[lily.]

Anyone got it?

*coughs* Mike & Jay *coughs*

What do you think of it? Reviews please...

[Lauren]

I have it on my main PC (Which I don't use much cos I'm lazy and use my laptop).

Very nice, customizable, sleek, runs fast, different.

Can't give a long review though, sorry, because I haven't had much use of it.

Oh and also, I decided to get the mini version of vista that doesn't take up as much RAM but runs the same things. (Not sure if that makes a difference)

[Red Moon]

There is quite a bit about the operating system on the BBC website.

Quick Tour around Windows Vista

Hope that helpsuntil Jay and Mike get back to you.

[Legend]

I've heard it's supposed to be great but it all looks to 'posh' for me, i don't think i'd be able to get used to it. I like mine how it is.

[BB-Rocks]

Cause i got my computer at Christmas, i get a free upgrade. Im not getting it till the middle of Feb though.

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Legend
I've heard it's supposed to be great but it all looks to 'posh' for me, i don't think i'd be able to get used to it. I like mine how it is.

It's not a bad idea to avoid any microsoft product for the a year or so. I know it is meant to be more stable than other new releases of windows but why switch from stable Windows XP to something that is a bit of unknown until you have to.

I'm still happly running a Windows 98 machine for playing old games. It's fast and generally very stable. If I was to upgrade that machine, even to XP, I would simply have to bin it and start again.

[Mike]

Had Vista a few days now (ordered from a website and arrived early) and absoloutely loving it, obviously what with it being a brand new operating system it takes some getting used to but so far so good - just an overall amazing look.

[BigSister]

I cant get it because of my ancient computer but im getting a new computer/labtop for my birthday so i might get it when i get the new pc/labtop

[Siouxsie]

No dont think i will bother with it just yet

[Red Moon]

Originally posted by Supersue
No dont think i will bother with it just yet

Why is that Supersue?

[Ruth*Star]

How Much is it too buy? or where do i download it!

[Red Moon]

I think downloading might be illegal. I should imagine there is quite a lot of protecion built in to stop you using illegal copies of the operating system.

[easypeasy]

rip-off. lol

[Riz]

U CAN DOWN opps caps.. u can download it but its 2.58 GB tht gna take ages to download :S

[Ruth*Star]

okay, is it just a update, or thing that i will have to buy?

[Riz]

nah you cna download it illegaly if you want cuase its £300..

[easypeasy]

Originally posted by rakashmiri
nah you cna download it illegaly if you want cuase its £300..

like i said, rip-off.
http://www.ubuntu.com/

[andybigbro]

nah cant be bothered lol iam happy with what i have got

[sol]

I'm getting a laptop before I go to university so I'll make sure I get Vista. Can't wait, especially as people are saying it's really good.

[Siouxsie]

i will wait till it comes down in price lol cant be bothered

[easypeasy]

Originally posted by Supersue
i will wait till it comes down in price lol cant be bothered

it wont come down in price, the european union are investigating microsoft for unlawful monopolization of the market and vista is so tied up with "digital rights management" if you buy it you are restricting your own access to internet media.

[easypeasy]

http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/it/sto...990243,00.html
OK, so you won't be able to read this. But it's on the front page of the internet site of swedish newspaper Aftonbladet today. "Voice mail in Vista can destroy documtents" is the content. There is probably an english article out there somewhere as well. Apparently, Vista has a voice recognition thing that allows you to command the computer. So people sent mail with an MP3 that instructed the computer to delete files and empty the trash so they couldn't be restored.

Microsoft's reply: "Well, the speakers and the microphone has to be turned on, and the voice recognition has to be activated, so we don't consider it as a serious threat". Of course, the whole thing seems kind of like a joke, but if someone sent me a mail that made my work be deleted at the end of a day when the backup haven't been made... I would be pretty angry. It doesn't say if it is actually possible to delete system files though, or if it is only documents and personal files.

[Red Moon]

Upgraders beware:

Falling into the Vista trap

Microsoft promises to wow people who are upgrading from Windows XP to its new operating system, but with the joys of Windows Vista comes plenty of pain.

I know, I know, I'm a sucker for technology.

The shiny new Vista disk was sitting on my desk, and I just couldn't resist giving it a try.

Even though I fell for Vista's promise - more security and certainly much more fun than tired old Windows XP - I tried not to be stupid.

I knew my four-year-old PC might have trouble coping with Vista, not least because of its wheezing graphics card.

When I bought it, my Dell Dimension 8200 was fairly state-of-the-art (a few stats for the experts: Pentium 4 processor running at 2GHz, 384MB of RAM, a 64MB graphics card, and a Creative SB Live audio card).

Since then I had added memory (to 768MB), a second hard disk, extra USB ports and a Wifi card.

A blunt message

But this was probably not enough, so I downloaded Microsoft's Vista Upgrade Advisor.

Microsoft's message was blunt but useful: Yes, my computer could happily run Vista, but it would need a few crutches and new body parts. Step-by-step instructions told me how to avoid problems:

• Get a new graphics card with at least 128MB memory;
• download new software for the Linksys Wifi network card, to sync my PDA with
• Outlook and to make good use of my multimedia keyboard;
  download the latest version of my Kaspersky Antivirus software.
• With a few minor exceptions, the rest of my set-up was given a clean bill of health, including my webcam and printer.

It turned out to be tricky to find the right graphics card. Most shopping websites were useless in providing information on Vista compatibility.

At least a dozen times, I discovered in the small print on manufacturers' websites that there were no Vista drivers for that particular piece of hardware. I finally settled on a Nvidia GeForce 6200 with 256MB memory.

Now here is the dirty little secret of all the expensive PC helpers out there. Upgrading hardware is really easy.

As long as you make sure the new hardware fits into the slots that come with your computer and does not overburden its power supply, it's usually just a case of carefully lifting out the old and slotting in the new piece of kit.

Do check the manual, though, to see whether you need to install the driver software for your new equipment before or after putting it in.

If you are still worried, go online. You can find plenty of videos and manuals providing step-by-step guides on how to do it.

Then I followed the task list drawn up by Microsoft. The Upgrade Advisor even provided direct links for downloading new drivers and other software.

Taking one more precaution, I made a full back-up of all my documents to an external hard drive.

A good start

Finally I was ready to go.

I had read somewhere that a Vista installation would take 20 minutes. Not if you upgrade from XP.

After three-and-a-half hours of churning, at long last the Vista logo filled my screen.

It was the beginning of a day of anguish.

At first sight, everything had worked fine: All user accounts, complete with documents and software, were present and accounted for.

Vista looked slick. Its user interface was clear and set-up seemingly easy. The XP gobbledegook had disappeared from dialogue boxes.

Installing the new wifi driver and anti-virus software was a cinch.

Software worked straight away - whether it was Microsoft Office, Firefox or my very old copy of Photoshop Elements.

Feel the pain

But soon the problems began to mount:

• Where was the internet? I could see my router, but nothing beyond - even after a full day of tinkering with various network wizards. My BBC laptop proved that this was not a problem with my router or ISP.
• Why did my Philips webcam refuse to work? The Upgrade Advisor had explicitly said it would.
• What hardware was responsible for the three driver errors flagged up by Vista? One seemed to be the sound card - oh yes, why did I have no sound? But which mysterious "PCI input device" was lacking a driver? And what was the "unknown device" flagged up by Vista?
• Why did I get a "disk is full" error message every time I tried to install my keyboard's new Intellitype software? Why did Vista refuse to uninstall the XP-version of Intellitype?
  I knew that Apple had failed to make iTunes Vista-ready, so I didn't even try.
• But why did Microsoft's successor of Activesync, called Windows Mobile Device Center, refuse to hook up Outlook to my trusty old Pocket PC?

Fiddling around with Vista's settings, I soon found myself deep below its slick interface.

And the deeper I got, the more the look and jargon of dialogue boxes took me back into the world of XP.

It took me one day to get online. The detail is tedious and highly technical: reinstalling drivers and router firmware didn't work, but after many trial and error tweaks to Vista's TCP/IP settings, I had internet access.

Once online, Creative's website told me that my sound card was a write-off. No Vista support would be forthcoming.

Grudgingly I ordered a new one. After installing it, the hardware error messages disappeared; the three different errors flagged up by Vista were all triggered by my old sound card.

I also realised that my computer really needed more memory. Annoyingly, my Dell uses an unusual flavour of memory, called RDRAM, which is rare nowadays.

Two lost and one successful eBay auctions later, I installed one extra gigabyte of memory.

So far the upgrade to Vista had cost me about £130.

Not cheap, but probably fair value, as it will have extended the life-cycle of my PC by about two years.

Bearing a grudge against Philips, Dell and Microsoft

But a few problems refuse to go away and are both expensive and aggravating.

My Philips ToUCam still doesn't work, and plenty of angry forum debates are testament to the distinct lack of Vista support provided by Philips.

Even worse, Vista still refuses to talk to my Dell Axim X5 Pocket PC, which is a mere three-and-a-half years old.

I like my PDA. It saved my bacon when my laptop died on a reporting trip. Over five days, I filed 14 stories using the Axim and its foldable keyboard.

I don't want to buy a new one - at least, not until I find an affordable smart phone that is both slim and has a slide-out keyboard (what's on the market right now is too bulky for my taste).

But my Axim uses the Pocket PC 2002 operating system, and Microsoft has decided that Vista will work only with Pocket PC 2003 and higher.

A top Microsoft executive, who does not want to be quoted by name, tells me that "the refresh rate on [mobile] devices is typically 18 months, from our research - hence the view that most Pocket PC 2002 devices would no longer be in use.

"Our view (which may be incorrect) is that those people using the latest Desktop [operating system] would potentially also be using later devices as well."

Well, I have a surprise for Microsoft: They are wrong, not least judging from the discussions on various forums I've been to while hunting for a solution.

While Microsoft leaves me out in the cold, Dell is no help either.

Delving into a Dell support forum, I realise the company practises tough love. Very briefly, a couple of years ago, Dell offered X5 customers an upgrade to Pocket PC 2003. Not anymore.

So I can either throw away my Axim and invest another £200 or £300 (for a PDA and webcam), or roll back to XP and wave Vista goodbye.

To Vista or not to Vista

I find myself caught in the Vista trap. Quite apart from the pain of having to reinstall XP, I do like Vista.

It's slick, it's fast, it is very user-friendly. I like its applications - for example, Windows Picture Gallery, which could become a serious competitor to my favourite image browser, Faststone.

However, there are still plenty of wrinkles. The Windows "sidebar" may look nicer than Google desktop, but it crashes regularly and infuriates me because its "gadgets" can not be customised.

I've had two Vista crashes so far - not a blue but a black screen - and that really shouldn't happen. I can't even remember my last XP crash.

And everywhere I look, there are blogs and forums full of people who have problems with software drivers and suffer the poor customer support of the hundreds of hardware and software vendors that make up the Windows ecosystem.

So would I do it again?

The answer is no. Do what I originally had planned to do. Wait for half a year until the driver issues are settled and then buy a new PC.

Once that's in place, you can upgrade and tinker with your old machine, to give to your parents or children.

You will probably enjoy Vista, but there's little reason to do it the hard way.

Source: BBC News

[Arneldo]

I got it with my new laptop and so far so good. Im used to XP so it took some time getting around it but its good and i would recammend people to get it.

[GiRTh]

Have Microsoft released any Service Packs? If not I think I'll wait till they do.