Like new Windows Vista?

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My new laptop has vista. My first opinion was bad but it takes some time to get used to it and now i like it. I think alot of simple things they have made so you can do it alot quciker. I love the tabs on internet explorer but in vista i like the sidebar and gadgets...Show more

Hi, Windows Vista is an excellent operating system.

I will tell u how it is superior to Windows Xp:

1. Its interface, aero is probably better than any other GUI out there, if u look at Vista's interface then look at Xp's again, u would puke.

2. 3d effects, OS X and Linux have had 3d effects for quite some time and Vista has some decent 3d effects as well.

3. Widgets r great little programs for performing small tasks and u will find them useful as well.

4. Vista is based on the NT code base of Windows Server 2003 which makes it superior to Windows Xp.

5. DirectX10, if u r a gamer then u have got to check out the amazing graphics directx10 can give u, and directx10 is a Vista only feature.

6. Vista is more stable than Windows Xp, as long as u use the latest drivers for your hardware that is designed for Windows Vista and software for Vista as well then Vista is as stable as Windows gets.

7. Security, Vista's built in firewall is good, way better than Xp. It has Windows defender installed by default to stop spyware.
Also windows Vista has user account control, which is a VERY important security feature which Unix systems use. That is that standard users can't run as administrator unlike Xp in which everyone was an administrator. What happened in Xp was as soon as some virus attacked it would immediately gain administrator access to your system, with user account control it won't be able to do anything to your system unless u allow it to run.

8. Even though Vista consumes more ram, it still better manages your system resources, it manages them in the exact same way operating systems like Linux/Unix manage their resources.

I use openSUSE 10.3 which is a Linux operating system and u may want to check that out as well, its the most polished, easiest, stable Linux system out there. It has a GUI for everything so no need to fear the command line and has the awesome 3d effects called compiz fusion u must have seen on youtube.

http://en.opensuse.org
http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net

Edit: I read your question again and here goes.

Well OS X is great, but when u use a Mac u r locked down by Apple a lot meaning u can only use their hardware and stuff. There r other restrictions as well like lets say u r playing a copy righted movie and then u can't take a screenshot of your desktop while the movie plays and its little stuff like that is really lame. NO ONE should have the power to stop u from taking a screenshot of your desktop or do whatever u want with your system and Apple does that a lot.

On the other hand OS X is a Unix like system just like Linux, that makes it very stable as well. OS X is easy and I don't think u will find it difficult, u seem intelligent. In fact Mac OS X is one of the easiest operating systems around after Windows cause nothing gets easier then that.

The decision is up to u, but I suggest u give Linux a try as well.

Good Luck and take care!...Show more

MS Windows Vista is different than MS Windows XP so you'll have a bit of a learning curve to find where Microsoft shuffled everything to this time. If you pickup things quickly, then you shouldn't have a difficult time transitioning to MS Windows Vista. Just make sure your laptop purchase includes at least 2GB of RAM and if you intend to do any gaming on it, a dedicated video card (not a shared/integrated card). I'd personally try to find a MS Windows XP laptop if possible (for performance reasons).

** Edit **

Directed toward snakeye:
1) The preference of the GUI is purely subjective. From a functional stand point, both allow you to accomplish the same tasks. Personally I find the Windows 2000 or XP interface to get me to things with less clicks than Vista.

2) 3D effects are nice but don't really provide much functionality at this point. Maybe when GUIs are designed with the extra dimension in mind this will become more important. I disabled Aero on my desktop to help with controlling the resource hunger of MS Vista.

3) Widgets - I disabled them. Maybe if they did something that I wanted to see all the time I'd enable them, but again, these were just taking up resources that I'd prefer to leave freed up.

4) I was under the impression that Windows Vista was a rewrite, not necessarily based on a previous MS OS. I'm sure it has some heritage in past MS OS's though.

5) DirectX 10 has yet to be heavily used. Only a handful of games support it. Vendors still have a huge consumer base in DX9. I've also read several reviews from tech sites that indicate DX9 is superior to DX10 (at least for now, maybe when DX10b comes out that will change).

6) Stability - I've had the same number of "blue screens of death" on Vista as XP. The only difference is that XP crashed after having it for a few years and it was due to a hard disk failure. My Vista install encountered one supposedly due to a video issue. I made no modifications and haven't seen the bsod since. I'm not sure what caused it but the OS didn't exactly handle it gracefully.

7) Security is one feature that I'll agree with you on. MS is finally getting closer to a secure multi-user system.

8) Memory - I agree that Vista consumes more memory. I haven't really studied OS memory management to a great depth so can't really comment on it being the same as *NIX systems. The only point I'd like to mention here is that MS really should have made Vista a 64 bit only OS and just provided an emulated 32 bit environment.

** Edit **
If you really have an interest in a Mac, see if you can find an Apple store in your area. I know of several in the DC Metro area and the techs there are very helpful. You could get a feel for the OS before purchasing one. I have co-workers with them and they love their Macs. I'm more of a "gamer" at home so I'm sort of stuck on MS Windows for that. I've heard pretty good stories on Apple Parallels and Apple Bootcamp but still have reservations about performance of graphics in the virtualized environment....Show more

Personally i have a love-hate relationship with microsoft. Vista is a new os. It is stable for everyday use. It sucks up memory (but doesn't every new os need new hardware? It's just the way the digital cookie crumbles. If you need a new laptop get one you won't hate yourself. Although on my dads toshiba w/ vista Explorer ... not internet explorer... explorer meaning pretty much the whole os... had crashed on me about a month ago. Now its all good. I'm totally ok with it because i don't really use it. If you want a laptop.... get a quality machine with at least a 1.8ghz dual core and 2gb of ram. There question answered. Hope your happy. sincerely, xrockislife3016x...Show more

I liked it at the beginning, until I had trouble opening pdf. documents, then I hated it. I'm in college, and I need pdf. But all of a sudden, I can now open the pdf. documents. I messed with a few of my computer settings, and now pdf. works. So I am back digging Vista again....Show more