Another very good reason for getting rid of Vista

[danphilly1984]

Originally Posted by macstinator

Used Vista the other day for the first time and spent all day setting up a wireless network - somehting i have done may times on my XP set up. It was a living hell!

I was a bit cautious of Vista at first but now love it. And regards to setting up wireless networks i honestly believe that it is better and faster than XP.

[macstinator]

I could not get the various security protocols to agree with each other. Ended up going back to WEP. which is fine for a home network but my office demands at least WPA.

[MattS]

Originally Posted by nigelH

The Vista is slower, admittedly it is serving a web-site and running the SMTP/POP servers, but it has more of the gadgets I need to do the things I want to do so it tends to get used more.

Which of those gadgets are not already in XP though?

[MattS]

Originally Posted by Timbo

And that's a problem ??

Unfortunately yes. The more choices there are the bigger the user training and support headaches become.

Surprising how many people are giving Ubuntu a shot and getting along with it...

Ubuntu has made inroads into M$ desktop domination. I have become quite a fan of Mandriva for sijmilar reasons. They are both still relatively geeky though.

Here's one example of open source just doing the job..if your interested...

I have no doubt that open source can do the job. The issue is whether those tasked with using and supporting systems can do the job. The Windows product family is pretty well integrated across the enterprise from the desktop apps right the way back to the server apps and onto the internet. It is quite an advantage.

Windows is losing market share all over the place although the overall impact on the market is still pretty tiny. It is going to be interesting to see whether M$ will be able to adapt, or whether the arrogance toward the industry and it's customers that it has shown to date will see it doing an IBM.

[String]

I run vista on my laptop, XP on 2 desktops here and linux on 2 servers.

Each OS has its own little useful niche but certainly no overall best.

Vista i find needs lots of ram - 2Gb or so. Give it that it runs very nicely and it does have some nice improvements over XP. You can customise it a lot too. It runs badly on systems with 1gb or less of RAM.

XP just "works", have had it for years, it hasnt needed a reinstall for years and typically the desktop is on 24/7 so maybe rebooted once or twice a year with powercuts.

However due to the demands of these OSs they're not great for server based tasks as too much wasted overhead providing a desktop.

Linux is great for the server due to the ease of control remotely via SSH, the open source stuff and fact its very handy on low spec hardware. However linux is a complete arse trying to use it as a desktop. Simple 2 minute tasks can take hours if it doesnt go correctly. Even package managers such as apt,slap,emerge etc do not always get things working well. It lags a long way behind windows in this stake. Also documentation is sometimes patchy, sometimes already assumes you know what you're doing before starting and a lot of the support community can be anal.
Its certainly too geeky,confusing and at times frustrating to replace the average consumers home desktop any time soon - MS have nothing to worry about there.

The only system i'd never touch with a bargepole is a mac. I've pulled hair out, become frustrated by limitations (artificially imposed more often than not as they stole/based it on a decent OS then added in pointless artefacts). It also offers far less in the terms of useful software and really can see no advantage over linux. To me a mac is just a very overpriced very of linux with a snazzy GUI and some anti-competitive features.

[MattS]

To start listing what I have running at the moment would be far too geeky. Vista is one of the few versions of Windows and Windows server that I am not running usefully. Thank God for VMware is what I say - which is running on my two Centos server boxes hosting all the Windows servers.

However due to the demands of these OSs they're not great for server based tasks as too much wasted overhead providing a desktop.

With the ridiculously cheap price of CPU cycles and memory I tend to find teh I/O subsystems become limiting way before the desktop overhead.

Vista i find needs lots of ram - 2Gb or so. Give it that it runs very nicely and it does have some nice improvements over XP.

What improvements over XP?

Linux is...
The only system i'd never touch with a bargepole is a mac...It also offers far less in the terms of useful software and really can see no advantage over linux.

Apart from being un-geeky, simple to use, with an app installer that works, consistent documentation and online help, the approachable user community etc...

To me a mac is just a very overpriced very of linux with a snazzy GUI and some anti-competitive features.

Personally I think the key to appreciating a Mac is to stop looking at it like a geek.

I would be interested to hear what frustrations you have had with OSX though?

[String]

In short summary, had the app installer break and in cases throw me into *nix style dependency hell.

Had a fair few lockups with it.

Found getting support/documentation very difficult and also found a distinct lack of quality software.

In short it provided nothing a PC couldn't do and was near twice the price for the same spec.

[ianfirmin]

Part of my job is to support business computer users all over the country. My office and server room have about 12 machines I use personally (from a single large console), ranging from NT4 server and win98 relics (still doing useful work!) through Linux, Server 2003 (all flavours), win2k, XP and Vista. Since it's not updated any more the most reliable machine is the old NT4 box which hasn't been rebooted for over 2 years. The least reliable is the win98 box which is only turned on when needed and usually lasts about 12 hours before falling over. The linux server lasts a couple of months. The windows servers and desktops always go long enough to get a mandatory reboot after updates. I personally use XP most, followed by win2k and then Vista.

My current recommendation to all business users is to get new machines (desktops and laptops) with XP Pro installed. I have very good reasons for this which I will expand on if I can keep my eyes open.

Just writing this post nearly sent me to sleep because it's so boring.

Just click submit Ian, and go and do something worthwhile.

OK, will do...click

[Timbo]

Boredom is inevitable when you live with 12 pc's