Windows Vista (Beta)

dubmick

Hi,

Do many of you guys have this installed?

I was thinking of giving it a go. Do most programs work ok on it?

Any opinions much appreciated.

Tnx

Mick

stevenmu

I had one of the alpha versions installed for a while. Most programs should work with it, and a lot of 200/XP drivers should too, thought you'll need a proper Vista driver for your graphics card. That said it's not really ready for general consumer use, there'll still be a lot of stuff, both software and hardware, and performance will be poor. It's really only of interest to people in the industry (such as software devs, IT, hardware devs etc). Don't install it unless you're comfortable with formatting your drive and reinstalling XP.

i have the latest beta and had it running last week. it ran fine but i don't like it, i think it's too cluttered up with all the fancy graphic bits, i prefer XP.

Ideo

can you just download the beta version off the microsoft website? if not where!?

kaimera

Is there an official Beta2 out yet?

Rollo Tamasi

can you dual boot with any of the versions of Vista that are out. I have XP btw.

kaimera

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

can you dual boot with any of the versions of Vista that are out. I have XP btw.

Aye.

aidan_walsh

kaimera wrote:

Is there an official Beta2 out yet?

No.

scooby_doo_no1 wrote:

can you just download the beta version off the microsoft website?

No. Unless you are a software developer with an MSDN subscription, its not available to you.

stevenmu wrote:

Don't install it unless you're comfortable with formatting your drive and reinstalling XP.

Virtual machines, ftw!

projectmayhem

i was gonna do it because beta stages are the best stages to have anything by microsoft... you have their devoted attention and they fix any issues straight away for you.

but i've got an athlon64, and vista has no love for AMD yet

the_syco

projectmayhem wrote:

but i've got an athlon64, and vista has no love for AMD yet

Aye, I feel your pain. Stick with the 64bit version of XP till then, then.

=-=

Can't wait till Vista 64bit comes out, tho, as when it does, there'll be more options AV/F wise, to buy.

stevenmu

aidan_walsh wrote:

Virtual machines, ftw!

That would be the best option alright, maybe slight overkill for many home users though.

Banphrionsa

Heard that Vista would not be released to the public until after the first of the year. Beta bugs?

stevenmu

It is going to be released to business later this year (november I think), and possibly OEMs too, so it'll have to be ready by then. If it's full of bugs and fails at business level, it'll fail at consumer level aswell.

I'd guess that having a split rollout will serve 2 purposes, one is that it'll allow support to focus totally on the (probably easier to support) business sector instead of having to deal with home users too at the same time. Most major issues should be sorted out pretty quickly, allowing them to devote more time to hand-holding home users when they get there hands on it.

Secondly, this is being sold as the biggest update since Win95, so it'll allow them to launch a huge marketing campaign on the back of a successfull business launch. People will be using it in work and wanting to get there hands on it at home too.

Peteee

stevenmu wrote:

People will be using it in work and wanting to get there hands on it at home too.

No business in thier right mind is going to use Vista when it's just released. I'd say it'll take 1 service pack and some serious hardware upgrades before businesses consider it.

kaimera

Peteee wrote:

No business in thier right mind is going to use Vista when it's just released. I'd say it'll take 1 service pack and some serious hardware upgrades before businesses consider it.

Cos clearly you know better than MS. :rolleyes:

and you don't even have yer own business! and if you did, you'd get Vista [after all you've said to me]!

stevenmu

Peteee wrote:

No business in thier right mind is going to use Vista when it's just released. I'd say it'll take 1 service pack and some serious hardware upgrades before businesses consider it.

There's going to be a lot of managers, directors, dept. heads etc out there reading there copies of IT For Idiots Monthly, which'll tell them all that they absolutely have to have Vista or there business will grind to a halt the next day. And if any of them hear that there competitors are already rolling out Vista, well, they can't just sit back and loose a large competitive advantage like that.

Not to mention what'll happen when somebody points out that Vista will help them leverage the inherent synergy of their existing business paradigms and transition through vertical and horizontal market segments.

Don't forget all the consultants who'll be doing costly feasibility studies into Vista rollouts which'll unilaterally say 'yes, go for it' because A: they can get more nice contracts to implement the rollout (altough they won't do any of the actuall work themselves) and B: they can get even more nice contracts fixing all problems of the initial rollout.


Cynical ? Me ?

bungeecork

IT Managers deal with consultants and salespeople and lots of other people with overly firm handshakes every day. I don't think any will be swayed by their sales talk and even fewer will by taken in by the MS hard sell (most secure version ever etc.). Consequently I don't think many with even consider Vista for their business inside the first several months after its launch, even those with an MS Enterprise agreement. From a commercial standpoint it would be reckless IMHO.

DonkeyStyle \o/

stevenmu wrote:

Not to mention what'll happen when somebody points out that Vista will help them leverage the inherent synergy of their existing business paradigms and transition through vertical and horizontal market segments.

I think I lol'ed in my pants

Peteee

stevenmu wrote:

Not to mention what'll happen when somebody points out that Vista will help them leverage the inherent synergy of their existing business paradigms and transition through vertical and horizontal market segments.

ROFL!

Hopefully most Sys Admins have a bit of cop on!

the_syco

Considering alot of people were still using Windows2k untill the patches stopped coming, and only considering XP as a maybe, I don't think many will jump for Vista when it comes out.

stevenmu

Vista will be pushed much harder than XP ever was. XP was really only 2000 with a facelift and everyone knew it so there was very little could be done to push people towards it.

easy_as_easy

So is Vista a completey separate entity from XP? or is it just a re-hash of XP? I got to admit the 3d folders look pretty sweet .

does anybody know if its upgradable from Xp? or will i have to fork out 500euro or so for it?

pclancy

stevenmu wrote:

Not to mention what'll happen when somebody points out that Vista will help them leverage the inherent synergy of their existing business paradigms and transition through vertical and horizontal market segments.

Such perfect Microsoft/Corporate America speech.

R0ot

I can see a few halo fans being forced to buy Vista, as Halo 2 and all other Halo games will only work on Vista, /me hugs xbox and 360

wheresmybeaver

the_syco wrote:

Considering alot of people were still using Windows2k untill the patches stopped coming, and only considering XP as a maybe, I don't think many will jump for Vista when it comes out.

Sure yeah. Just look at the Universities; the vast majority didn't move from Windows NT to XP until it was fairly well established (a number of years in many cases), and they had fully tested it themselves. You'll get a number of small to medium enterprises using Vista just because it came with their nice new business Dell, but larger companies won't be rolling out the upgrades straight away until there has been a lot of testing and positive feedback from other businesses. Beware the pragmatists!!

Still, should be pretty fancy for home use.

Sparky

Sure all the government building PCs didnt move to XP till last year, when they got new Dells. They were using Win2k till then.

Rollo Tamasi

wheresmybeaver wrote:

You'll get a number of small to medium enterprises using Vista just because it came with their nice new business Dell

yup, because business entry Dells are powerful enough for Vista

wheresmybeaver

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

yup, because business entry Dells are powerful enough for Vista

Good point... hope my Vaio can run Vista when it's released....

quaidox

the_syco wrote:

Considering alot of people were still using Windows2k untill the patches stopped coming, and only considering XP as a maybe, I don't think many will jump for Vista when it comes out.

patches are still released for 2000:cool:

stevejazzx

3d chess?Bill, where do i sign, ?

bungeecork

From TechRepublic;

Vista is....
... something I won't install within 6 months of its release.
... something I won't install until a business application requires it.
... something I won't install until the first SP is released.

Static M.e.

Is anyone else looking in to actually rolling vista out?

Personally I am going to push to roll out vista to a pilot group once it comes out along with office 12. Currently running w2k across the board (Which I love) and I dont see any point in going w2k -> xp -> vista while waiting for Vista SP1 to come out.

With the pilot I hope to cover 90% of the teething problems, making sure all the apps run etc etc etc If that goes well I'll bang it out across the network.

I have faith

Peteee

Static M.e. wrote:

Personally I am going to push to roll out vista to a pilot group once it comes out along with office 12.

Good, Office 12/2007 is amazingly good.

projectmayhem

R0ot wrote:

I can see a few halo fans being forced to buy Vista, as Halo 2 and all other Halo games will only work on Vista, /me hugs xbox and 360

halo fans already own the games i'd say... and PC fans have far better games to be worrying about right now. i don't think halo2 will force anyone to buy vista

Peteee wrote:

Good, Office 12/2007 is amazingly good.

better then openoffice though?

DublinWriter

kaimera wrote:

Cos clearly you know better than MS. :rolleyes:

and you don't even have yer own business! and if you did, you'd get Vista [after all you've said to me]!

I do, and I advise many companies on I.T. strategy. I'd advise them not to touch Vista with a bargepole until Microsoft points a gun at their head and starts to pull support from XP.

What benefit is Vista to business? XP is as stable as a rock (well, for an MS O/S anyways), most people hardly use 80% of the features of MS Office.

Unless Vista has some compelling feature that makes it more managable in a corporate environment, there's very little justification for businesses to invest in the additional hardware needed to run it.

Creamy Goodness

projectmayhem wrote:

halo fans already own the games i'd say... and PC fans have far better games to be worrying about right now. i don't think halo2 will force anyone to buy vista

lol yeh got to agree here,[sarcasm] i gotta upgrade to vista as i gotta play halo[/sarcasm]. has halo fans seen crysis?

art

Sparky-s wrote:

Sure all the government building PCs didnt move to XP till last year, when they got new Dells. They were using Win2k till then.

I know of departments still on Win2K and no intention of changing near future - there's no need at present.

DublinWriter wrote:

Unless Vista has some compelling feature that makes it more managable in a corporate environment, there's very little justification for businesses to invest in the additional hardware needed to run it.

I'd make recommendations too in my position and certainly, agree with you there totally. In fact I think it is bordering on sinful(!) to be recommending to users to switch to Vista for the foreseeable future.