Player software, with a whole host of competing media players available to download, many free of charge, from the Internet.
GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
XP: Ridiculed as being the ‘Fischer Price’ version of the Windows 2000 interface, Windows XP was still a fresh update upon its release 5 years ago. Today, however, will still perfectly functional, it is starting to look a little long in the tooth, with Apple’s Mac OS X offering Vista like graphics for several years already.
VISTA: Very cool looking 3D icons, transparent ‘glass’ windows and other lovely eye candy such as the ‘Flip 3D’ way of flipping through open windows. This new graphics system is called ‘Aero’. However this will require a graphics card with enough grunt.
Older laptops may not be able to support the full Aero graphics experience, and will default to a mode which looks similar but lacks most of the eye candy effects, such as the transparent windows and Flip 3D effect.
A system wide desktop search engine is built-into Vista and is fully activated. Interestingly XP has a similar function but it was never explained properly, with most people very familiar with XP’s annoyingly slow search capabilities. Vista’s built-in search is fast, like Google’s Desktop Search, and is great to have already built-in.
There’s also the ‘Sidebar’ which gives you access to downloadable mini programs and widgets to display images, the time, sports scores and other information at a glance, with lots of sidebar gadgets being written and on the way, especially so with the consumer launch on January 30th, 2007.
PARENTAL CONTROLS
XP: Without third party software, the parental controls in Windows XP were rather limited and really didn’t prevent children from visiting inappropriate sites on the Internet.
VISTA: Excellent parental controls are built-into Vista, mirroring the powerful features that today’s third party software offers to parents today. Parents have control over the sites their children visit, and are able to see every site they visit or tried to visit.
The software lets parents determine what times computer use is allowed, which games they play and software they run, and are able to track email messages and instant messages that their children send.
NETWORKING
XP: Unless you know what you’re doing, Microsoft’s ‘set up Wizard’ for wired and wireless networks could seemingly never be counted on to actually work, leading to many frustrations for people simply trying to network two or more computers together.
VISTA: A great deal of concerted effort has gone into making Vista the easiest operating system to network with others, especially other Vista systems, so that anyone, even without massive computing experience, can easily set up a wired or wireless network.
To read my latest article reviewing the ‘final’ RTM version of Vista, issued on November 30, in which I believe the final Vista seems to really be ‘RC3′, awaiting the ‘real’ Vista launch on January 30, click on this link - it’s got a lot more detail than this article and is Vista ‘final’ up-to-date! Alex.
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Read more entries by Alex Zaharov-Reutt.
December 2nd, 2006
“Today, however, will still perfectly functional, it is starting to look a little long in the tooth, with Apple’s Mac OS X offering Vista like graphics for several years already.”
Please rephrase…
“Today, however, while still perfectly functional, it is starting to look a little long in the tooth, and Vista will finally start offering Mac OS X like graphics even though several years behind Apple’s offerings.”
Remember Microsoft copied Apple not the other way around.
December 2nd, 2006
The only feature that is of any appeal to me in Vista is DX10. I wish it was ported to XP. I do not look forward to “upgrading” to Vista at all. It is the most disappointed Windows release since WinME.
December 2nd, 2006
Yawn. Where’s the beef? Seriously. “Definitive guide”? Not.
December 2nd, 2006
Doing this fails to take into account the most important purpose of user account control - preventing other programs from doing stuff behind your back - you throw away almost everything vista gives you security-wise by turning it off, unless you adopt strict least-privilege rules (never do anything while logged in as a member of the administrator’s group that doesn’t absolutely require you to be an administrator.
December 2nd, 2006
“XP: Ridiculed as being the ‘Fischer Price’ version of the Windows 2000 interface”
People actually *use* that strange scheme? I’m still using the style that goes all the way back to Windows 95 for one reason: speed. I can do without the insane overhead that Aero will require.
December 2nd, 2006
Moo? This is the polar opposite of a comprehensive or definitive rundown, and it does absolutely nothing to make me in the least want to buy this new program. Microsoft has embarked on a path of forced upgrades, with IE7 and MP 10+ being only for Windows XP, DX 10 being only for Vista, and so on. It is idiotic. I’ve yet to see a Windows XP machine top my 2000 box’s average uptime of 56 days. and record of 143 days - damn security update, had to restart… (tracked by a system information utility, not a guess)
December 2nd, 2006
Please change “the definitive guide” to “an obnoxiously biased comparison”. The only reason most people will have to “upgrade” to Vista will be games that require DirectX 10, and that’s only when most mainstream game developers have completely abandoned DX9.
Vista is nothing but bloatware taken to a whole new level. With every new Windows release, it becomes more and more obvious that Microsoft expends more effort on pointless bloat and trivial appearance factors (what the author calls “eye candy”) than they do on core functionality. For example, in XP the file search includes an animated dog complete with speech balloon, but the actual searching itself is broken — I’ve proven this myself as have plenty of other people. There’s a nice colorful login screen, but until MS releases a patch anyone that simply logs in can get SYSTEM privileges in under a minute with their choice of 2 very simple “exploits” (if you can even call them that, since they use no software other than what Windows provides). I mean, seriously, if you manage IT purchases at your company, ask yourself: are translucent windows and “parental controls” really worth the high cost of re-outfitting your department? I’m referencing the recently released study that found over half of corporate-inventoried PCs can’t even *run* Vista.
December 2nd, 2006
“with Apple’s Mac OS X offering Vista like graphics for several years already.”
Try:
“with Microsoft Vista offering Apple’s Mac OS X like graphics - 5 years late but finally.”
December 2nd, 2006
Too damn expensive.
I see two choices.
1) Keep my current system - $0
2) Upgrade to Vista - $600+
WTF! I am not going to buy a new computer just for a flashy new OS. Screw MS, they can shove their pushy Vista up their arses and never tell me to upgrade again!
Better yet, I could KEEP USING FEDORA CORE 6. It’s free and functional. I just keep XP for the games.
Catch me on Counter Strike Source!
December 2nd, 2006
“XP: Ridiculed as being the ‘Fischer Price’ version of the Windows 2000 interface”.
That’s due to ignorance. If you don’t like the look, change it. Either download a theme or do what I did:
Right-click desktop, select Properties, click the Appearance tab, click the first drop-down box, select Windows Classic style, and click Apply.
Right-click the Start menu button, select Properties, select Classic Start menu, and click Apply.
Really advanced stuff, I know…
December 2nd, 2006
OMG!
Apple copied Microsoft before Microsoft even knew they were gonna do Aero.
BAD BAD Apple!
Also, bad article, but, ok who cares. move along.
December 2nd, 2006
Let’s face it, Vista is a washout. Nobody really cares and the hardware requirements are too high. I’m switching to OSX for my next machine (and keeping Windows going on another partition). Steve Ballmer: me and you are through!
December 2nd, 2006
hey, you don’t really have to banish a product of a company that you hate… this is just a little forecast for what is going to happen weather you like it or not: in a couple of years, remember this **banishing** of yours, and look at your O.S. i will guarantee it will be Windows Vista… BTW: if it wasn’t for Microsoft, mac OS wouldn’t survive ’till the day… why? Mactopia! remember who does that??? research on mac’s history, and how it developed… mac OSX isn’t really the system that i would call usable… i personally love the apple computers, and i am planning to buy myself a mac… but it will run a better OS for sure! well, have fun on blaming a guy for being the rich one… it won’t change a thing… i personally admire his success, imagine if you were bill! i think anyone of you out there would be more than happy to change places with him!
December 2nd, 2006
It was a good little blurb, but hardly definitive, and covered none of the issues that actually interest me in an OS, such as how speedily it runs, how customizable it is, and what programs it will run. This ‘guide’ reads more like an advertisement, and touts the same crap that is routinely marketed by Microsoft anyway. I couldn’t care less how the media center works, what version of Media Player it has, or how good the parental controls are. I’m frankly astounded this got slashdotted.
December 2nd, 2006
Poor article. Just another sheltered user offering their sheltered advice and trying to sound somewhat knowledgeable. Try using Open Source OS + software for a start you may be surprised that all the things M$ charge for, users can and have been able to use on Open Source for free. The only thing good to use Windows is high end graphic designing and if people want to, gaming. Only because software developers write for the main source of income and hardly ever do native ports for these 2 things. Besides that, why would anyone ever want to use Windows if you do the typical Office production or home use of audio/video/net.
December 2nd, 2006
Another reason NOT to upgrade: The full version allows you to activate on one machine and later transfer the licence to a new machine ONCE. After that, you buy a new license! OEM-same as xp-One machine activated and it’s then essentially locked to that pc.
December 2nd, 2006
I agree with CMYK.
Why was this slashdotted?
This fella sure is………………..I don’t even have to do this.
December 2nd, 2006
I’m eager to test out the new GUI in Vista
December 2nd, 2006
“Just another sheltered user offering their sheltered advice and trying to sound somewhat knowledgeable.”
Pot. Kettle. Black.
December 2nd, 2006
MY GOD what is this shit
VISTA IS SHIT its fancy graphics are meaningless its extra security is unwanted and i still get outlook, media player, IE, blah blah blah installed by default and even if i do want to get rid of them I CANT why people even bother to review the crap at all i dont know and if the writer of this article is anything to go by vista will hit its target audience !!
December 2nd, 2006
Indeed, this article does not cover the important aspects of an operating system. I have been running the first official release for a couple days and am pretty pleased with it. The ‘look’ of a modern operating system is there as well as other features. Looking at the running services, ones pertaining to the upkeep of performance can be found. Not as bad as I thought it would be. Quite the opposite in my opinion.
December 2nd, 2006
Wow i love Vista i beta and rc1 tested it and loved it and for you ppl that say it forces you to upgrade im sure OSX did the same damn thing. I would love to see you run OSX on PPC 3 chip or what ever they call it damn thing is barely usable on the PPC5 2 cpu chip. I watch my friends on both PPC4 and PPC5 and they both run slow as hell compared to windows XP. And you can make progress unless you ditch the old API. Vista was a total remake. The TCPIP stack totally re-made. From testting it i seen a huge increase in bandwidth. Shit atleast Microsoft can remake a OS unlike apple where they buy or license out BSD kernal. oh and im a little drunk so dont mind my bad spelling. I dont see OSX running any OSX9 apps nativily atleast Vista can run old apps nativily. Oh one more thing the quick search thing was invented by MS in like 2003.
December 2nd, 2006
Hmm…sad…Where to begin….
First off, I agree, the title of this article is pretty much a joke. See what happens when the author of an article gets to chose the title. Definitive it is not. If this were definitive, it would also include mentions of the deeper integration with the .net framework 2.0 as a positive, and quite likely it would mention the expansion of the DRM “features” as a negative (since it does break cause of perfectly legal uses). These are just two of the other changes.
As to the graphics…There are at least two wildly uninformed statements above.
One is that Vista is copying OS X for the shell. Please people, you can look back about 9 years (possibly more), to find the same things being done on XWindows using the old Mandrake shell on Linux (before Mandrake was a distro of it’s own). OS X was copying Linux. If my count is correct, this makes at least 20 major things that have been attributed to Apple that Microsoft supposedly copied, when informed history shows Apple copied them too. I’m not a linux fan (nor even a user these days), but the truth is, they’ve been at the front of OS shell graphics for a decade, and it’s not likely to change for a while. And EVERY graphical feature I’ve seen in Mac or Windows has existed somewhere else first
Second graphics issue, most of the changes to the graphics system are pushed onto the video card (thus the boosted requirements). The result is that youi’ve actually got less stress on the processor and ram because more is happening on the GPU and the video ram (yes, I’ve seen the benchmarks and living proof of this). I agree, it’s a bit pushy, but who doesn’t have a decent video card these days? If you are cheap enough to consider Dell’s $500 special good enough, you should expect poor quality. Fact is, the only difference between this and a Mac is that the Mac’s automatically come with a video card that supports the higher graphics (and the price generally reflects this). The only people who can complain are those who built expensive computers a few years back and the video card is the only part that doesn’t meet requirements. Little secret, you can turn down the graphics to work just fine on older cards, so the OS itself is still perfectly available. Frankly speaking, microsoft, in terms of graphics, has been playing to the lowest common pc for years…it’s about time they started making use of the hardware that is actually inside of most non-economy computers. I suspect that half of the people commenting here never used anything before XP, otherwise you’d remember this same argument going on every few years when MS boosts the RAM and processor requirements. I still remember people complaining when they saw the OS would take more than 100 Megs of hard drive space.
Seriously, so much animosity towards a new OS release? The only animosity that should exist is that this is less about the OS, and more about the shell surrounding it. It’s amusing to think that Windows is the only tightly coupled OS/Shell still out there (of course, Mac is now Linux, a point most mac users seem pretty proud of). This is just the next iterative release of Windows…no different than any iterative release since 98.
December 3rd, 2006
This article is a joke. Turning off UAC leaves you open to all kinds of rogue apps doing things behind your back without you knowing. I have been using Vista for a long time and after an inital “oooh why all the pop-ups” the frequency will decrease once your system is configured and they are not a pain at all. Don’t go crying “my system is all infected” later on when it was you who turned off all the security features!!!
December 3rd, 2006
Comparing an old, lame OS to a newer, marginally less lame OS is pretty dumb. Why not compare Vista’s security, multimedia, parental controls, and networking to an OS like Mac OS X?
Uh… Never mind.
December 3rd, 2006
Dustin, you sir are an idiot. I run OS X perfectly fine on my year 2000 machine. And for things like web browsing, etc, it works great. If you are going to comment on something, at least have a little bit of a clue….or you sound…..nevermind….
December 3rd, 2006
Enlightenment have been making GUI pr0n for a long time. Others have also made pretty GUIs for a long time.
http://enlightenment.org/
December 3rd, 2006
Who said the title was the author’s idea? There is an editor on this site after all. Also, the people saying that turning off UAC is a bad idea are wrong. You’ve not had UAC all this time, and could have been infected. If you don’t know what you’re doing and like clikcing ‘yes’ to items, then UAC won’t protect you. Otherwise, from a consumer point of view, it’s a good look at the things that consumers will immediately notice when using Vista. I’m using the latest Vista (final RTM) and the writer seems to be pretty spot on to me.
December 3rd, 2006
Yeah, you got me, XP was the first system (though I’ve learned a command or two on everything all the way back to unix and basic) I really learned a damn thing about or know how to work at all.
Vista seems like a total waste of my time. Although it’s good to know that I can tone the superfluous graphics way down and make it act like XP, which I already own.
December 3rd, 2006
Well eric i have tons of friends that use OSX on the pile of shit PPC platform and there all slow as hell. Im sorry i guess when u open a text tool and can type a hole page before it shows up to be fast would never have guessed that.
December 3rd, 2006
Mac sucks. They are worthless. Any real computer user uses windows.
December 3rd, 2006
I’m not a switcher: I’ve used Macs since 1984, and before that, an Apple II+ since 1979. I’ve never seen the appeal of Windows or any other Microsoft OS; they’re just feeble Mac OS wannabes. Vista is no different, but I’m sure it’ll be forced on me at work, just as XP, 2K, 98, 95, 3.X, and DOS have been. Most Microsoft fanbois have never seen a Mac do it’s thing. Some of the ones I can get to take a good look at OS X say, “Wow.”
Yeah. Wow.
I haven’t seen Vista yet, but I’m sure it’ll be the same ol’ same ol’: a cheesy Mac OS copy not worth the cardboard and plastic it’s packaged in. But since it’s bright, shiny, and new, the fanbois will eat it up. If not, MS will force it down our throats through corporate sales.
December 3rd, 2006
Everyone that are doing some compare windows with OS X or XP with Vista are giving so lame comparisiments. The most important thing to me is how stable the system is, how good can it uses available hardvare [not that I will have to buy myself a totaly new computer just to have a new windows version installed]. I could live with windows 9x UI for 10 more years [not saying with win 9x, just UI]… I know I would get bored of UI [that’s what Microsoft is counting on], but if the system would be working perfect, why should I change it ?!
Also the thing that is very important is about how easy is for a totaly newbe to learn using a new system. All the glosy thing, 3D effects etc. will not help him if the UI is not friendly and helpfull to him.
December 3rd, 2006
I’m the one “guilty” of coming up with the “definitive” headline. Alex has just installed Vista and hasn’t installed Windows Live Writer as yet, so wasn’t able to upload the article himself.
December 3rd, 2006
As soon as you stop writing, I stop reading.
Please learn English.
December 3rd, 2006
Dustin: Umm, where to start…
1)Windows 2000/XP ripped the TCP-IP stack from BSD.
2)OS X initially contained a compatability layer for Mac OS 9.
3)Don’t get me started on Sherlock coming out before Win Desktop Search…
December 3rd, 2006
“… but until MS releases a patch anyone that simply logs in can get SYSTEM privileges in under a minute with their choice of 2 very simple “exploits” (if you can even call them that, since they use no software other than what Windows provides).”
What? Bullshit.
December 3rd, 2006
So my only questions is how much did M$ pay you to write that piece of garbage review. OSX is still a very superior OS, and I am a XP user that runs a hacked version of OSX on the machine. Understand that I un-installed the latest Beta of Vista because of all its issues and annoyances to go back to OSX and XP. Mind you the only reasons I use XP is for games, and I imagine this will be the case when vista comes out, only good for games. The fact of the matter is that consumers aren’t what drive the OS Market, its the Business and Government contracts that drive the OS market. The sheer cost of a vista upgrade isn’t going to be viable for business for several years. Furthermore, linux is gaining steam as more business’s switch over including governments.
December 3rd, 2006
Memo to Bill: catering for superusers is not difficult - give me one popup that aks “Are you an idiot?” When I click No, please turn off the f*&%ing dog, show me system files, show me hidden files, show me detailed listings, give me admin rights, and turn of bollocks scrolling menus and all other precious “eye candy” that the author loves that drives me insane while I think of all the wasted CPU cycles.
And why the hell does no MS OS *still* not have the facility to kill a process instantly?
December 3rd, 2006
Windows is going to face the reality of a market that does not need nor want Vista, specially in terms of DRM which I wish was mentioned in your Article.
December 3rd, 2006
So much stupidity.
1) Microsoft releases a product every 5 years: Everyone complains they aren’t releasing an update often enough to compete with Apple’s annual upgrade cycle.
2) Microsoft tries to sell a product after 5 years: Everyone complains they are trying to cram down a new product too soon.
Where is the reason behind these arguments? I’ve been using Vista for a few weeks almost exclusively and I’ve found it to be an all around improvement, and worth the cost of the upgrade.
How about instead of reading useless comparisons, like the article, use RC2 for a few weeks and decide if its worth the cost of upgrading. IF it is plan on upgrading, if it isn’t… you don’t upgrade… end of story. So much drama over a new product being available!
With the exception of Media Center 11 (not a problem, I’ve never used WMP), I’m thoroughly enjoying Vista and all of the new features it brings (and I’m not even using Aero because I don’t have a DX9 card.)
December 3rd, 2006
Some one said”Apples are for grannies”and all these moaners want something for nothing.Do yourselves a favour:go buy an apple and shut the ….up.MS is Simply the BEST,the World Talks.
December 3rd, 2006
Gavin Greenwalt,well done,thats reality.
December 3rd, 2006
Based on this review, I fully expect to continue using XP until I feel the need to upgrade my hardware. And I don’t really see that happening any time soon because I’ve found dual core to offer minimal benefits to my style of computing. Thanks for a great ride, MS, but open source really *is* starting to look like the future to me…
December 3rd, 2006
Man, what is everyone’s problem with DRM? Vista plays anything that you can download, so where are the DRM restrictions, eh? There is software to convert video that’s been recorded through Media Center, at least on XP, to non-DRM. DRM has to be there, it’s forced on Microsoft by the media companies. Of course Microsoft could choose not to use DRM, but that’d be shooting themselve in the foot vis-a-vis those same media companies. And anyway, Microsoft respects copyright - they WANT to use DRM. Complaining about it in blog commentary is not going to achieve anything. Complain to Congress if you want to really achieve something. Get over your DRM issues and tell me if it’s really going to affect you or if the hackers aren’t going to crack it sooner or later anyway.
December 3rd, 2006
Dustin at 12:34 is guilty of malicious FUD. The comment “Im sorry i guess when u open a text tool and can type a hole page before it shows up to be fast would never have guessed that…” is absolute horsesh*t. I own a DP G5, and a middle generation G4 Powerbook, and unless, the computers he refers to are damaged, the statement is a bald-faced lie. My organization runs 10.4 on a few remaining PPC 3 machines as well (indigo iMacs). They take a long time to boot, but this has as much to do with memory, and HD size and speed, as the PPC G3 CPU. Once up and running these computers have no problem keeping up with Word (talk about bloatware), let alone a speedy text editors like BBEdit and Textwrangler. Stop spreading FUD! Try running Vista or XP (which does not place anything like the demands on graphic capability of OS X or Vista) on a 5-year old stack PC with a 20 GB hard disk and (admittedly upgraded to) 192 MB of memory, and see how well they do.
December 3rd, 2006
I switched to the Mac a few years ago, but one of the interesting things about Vista is that it seems to have compelled my father to switch to Linux (totally independent of me saying anything). This shocked me enough to start with, but now he’s switched all of his friends and even my computer-illiterate aunt. Windows is losing support from a lot of people who previously considered it ‘good enough’.
December 3rd, 2006
Dustin: Sorry, but look for locatedb in linux… MS had never invented this quick search … Ms had never invented anything…
This article should be written on the vista box, not anywhere else…
December 3rd, 2006
The article was interesting enough, but honestly the upgrade to Vista is simply not worth the effort or the money. Microsoft has given people the best reason to switch to a Linux distribution like Ubuntu than ever before.
December 3rd, 2006
Chuck Sanders: What a load of absolute crap. Why would Microsoft need to pay anyone to review their product? MS products stand and fall of their own accord. Don’t want to us MS? Use Apple, Linux or whatever else. Heck, use Commodore 64 or Apple ][ if you so desire. The author is clearly an MS user, and the article is clearly a comparison between XP and Vista. Don’t go around making accusations, it’s very ugly. Shame, Sanders, shame. How much did Apple’s Steve Jobs or Linux’s Linus Torvalds pay you to write such a comment? hahahahaha…
December 3rd, 2006
I’ll be turning off the 3d flip and other candy when I make the switch. This is the kinda crap that just slows down work flow. Windows should not slurp open and closed, flip, ect. At first glance my XP systems look like they are running the nice clean 98 interface.
Why compare XP and Vista and not compare it to OSX? Because the majority of people could give a rats a$$ about OSX. For the price of a mac one can have an extremely powerful PC and not look like a pansy. If you want to use popular software and play games you buy a PC. If you want to be an individual, make your own choices, and customize your machine you buy a PC. Apple users are like cultists who all want to be the same. Want to do video editing? Want to produce music? Want the power to do it at a reasonable price? You buy a PC.
As far as suggesting people switch to linux, that is a joke. There is no flavor that is ready for prime time. Spending time in the command line and searching the net for how tos to get software packages to run doesnt impress most people. I’ve installed Ubuntu, backtrack, puppy, and afew other distros on several of my machines and was not impressed. On two machines Ubunutu would get to the desktop hang, none of the flavors found my hardware correctly, I had to edit oxrg.conf to get max res, and then screw around with WINE to get games to work. Worthless for the home user, or anyone who wants to remain productive. With the exception of my Thinkpad 2883, XP found all my hardware out of the box, and installing supporting software was a breeze.
Real ppl don’t want to JRTFM or google to get Office to work (the real world still uses Office), or to get random software they have bought to work. We can spend out time learning PIC assembly or something useful or we can care about how to get even the most basic functionality out of an OS.
It is a lot easier to teach someone rational software loads than deal with linux on the desktop. OS and small programs on the boot partition, large programs on another, and data on yet another. Use ghost to backup your boot partition in its ideal and virgin state, restore your image when adding another program to that ideal load and create a new one.
Ubuntu, when it boots on a nice machine, is pretty sweet out of the box tho. It comes with almost everything you need to play media, browse the web, get email, etc… As long as you don’t need to install anything else you’re fine. I would call it grandma friendly. She wont be installing any new software
I’ll hold most of my comments about vista until I use it on a new machine. I’ve installed XP on some of the crappiest hardware scraps and made nicely functioning and stable machines with little effort. I don’t expect to be able to do that with Vista; but you cant live in the past forever.
December 3rd, 2006
why no comparison on speed/efficientcy, memory usage, loading times, etc.? thats far more important to most computer enthusiasts than how pretty it looks. i could care less what the icons look like.
December 3rd, 2006
Wow… -.-
I felt like adding to the garbage collection of comments with silly remarks. I have now taken over the world with my superiour power and wit.
I wonder how many times a thread like this can bend it’s topic? Why are most people here basing thier posts on who inventid this and that - the past! - and not on the present, or even the future. Heck, it doesn’t matter a goat who invented the wheel, today we just see in squeesed under cars on the road and never mind who actually should have the credit?! Who invented the OS X interface, where did it come from first and so on.. Well, probably users who liked a few things from here and there.
I’ll just go out and wipe my arse, now I’m done
[system] Congratulation, you added some massivly to the off-topic postings here, sir. Thank you!
December 3rd, 2006
Pyster
obviously you havent opened the menu and taken a look at package managers. Its by far the most efficient way to install or uninstall software - just two clicks and the latest version of that specific software you chose is installed. Yeah I guess if you cant learn anything new and do everything MS Windows way you are one of the REAL people. Regarding Office - you should be thankful that some people have devoted their time and skills to code Wine - Office isnt meant to run on Linux. But if you feel comfortable in Windows just stick with it, you cant make any demands towards OSS people because they make it for free. Its kind of funny that you come bashing Apple or BSD or Linux if you havent used them almost at all - installing a distribution and looking at it for 5 minutes isnt EXPERIENCE. And please, dont blame Linux for not cooperating with your hardware, HW manufacturers make their products for Windows, again, you should be happy that some people have devoted their time to reverse engineer/code software that would allow you to use those pieces of hardware.
Ive used XP since it came out, tried Vista RC2 and RTM and Im not impressed at all, its just the same old s*it in newer package. Well, XP was a big leap but Vista is just, hmm SP3. For corporate users I havent seen any reasonable explanations why should they upgrade their systems.
December 3rd, 2006
“A new ‘user account control’ system tries to protect you from yourself, so you don’t accidentally make changes to important system settings without being warned first. However pressing the ‘ok’ button lets you do whatever you want anyway, and experienced users will just be annoyed. What did I do? I turned it off completely and am not bothered by it anymore. You’ll probably do the same, too.”
This is when I stopped reading your post. One of the major reasons Windows has suffered from security issues over the years has been the lack of a consistent user-level access control to important system files. It’s not that Vista is trying to ‘protect you from yourself’ as you say, it’s that Vista is trying to protect your system files from malicious software doing nasty things in your name :-) One of the first things that is hammered into your head when you run, say, Linux is to NEVER consistently run as the root user (run as root only to do known system maint. tasks). Yet when I run Windows I am almost forced to run an Administrator b/c there are still so many apps that want to write to protected system files (the registry probably) on a regular basis. I think Vista tries to address this longstanding shortcoming. In fact, in my opinion (I’m a Linux system administrator), a competent user access strategy is far more important than personal firewalls and virus control software since the malware can’t do that many nasty things if it can’t to files outside of your home directory.
December 3rd, 2006
“And EVERY graphical feature I’ve seen in Mac or Windows has existed somewhere else first” Hello, Mac OS X came mostly, from NEXTStep Hi. Check me out. I’m a YouTube Video from ‘93. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j02b8Fuz73A . So when Jobs came back to Apple he pushed this to be OS X. So… why don’t people know this? 1993 people. 1993. Microsoft deserves credit for making money, and giving it to charity, and thats about it. (I’m just kidding, even I know, as an employee of Apple, I would not have if it wasn’t for Microsoft, sheesh.)
December 3rd, 2006
Microsoft, You’re Fired! I am not going to spend a fortune on upgrades, reduced media capabilities (read DRM), reduced program functionality for improved “eye candy” only. Back to Linux except for FlightSim on Win2K
December 3rd, 2006
not have.. *a job. If it wasn’t for Microsoft.
December 3rd, 2006
I don’t want aero or that xp look so i turn it off. But you know what? If I had a mac, I wouldn’t want the silly blue scrollbars and other gee whiz effects it has.
And I can’t turn those off. So i think Windows wins here. Also mac could you please have text in the Dock so I can see what I am doing without having to decipher the icons? Like Windows taskbar?
I’m not trying to knock the mac so much-it has lots of other cool things. but it would be much better without its aqua bloat and copied some of the good parts of Windows
December 3rd, 2006
I’ll be turning off the 3d flip and other candy when I make the switch. This is the kinda crap that just slows down work flow. Windows should not slurp open and closed, flip, ect. At first glance my XP systems look like they are running the nice clean 98 interface.
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I guess you havent tried the aero interface eh?, Aero is Accelerated, WDDM is accelerated, try to read other reviews out there, the aero interface is very very snappy and responsive compared to the Normal GDI, that’s the problem with people today, hearing something that comes from microsoft makes you go biased against their OS, why not read first whay WDDM is before making assumptions that AERO is just pure eye candy, and for those saying MS copies Apple, grow up, its not copying, its using what works, if ford has 4 wheels, then Chrysler also has four wheels in it would you say they copied it?, I aint voting for Microsoft, but come on, stop your senseless bashing
December 3rd, 2006
One thing I want to know, and can’t find anywhere in these reviews is this…
Will all XP related software run on Vista?
Or, will we have to wait for Vista related software from all manufacturers.
Same thing happen with XP, when we had to wait for XP upgrades.
Will we need TONS of Vista upgrades?
If so… that’s an annoyance that could take months to get used to.
December 3rd, 2006
Well at $500 to upgrade to Vista I recommend people consider upgrading to a Mac. OS X is 5 Years strong with new version (Leopard) due around same time as Retail Vista.
PS Macs are not all that expensive and they will run Vista (or XP) if you must.
December 3rd, 2006
Harry..
MS is Simply the Best, I would rephrase that as WAS. MS is only doing well because Apple screwed up in the 90’s and MS was fairly slick then.
In the past 10 Years there products are bloated, slow snd behind other vendors in terms of real user functionality. They continue to survive due to the tremendous amount of 3rd party software for there OS.
OSX is probably the best consumer OS at present but suffers from lack of products that support it. With the switch to Intel, Apple has played a clever card in that you can have your Windows and OSX which means their market share will increase and more companies will develop 3rd party apps for OS X.
Lets see what the market looks like in another 5 years. Will Microsoft continue to win or will its sun begin to set.
(moved from XP to OS X This year and never looked Back)……
December 3rd, 2006
I’ve kept an eye on Vista for a while, but I begin to think it’ll be a great gnarly failure like ME was. Seriously, if you want the “Vista graphics” so damn bad, go get WindowBlinds and do it yourself. If you liked Mac OS X’s Aqua theme, they already have that for XP…
With hardware requirements through the roof (anyone compared it to games yet?), I highly doubt I’ll get Vista any year soon.
December 3rd, 2006
Yea i’ll upgrade to a mac. Oh wait now I can’t use the same programs, play my games, and have less customer support from everywhere. But at least I got a mac? OH and I’m paying almost double since apple controls the prices
Good for me.
And for all the idiots that are acting like Microsoft failed here, they didn’t. Well they did, I’ll never upgrade (I love the fact that I don’t need the same amount of memory to run a high end game as it takes to run the OS) however no one is forcing you to upgrade. XP is more then stable enough to keep for another 5-10 years. And Game producers/software producers arn’t going to start requiring DX10. There’s no reason to when more than half the population isn’t going to actually upgrade.
December 3rd, 2006
Don’t worry, Microsoft will come out with DX10 for Windows XP. It doesn’t matter what they say now, they WILL. Look how long Windows 98se lived! You can use DX9 on it. I’m not moving to Vista for AT LEAST another year. Which means if XP doesn’t support DX10, I won’t be buying a DX10 card or games… and I’m sure I’m not alone. Microsoft would be pissing off the whole industry (not that this is news… just to a greater degree than normal) by not releasing DX10 on XP.
December 3rd, 2006
HAH, two typos within the first couple paragraphs … what a joke of a site!
December 3rd, 2006
Wow, was this a very sad and un-definitive guide. Microsoft is very good at stealing ideas and not having their own. Vista is a poor copy of Mac OS X. IE7 is a poor copy of what Opera and Firefox was already doing. The fact that you will need to upgrade most of your hardware in order to run the Aero theme means that most people are going to be spending around $1000….I dont think so. Not when XP has been out long enough to smooth out most of its bugs.
December 3rd, 2006
This isn’t definitive, a guide or much of a head to head. You don’t have any pictures, exampls, or benchmarks. And you barely went through all the programs in VISTA or elaborated on the ones you did bring up.
December 3rd, 2006
Worst guide ever. When it comes to Vista, I actually like it, but this “definitive guide” is nothing more than a copy-paste-job that took no more than, say, five minutes. Since you obviously like MicroSoft, why not try switching on the spell checked in MS Word?
December 4th, 2006
Security: It will take Vista at least a year or so and some service packs I think to catch up with XP on security. As every new program it will have its security holes than will emerge after some time……
December 4th, 2006
I have no opinion on Vista, and this article didn’t change my mind at all. The article had no substance and I could have written a better one just from the marketing material for both operating systems.
December 4th, 2006
Hey Alex
Are you suitably demoralised by the feedback to this article?
The title suggests that its going to provide me with a “definitive” guide and tell me what it means to me. It does neither.
Damn Micro$oft fanboy
December 4th, 2006
Vista…just another Mac OSX wannabe.
:-)
cbmeeks
http://www.codershangout.com
December 4th, 2006
Yes Vista is pretty much a minor upgrade to XP, something that should have been released in a service pack. All the vaunted new features that were planned for it turned out to be too difficult for a company like M$ to pull off.
Yes, Mac OS X is prettier and probably better. But I think you guys are all missing a couple of points:
M$ makes a lot of money, the reason they do this is :
a) that they do things in baby steps that don’t scare the no so tech
savvy business folks. Remember how they started in DOS, let you dip
you toe in the GUI world with Windows 1, 2 and 3. Then they released
Win 95/98/ME. Finally they came out with XP. I’m talking general
public here, most of us were running NT well before XP Vista is not
any different.
b) M$ Office file format. There still isn’t something out there can reliably
read word, excel, power point formats and do it well. Vista does not
prevent Office from working. People will upgrade since M$ is spreading
FUD about support for XP and Linux. It comes with new machines
anyway. Mac OS X is not even twinkle on the business horizon’s eye.
December 4th, 2006
LOL, this is no ‘definitive guide’. This is just crap. How about some real content, this article as even way less of that than the marketing materials of Microsoft.
That being said: VISTA seems like a realy bad resourcewasting overpriced OS with almost NO real features that make it worthwhile. Of course, to force people to migrate, they make DX10 Vista only.
December 4th, 2006
is it only me that don´t like MS “improvments” like having “wizards” to do anything, like setting up networks and stuff… so far Win98SE is alot better than WinXP when it comes to stuff like that… and if MS continue to “improve” and use more “wizards” changing a small setting vill take 10min instead of 5sec…
December 6th, 2006
I purchased my present laptop in 2003 when my old Sony broke. Never buy Sony.
Pentium M 1.7G + 1G of RAM.
There is no reason for me to upgrade my hardware, let alone upgrade my OS. Things that might convince me to upgrade my hardware:
Titanium Case
64 Bit CPU / OS
Dual Battery / Fuel Cell refillable with ethanol
The first option is unreasonably expensive. Dell should offer this as an option for one of their systems and I would buy it in a second. Oh, wait. Dell won’t adopt AMD in their notebooks, only in their servers.
AMD makes the best 64bit CPUs out there. But none of the big boys will use them.
Fuel cell manufacturers will want to sell refills and adopt the HP sucking money business model. So I will have to wait for fuel cells to become common place or refill kits to reappear.
When I do upgrade, I will probably be more likely to take a VERY hard look at Apple, simply because Parallels.com is getting REALLY good and I will have the CPU horsepower to run two OS’s at the same time - OS X + XP.
Hey, but I am not your typical user. Enough dreaming.
The average corporate IT department looks at things from an entirely different perspective. They want ALL they systems they manage to use the SAME OS. The do NOT want to deal with a gradual corporate upgrade. Instead they want ALL machines to use the same OS.
Problem: Vista will NOT run on most corporate PCs. Second problem: most corporate PCs do NOT need the added graphics engine required for Vista in their corporate PC environment. Third problem: most corporations do not want to spend the added dollars to upgrade their hardware and their licenses to Vista.
Vista will be an outright failure and end up as the albatros for Microsoft. Vista will be the Titanium of Microsoft. Vista will be Bill Gate’s Edsel. The major problem? Their is no NEED for Vista.
There was a need for 98 - 95 sucked.
There was a need for NT - 95 was unreliable and MS needed a reliable server OS for the Internet.
There was a need for 2000 - NT needed a major upgrade and it was a chance for MS to milk all servers for more money.
There was a need for ME - Windows 2000 was coming out and an upgrade to 98 was required otherwise everybody would just buy Windows 2000 and the 98 product line would die.
There was a need for XP - Microsoft could kill the 95 / 98 / ME product line and FORCE all users to upgrade.
There is NO NEED for Vista. MS can NOT stop fixing XP Professional. If they do they will have a MAJOR revolt from their user base on their hands. Corporate users and individual users alike will be furious. Apple will see an increase in marketshare.
Faced with a choice between a system wide upgrade to Vista more and more large corporations will choose LINUX. More and more small businesses will choose OS X. Vista will be the best thing for OS X and LINUX ever. Windows XP will be the LAST Windows OS released by Microsoft until Microsoft FINALLY comes out with Microsoft UNIX.
It will happen. Vista IS the definition of Bloat Ware. Apple adopted BSD as the kernel for their OS so MS is left with Unix or LINUX. While MS Linux may be a possibility, I would put my bets on MS Unix. By the time Vista completely fails in the marketplace the dimwits over at SCO will have just about finished losing their lawsuit against IBM and Microsoft will be able to pick up the Unix copyright for a song. Then they can introduce MS Unix and start integration of DirectX 10 and all the other MS goodies into the Unix OS. Game over.
December 6th, 2006
Hi Eelgap,
Dell are putting Turion X2 ‘dual core’ processors into their notebooks… I just advised a friend to buy one because the price was so good.
December 27th, 2006
j
January 17th, 2007
Just get a mac. Simple, easy and better in the long run. Mac has already had the same graphics for some years now. Poor Microsoft. They try to keep up at least.
February 2nd, 2007
I like Vista because it’ll generate more sales in a troubled IT-world. It’ll generate more hardware sales aswell and hence generate more work and more income for me. And the best part: it looks completely different then XP so ppl experience something completely new and improved. I couldn’t care less whther it actually IS improved. The first glitches will again generate more work for me after a few weeks so I have even more work and income for at least the year to come. And the world couldn’t care care less whther I prefer OSX or RISCOS for that matter.
March 19th, 2007
I like what EPDM said. We love Vista because it keeps the IT industry moving. Software companies will convince you that you need to upgrade to the “Vista-compatible” edition. More money from your wallet, more work for us. And not forgetting the patches and work-arounds that M$ can’t do but we can. I love Mac, but incidentally, not many people will vouched its hardware. Go on and spend a grand on one of those swanky Macs only to know that a new model will come out to replace yours in 6 months time, even shinier, even swankier. So you grin and bear and tell the world how good Mac is but secretly, you wished you have waited.
May 23rd, 2007
Ah…the Mac luvvies. “buy a Mac and all your problems are solved”. That may work for people at home, but not those of us who work in the real world of IT. I’ve nothing against Macs, but real businesses outside of publishing and graphics are Windows based - fact of life.
Personally, I think Vi$ta is (as usual) waaay over hyped. The main problems so far have been to do with UAC: a great idea badly implemented. For far too long the average user has had to run with administrator rights in order to actually use Windows properly. Having said that, if software developers weren’t so lazy, they’d write software that didn’t require admin rights to run properly, but that’s a whole other kettle’o'fish.
Hopefully M$ will change UAC with SP1 to allow users to authorise apps they trust, instead of having the OS block them every time. In my case, UAC kept blocking my AV software, and an MP3 server app. Not being able to permanently allow the apps I trust, and being dictated to by M$ is a pain in the arse.
I’ll be advising anyone that asks to stick with XP.
As for the ‘it generates more work for me’ - great for freelancers and consultants, not so good for the permanent IT staff if they have it forced on them.
I’m going to persevere with Vista at home, but my XP disk image is waiting in the wings if my patience doesn’t last.
May 31st, 2007
for me windows vista is much better than mac,even if they are claim that microsoft did copy mac os x
September 27th, 2007
I have to agree, vista is a great big sile of phit. I’ve got it on five new computers I just bought, and networking is so secure now that it’s completely impossible. One machine can see the other, but can’t get to it. What a pile.
September 29th, 2007
What a incredible disgusting experience with Vista! It crashes all the time, it is not compatible with main applications, even Microsoft’s, munches tons of RAM, takes hours to load, and the interface is a *complete* mess! I was expecting few, very efficient services and many other optional things, instead I find a maze of useless, pretty gadgets. A nicely designed chunk of SHIT. Bravo, Mr. Gates!
November 21st, 2007
I HATE VISTA!!
Everything was working fine, but then things decided not to work after a windows update.
WMP wont play mp3’s, iTunes wont work, my dvd drive fails to play dvds, my internet explorer is forever crashing for no reason, I cannot access system information.
its just shit - i hate it, and im getting extremelly frustrated at the way it works. I think vista starting to forget whos computer it is!!!
December 4th, 2007
HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A WINDOWS FAN SINCE 95,(OF ALL IT’S WINDOW SYSTEMS)
DESPITE IT’S PROBLEMS.
I NEVER THOUGHT I SAY THIS BUT VISTA IS THE WORST , POLISHED LOOK WITH NO SUBSTANCE AND IT OVER DRESSES THE SIMPLEST APPLICATIONS MAKING A BIG SONG AND DANCE ABAOUT THINGS YOU JUST WANT TO DO QUICK WITH REPEATATLY ASKING IF YOU REALLY ,REALLY WANT DO DO WHAT YOU REQUESTED IT TO DO. UPDATING MY PRINTER SOFTWARE TO ACCOMMADATE VISTA HAS ALSO RESULTED IN SOME OUTRIGHT LAUGHABLE RESULTS. FORTUNATELY I ALSO RUN 2000 PRO AND XP PRO, AND SHALL PROBABLY BOOT UP VISTA FOR A LAUGH AT CHRISTMAS BECAUSE I KNOW SOMEONE THAT IS COMING (5 YEARS OF AGE) THAT LOVES TO BE PATRONISED AND ADORES GLITZ AND GLAMOUR OF THINGS WHICH HAVE NO LONG THERM APEAL FOR MOST OF US.
March 19th, 2008
What a joke. This release of Windows is the worst I have ever experienced and this is from someone who used Windows BEFORE 3.11. Lockups, crashes, hangs, destroys my Word documents, takes forever to do any operation. Seriously, Bill, this is an absolutely SHITE release of Windows and I wish I had the time to trash the laptop and install Windows XP which, finally, got to a stable release. How on earth does Microsoft get away with it? (don’t bother replying)
April 2nd, 2008
Vista - it reorganises the filer window on the fly making it impossible to be sure what you are doing when working on the filing system. The vista file search has yet to find a single file ive ever put onto a vista system, without clicking through a lengthy unmemorable sequence of ‘advanced’ buttons. Vista runs dog slow even after ive disabled all the pointless animations. I have lost track of the number of times managers in the company have requested my help in getting their vista laptop to connect to the company wireless network. I dont even use it and i already hate it. Now thats what i call a real successful failure ! Bill, to save your credibility before you retire, sack everyone responsible for vista !
June 19th, 2008
i am rather fed up of my experience of vista. foolishly i bought a new hp laptop that came pre-loaded with vista…first mistake!
so now i have a laptop which controls what i want to do, is patronising and looks like a troupe of clowns designed the UI. so, switch off all of the childish rubbish (including the UAC), change the theme to the old basic XP & now i have no form of upgrade…and also the pleasure of spending over £600.
but guess what?! i will not be buying any more microsoft products again - easy to say & easy to do these days.
bye-bye microsoft!