Microsoft's new OS will kill you finacially

[JonB2004]

Microsoft is apparently set to release its long awaited and continuously delayed operating system, Windows Vista, in January 2007. This week they released the system requirements and most people are either going to have to upgrade their current PC or buy a new one.

Here are the minimum system requirements for Windows Vista.

-A 1 GHz processor

-1 GB of RAM

-A 128 MB video card

-40 GB of hard drive space for installation plus 15 GB free hard drive space

-A DVD drive

-Internet Access

These requirements are so you can just run the basic features of the operating system. You will need better computer hardware if you want Windows Vista to run at its best. The minimum price for a Windows Vista Capable PC is about $1000. Looks like you PC users are about to get fucked.

 

[the caracal kid]

the "get *censored*. " part is MS keeps stripping features out of the OS to meet their shipping date.

In the end you will have not much more than XP with guady translucency effects.

 

[JonB2004]

Re: RE: Microsoft's new OS will kill you finacially

the "get *censored*. " part is MS keeps stripping features out of the OS to meet their shipping date.

In the end you will have not much more than XP with guady translucency effects.

I agree.

 

[Toro]

RE: Microsoft's new OS wi

This could turn into a debacle for Microsoft. It will still be too clunky up against the likes of Apple. Is time passing Microsoft by? Tell me, 'cause I'm thinking of buying Microsoft stock if it gets to $17.

 

[JonB2004]

RE: Microsoft's new OS wi

Microsoft's stock probably won't get to $17 a share. I was watching CNBC yesterday and they had some expert on their talking about a economic reccesion and he said the best thing to invest in now is technology.

 

[thecdn]

I'm hoping the delays and the requirements for vista will open the door for more acceptance of linux on the desktop.

Some of the modern distros - pclinuxos, ubuntu, xandros, suse, etc are pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and of course, free.

 

[JonB2004]

RE: Microsoft's new OS wi

I'm hoping more people will switch to Mac. They might be expensive, but it a great investment.

 

[dekhqonbacha]

Jon to protect yourself financially, simply don't buy Microsoft's new OS. Simple solution I wonder why you were so worried about it.

 

[FiveParadox]

Or, of course, he can keep using that shiny Mac OS of his. *puke*

No offense intended. Honest.

 

[JonB2004]

RE: Microsoft's new OS wi

FiveParadox, what don't you like about Macs?

 

[tweakerxp]

I'm a computer technician, and as a person who sees computers day-in and day-out, I'm extremely worried about what the average consumer is going to do about Vista. I'm afraid too many people will get excited and try installing it on machines that just don't have the power. Personally, I think the new operating system is pure crap (pardon the French.) I have been playing with the beta, in fact, I'm installing the latest one as we speak, and I am very unimpressed. Also, at the rate MS keeps removing new features form this OS, I think we can all agree that there's not too much that's actually new in Vista.

 

[JonB2004]

RE: Microsoft's new OS wi

I don't have a computer that will run Windows Vista, so I haven't tried the beta. But it must be a piece of crap because Microsoft keeps delaying it because problems keep occuring.

Could you tell me the new features and the one that have been dropped?

 

[#juan]

Some of the modern distros - pclinuxos, ubuntu, xandros, suse, etc are pretty easy once you get the hang of it, and of course, free.

Linux is slowly shaking off the image that it is a complicated system, and only suitable for geeks. I've uised Slackware, and Ubuntu. Probaly the most amazing O.S. out there is DSL. (Damn Small Linux) The thing comes with just about everything, you need, including Firefox, and you can load it in about four minutes.

 

[missile]

Is Linux suitable for gaming? Otherwise.I'll have to stick with XP.

 

[#juan]

Hi Missile

Probably Windows XP is your best bet for gaming, Mainly because pretty much all PC games are made for Windows - Linux users have to use ports or Windows emulators to play them. Here is a link to a few opinions.

link

 

[missile]

Thanx There are times I wish I never upgraded from Win98[no Dos in XP]

 

[thecdn]

Is Linux suitable for gaming? Otherwise.I'll have to stick with XP.

Just do like I do and dual-boot. I keep xp on board for gaming and a couple of pgms the wife likes to use but I use linux for normal surfing, email, word processing, etc.

Most every modern linux distro will easily allow you to install it and setup up a dual boot situation with an existing install of windows.

Both of my home computers can easily handle vista - it's my hobby so it's where I spend my bucks , but I have no intention of buying it as long as xp can do what I need.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Yeah, I'd recommend a dual boot system too. I've got XP and the Mandrake 10 Linux distribution (10.1 is out, I just haven't got around to upgrading it yet) on my system. The only justification for keeping XP around is for gaming, really, and there are a couple of games I like to play. I also have to use it for Internet and email because I haven't been able to get Mandrake to work with my wireles network card yet. Broadcom seems to be a little snarky about releasing details on their cards' internals, so Linux drivers for them are problematical. There's a workaround called ndiswrapper that puts a shell around the Windows driver and fakes it out, but making it work hasn't been simple.

Most Linux systems will be able to see at least the C: partition on the Windows side, and there's a nice little Windows freeware utilitity called R-Linux that'll see Linux ext2 and ext3 partitions, available at this http://www.r-tt.com/ .

Also have a look at this http://clubweb.interbaun.com/mward/gmc/freesw.html . More than you ever wanted to know about free software and Linux distributions. I know the guy who runs that site; he's an instructor at a community college in Edmonton and he put it up originally for his students, so if you're not one of them, don't be emailing him for help, he's got quite enough to do. But it's a useful reference site and gateway to a lot of stuff for both Windows and Linux users.

 

[the caracal kid]

here is this weeks vista goods via wininformant:

Microsoft Concocts Yet Another Reason to Love Windows Genuine Advantage

I was sitting around the other day listing all the things I just love about Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), Microsoft's antipiracy tool. But then I discovered a hidden WGA feature that I'd never heard about, mostly because Microsoft had kept it a secret. It turns out that WGA actually connects to a Microsoft server every time you boot your PC. That's right. It's spyware. Microsoft actually installs a tool on your PC that does nothing more than check to ensure that you're not pirating Windows, and it does this check every single day and then sends the results back to Microsoft. This insidious behavior was first discovered by Lauren Weinstein, the co-founder of People For Internet Responsibility, and it's touched off a debate about disclosure and privacy. But seriously, this situation is ridiculous. It's bad enough that we're treated like pirates. Do we have to be spied on every single day as well?

Users Freaking Over Vista Battery Life Issues

There's a big debate going on right now about Vista and battery life, or to put it more correctly, Vista and the lack of battery life. Turns out Vista gets a lot less battery life than does XP on identical notebooks, and many users are pointing to Vista's hardware-accelerated 3-D UI as the culprit. I have no doubts about that assertion, but I'd also caution people to remember that Vista is still a beta, and performance work is still to come. Microsoft says it'll improve Vista's battery life, but I have to think that its battery life will never be as good as that of XP, unless you turn off Aero Glass. And at that point, why bother running Vista?

my comments on dual booting:
I personally do not like it, and consider it now far too "old school". With virtualization and multicore processors, the future will be running virtual OS's for all purposes.

I don't believe linux is a mainstream desktop OS, yet (anyway). The average user (and I stress average) has been increasingly "dumbed down" over time. When you realize many people still are overwhelmed installing simple windows software you realize linux is not in any position to make real gains on the desktop. Personally, I would like to see Apple double its marketshare, and BSD become more mainstream, so that there would be three "mainstream" platforms. With MS faultering and Apple doing well, Apple might grow but I doubt we will see any real growth from anything else.

 

[FiveParadox]

RE: Privacy Issues

I would suggest that Microsoft® has every right to ensure that their software is legitimate. As per the end-user license agreement, when using Windows® XP, or any other Microsoft operating system for that matter, one agrees that one does not own that software. Rather, one is licensed to use that software.