Vista - first impressions

Post by **TSR2** » 16 Apr 2007, 22:45

Having been using Vista now for some 6 months my experiences are by the large positive. The first thing to note is that it is NOT XP, so you can't compair apples with apples in the truest sense. It is paranoid about security... which from an administrators point of view is a pain, but for most users this may well save much heartache.

How it hangs together technically is quite different from xp, and as such thats where some of the fubbies creep in... things you would expect to do with an administrator account, you can't.

M$ are trying to force in some standard best practice with Vista with the user rights restricted unless it is required to do a particular task. They are trying to move away from the "I need Administrative rights" culture which is a massive, and fairly brave step forward. This also forces software developers to write their code properly, rather than relying on users with administrative rights, they have to use the proper api's. This may all sound like double dutch, but its really a very good thing and something the IT industry has been trying to do for years without success. Now IT departments all over can breath a little easier... in some respects.

One think I would say is if anyone is seriously thinking about buying new hardware and upgrading to Vista GO FOR 64bit!!!! It is really the way forward and all my apps run comfortably and all the mainstream vendours (and many of the small ones) have 64bit hardware drivers. The 64 bit platform runs 32 bit Apps seamlessley. This is far from the bad old days when 16-bit apps ran in the TWUNK16 subsystem of 32 bit windows.

BUT... if you are someone who likes things to stay as they were, forget it. Vista is a NEW opperating system and won't let you do many of the things you have been accustomed to in XP and its predecessors.

Just my tuppence worth.

DanKH · Post by **DanKH** » 16 Apr 2007, 22:50

Ben Watson wrote:This also forces software developers to write their code properly, rather than relying on users with administrative rights

This is the part I like

Being a configuration Manager, and having to cope with a lot of programmers efforts, and still seeing the event logs filled with warnings of this and that, I feel some whip-lashes in stead of carrots are in right place

May even force someone to write effective code ... :think: :dance:

Post by **Garry Russell** » 16 Apr 2007, 22:53

Hi Ben

Doe this in effect move toward improving on the many things windows has always been critised for.......you know the general critism of everything, from instability to working in a messy way leaving bits all over the place?

Garry

Post by **TSR2** » 16 Apr 2007, 22:59

To be honnest Garry, it should.... but as with everything compromises have to be made. There is still a lot of code out there (programs) (some of which written by MS) that leave the OS in a mess. Symatec are propably the worlds worst for leaving registry entries behind when something has been uninstalled. Its the first step, and yes it should make new programs cleaner, but there is still so much legacy stuff out there which has to be able to run, it will take a few years yet.

AndyMinx · Post by **AndyMinx** » 16 Apr 2007, 23:07

Am I the only peson on Earth has has absolutley NO complaints about Vista at all?!?!?!

Well apart from the fact it is a little over-protective!

Cheers,

DanKH · Post by **DanKH** » 16 Apr 2007, 23:12

I think you will find that Ben and I shares your opinion ;-)

Post by **Garry Russell** » 16 Apr 2007, 23:15

Well Ben

A step in the right direction but of course it is going to take time.
One of the biggest gripes I here is a sort of "I don't want to know about computers I just want to sit down and use it"

Fair enough there has been too much need to fiddle to get it to function as it says on the box and often due to things not being compatible to each other.

It has almost been a let windows sort it out....have the odd reboot, recovery from a serious error.....self repair and if all else fails use system restore and when something doesn't work properly it's almost always answered with there will be a patch do doubt to fix this soon..........what a way to work.

So any attempt to sort this will in itself cause problems because it will be very different because of it's task..........just a case of give it time.

Many may not be too affected because by the time they do upgrade a lot will have been sorted.

The demand to change has been there and yet there is always that cosy leave it as it is feeling as well. We all want change just as long as everything stays the same.

It looks like in some ways it will seem rough but the benefits will soon come.

In the meantime anyone bothered can stick with XP until the time is right

Garry

Post by **Garry Russell** » 16 Apr 2007, 23:21

I moved this here...technically it's payware but not in the true sense of the word as it will come loaded on and could cause harware issues that may need discussion.

Garry