euicho.com

Don’t Dash Out the Door to Get Vista

I know the idea of Microsoft finally releasing a new OS is cause for celebration among some (though for the life of me I don't know why...), you may want to wait untill its been out for a while, before going out to grab a copy. Though it doesn't release to consumers until Jan. 30th, some institutions can get a copy now, but as Wired writer Bruce Gain says, you probably don't want to.

Bruce sez:

Visual splendor is Vista Ultimate's greatest selling point -- the new operating system does offer a graphically intensive interface that differs greatly from that of Windows XP. Also, Vista dumbs everything down for you, streamlining the Wild West of complex OS software into a useful product... However, I encountered several bumps in the road during testing that show Vista is not ready for everyday use by millions of people just yet -- no matter how pretty it looks.

It appears Vista's cosmetic improvements over XP come at a price. Not only will many of your older programs not run on Vista, some of your peripherals may also experience incompatability woes. Plus, lets face it, new Windows releases are always buggy while the user-base ferrets out glitches and vulnerabilities that the beta testers missed, so you might as well stick with XP for now. Actually, unless your using an application that specifically requires XP and has no existing equivilant in Linux, and barring games or course there are VERY few apps of any kind without a par or better open source equivilant, you should be using Linux anyway!

I mean, think about this: why pay for an OS when there is a free OS that not only has an endless number of variations suited to any need you may have, but also supports an endless number of free applications that run on it? Its common sense people.

And don't give me that "I don't know linux" or "Sorry Tom, we can't all be computer gurus" excuse. ANYONE, even my grandmother, who has never used a computer, could install Ubuntu by herself. Yes, some distros are hard to get up and running, but most are not, and Ubuntu is the king of that domain. So do yourself a favor and instead of spending $300 on Vista, install Ubuntu for free, and dual boot it and windows. That way you can still play your Windows games and you won't be dropped into an unfamiliar albeit user friendly environment all at once. Go ahead, wean yourself off the tainted teat of Microsoft.

Oh, and if you are really scared to install Ubuntu by yourself, here are a couple guides to make it even simpler:

Installing Ubuntu Linux
Video: Installing Ubuntu on a windows machine (Dual Booting)
and here's another dual boot video.

Oh yeah, got a little sidetracked. Bruce goes on to say:

The Verdict
Vista's power consumption superlatives aside, I would not recommend going out and buying Vista off the shelf or pre-installed on a PC when it becomes available. Users will likely suffer many headaches with missing peripheral drivers and a lack of backward compatibility with legacy software, and those headaches will not make Vista worth its hefty price tag.

If possible, wait a year or more after Vista's launch to invest in the operating system. At least by then, numerous updates, hardware drivers and service packs will likely have been released.

One potential treat I hope to review in the near future is how game developers will take advantage of Microsoft's DirectX 10 API, which Vista offers. Unfortunately, DirectX 10 games and capable graphics cards were not yet available when we ran our tests.

Related posts

• Whole messa links (3)
• The Return of an Old Friend: Starcraft II (1)
• The Plague Swarms through WoW (0)

About euicho

http://euicho.com/134/