Vista Reviews Other Vista Discussions Discuss Vista Reviews in the Windows Vista forums; If you are using Windows Vista, this is the place to give your general thoughts about it. Review Vista and let others know what you think of it. What do ...

[dazzlin]

If you are using Windows Vista, this is the place to give your general thoughts about it. Review Vista and let others know what you think of it. What do you like about it? What do you hate about it? What could it do better? Compare Vista with previous versions of Windows, such as XP. Please give details rather than just saying it's great or it sucks. So, have at it. Windows Vista Reviews here!

[sen428]

Well one thing for sure that I think great is the advanced interface in Computer Management. I think it's great how MS is using as much of that space as possible to give TONS of information.

I'm a little disappointed in the way things are arranged; (i.e. Control Panel, Computer Properties, etc.) The old way was fantastic, but I guess you can't stop change.

I love the new interface and the "feel" of Vista. It is a resource hog though. I have 2 GB of RAM and it eats a solid 512-640MB on startup.

The games are great, WMP11 is pretty catchy too. I like the organization that is built in. Definitely easier to navigate.

[Znod]

Well, I don't have an in-depth review. But, I do have a few opinions.

First, I like Vista Ultimate better than XP Pro. I like it better for three reasons. Individually, none of my reasons are hugely significant. But, when combined, they make Vista Ultimate worth at least a discounted price to me. My reasons are: (1) improved appearance; (2) many small improvements in function (particularly in the control panel area); and (3) changes and improvements in the control panel options. These three reasons are not mutually exclusive, but they do convey my reasons for being willing to switch to Vista Ultimate.

Still, Vista Ultimate is not going to change my life in any significant way. Once the new wears off, it will be down to work and play in just the same old way.

[felix8406]

I like the fact that Vista boasts vast improvements over its predecessor. Its refresh modern look makes it stand out from XP. Try running Vista and XP side by side and you’ll notice that XP does shows its age. The new instant search feature makes it easier to search and find whatever file you need. I love the way Vista uses Windows Photo Gallery to organize my photos and videos. In no time I can search for specific photos using quick to setup tags, burn the photos to disk or enjoy a slide presentation. As for music, no complaints here; I ripped over 200 music CDs to a hard drive, simply by inserting the CDs. Plus it allowed me to burn a CD of my favorite songs with ease.

What I don’t like is the amount of resources that it takes to run the OS. These days when manufactures are doing their best to build more efficient, smaller and cost effective products, in my opinion, Microsoft has done the opposite. One only has to look at hardware prices to see that comparison. You can get a CPU, RAM or a whole PC for pennies of what it used to cost a few years back. However, Microsoft has built an OS that won’t fit in a regular CD, requires three times the amount of RAM as XP, a faster CPU, a more technological advance graphic card, larger hard disk and not to mention the plan to push X86 architecture aside.

It’s obvious, at least to me, that Microsoft has a plan, and it’s executing that plan to perfection. They took IBM technology, DOS, and made it their own. Then they took Apple’s GUI feature, mated with DOS and Windows 3.1 was born. People thought this was great and began to buy the new systems. As people began to buy these systems, the PC became more affordable. And the rest is history, as the new home-pc revolution was born. That was the plan, get as many PCs in as many homes as possible, and once that was taken care of, Microsoft would have the ability to keep us hostage to their system.

Has the plan worked? You bet it has. Do I like Vista? You bet I do. Am I a victim of Microsoft plan? You bet I am. Have I enjoyed every minute of it? Oh yeah.

[Davehc]

This was too long to copy over, so here is the link. You either like Paul or not, but he has had the chance to have a good look at Vista. His review is not really an appraisal of Vista but gives some in depth coverage of what the different releases ar all about.
http://www.winsupersite.com/vista/

[joseph]

I like the new look, makes my sister, and my girl friend go NUTS to try it out, (they stuck their eyes on it for hours), After getting it back, i reset all the pink settings, made it back to normal(they put a pony desktop picture for my desktop) I tried all the optiosn again and again, I love the AERO graphics, and the GUI, also like the new Windows Flip 3d, and the (alt-Tab) thing, i also like the new way to maximize a window from the taskbar, pretty smooth move, i should say, I spent 200 bucks on this OS, and i will never regret doing that, My dial-up runs a lot faster on Windows Vista, cause of the new networking feture, much better then XP's (Microsoft finnally got networking right, LOL) and a lot more, too much to mention

Joseph yay almost 20 posts LOL

[maxrpg]

i agree that vista is a great improvement over XP in almost every way with its slick and stylish new look and new features and functionality its the best OS ive ever had the pleasure of using to run my PC.

its not perfect but every OS or software has its querks and i think microsoft are doing a good job in fixing the bugs in vista. i think drivers are the only major issue with vista but as many manufacturers have stated they couldnt create drivers for vista until it was released because of its constantly changing code but now that its out ive seen drivers for vista pop up all over the place and all my hardware now works on it

people also dont want to upgrade to vista because of its lack of some game support which is caused by directx 10 (i believe) but again game developers are now looking at creating there games using dx10 so soon everyone will have to use vista (theyll have no choice because dx10 wont work on XP) but by the time everyone needs to upgrade im sure vista will be updated and running even better than it already does.

vista is the OS for the 21st century and what an OS it is

VISTA IS AWSOME!!!!

I like it A LOT!!

Over the years I've suffered through a number of OS and application releases that were just horrible. Does anyone else remember the release of DB IV for CPM86 that wouldn't even load?

I've been using Vista Ultimate for a little over a month now and after getting past the "Thou Shalt not have a bootable Linux disk in your system" issue, I must say that this is one of the cleanest MAJOR OS UPDATES I've used. I'm surprised that Microsoft allowed installing it as an upgrade, a fresh install is the only way to fly in my book.

I suspect that Microsoft has a lot more intelligence built into Vista than we have yet to realize. As new applications are released, we will see capabilities that we have been waiting for a long time to see.

I'm really looking forward to the day when all of the software vendors take up the torch for 64bit applications. I would really like to use 8gbytes of memory rather than 4.

A number of posts focus on the resource useage. I think Microsoft is looking a little further down the road than most of us can see. There's a new chip technology in the mill called hafnium. Intel is already testing in house and both IBM and AMD are ready to start production as well. I'm including a quote from Intel (If the site admin chooses to cut this I understand, but it does provide some real insight as to where we may be by this time next year)

"Compared to today's 65nm technology, Intel's 45nm technology will provide the following product benefits:

Approximately twice the transistor density (great for smaller chip sizes or increased transistor counts)

Approximately 30 percent reduction in transistor-switching power

Greater than 20 percent improvement in transistor-switching speed or a
greater than 5 times reduction in source-drain leakage power

Greater than 10 times reduction in transistor gate oxide leakage for lower power requirements and increased battery life "

AND - they are less expensive to produce.

I think Microsoft has done an excellent job of positioning their product to utilizie the capability of the new technology. And most of us update our computers every two years or so anyway.

The one item I would like to see added to Vista is Multiple Desktops - as many as your computer resources will allow. I guess that's why I like the Gadgets so much. They provide a nice function in a small space and can be easily expanded. I have dual monitors (one 22" and one 19") and I never seem to have enough real estate when I get really busy.

[Midway]

I am loving Vista so far

One thing that stands out to me was that after installation a window popped up informing me that it did not have the drivers for my sound card and modem. It informed me that that it found some online and asked me if I wanted it to download and install it for me. I had already downloaded the Creative drivers beforehand and I didn't care if my modem worked or not (I am on satellite internet) but it was nice of it to ask!

[ewan_mclean]

Windows Vista love/hate relationship

I have to say that there is a lot that I can say about Windows Vista. There are a lot of things I like about it, and a good few things I hate about it. For a start I love the new Windows Aero interface, it looks very clean and easy to read. I like the Windows Media Center too, but not the driver problems that come with my TV tuner card.

There has been a lot of critisizms about the new User Account control, but these people who complain obviously are perfect when it comes to making mistakes with their PCs. You can only truly appreciate UAC control if you are quite a clumsy person and accidently make changes to your PC. Also what if an unidentified program such as spyware wants to access your PC, UAC will ask for your permission before it does.

My biggest bugbear about Vista though is the incompatibilities with older XP and earlier programs, my biggest problems came with Nero 6.6.

But in general I like Windows Vista, it is very fast, as it starts up a lot quicker than previous versions and runs alot quicker too, provided that your PC is up to the job of running Vista.

But to anyone considering Vista just now, I would advise you to wait until the first service pack has been released as this will provide any hotfixes that may be needed to correct any problems. Windows Vista will be brilliant once all of the little issues it has have been ironed out.

Also I hate having to reactivate Windows after I have reinstalled it by telephone, it is a real pain because I am not connected to the Internet. I know Microsoft are trying to crack down on pirates, but come on this is rediculous.

Ewan Mclean