When are you upgrading to Windows Vista?

[FutureBillionaire]

When are you upgrading to Windows Vista?

[Gene]

Originally Posted by FutureBillionaire

When are you upgrading to Windows Vista?

I will be buying a new computer in January or February of next year. I am sure it will ship with Vista. I feel no particular desire to own Vista soon.

[WanderingOak]

While I am a Mac user, you forgot to add Linux to your poll. I know there are at least a few here using it. I was using Debian myself, before getting fed up with having to RTFM every fifteen minutes. I may go back and try Ubantu sometime, when I have the time to muck about with it.

[tropicality]

I think I will ASAP but only for one very specific reason: Its ability to use external memory connections as RAM. My laptop only has 512mb ram and it is too little for how many things I try to operate at once. My laptop also has a small slot in the side that I can hopefully stick a 1 or 2gb Flash Card deep inside and leave it there permanently! Instead of a usb flash drive that sticks out the side. Kind of an added convenience that makes it even more worth it!

[Keith]

What Wandering Oak said. Debian all the way!

[WanderingOak]

Originally Posted by tropicality

I think I will ASAP but only for one very specific reason: Its ability to use external memory connections as RAM. My laptop only has 512mb ram and it is too little for how many things I try to operate at once. My laptop also has a small slot in the side that I can hopefully stick a 1 or 2gb Flash Card deep inside and leave it there permanently! Instead of a usb flash drive that sticks out the side. Kind of an added convenience that makes it even more worth it!

Can flash memory be accessed as quickly as RAM? I was under the impression that it was more useful as storage because of the relatively slow access time. You might be able to run more programs, or programs requiring more RAM than what you currently have, but I do not think it will increase your computer's speed much.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by WanderingOak

Can flash memory be accessed as quickly as RAM? I was under the impression that it was more useful as storage because of the relatively slow access time. You might be able to run more programs, or programs requiring more RAM than what you currently have, but I do not think it will increase your computer's speed much.

Actually, Flash has a few problems that keeps it from being a good choice to extend your RAM. Like you mentioned, it is slow, but most of the reason for that is due to the interface, not the memory itself.

The real problem comes from a limitation in the Flash chips. When you write to a memory register, that register starts to go bad... For a good, high-end Flash chip, it can be written to about 100,000 times before these bad sectors start destroying information... The unfortunate thing about capitalism is that we rarely see high-end goods.

If you used a Flash chip to extend out your memory, besides being slower, you'll end up replacing that card every couple of months, if not every couple of weeks.

Back on topic, though...

I've heard some great things about Vista, and some terrible things... I'll wait and see, and probably be forced to upgrade in about a year.

[Markus74]

Dunno ... XP works fine for me.

And when I have to buy a new PC, it may be a Mac!

[RT Wolf]

"When hell freezes" should be added to the poll.

[tropicality]

What I was going off was the info on the Microsoft Windows Vista Website:

Windows ReadyBoost

Adding system memory (RAM) is often the best way to improve your PC's performance. More memory means applications can run without needing to access the hard drive. However, upgrading memory is not always easy. You need to know what type of memory you need, purchase the memory, and open your computer to install the memory—which sometimes can invalidate your support agreement. Also, some machines have limited memory expansion capabilities, preventing you from adding RAM even if you are willing to do so.

Windows Vista introduces a new concept in adding memory to a system. Windows ReadyBoost lets users use a removable flash memory device, such as a USB thumb drive, to improve system performance without opening the box. Windows ReadyBoost can improve system performance because it can retrieve data kept on the flash memory more quickly than it can retrieve data kept on the hard disk, decreasing the time you need to wait for your PC to respond. Combined with SuperFetch technology, this can help drive impressive improvements in system responsiveness.

Windows ReadyBoost technology is reliable and provides protection of the data stored on your device. You can remove the memory device at any time without any loss of data or negative impact to the system; however, if you remove the device, your performance returns to the level you experienced without the device. Additionally, data on the removable memory device is encrypted to help prevent inappropriate access to data when the device is removed.

But maybe I needed to know what others have to say? Well... I don't know... the only way will be to test it...

[mjukr]

I support Windows systems at work. We'll be migrating, most likely, Winter 2007.

At home, I permanently switched to Ubuntu about a year ago and see no reason to switch back.

[Reyv]

Most likely after SP1, like I did with XP. I'm guessing they have bugs to fix, support to get (proper drivers, et al), and so on. And even if they didn't, I'm too lazy to go through an OS upgrade anytime soon.

[Baltar]

Originally Posted by Adam

The real problem comes from a limitation in the Flash chips. When you write to a memory register, that register starts to go bad... For a good, high-end Flash chip, it can be written to about 100,000 times before these bad sectors start destroying information... The unfortunate thing about capitalism is that we rarely see high-end goods.

Hate going off topic but I just had to reply to this. Yes, flash has a limited number of write-erase cycles per block. However, 100,000 is a very low end estimate. According to Wikipedia, most commercial products are rated at 1 million write-erase cycles. Moreover, a good controller will keep track of how much each block has been used, and will spread the wear over all the blocks evenly. And I'm really surprised that you're knocking capitalism. With capitalism you get exactly what you pay for. If you want to get a 2 gig flash drive for $20, you can't expect it to last for 10 years.

Going back on topic though, I have no intention of ever using Vista for anything other than testing my software. I've just built a new PC dual booting Ubuntu Linux with Windows XP, and will be using Ubuntu most of the time. I mainly need Windows for two things -- software development (making Windows binaries, although I can probably learn to cross-compile from Linux) and playing games, since most games don't support Linux yet. There's absolutely nothing else Windows has that you can't get from Linux these days.

Linux even gives you a choice of many file systems, and some are a lot faster than FAT32/NTFS (the only ones Windows can use). I'm using ReiserFS for instance which is optimized for handling lots of small files quickly. And perhaps the most refreshing thing about using Linux is not having to install an anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, anti-trojan.... It's shocking that Windows users seem to think it's perfectly normal for an OS to be so vulnerable to attack from every possible direction. And no, Linux is not less vulnerable due to smaller market share. It's just a better designed OS.

[SmellyOrc]

I already have Just gotta find a way to overclock the usb port for my mouse. No luck so far...

Edit: I also wanna try a nice *nix distro sometimes. I want a distro that's user-friendly, but still has a lot of adjustable things... Any tips for a *nix noob?

[TheBull]

I'll get it with a new computer as I'm certainly not going to pay the outrageous price for it. I could pretty much do without it, but there are a few things that I might like, especially pertaining to some of the new security features (I know, it is STILL Microsoft...).

I have both a Linux desktop and an Intel iMac at work (from which I'm writing this). If I could ever get over the mac's key bindings and price I might be persuaded to get one for a development machine. I'll still need a M$ box for games though

[niko]

Some guy made this interesting 30-day evaluation (most of us probably couldn't afford ):

He used XP, Vista and OSX in parallel, expecting he would most likely be fascinated most by OSX, but it turned out differently...

[Michael Chui]

I'm basically going to get Vista when it ships with the PC I buy. I don't expect this to happen anytime soon, though. Nothing about Vista seems very appealing.

[jpfieber]

As someone that will eventually have to support 600 machines with Vista, I'm starting now to try and get an understanding of every aspect!

[CStrunk]

At my university, I have a Mac and use a Debian for any programming I need to do. I read, however, that the school's network will not support Windows Vista until July or August 2007.

[Scott]

*cough*Linux*cough*

Seriously, I answered for "Mac, Vista sucks", but there is a such thing as free software.

[andrew]

Vista seems rediculously bloated. I use a mac, they're intel now, so you guys can just have EVERY OS on a mac which is nice. But, let's not turn this in to Yet Another Mac vs PC™ thread.

It has a few new features that are cool, but nothing that makes me want to go back. Nothing ground breaking or really original, seems they're playing catch up to Apple.

If you want to try linux, you can use a live distro, which is a bootable cd/dvd that runs *nix right off of the cd without having to install anything. Great for checking it out before you go partitioning and formating everything.

[jpfieber]

Originally Posted by CStrunk

At my university, I have a Mac and use a Debian for any programming I need to do. I read, however, that the school's network will not support Windows Vista until July or August 2007.

That's the earliest you'll see it almost anywhere. If all the stars align, we'd probably deploy it for the fall semester of 2007, but their are so many things that have to be resolved to allow that to happen (software compatability, network compatability, hardware compatability, bringing support people up to speed, etc).

[ondrej]

Originally Posted by RT Wolf

"When hell freezes" should be added to the poll.

I agree :]].

[Michael Chui]

*blink* Do we seriously have a Vista guru here? That's awesome.

[stephencp]

What's the compelling reason (and not from MS promo material....) to switch from XP to Vista?

Stephen
Power-Book Library: Free personal development, success, inspiration and motivational classics
Personality and Growth Bookshelf
Snappy Shop - Download what you need right now, instant shopping

[jpfieber]

Originally Posted by stephencp

What's the compelling reason (and not from MS promo material....) to switch from XP to Vista?

So far, from a managers point of view, I like the increased security. Their is finally thought put into the implications of allowing users to easily install/configure things. It will be frustrating for many users that are used to installing what they want when they want, but it's an important step in keeping out viruses, malware, etc.

From a users point of view, it's all new and shiny, literally...

[Baltar]

Originally Posted by stephencp

What's the compelling reason (and not from MS promo material....) to switch from XP to Vista?

Depends on what you would define as "compelling reason". From looking at the Vista article in Wikipedia, I don't see any particularly important changes. The only thing of concern to me is that DirectX 10 is being released exclusively for Vista. This is basically arm twisting to force people to upgrade, once games start being released that use DX 10 (that won't be for a while though). On the other hand, I've read that the Wine team (Windows compatibility layer in Linux) intends to port their implementation of DX 10 to pre-Vista Windows versions.

[Kiba]

I will be switching to linux instead.


I have no desire to deal with Microsoft.
Beside, it is time to migrate to an operating system
friendly to my ideals and my programming hobby.

[jpfieber]

Originally Posted by Kiba

I will be switching to linux instead.


I have no desire to deal with Microsoft.
Beside, it is time to migrate to an operating system
friendly to my ideals and my programming hobby.

I hear ya. I would love to switch to Linux, but some of us are trapped with MS products because the software we need to run is only available there. Of course their are many alternative versions of most of the software, but in business, universities, etc almost isn't good enough. If only all applications were portable so you could pick an OS based on it's merits, the world would be a better place, and I'd be willing to bet we'd have better OS's to choose from as well (true competition always helps)!

[Baltar]

Originally Posted by jpfieber

I hear ya. I would love to switch to Linux, but some of us are trapped with MS products because the software we need to run is only available there.

You can run many Windows programs in Linux using Wine. There's even software available to make it easier to do: CrossOver Linux. It supports a lot of programs including MS Office.