XP or Vista

Neither, Just FYI. My Operating System's Of Choice Is: Either Microsoft
Windows Server 2008 RTM, Or Open Source Linux Ubuntu 7.10 RTW, Just FYI. I
Am Very Proud To Call Myself Alias Number 2, Just FYI.

"Alan Justice" <spam@spamspamspam.spam> wrote in message
news:e3zm9qNbIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I
> have
> little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that
> Vista
> has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
> minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other computer is
> the workhorse.)
>
> --
> - Alan Justice
>
>

All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I have
little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that Vista
has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other computer is
the workhorse.)

--
- Alan Justice

Either would be fine for your needs. Sounds like you've a number of legacy
programs, so probably XP would be more appropriate.

SteveT

"Alan Justice" <spam@spamspamspam.spam> wrote in message
news:e3zm9qNbIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I
> have
> little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that
> Vista
> has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
> minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other computer is
> the workhorse.)
>
> --
> - Alan Justice
>
>


If you can hold off until some time in March, you will then be able to buy a
computer which has Vista SP1 pre-installed. Ensure that you do actually get
Vista SP1.

Vista has come a long way since the early days, and the SP1 update takes
Vista to a new level (higher). What you might want to do in the meantime is
check that all of your external devices and programs are Vista compatible.
This requires donkey work, going from one manufacturer/author website to
another..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

Hello.. you will get the best unbiased view from me.

Listen Vista indeed was terrible before SP1... I was the biggest vista
basher of the galaxy!
It was slow, unstable and well the total experience was not good.

But now I got my hands on SP1 (service pack 1) and I have installed vista
and I can say that
its a nice experience... It works only slightly slower than XP now... but
apart from that its ok.

What you will have to know before you decide to get Vista:

1) I would suggest you reasearch and get Vista Ultimate or buisness from a
seller that gives DEGRADE rights from Vista to XP.
What is this? Well if you get one of the versions I mentioned above, then
you also have the right to install XP for free.
This gives you much flexibility.

2) Check and reasearch if the printers or scanners or other peripherals you
may want to use from the OLD system have drivers for Vista,
or if the XP ones work with Vista, or if vista has built in drivers for
these

3) Have in mind that you will probably lose some time (and money) if you
have old versions of programs that will not work well with vista.

And most of all you will get a computer that has vista WITH SP1!!!! Without
SP1 Vista is horrible!

I hope this helps a bit, and if you need any clarification ask and I will
help you.



"Alan Justice" <spam@spamspamspam.spam> wrote in message
news:e3zm9qNbIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I
> have
> little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that
> Vista
> has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
> minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other computer is
> the workhorse.)
>
> --
> - Alan Justice
>
>

If you're buying a PC with a preinstalled operating system you probably
won't have much choice - it'll likely be Vista. Either should suit your
needs. Vista took a bit of getting used to for me, but since you're coming
from Win98 the same will probably apply to either of them for you.

XP is no more buggy than any other OS (cue the hail of Linux supporters but
you did ask for an UNBIASED opinion). If it's a choice of XP or Vista, and
you're going to buy one of those separately and install it on a fresh
machine yourself, Vista will almost certainly be cheaper.

Do check for compatibility with all your old software before buying. Vista
is notoriously incompatible in this regard. It doesn't even fully support
Office 2000, and that's a (albeit obsolescent) Microsoft product.

Both versions include a compatibility wizard for older programs, and quite
often running a program in Windows 98 mode will solve any problems you may
have. If in doubt, XP might be the safer option here but bear in mind it
too is eventually going to become obsolete.


"Alan Justice" <spam@spamspamspam.spam> wrote in message
news:e3zm9qNbIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I
> have
> little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that
> Vista
> has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
> minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other computer is
> the workhorse.)
>
> --
> - Alan Justice
>
>

Previously Tiberius wrote:
> Hello.. you will get the best unbiased view from me.
>
> Listen Vista indeed was terrible before SP1... I was the biggest vista
> basher of the galaxy!
> It was slow, unstable and well the total experience was not good.
>
> But now I got my hands on SP1 (service pack 1) and I have installed
> vista and I can say that
> its a nice experience... It works only slightly slower than XP now...
> but apart from that its ok.
>
> What you will have to know before you decide to get Vista:
>
> 1) I would suggest you reasearch and get Vista Ultimate or buisness from
> a seller that gives DEGRADE rights from Vista to XP.
> What is this? Well if you get one of the versions I mentioned above,
> then you also have the right to install XP for free.
> This gives you much flexibility.
>
> 2) Check and reasearch if the printers or scanners or other peripherals
> you may want to use from the OLD system have drivers for Vista,
> or if the XP ones work with Vista, or if vista has built in drivers for
> these
>
> 3) Have in mind that you will probably lose some time (and money) if you
> have old versions of programs that will not work well with vista.
>
> And most of all you will get a computer that has vista WITH SP1!!!!
> Without SP1 Vista is horrible!
>
> I hope this helps a bit, and if you need any clarification ask and I
> will help you.
>
>
>
> "Alan Justice" <spam@spamspamspam.spam> wrote in message
> news:e3zm9qNbIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6).
>> I have
>> little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
>> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
>> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that
>> Vista
>> has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
>> minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other
>> computer is
>> the workhorse.)
>>
>> --
>> - Alan Justice
>>
>>
>

I bought a new Compaq with Vista Home on it and have had quite a bit of
problems with my existing software that I had installed on my (now) dead
XP Pro laptop.

I put Office 2003 Pro and most programs work except when saving files to
a different directory than the default causes a 30 second delay that
seems like everything is locked up. Then it frees up and the directory
will change. I am still trying to figure out where my outbox emails go
when I send email from Outlook.

I spent a day and a half trying to get Motorola Phone Tools installed
only to give up and go to my XP Pro desktop.

I had to buy a new antivirus because the Norton V10.2 would not run on
Vista, I needed Norton 10.4 and it was a cost to upgrade.

I would be happy to go back to XP Pro if I had known about the DEGRADE
capability or for that matter is the DEGRADE capability built in and
just has to be purchased? Or can I purchase XP Pro and have it install
over the top of Vista?

Is the SP1 going to have more software compatability than the original
or is it more for stability, security and speed?

TIA, GWB

On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 10:26:13 -0800, Alan Justice wrote:

> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I
> have little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that
> Vista has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only
> need minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other
> computer is the workhorse.)

IMHO - if there is no particular reason why you would want vista then it
might be better to do xp. DELL, for one, offers computers with xp
installed instead of vista. It will require some looking to find
computers with xp or another alternative instead of vista, but they exist
- it's up to you whether it's worth the bother.

Alan Justice wrote:
> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I have
> little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that Vista
> has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
> minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other computer is
> the workhorse.)
>
Go with Vista...it's more secure and why buy old technology?
Frank

MS does not give degrade rights to Vista Home.. only Ultimate and Business.
BUT, you can always ask the guys you bought it from WHAT you can do to get
the degrade rights (they will allow you only if they offer the same computer
with XP drivers... unfortunatly not everyone produces XP drivers for new
model computers so they dont offer support).

Apart from that.. wait a few weeks to see how much Vista will improve with
SP1...

As I said in my previous post.. everything seems to just work with SP1 while
before that Vista was full of frustration.

I would bet that problem you have with office2003 will be fixed...
There is a latest service pack 3 for office2004 that boast vista
compatibility improvments.. have you installed that?
Here is a link for that
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/do...798601033.aspx

> Is the SP1 going to have more software compatability than the original or
> is it more for stability, security and speed?

From what I have seen on this PC running Vista with the FINAL version of
SP1, its like a totally different experience!
It works far faster more compatible and stable... I didnt think MS would
fix vista but it seems they have done a good job.

About norton.. well I avoid all norton products ! You should have posted
here and asked.. I would have told you about
avast HOME free edition that is free and its good...
if you are curious have a look here and look for the free home edition
www.avast.com

Tell me if this helps somewhat... I really think you should wait until SP1
for vista will be available (in a couple of weeks they say mid March)
and try installing SP3 for Office.

If you need anything else Ill be around




"George W. Barrowcliff" <george.barrowcliff@flash.net> wrote in message
news:uqG5yCObIHA.208@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> Previously Tiberius wrote:
>> Hello.. you will get the best unbiased view from me.
>>
>> Listen Vista indeed was terrible before SP1... I was the biggest vista
>> basher of the galaxy!
>> It was slow, unstable and well the total experience was not good.
>>
>> But now I got my hands on SP1 (service pack 1) and I have installed vista
>> and I can say that
>> its a nice experience... It works only slightly slower than XP now... but
>> apart from that its ok.
>>
>> What you will have to know before you decide to get Vista:
>>
>> 1) I would suggest you reasearch and get Vista Ultimate or buisness from
>> a seller that gives DEGRADE rights from Vista to XP.
>> What is this? Well if you get one of the versions I mentioned above, then
>> you also have the right to install XP for free.
>> This gives you much flexibility.
>>
>> 2) Check and reasearch if the printers or scanners or other peripherals
>> you may want to use from the OLD system have drivers for Vista,
>> or if the XP ones work with Vista, or if vista has built in drivers for
>> these
>>
>> 3) Have in mind that you will probably lose some time (and money) if you
>> have old versions of programs that will not work well with vista.
>>
>> And most of all you will get a computer that has vista WITH SP1!!!!
>> Without SP1 Vista is horrible!
>>
>> I hope this helps a bit, and if you need any clarification ask and I will
>> help you.
>>
>>
>>
>> "Alan Justice" <spam@spamspamspam.spam> wrote in message
>> news:e3zm9qNbIHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> All my programs are starting to screw up (PC with Win 98, OE6, IE6). I
>>> have
>>> little confidence in my ability to trouble shoot (my PhD is not in
>>> computers), so I may just buy a new computer. I have XP on my other
>>> computer (although the hard drive did crash once), and have heard that
>>> Vista
>>> has too many bugs. Where can I get an unbiased review? (I only need
>>> minimal configuration, for internet, and no network. My other computer
>>> is
>>> the workhorse.)
>>>
>>> --
>>> - Alan Justice
>>>
>>>
>>
>
> I bought a new Compaq with Vista Home on it and have had quite a bit of
> problems with my existing software that I had installed on my (now) dead
> XP Pro laptop.
>
> I put Office 2003 Pro and most programs work except when saving files to a
> different directory than the default causes a 30 second delay that seems
> like everything is locked up. Then it frees up and the directory will
> change. I am still trying to figure out where my outbox emails go when I
> send email from Outlook.
>
> I spent a day and a half trying to get Motorola Phone Tools installed only
> to give up and go to my XP Pro desktop.
>
> I had to buy a new antivirus because the Norton V10.2 would not run on
> Vista, I needed Norton 10.4 and it was a cost to upgrade.
>
> I would be happy to go back to XP Pro if I had known about the DEGRADE
> capability or for that matter is the DEGRADE capability built in and just
> has to be purchased? Or can I purchase XP Pro and have it install over
> the top of Vista?
>
> Is the SP1 going to have more software compatability than the original or
> is it more for stability, security and speed?
>
> TIA, GWB
>