Win Xp Or Vista

[MadDog 0]

Linux is the best choice if youhave extensive knowledge about open source and little money.

Vista is the best choice if you want to be with the times, and have the processing / ram to handle it.

It is also the prettiest, and the best to run on a top-of-the-line monitor.

I gotta disagree on a couple of points here bro.

 

My mother in her late 60's managed to install and configure Ubuntu Gutsy on her machine and she is about as far from having "extensive knowledge about open source", as you can possibly get. Newer distros make it easier and easier to install, configure and use them all the time. Sure, she's only surfing the web and using emails, organizing photos etc. but hey, so are 90% of users out there. Programs like synaptic, actually make it easier to install new programs than it is in windows. No tedious web surfing to try and find that program that you want, the list is just there. And you can add more repositories all the time.

If you do run into trouble, the support online is phenomenal. There are 10's of thousands of sites and forums out there with folks more than willing to help, and you can guarantee that your question has been asked and answered somewhere before.

 

Next, have you ever seen compiz fusion running? If you are one of those people who loves special effects, and pretty OS's etc. It literally blows anything vista has to offer out of the water, and will happily run on half the specs. In fact beryl before it has been using the same effects that are "new" in vista for years. Honestly, just try it on Ubuntu, (or SUSE if you like rpm, I dont), or just go to youtube and type in compiz or something, there are plenty of vids out there as demos.

 

Finally, (and not directed at anyone in particular), programs like Crossover for Linux support the running of nearly 4000 windows apps, including Office, Photoshop, Quicken etc. Yes, it IS proprietry, but at $39 or $69 for pro, it is far less than the cost of a vista licence.

Cedega, allows the running of a ton of games on linux. For a list check out HERE. With more being added all the time. Cedega is a derivative of wine, which has already been mentioned here, which also supports a wide variety of apps and is something I use on my server every day.

 

I'm not trying to diss your choice of OS or anything mate, after all, each to their own, it just irks me sometimes that vista is plugged as some sort of supernatural deity in the OS world, when a lot of its newer implementations have been *ahem* appropriated *ahem* from linux...

 

Thats just my 2 cents anyway.

[Galahad 0]

I'll agree with maddog on this one... Linux is vecoming easier and easier to install and configure... I remember the first time I installed Linux on my computer... It was Red Hat 7.0 I believe... It was A PAIN to do... Whe I installed Ubuntu 7.10, it went like a breeze... Everything works out of a box... The only thing not working is my Genius WebCAM Express II USB web camera, but hey, I didn't use it on wintendo (that's how my friend calls windows ) either :(Evolution mail works great, it has RSS plugin so I can read news, VLC player plays all of my movies, and XMMS plays like a charm, OpenOffice let's me do everything I need, and Pidgin allows me to stay in touch with all my friends... My SBLive 5.1 works with full power, all 6 channels, thanks to ALSA...Oh... And let me just say one thing I adore... Few months back, I boutgh a TFT 19" Widescreen... And wintendo couldn't run it in it's native resolution 1440x900... I thouoght I had to buy a new GFX card (I have nVidia GeForce4 MX440)... Display was all pathetic, and the image was stretched... In Linux, it installed nVidia Restricted Drivers, and now I see true widescreen, on 1440x900, i's native resolution, picture is very clear and sharp... I didn't have to install anything...I truelly hope people will start to turn more and more to Linux, as it is far better than wintendo...Beryl ran on my friends computer as smoothly as it gets... And his specs are a bit old... 1.6GHz CPU, 512 RAM, ATI card with 128MB GRAM... Vista wouldn't even install on it (had he wanted to install it)...Someone said "bring back windows 3.11 for workgroups"... I say "yeah, bring it back!" It really IS waaay better than vista

[heavensounds 0]

I've used all type of windows many times and also Linux and Mac Leopard! I'd suggest you to stick with XP!! It works so amazingly fast if you don't put all sorts of crap on it, but you have to format your computer quite often, which is no problem for me. That is my suggestion, of course there is also your work, which is important, meaning that you have to know why you use your computer. Mac is as "they say" better for working with graphics, ... but on my experience it is not! Photoshop, dreamweaver, and everything else works better and faster on windows xp!So yes, just stick with XP!

[Coolguy 0]

I like XP too cause it has a user friendly interface and its not too complicated to use...The thing with Vista is that I found that out of all the OS'S Vista has been that slowest to compute and easiest or you can say the most vulnerable to viruses...Many programmes such as photoshop or any other games that need to host a server to start up multilayer games are quite slow in vista...So I prefer having XP instead of vista

[crepusculart 0]

I've never switched to Vista. I mean, XP has really much more power (until now) but maybe Vista will get better. Anyway, I've seen and used Vista on someone else's computer. Indeed it looks cuter with the default settings but after, it gets messy when you use it and not only look at the screen ! Anyway, I will wait until some important softwares get updated to run on Vista... which is not actually true for some programs. For the time being, I'm letting my XP running on my computer. It's already a good thing having it running without problems !By the way, if I remember well, I've heard something about Windows wanting to only release Vista on new computers... i don't remember the date they were talking about but I think that it was something about summer. Actually I'm too lazy to even go googling about that but you surely can have more details easily on the net.

[dre 0]

Finally, (and not directed at anyone in particular), programs like Crossover for Linux support the running of nearly 4000 windows apps, including Office, Photoshop, Quicken etc. Yes, it IS proprietry, but at $39 or $69 for pro, it is far less than the cost of a vista licence.Cedega, allows the running of a ton of games on linux. For a list check out HERE. With more being added all the time. Cedega is a derivative of wine, which has already been mentioned here, which also supports a wide variety of apps and is something I use on my server every day.

Cedega is a rip in my honest opinion, and Wine is much better (expect this recent 0.9.56 release, not sure what happened) and it's free. I see no reason why anyone would buy Crossover since they use Wine's engine. In fact, the two projects support themselves, each passing new information to each other.

[AlphaOfDoom 0]

I never tried vista. Still have windows. I think I want to stay with windows too. I mean I know all the locations, how it works, secrets and tricks and tweaks, and everything else. Why go to something I have never used before? And with the talk, it seems everything is different in the C drive and all that....so...i'll stick with windows for now

[musicmaza 0]

I would recommend you to use XP SP2,if you are a e a c++ programmer...because in vista the dos doesn't opens up in full screen mode.Though you can have window based compilers,but every c++ programmer like me would surely want to use the dos instead of the windows based c++ compilers like microsoft visual c++ and many more.But Vista is great to eyes because of its eyecatching graphics and if you want to have some good graphics and run some best games then you may want to switch your windows to Vista.Though i have got both .I have Vista in my Dell laptop and Xp+Ubuntu in my Dekstop...So I can enjoy all the three great operating systems.

[dre 0]

Why go to something I have never used before?

For improvement, maybe?

[~Upnorf Cr3w~ 0]

I also have never used or seen Linux. I have only used XP and find it easy and fast. My friends have Vista and they have so many problems with it. Shutting things down and things not working when they install stuff. So i have stayed away from Vista for now.

[pugboy 0]

A newer computer: Get Vista.For compatibility and older PCs: XPVista looks great, and can run newer apps (Halo 2!), but has issues with old software. I love DreamScene!XP is MUCH faster (especially on older machines)

[Absolute Zer0 0]

Never tried Linux, I've heard it's good though. Personally, if I COULD choose, I'd go with XP, unfortunately I'm stuck with Vista for now. The main reason I'd pick XP, is that now with Vista, I can't install games I recently payed for that worked on my old computer, but after it was attacked by Malware I needed a new computer that came with Vista, those games don't work anymore, or at least some of them don't. Sadly, my parents payed for it so I could do school work on it, and they don't want me attempting to do a dual boot with it and potentially ruining it, so I have no other option.

[thekage 0]

Currently, Windows XP SP2 would be the better choice. Why? Because it is much more polished than Vista (at least in my own opinion).Yes, Vista has Aero (which sucks by the way IMO.. also hogs system resources) and it looks shiny and all that, but when it comes to performance, XP has the upper hand.

[xanix 0]

Well I Preffer Windows Xp . Alots better Than Windows Vista , Vista Take Too Much Juices To Your Pc . It Suck Alway Bug Even If u Got An Big Pc . I Got One and Im Still With Xp + LInux . And I Like Alots More Linux Than Any Other OS . We can COnfigurate It Alots More than Other Os IT Simply Rox . U Should try . And Get Ubuntu If U wants to try it Its free. Even have a Live Cd .

[EngrJayze 0]

at the moment I'll stick to my Windows XP Pro.. it's a lot easier to use and has no major bugs compared to windows vista