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Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:58 am
by Jeff T.
I was at a friends house the other day and trying to help him do video on a new machine with Windows Vista. We both agreed that the time for a new OS is not now.

We are both going to hold out for Windows 7 which will be out soon enough, and just skip Vista all together.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 8:44 am
by lukpac
My machines have XP. No plans to "upgrade".

I was setting up a friend's laptop on Wednesday, which came with Vista. First time I've used it, and I'd say it was annoying, to say the least. I kept looking for a "make things work like 2000/XP" option, but couldn't find anything.

Interesting that it came with the "Dell Dock", which looks almost *exactly* like the OS X dock, only it was on top.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:57 am
by Rspaight
I'm mainly on OS X, but have an XP VM on my desktop machine to do stuff that requires it. No desire or need for that to be Vista. The laptop dual-boots into Vista, and it's a huge PITA. I need it so confirm compatibility of some things I work on, but it's so hostile and flaky that I dread it. Just connecting to a network can quickly devolve into obscenities and violence. ("No, you idiot, this is not a "limited" network! Just let me on the internet, dammit!") It tries to be far smarter than it actually is, and ends up throwing up speed bumps left and right to the simplest of tasks.

Work computer is still XP, thank $deity.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 7:21 pm
by lukpac
Rspaight wrote:Just connecting to a network can quickly devolve into obscenities and violence. ("No, you idiot, this is not a "limited" network! Just let me on the internet, dammit!") It tries to be far smarter than it actually is, and ends up throwing up speed bumps left and right to the simplest of tasks.


Exactly. Just give me the settings, not a wizard.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 2:44 pm
by Beatlesfan03
I am currently using Vista for now. Having said that though, I have had to reinstall Vista *3* times already since I got the computer in August. I am not doing this for the sake of doing it as I try to debug the issues myself, but it just seems that as opposed to either XP, 98 or even ME for that matter, Vista isn't very friendly when you want to try and fix headaches. I also hate all the "security" measures like the account user control (which I gladly disabled) and the fact that even when you shut automatic updates off, it seems like Vista ignores your request and keeps them on anyway. When I googled the problem, it seems that most people have the opposite issue where they can't keep it on.

So if Vista decides to dump again, I am probably just going to go back to XP as I still kept my full XP Pro disc.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 2:48 pm
by Beatlesfan03
Another interesting thing I noticed, playing with iTunes 8 on a Mac at the Apple Store last night was an eye opening experience to say the least.
iTunes 8 on Vista is freaking horrible. It hangs a lot and seems to take forever to run a search in the store.

Can anyone tell me if iTunes 8 is crap on XP?

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 3:17 pm
by lukpac
Beatlesfan03 wrote:Can anyone tell me if iTunes 8 is crap on XP?


I'm using 8.0.1 (haven't updated to the latest just yet) and haven't had any problems.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:29 pm
by Rspaight
Beatlesfan03 wrote:I also hate all the "security" measures like the account user control (which I gladly disabled) and the fact that even when you shut automatic updates off, it seems like Vista ignores your request and keeps them on anyway. When I googled the problem, it seems that most people have the opposite issue where they can't keep it on.


There's a fun little dance I do with Vista. When I boot into it, it almost always puts an annoying little icon in the system tray to tell me that Windows Defender (which, sadly, isn't a side-scrolling space combat game) needs to be updated. So I tell it to update. It comes back after several minutes of trying to do something and says, "Windows Defender is unable to update." Then it tells me again that it needs to be updated. If I try to disable it, it screams at me that my system is now subject to butt-raping by al Qaeda militants and puts a permanent red warning icon in the system tray. So it's actually less annoying to leave it on.

Then, as if by magic, at some point Windows Defender will no longer believe it needs to be updated. Until it does again. Then the dance begins anew.

This wouldn't amuse me nearly as much if Windows Defender was a third-party add-on instead of something that, you know, came as PART OF THE OS.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:01 pm
by Beatlesfan03
Rspaight wrote:
Beatlesfan03 wrote:I also hate all the "security" measures like the account user control (which I gladly disabled) and the fact that even when you shut automatic updates off, it seems like Vista ignores your request and keeps them on anyway. When I googled the problem, it seems that most people have the opposite issue where they can't keep it on.


There's a fun little dance I do with Vista. When I boot into it, it almost always puts an annoying little icon in the system tray to tell me that Windows Defender (which, sadly, isn't a side-scrolling space combat game) needs to be updated. So I tell it to update. It comes back after several minutes of trying to do something and says, "Windows Defender is unable to update." Then it tells me again that it needs to be updated. If I try to disable it, it screams at me that my system is now subject to butt-raping by al Qaeda militants and puts a permanent red warning icon in the system tray. So it's actually less annoying to leave it on.

Then, as if by magic, at some point Windows Defender will no longer believe it needs to be updated. Until it does again. Then the dance begins anew.

This wouldn't amuse me nearly as much if Windows Defender was a third-party add-on instead of something that, you know, came as PART OF THE OS.


Windows is becoming more and more like HAL from 2001 each version. :D

I ran MSCONFIG and turned off Defender on the Startup tab. Hasn't bothered me since and I've don't have an icon anywhere on my taskbar berating me for my choice.

That being said, I hate the fact that the security center icon comes on when you turn off the User Account Control. It's hardly the end of the world with that annoying feature.

EDIT - Now that I noticed, it appears the security center icon has vanished. All is good according to Norton, but it was on there staring back at me a few days ago.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 9:35 pm
by Jeff T.
I'm running XP pro with SP2 with no desire to even go to SP3. SP3 is known as having yet more security features to prevent your system from being harmed from outside via internet. So Vista is not happening at this time.

But for one, I don't keep my banking pass codes on my computer, I don't download unknown files, and don't agree to install unknown programs. I don't download music or video either. Basically, I do a fresh install of everything about twice a year anyway just to keep things running in tip top order on the two main PCs. It feels good to know it's a "clean machine."

On two (2) Pent 4 PCs each have 2.4g cpu, 2g memory, 160/200HDDs / 200/300 HDDs, and amc G5 with two external G-Raid HDDs (325g/500g)
I have on both PSs - the exact same software loaded, programs for video like Canopus Procoder, Sony Vegas with DVD Architect, DVD Shrink, DVD Decrypter, DVD Fab Decrypter, Tmpgenc encoder & author, Riva Flash encoder/player, Nero 6 burning w/ unlimited MP3 encoding, Img Burn, GoldWave audio editor, Sorenson Squeeze, Office 03, Photoshop 7 (with CS3 on the way), along with an invoicing program, Lavasoft spyware hunter/killer, and then some font packs installed for bitchin' titles/credits for my video/films (the ones not done on my Mac G5).

Oh I'm sure there is more. But anyway, anyone want to guess how many of these programs are 32 bit and will not run on 64bit Vista?

Then I have an old Celerion PC in the bedroom with short cables to a Marantz 2025 which is being fed a TT with AT440MLa under the hood. The needle drop workstation. Then a Dell laptop for simple tasks (no video or graphics) like making MP3s for the personal player and keeping that music in one place, emails on the go.

So that is five computers in use. I can't even believe that myself. But anyway, it looks to me like I have a lot of use to get out of my computers yet before I upgrade anything. Everything is authentically hacked w/ crax, and activated / certified to be trouble free. :D

The two PCs and Mac in the editing suite are all running on one large Samsung flat monitor, and if I do any spending it is going to be to get another large flat monitor to next to the one I have. I have those switcher boxes where you can run DVI/VGA output from several computers into a single monitor. But I need the Mac to be on it's own monitor. It does not like to be doing a task and get monitor switched in the middle of performing, where windowns machines don't mind having their monitors switched while in progress. That is one thing I notice about Macs vs. a PCs

I never planned to get this into computers, it just happened that way.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 1:24 am
by Beatlesfan03
Anybody ever been courageous enough to try this?

http://dailyapps.net/2007/10/hack-attac ... asy-steps/

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 7:48 pm
by Xenu
My experiences with Vista are generally isolated to me attempting to get something to work on a friend's computer via methods that have worked for years, only to find that options are hidden and/or obscured, the command prompt no longer works properly, moving a file presents seven "are you sure you want to do this?" dialog boxes, et cetera.

I'm sure that, as per Microsoft's current marketing campaign, it's perfectly possible to get Vista to work and be civilized and productive. But why?

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:26 am
by Jeff T.
Beatlesfan03 wrote:Anybody ever been courageous enough to try this?

http://dailyapps.net/2007/10/hack-attac ... asy-steps/


I won't be trying it any time soon, but I love the ideas that people are coming up with. I mean pretty soon someone will come up with a way to play an SACD on a DVD-A player. Or turn your DVD-Rom drive into a DVD-A player.

There are some very bright people out there, and not all of them are in a high paying, or high profile professional field. But they too need their creative outlet. They could be working away in their cramped bedroom doing amazing things.

It's like these kids cracking software and doing things that we are told could not be done, and should not be done.

If we followed the rules and did only exactly what we are told, there would have never been many of the great advances in science, medicine, and the various arts.

If I never broke any rules, my life would have thus far been far less interesting. These kids (I assume that they are mostly kids) hacking n' cracking away, and with their evil sounding names and viscous avatars, are never going to go away. They are a part of the process like it or not.

Putting a Mac OS on a PC is fricking brilliant. I would love to use Final Cut Pro on a Windows machine with win XP. But that might be asking for too much too soon. Or maybe not.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:44 pm
by Beatlesfan03
Jeff T. wrote:
Beatlesfan03 wrote:Anybody ever been courageous enough to try this?

http://dailyapps.net/2007/10/hack-attac ... asy-steps/


I won't be trying it any time soon, but I love the ideas that people are coming up with. I mean pretty soon someone will come up with a way to play an SACD on a DVD-A player. Or turn your DVD-Rom drive into a DVD-A player.

There are some very bright people out there, and not all of them are in a high paying, or high profile professional field. But they too need their creative outlet. They could be working away in their cramped bedroom doing amazing things.

It's like these kids cracking software and doing things that we are told could not be done, and should not be done.

If we followed the rules and did only exactly what we are told, there would have never been many of the great advances in science, medicine, and the various arts.

If I never broke any rules, my life would have thus far been far less interesting. These kids (I assume that they are mostly kids) hacking n' cracking away, and with their evil sounding names and viscous avatars, are never going to go away. They are a part of the process like it or not.

Putting a Mac OS on a PC is fricking brilliant. I would love to use Final Cut Pro on a Windows machine with win XP. But that might be asking for too much too soon. Or maybe not.


Someone I know has offered me this opportunity. I am thinking of taking him up on the offer just to see if it really works.

Re: Do you use Vista or are you sticking with XP for now?

Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:19 am
by Jeff T.
I think that Final Cut Pro is so wrapped up in the "Suite 2" of products including Quicktime, etc. that the files are just not made for Windows OS, even if you got FCP up and running.

But anyway, those Keygens out there for creating serials for sw are amazing in that they do indeed work. But what surprises me is the designing of them, the look and the soundtrack music/effects. These people who do these works are creative individuals.

Eventually there is going to be a syatem where you need to sign on to the internet every other day to authenticate your software with the company in order to use it. But that will not stop these hackers, they will design a tool called "VIRTUAL DSL Internet Connection" and you can click on "reach out and touch certification" or ET Phones Home" or some other neat little feature, and it will authenticate your installation with no connection at all ever. It will know the password and secret handshake.

I can see the gamers and/or code writers coming up with a 128bit OS that blows Win and Mac OSs out of the water. Something powerful that runs well on any machine. HAL 10,000....And it costs $1.69 via the pal.