I installed Microsoft’s new OS, Vista, on a friend’s computer. Here are my impressions:
General:
With the short time I’ve used it, it doesn’t seem very revolutionary. It seems about as different from XP as XP is from Windows 2000. The interface is fancier, more colorful, but most features are the same as on XP, just sometimes located in different menus.
The “Aero” interface requires a 3D video card, previously only necessary for 3D games and CAD. It’s mostly eye-candy.
It took about twice as long to install as XP. This was with the Home Premium version.
My recommendation is: If you have XP or Windows 2000, don’t bother to upgrade. If you are getting a new computer, it will probably come with Vista, and that’s fine.
Technical Problems (for those interested):
I installed an “Upgrade” copy. The computer started with Windows XP Home. The initial upgrade installation went fine — though it takes longer, it doesn’t stop part way through asking for information. Once it starts, it proceeds until it is almost done before you have to come back and interact.
I also installed a new motherboard. I decided to upgrade to Vista first, then install the motherboard, to see if it handled the change better than XP. It didn’t.
After I installed the new motherboard, Vista refused to boot. But instead of a blue screen, it brought up a screen with a list of options (Safe Mode, etc), along with the recommendation to boot on the DVD and run Repair. Vista’s Repair seems more intelligent than XP’s Repair. It spent a long time looking a things, trying to make it run. In the end, though, it failed.
So normally, the next step would be to do a Repair Install (AKA “In Place Upgrade”), where you just reinstall the OS as if it were an upgrade. But that wouldn’t work either. Since this was an upgrade, it would only let me install it from within a functioning OS. It would not let me install as an upgrade after booting from the DVD.
To make a long story short, it took about 2 hours on the phone with Harisha and Pradeep (you can guess which country they live in) and we ended up doing a fresh install, using some workarounds they walked me through. According to Pradeep, System Repair usually is able to find and fix problems when you switch motherboards, but occasionally problems like this occur.
The lesson from this is that if you didn’t like the hassle and restrictions of activation with XP, you’ll hate them with Vista. Your previous OS will have to be working if you want to upgrade, whereas with previous OS’s you could just pop in a CD proving that you had an earlier version of Windows to upgrade.
I sure wish Linux could become main stream, but Windows has too large an installed base.
19 responses so far ↓
1 Richard // Mar 6, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I suspected that would be the case, but you have confirmed it. There has not been anything revolutionary in the PC world since XP came out so there seems little reason to change the OS except to make Microsoft and Bill a little richer.
When you think about it, PC’s have evolved to the point where they do just about everything anyone really needs. After all, most of us spend 99 percent of our time running Firefox, Word or Excel with the occasional Quicken thrown in. Why do I need to change OS to continue to do that?
I realize that security is supposed to be a big selling point in Vista, but most of us have already dealt with that by installing add on’s that provide reasonable protection.
A few years ago the market was wide open. No one had computers and they were rapidly evolving. Now everyone has one and most of them do everything their owner needs. The market now is primarily just replacement. I wonder if the glory days are over?
2 Don // Mar 6, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I would take exception to Richard’s statement. I don’t see XP as being revolutionary. There is nothing in that OS that makes it a “must upgrade”. I actually think OS2 and Windows NT were the last true revolutionary operating systems. Everything since then has been improvements on a theme.
I came “this close” to getting Vista this weekend but in the end I decided why mess with an OS that was working perfectly?
3 Richard // Mar 6, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Don, I should have been more clear. I did not mean to imply that XP was revolutionary by any means. I meant that nothing revolutionary has happened in the PC world that would necessitate an OS upgrade from XP.
Maybe a better way to have said it would be “nothing revolutionary has happened in the PC world for a long time.”
4 Don // Mar 6, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Yeah that makes more sense, and is why I didn’t upgrade from 2000. I have XP running on one of my 5 machines and it’s also on my laptop. The reason it’s on the one machine is I installed a “questionable” copy and got tired of not being able to apply any updates to it so I finally made it legal. I also put it on Betty’s machine but it’s an OEM version that came with a motherboard/CPU for much cheaper than XP by itself. I guess I don’t have any copies that I paid full price for.
The only thing that interests me about Vista is it’s the only OS that will run DirectX 10. I’m not sure if there are any games that can use it yet.
5 Don // Mar 10, 2007 at 9:13 am
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Daryl
Happy Birthday to you
And many more
6 Daryl // Mar 10, 2007 at 11:46 am
Thankyouverymuch…
I’ll be baking my cake a little later on
7 Heather // Mar 10, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Happy Birthday Uncle Daryl!! Hope it was grand!
8 Richard // Mar 10, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Let me add my heartfelt wishes for a Happy Birthday. I guess having birthdays is better than not having them anymore, but I’m only going to count every other one from now on.
9 Don // Mar 11, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Frys’ had the OEM Ultimate Version of Vista for $210 less than retail so I decided I would go for it. My install went a little different than yours and I never had to call Pradeep. The only thing I did to make sure it would install as a dual boot was use Bootit to resize my RAID and create another partition. I’m quite amazed that it didn’t need a driver to do that and it worked perfectly. Yay for Bootit!
The actual install was very much like a normal Windows install except it worked the first time. I don’t have anything to add to your assesment yet but if I find something I’ll post.
10 Daryl // Mar 11, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Ultimate version! I didn’t see much there that I would want that wasn’t in Home Premium. A student can buy Home Premium for about $79, which is not unreasonable.
Are there features in Ultimate that you think you will use?
11 Don // Mar 12, 2007 at 7:01 am
I’m not sure if there were features I thought I would use so much as it was only $30 more than the retail version of Home Premium.
I’m not a student and I don’t have any in my house anymore.
12 Donna // Mar 12, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Hey Daryl, happy birthday! I guess I missed it. I also missed my own son’s, as he was quick to inform me. I did wish myself a happy birthday on March 8 because I always feel I was as involved as he was, but he somehow didn’t think that counted. In fact, he has informed me he is tired of that joke…I use it every year 🙁 I hope the gift I gave him later made up for it.
13 Grandma // Mar 17, 2007 at 11:18 am
To #1 son: don’t stop counting birthdays for at least two more years, when you will be eligible for SO MUCH money every month that you won’t know how to spend it all.
14 Daryl // Mar 17, 2007 at 11:41 am
This has turned into a Vista/Birthday combo page!
15 Don // Mar 17, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Frys has Home Premium OEM for $109 this weekend.
16 Daryl // Mar 17, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I understand that the OEM version can only be installed on one computer, and if you change motherboard it can not be reactivated. I may be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s what I read.
It is intended to be sold with a new computer, and locked to that computer only, just like when you buy a Dell that comes with XP.
17 Don // Mar 17, 2007 at 5:34 pm
That is pretty close to my understanding of OEM.
18 Don // Mar 19, 2007 at 6:34 am
Time for more puppy pictures. If I can take pictures of my pancakes you can get some more of Zeus, Apollo, Mercury, or whatever he’s called.
19 jocelyn // Mar 21, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I agree with my dad. And it needs to be in a new blog. There’s only so many times someone can comment in thier own blog. I think I’ve reached my max in my last post to.