[Corinth]

[DaleNixon]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/29/microsoft-demoes-vista-on-an-imac/


lollersaurus rex.
_________________

[km]

So I've been using Vista Ultimate for about two hours now. (not ARRRed, by the by)

It is the most annoying goddamn operating system EVER. It constantly prompts you about EVERYTHING. When you change permissions to relax this, it just LIES to you and doesn't actually change anything. That or it just makes up its own rules entirely separate from the rules it tells you about.

Its using 380MB of RAM right now! I have Miranda and Firefox open. One tab open in FF. ONE.

It's also got my CPU clocked up to full tilt for some reason, so the fan is just running fucking constantly. And yes, I made sure to tell it to feel free to clock down the CPU if it didn't need it.


I do like things about it! It has a lot more options that make getting your computer set up well possible. I like the new file dialogs. I actually think the new Windows Explorer is pretty decent. It's pretty. The start menu is better, and the taskbar just seems better in general. I like the delineation between home and public networks.


But good lord, the OS acts like it knows a lot better than I do what I'd like to do with my files. They've also made a bad choice, in my opinion, of making a lot of things task-based, rather than just giving me options directly.

Also, system requirements are a little steep. 1GB of RAM. Why? 15GB of HDD, just for the OS. Why? (it seems to only use 6GB on my un-futzed with install, BTW) This version has whined a few times about me not having a good enough graphics card to run Aero, and keeps telling me to upgrade it, which is of course impossible on my year old laptop.


I think they could have done a lot worse, and it's not AS bad as people have been acting like it is, but I am definitely going back to my dual boot XP/Gentoo, at least until they release Vista: Not So Fucking Annoying Edition.


I might install it on my desktop too, to see if Aero is worth a damn!
_________________

vi) RPGs (Role-Playing Games)
For adolescents; half-formed personalities roaming (in packs) in search of identity.

[ecchi]

[km]

No GPU to speak of: Intel 855GM graphics.

Also, from what I can understand from the performance viewer, Vista is actually using all my RAM, and just has the total amount - cached listed as used. That is, under "Physical Memory" it lists this:
Total 479
Cached 139
Free 9

below where it says I have 79%/380MB physical memory used. That seems to indicate to me that the caching stuff (which I knew about, and all modern OSes take advantage of, including XP) isn't included when giving used memory. It wouldn't make sense to include it in that value anyway, since I'm positive the memory with cache on it is only treated with slightly higher regard than totally free memory, as it's literally just there for lack of something better. All that leads me to believe that vista is legitimately using all the 380MB its talking about, or they fucked up their performance monitor really really badly.
_________________

vi) RPGs (Role-Playing Games)
For adolescents; half-formed personalities roaming (in packs) in search of identity.

[Panoptic]

[Mr. Mechanical]

[Panoptic]

[Duckzero]

I have guys who work on the Windows team that tell me not to use Vista. It's not just a few of them, but like 70% of them. Seriously.
_________________
Keepin' it real like Oatmeal

[Triton]

Ok so I got windows 2000 because it was the first OS microsoft made with a proper stable kernel, and I still run it. I never bought XP, and I didn't miss out on a single thing. Why should I buy this operating system?

A shiny taskbar, new icons, and a few tech features that I will probably never use is worth $300? Sometimes I think people buy the new windows just because of some sort of weird sense of obligation. I see the advertisements say Vista is "Entertaining". I don't need my operating system to entertain me, i need it to operate my system.

[Lestrade]

I hope Vista causes Apple to include something everyone has wanted in OSX from day one: themes. I like how Vista has that simple theme switcher. Want a pinkish interface? Blue? Red?

Functionally speaking, OSX is spot on, and gets better with every update. But sometimes I get bored of Stormtrooper White, you know?
_________________
Illustration Portfolio | The Gamer's Quarter

[IIOIOOIOO]

[les meat]

Thank god Microsoft have finally joined the 20th century and offloaded desktop compositing to the GPU, for the past 4 years its been agony using windows instead of osx because I would really notice all that shitty redrawing when you dragged windows and closed things. So thats excellent, if a little too late.

However

So sad to still see windows 95/98 icons and windows 2000 icons cropping up in the odd window.
For god sake learn some consistency, you should have chucked every single icon resource out and redone the lot with this version.

http://screenshots.haque.net/screenshots/view/32704/screenshot-32704.png
this bugs me on the vista machine at work, why the hell are the corners of the notifications aliased, you went to the trouble of making it transparent but then you didn't smooth out the corners.
Looks like garbage

Also the shadows on the desktop text are way too square and chubby, no idea whats going wrong with the text drop shadow system but I've never seen a shadow that looks so wrong before.

Could list hundreds of other small things but I wont

Might seem like little things to some people, but when your job requires that you scrutinise your work like this then you can't help but notice these things and they bug the hell out of you. And when I see things like this then I know that the interface designers are not paying close enough attention to their work.

[psiga]

[Broco]

[Lestrade]

[Broco]

Yeah, speaking of resolution independence, I think this will be the killer feature of Vista in the long run. When we all have 4000x3000 native resolution 14-inch screens, today's pixel-based interfaces will fail completely. I am disappointed that it doesn't seem to be used prominently right now, though.

[sawtooth]

Shapeshifter runs through APE, which is the framework unsanity created to make their system hacks. If you go to the system preferences and the APE control panel, just add the Dock to the "master exclude list" and theoretically nothing using that framework should mess with your Dock.
_________________
(  (  

[ecchi]

[BotageL]

[Broco]

[ecchi]

[gooktime]

Still using the Windows 3.1 font installation dialogue and icons.

[BotageL]

[psiga]

I install fonts the old hardcore manual way, of dragging and dropping them into the C:\windows\fonts\ folder. Force of habit.

Man, the third party Compaq power management tool on my laptop doesn't even give me the option of Sleep.
_________________

[Mr. Mechanical]

[108]

hey guys

ive been using windows vista for about two months now and

oh no wait this is mac OSX

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SNAP
_________________

[gooktime]

[Lestrade]

[Rucio]

Hey guys I heard Directx 10 was only coming out for Vista. I don't get it. Does that mean I'll have to get Vista eventually anyways if I plan to continue playing PC games?
_________________
"Say, that's a nice fez!"
"Thank you very much. Why do you like it?"
"It's better than a sharp stick in the eye."

[BotageL]

Yes.
_________________

http://www.mdgeist.com/

[GcDiaz]

So for the longest time I've been running an ARRRed copy of XP Pro (the only legit XP I ever used came with my laptop back in '02). In trying to score MCE2005 (for 360 connectivity) I get downright frustrated with MS' security measures. As if. So I cave and order an original copy of MCE. Then I see they have Vista home premium for only $10 more.

It arrives tomorrow. I've already downloaded the Vista drivers for my video and sound cards, so they'll be ready to go. Although according to the little "vista system checker" thing, I can't use Nero 6? How am I supposed to backup my data?
_________________
Steam/PSN/Xbawks: GcDiaz

Let's bring sexy back!

[Rucio]

[Broco]

[GcDiaz]

Fucking UPS. I track my package and see it's out for delivery as of 8:36AM today. Fine. 10-ish, I'm walking to my car to go somewhere when I see a UPS truck approaching. So I stand there and wait for it to stop. It does, at the next house over. Driver delivers a package, and moves on. All day I've been wondering if they just forgot to put mine in the truck, or if the driver's fiending for my Vista, or what. Then finally at 6p I see that it's been delivered (I'm at work, thankfully only a mile from home). Problem is, who the fuck did they deliver it to? I live alone. Well, they didn't actually deliver it to anyone. They just left it leaning against my door (just as my videocard was left there some time ago; it was of course stolen). See, if they'd taken it back and left me a note, it would be OK. Get up early, drive the 30 mins to the dist. center, get my shit. Instead, I have to take the chance that when I get home from work in 4.5 hours, the box will still be there. Hell with that. I drove home, picked the box up off the floor and drove back. I'll probably just do the install tonight, then all the piddling stuff tomorrow.
_________________
Steam/PSN/Xbawks: GcDiaz

Let's bring sexy back!

[BenoitRen]

I've been away for a couple days, so here's a couple response posts. This one is for Broco:

[Broco]

[BenoitRen]

@Craptastic!

[sawtooth]

[108]

hey i want to play baldur's gate ii and doujin games and shit

so i want windows xp to install on my macbook pro and i don't feel like paying a lot

is there anyone out there who can get me like a $5 student discount version?

i'm not going to install pirated windows on my pristine computer.
_________________

[GcDiaz]

The deed is done. Installation was simple, and quick (no, seriously; 30 minutes and I was on the desktop). I've never been a windows power user, so it'll take a while to suss out all the improvements, but the obvious stuff is impressive:


That video was running, and didn't hitch or stutter no matter how quickly I rotated the pages. Also was installing my router at the time.

Initially I thought I was fucked since my motherboard CD doesn't work with Vista. However, Vista itself somehow provides the necessary LAN drivers so I could still connect. Asus will eventually pull their head out of their ass and put some drivers out there. Videocard installed with no problem, and even my SB Audigy beta driver did the job. Trillian3.1, Photoshop 7.0, they both work perfectly. I'll miss Nero, but something will come along.
_________________
Steam/PSN/Xbawks: GcDiaz

Let's bring sexy back!