Ask Your Vista Questions Here.

It locks the stream out in such a way that certain programs cannot access it. It's a more elaborate protection than you think.
As for the kernel, go listen to the podcast i linked to, and take the time to read ireland's posts.

 

ya ya basically its a attempted to protect streams from being copied that will be broken in less than a year and MS will play a never ending battle with windose "fixers".

big deal EVERYTHING is becoming like that.

 

it is a big deal you spend money on a operating system you want to use it your way not the microsoft or movie studios way........
note they are in bed together..
it all started with xp-poop..

as for vista and xp-poop it can go where the sun does not shine..

i am sticking with windows 2000....

 

ireland
win2k is ok if you never play any games on it ...but then again at least it dose not play you *L*


I never pay for a MS OS,I either get it free with comp parts and stuff hand me downs or not at all.


Vista doth suck the WGA and call in for reinstalls is more than enough for me to say no thanks, as for he copy whineings thos will be worked around the first year if not the the 2nd,I have a feeling MS left enough free room so you can bypass stuff and they will still be on hollywoods good side *rolls eyes*

 

I CAN PLAY GAMES ON 2000,AS ITS A 3.2 DUAL CORE PROCESSOR WITH 4GIG RAM i am using now..its called the ash-tray computer.
but i am not a game player,my computers are for business and i do not have that kind of time for games..

i just got done doing about 20 Disney movies which average about 16 to 18 min a movie rip and burn for my grand children

also if ye remember i found a brand new computer in the garbage..
it also has a fast processor with 4gig og ram..with a pc xpress video card installed and xp-poop-pro

for got this,i just finished this movie,ice age the meltdown..it was released to day..

think about this,30 to 35min to rip and 30min to burn in tne good old days

 

ireland
I can do that and recompress with DVD shrink 0-o
in less than 30min well 28 *L*

I,myself really to to build a 9x gaming runnig and get all the old fickle stuff off this comp....

Mmmmm a lunix distro would do well on a ADM XP3000+ 1MB cache and 512 ramm :3

 

EULA La Vista, Baby



By Lore Sjöberg| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Nov, 08, 2006

There have been a lot of concerns about the end-user license agreement for Windows Vista. For instance, once you agree to the license you are not allowed to publish benchmark results without Microsoft's permission, and you can't install Vista on a virtual machine unless you shell out for the pricier version. Well, I've taken a good look at the license agreement -- I had insomnia -- and I've discovered some clauses that will freeze your blood, curl your hair, and do your nails.

Windows Rules: You must agree that the operating system rules. It is suggested, but not required, that you also agree that it rocks. Similarly, you may not access or make use of any feature or application of the operating system without first acknowledging that the feature or application also rules. If asked your opinion of the operating system, you must reply in a loud voice -- or all caps, if communicating in text -- "IT RULES!" accompanied by one or more of the following gestures:

* configuration of the fingers into devil horns
* vigorous head-banging
* a quick "air guitar" gesture
* stage diving
* if communicating using text, no less than five exclamation points

No Apple Computers: This OS may not be installed onto a computer that also houses any version of the Mac OS operating system. It may not be installed onto a computer in the same room as a computer manufactured by Apple Computer. If you use a Mac, you must wash your hands for at least 30 seconds with an antimicrobial soap and rinse thoroughly before using Windows Vista. We reserve the right to fry any iPod plugged into the system so crispy you'll think it was catfish. We have a music player, it's called a Zune, get one.

Transfer of License: While normally we allow free transfer of the Vista license from computer to computer, provided the operating system is uninstalled from the old computer first, we will require the purchase of a new license under the following specific circumstances:

* The original license was obtained from a version of Vista installed on an OEM system
* The new system was purchased more than 18 months after the purchase of the original OS
* The new system requires nonstandard device drivers or upgraded system components
* You have ever called Microsoft tech support for any reason
* The new system is one of those Alienware things, because if you can afford to spend that much to play games you can kick a little cash our way
* You have at least $300 in your bank account

Windows DRM: You may not use this system to remove DRM protection from Microsoft-provided media. "Removing DRM" is defined as stripping out protection, reverse-engineering code, using third-party circumvention software, installing non-DRM versions of DRM media, refusing to purchase our media in the first place, or reading Boing Boing.

Future Licenses: By using Windows Vista, you agree to not only this license, but to any future revisions to this license. You also agree to any future licenses for other products from Microsoft, whether or not you actually purchase them, and to any revisions to those licenses, including terms that require you to agree to other licenses, and revisions to those licenses. You agree that if you attempt to not agree to these licenses, then you automatically agree to yet another license, and it's a lot harsher than this license, so just watch yourself.

Steve Jobs Is a Bozo: You don't have to agree to this. We just felt it needed to be said.

- - -
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,72085-0.html

 

US government: no antitrust concerns about Vista

11/22/2006 4:21:27 PM, by Nate Anderson

Vista and IE7 have received a clean bill of health from the government team overseeing Microsoft's compliance with the US antitrust ruling (PDF) against it.

For the last several years, Microsoft has been documenting Windows protocols and middleware systems to ensure that third-party applications can take full advantage of the operating system's architecture. The company has also worked with the government to develop a special bug-tracking system for Vista designed to make sure that Vista's middleware has no known antitrust issues when the OS is released. In a new joint status report (PDF) on Microsoft's compliance, the plaintiffs agreed that "this system has been a success" and that developers who rely on middleware should be well-prepared for Vista.

A team of experts (one chosen by the government, another by Microsoft, and a third chosen by the other two members) has been testing builds of both Vista and IE7, and is pleased with what they've seen so far. This approach stands in contrast to that taken by the European Commission, which has publicly announced that it will not "green light" any unreleased products. The Europeans could still object to some of Vista's features on antitrust grounds, but it sounds as though US authorities are satisfied.

They are also satisfied with Microsoft's progress on the documentation, which has been a source of contention in Europe. The Commission has complained multiple times about the shoddiness of the protocol documentation, even threatening the company with new fines if it did not produce better material. The US also had concerns about the documentation, but these now seem to have been addressed, and the Microsoft has now "succeeded in producing documentation that is easier to use than the prior version of the documentation."

Microsoft has agreed to a series of five milestones for delivering the final documents in the US, with the last one coming next May 29. The company has occasionally complained that the state of the documentation has been due to the difficulty of finding qualified people to write it—a claim scoffed at by those who believe the world's largest software company would have no trouble doing the same thing if it were making money at it. The new status report gives us a sense of how large the operation is, and it's clear that Microsoft is putting substantial resources into the documentation now.

260 workers are developing the materials, a number that includes 190 engineers and managers who create and review material. Microsoft has also hired 44 people to write, edit, and design the documentation, and 26 other Windows experts and regulatory specialists contribute to the program.

The work is not designed simply to document protocols in Windows XP that will be obsolete the moment they are released, but to provide information on Vista as well. The three-person technical committee overseeing compliance has released several tools of its own to help application developers attain "equal visibility on Windows XP and Vista systems," and the documentation will have the same focus.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061122-8276.html

 

Analyst predicts Vista adoption to trump XP

11/28/2006 2:34:39 PM, by Jeremy Reimer

With the upcoming public release of Windows Vista just weeks away, OEMs and computer retailers alike are anxiously awaiting the reaction to Microsoft's latest and greatest operating system release. Will the general public's response to Vista be "OMG" or just "meh"? One analyst thinks that it will definitely be the former.

David Mitchell, who works for the marketing research firm Ovum, Ltd., believes that not only will Vista be a sales success for Microsoft, but that that as many as 15 percent of the computing world will be running some form of Vista within its first year of availability. This would make Vista the "fastest-moving operating system ever," according to Mitchell, surpassing the previous champion, Windows XP, which had 12 to 14 percent of Windows users switching within 12 months.

Mitchell points to the record high numbers of testers who tried out beta versions of Vista as an indicator of its future consumer success. On the corporate side, he says that companies who subscribe to Microsoft's Software Assurance subscription plan will automatically be upgraded once Vista is released to business customers on November 30.

Does Mitchell have a point? Is there really a large pent-up demand for Windows Vista? The answer is not immediately obvious. Microsoft, for their part, is very bullish on Windows Vista, stating that they expect businesses to upgrade to Vista twice as fast as Windows XP, an even more optimistic estimate than Mitchell provides. However, business users tend to be very conservative about rolling out massive software upgrades—as of June 2005, 48 percent of corporate Windows desktops were still running Windows 2000.

Still, it has been more than five years since Windows XP was released, and many people are anxious to see what Microsoft has been up to all this time. However, back when Windows XP came out, most consumers were still using Windows 98. XP gave many obvious benefits over the entire 9x line, most importantly the stability of an operating system based on the Windows NT kernel. Vista, while featuring an improved kernel from XP, does not offer this same kind of leap in stability.

Then again, many people predicted that Windows XP itself would be a flop, citing the fact that it was not much different from the already-released Windows 2000, except for the fact that it had higher resource requirements, and a different default GUI skin that some found colorful but others dismissed as being "Fisher-Price." The addition of Product Activation was also considered by many to be a reason that Windows XP would falter in the marketplace.

Of course, this didn't happen. Windows XP was a sales success, and it quickly ate away at Windows 98's commanding lead in the installed base—according to Google's Zeitgeist, the OS had grabbed 24 percent of the installed base in the first 12 months of release, while Windows 98 dropped from 55 percent to 42 percent. The two OSes met each other going in opposite directions eight months later, with each claiming 32 percent of the installed base. Today, Windows 98 machines are in the single digits, while XP is steady at about 75 percent of active computers surfing the web (Windows 2000 is hanging in there at ten percent, because of the aforementioned slow-moving corporate customers).

The difference between these figures and Mitchell's is that they look at the total systems in use, including new systems purchased with the OS preinstalled, whereas Mitchell is only considering upgrades. Given that IDC reported approximately 125 million Windows PCs sold in 2002, and estimating an installed base of PCs at around 600 million at the time, Mitchell's upgrade figures for XP seem at least in the right ballpark (it's difficult to calculate exact figures given that many "new" PCs are used as replacements for older PCs). The important statistic, however, is that of all the people "upgrading" to Vista, the vast majority will do so from purchasing a new computer that comes with the OS preinstalled. While enthusiasts will want to upgrade their OS as soon as possible, most consumers will simply wait until it comes time to purchase a new PC.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061128-8307.html

 

people will like what they don't know over what they know Vista should do well until people understand you wont be getting the real vista till you pay 400ish for it.

0_o

 

£900 hardware upgrade + £199 for bloatware + DRM rubbish = Stick it Bill.. No Sale *kerching*

 

I only need 200-300$ in upgrades and then the OS itself.....meh the 360 is looking better and better 0-o

 

Vista totally controls your content!

A revelation at a recent Electronics House Expo is making my blood boil. Apparently Microsoft has decided to once again to kick consumers to the curb in restricting your ability to use and distribute content you are paying for.

This issues revolves around the ability of being able to use a CableCard with Vista for those of you that were looking forward to pushing recorded TV content to other PC’s within your homes will not be able to. In an even more shocking development even though Microsoft bowed to the cable industry on this and threw consumers under a bus. They were able to make provisions to be able to send recorded data to a Xbox 360.

It is rumored that those devices that are aka certified as media extenders by Microsoft will be able to be granted download rights as the Xbox 360 does but for now if you want to push videos to other computers in your home you will be restricted from doing this.

This also means pushing that recorded content to a portable media player will be restricted as well. There is no doubt in my mind that Microsoft and all the other big players are so deep in the media industries pockets that consumer rights will continue to be eroded to the point where we will have to ask permission someday to turn a TV on.

With the restrictions CableLabs has placed on vendors, and the cable companies demanding control not to mention how the DMCA has been abused to the loss of consumers it’s surprising that anything even works. [ArsTechnica]
http://www.geeknewscentral.com/archives/006612.html

 

FAQ: Getting a handle on Windows Vista


By Ina Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: November 29, 2006, 12:00 PM PST
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update Windows Vista took longer to arrive than hoped, and it might not have everything that was once planned, but Windows chief Jim Allchin maintains "It's a big deal."

And, more than five years after the debut of Windows XP, Vista is finally ready--at least, for businesses willing to buy at least five copies of the operating system. Those companies can get it starting Thursday, while consumers and those looking to get a Vista-equipped PC will have to wait until January.

For those who have been tuning out all the Vista chatter for the last few months, here's a primer on the new Windows. The update has security improvements, some snazzy new graphics and new desktop-searching abilities, among other features.

So is Vista really here?
After months of issuing community preview versions, beta versions and release candidate versions, Microsoft has finally declared Vista soup.

Large businesses can start getting Vista through volume-licensing contracts as of Thursday, while CompUSA is selling licenses to smaller businesses that purchase at least five copies of Vista. However, consumers and those looking to get new PCs with Vista installed will have to wait until the mainstream launch in January.

What if I buy a new PC now? Will it still run Vista?
Microsoft is offering an "Express Upgrade" program that runs through early next year. It offers those who buy an XP machine now a free or discounted copy of Vista, once it starts shipping to consumers.

There's still the question of how Vista-ready the PC is. Microsoft is using two logos to help consumers get a sense of that. Some machines are billed as "Windows Vista Capable." A PC with that logo will be able to run Vista, but that sticker does not guarantee the computer will have enough graphics horsepower and other components needed to run all of the operating system's new features. Those who want to guarantee that should look for the shiny "Vista Premium Ready" logo.

So what's in this Vista thing?
Vista--which used to be called Longhorn--has evolved quite a bit since Microsoft first demonstrated an early version in 2003. The company has dropped plans to include its all-new WinFS file system. It has also changed the way it's implementing a new Web services architecture, known as Indigo, and a new graphics engine, dubbed Avalon.

Among the key features of Vista as it currently stands are: security enhancements, a new searching mechanism, lots of new laptop features, parental controls and better home networking. There will also be visual changes, thanks to Avalon, ranging from shiny translucent windows to icons that are tiny representations of a document itself.

On the business side, Microsoft said Vista will be easier for companies to deploy on multiple PCs and that it will save costs by reducing the number of times computers will have to be rebooted.

Vista includes antispyware tools, Internet Explorer 7, an update to its Web browser, as well as Windows Media Player 11. It also has Windows Calendar, a new systemwide tool designed to do for datebook information what Outlook Express does for e-mail in Windows XP.

Is that all?
No. Among the other features Microsoft has publicly confirmed are: broad IPv6 support, improved clientside caching of data stored on a server, whole-volume encryption, a revamped synchronization engine, the ability to support laptops with an auxiliary display, automatic hard drive optimization and a secure boot-up process that helps prevent someone from gaining access to your data if your PC is lost or stolen.

Will my PC run Vista?
That depends on how recently you bought it and just how much Vista you want. To get the basics, like the new search abilities and improved security, you'll need a PC with 512MB of memory, an 800MHz processor and a 20GB hard drive with at least 15GB of free space. But to see Vista in all its glory, particularly its new Aero graphics, you'll really need a relatively modern video card with around 128MB of dedicated graphics memory or, for a system with shared systems and graphics memory, you'll need 1GB of memory.
Vista versions chart

Will it come in the same editions as in the past--Home, Professional, Tablet and Media Center?
Microsoft announced in February that there will be six basic versions of Vista. On the consumer front, there will be a Vista Home Basic, which will lack Vista's advanced graphics or media features, and a Vista Home Premium, which will include such perks.

For businesses, there will be Vista Business as well as Vista Enterprise. The latter version will be available only to volume-licensing customers, and it will include extras like full-volume encryption and built-in Virtual PC software to run a second operating system as a virtual machine.

Vista Ultimate will put the best of the consumer and business features in one package. At the other end of the spectrum, a scaled-down Vista Starter edition will also be offered, though only on new PCs sold in emerging markets like India and Thailand.

How much will it cost?
Windows Vista Home Basic has a suggested price of $199 for the full product or $99 for those upgrading from a prior version of Windows. The higher-end Home Premium version is priced at $239 for the full version and $159 for those upgrading. Vista Business has a sticker price of $299 for the full version and $199 for the upgrade. The Ultimate edition carries a suggested price of $399 or $259 for the upgrade. Windows Vista Enterprise is available only to large businesses through volume licensing, with prices varying based on the number of licenses.
http://news.com.com/FAQ+Getting+a+handle+on+Windows+Vista/2100-1016_3-5672671.html

 

as i've said before, when XP is completely useless, i'm going linux. vista will never find its way onto any of my machines.

 

Microsoft takes wraps off Vista for business


By Mike Ricciuti
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: November 30, 2006, 9:36 AM PST
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NEW YORK--Vista may be ready for businesses, but are businesses ready for it?

Microsoft on Thursday said its newest version of Windows, along with a revamped Office and new Exchange e-mail server, is completed and is now available to business customers. The company said it will make Vista and Office 2007 available to consumers worldwide on January 30.

"This is the biggest launch in the company's history. That's for sure," CEO Steve Ballmer said at a press conference at the Nasdaq stock exchange here.
Vista launch

Thursday's announcement offered little in the way of new information and served more as a rallying cry for corporate customers and the multitude of partners in the Windows ecosystem. Microsoft announced earlier this month that it had completed work on the operating system, a major milestone for the oft-delayed product that has changed markedly from the company's initial conception under the Longhorn code name.

Ballmer alluded to the many delays. "It's an exciting thing to finally be here. That's all I'll say about the past," he said.

Despite Vista's long gestation period and the length of time since Windows XP's debut--more than five years--it's unlikely that many businesses will adopt the operating system immediately. The announcement is more likely to mark the start of serious testing within companies, analysts said.

According to market researchers, only a small percentage of companies are expected to update their systems from Windows XP to Vista over the next few months. A recent poll found that 86 percent of IT decision makers surveyed said their companies plan to implement Vista, though only 20 percent plan to do so in the next year. The poll of 761 buyers, commissioned by online retailer CDW, found 51 percent of respondents saying that they would have to replace or upgrade half of their PCs to run Vista.

Given Windows XP's unexpectedly long life and the interim release of several major revisions, or "service packs," driver and third-party application support is stable. Some third-party software and many drivers for connecting to hardware have had to be rewritten for Vista. Not all are available yet. Most analysts expect big companies to wait for at least the first round of service pack updates from Microsoft before they put Vista into daily service.

Ballmer downplayed the need for companies to wait for a service pack before adoption. "We've built the highest-quality operating system we possibly can. We have many customers who are anxious to deploy. We will have a stronger, faster upgrade cycle for Vista than for Windows XP," he said.

Microsoft, undaunted, has high hopes for Vista adoption in the coming months. Ballmer said this will be the most widely marketed launch of any set of products that the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker has ever done. It will spend "hundreds of millions of dollars, a very big number," on Vista and Office 2007 marketing, he said. "It's more than we spent of Windows 95 and Office 95."

Both Vista and Office had originally been slated to arrive on store shelves and new PCs in time for this year's holiday season. However, in March, Microsoft said it would delay the mainstream launch of the products until January, with large businesses still having access to the two products this year.

All three products announced on Thursday--Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007--are already available to business customers through Microsoft's Developer Network and TechNet services. The company will now begin selling the products through its various business licensing packages.

Ballmer said the launch marks the beginning of a long line of product releases in the coming year. "There will be an additional set of clients and servers coming in the next year. There are 30-plus new products for business customers as a result of this wave of innovation," he said.

One of those products is a new release of the server version of Windows, currently called Longhorn Server, which is expected next year.
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+takes+wraps+off+Vista+for+business/2100-1016_3-6139674.html

 

Five reasons to love (and hate) Windows Vista

From gadgets and search to hardware spec and troubled sleep...
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By Robert Vamosi

Published: Thursday 30 November 2006

Microsoft finally launches the long-awaited Windows Vista today, promising better security and improved search and claiming it will be the fastest ever adopted operating system it has released.

But some users have already questioned the business benefits of upgrading to Vista, citing the relative stability and security of Windows XP and a lack of compelling features in Vista.

Based on using the second beta version of Vista here are the five things to get excited about Vista for - and the five things you'll hate it for.

Five things to love about Windows Vista

Search or create virtual files - Forget directories, forget directory trees. Microsoft has integrated search throughout its new operating system, and you'll quickly come to wonder how you lived without it. You can search for all documents authored by John Doe, then save the search as a virtual file folder for later reference without having to physically relocate or make copies of all those files

Want more photos?

Click here to browse the full archive of our photo stories.

Gadgets - In Windows Vista, Microsoft allows you to drag and drop Gadgets (think Widgets on the Apple Mac OS X desktop) to tell the time, calculate currency or tackle any trivial task you perform regularly that would be handier if it were always on top of your current screen. Presently, you can acquire Gadgets for your Windows XP machine from online sites such as Windows Live. In the near future, Microsoft says you'll be able to write your own Windows Vista Gadgets, allowing you to really personalise your desktop.

Built-in diagnostics - Programs refusing to run, operating system crashes - Microsoft says these will be things of the past with Vista.

So far, we've seen more dialogues, from explaining why an application won't run to warning us that there are driver conflicts that prevent our laptop system from going to sleep. For example, Vista will listen to your hard drive and report pending problems, giving you ample warning to back up your data.

There's also a Problems Report and Solutions monitor where you can see what problems Vista has encountered, and then go online to find possible solutions. And have you ever noticed how Windows computers get slower with age? That's because files get separated from each other on your hard drive and require occasional defragmentation. Most of us never do it - in part because it uses too many system resources. In Vista, the process is automatic and runs in the background, so you won't even notice it.

Need more oomph? Vista will find it for you - Need more RAM? How about borrowing some from that 256MB or greater USB drive? In Windows Vista, the new Windows ReadyBoost feature can swap flash memory with any large USB device. If your laptop has a new hybrid hard drive, the Windows ReadyDrive can improve your system's overall performance, battery life and reliability by taking advantage of the drive's built-in flash capabilities.

New Windows SuperFetch can cache your hard drive's frequently used applications based on the frequency of use so that, for example, every Monday morning when you arrive at your desk for work, you can count on Outlook and your internet browser to launch quickly. Also, finally, there's a new feature called Low-priority Input/Output that should keep you productive: in Windows Vista, user applications will get higher priority with system resources than antivirus or defragmentation processes.

Enhanced help - Help used to be limited to a few pithy sentences about the task you want to perform. Windows Vista changes all that. There are more options available within Help inside Vista. For example, you can initiate a remote-assistance session so that someone you trust can take over your PC remotely and diagnose a problem or perform a task for you. You can also go online and search Microsoft's knowledge base or contact Microsoft's technical support.

One really cool feature, however, is labelled Do It Automatically. Here, a task such as checking the version of a driver will be automated, with your desktop going dark as a pointer arrow floats over the screen indicating what to click and where. From time to time, the pointer will stop and a dialogue box will require your input before it continues to perform the task. Although there are only 15 of these automated help sessions within the current Windows Vista beta 2 release, we hope Microsoft adds more.

five things you'll hate about Vista...



Five things you'll hate about Windows Vista

Your current hardware won't fully run Vista - Get ready for the media blitz. Get ready for the frustration. Although many computers in use today will be able to update and run the new operating system, they'll only be able to run it in what Microsoft slyly calls 'Windows Vista Basic'. In this mode, you'll have the ability to search files but you won't have 3D Aero graphics, live animation along the Taskbar or smooth streaming graphics on your desktop. Unless you buy a new PC sometime in 2007, or add a high-end video card and some extra memory to your current PC, you probably won't get the full visual Vista experience.

Microsoft now says the basic interface experience has been updated and streamlined so you can work with your programs and files more easily than in previous versions of Windows.

Vista's Aero graphics eat laptop battery power - If you're used to your laptop lasting on a long journey, you might want to reconsider upgrading to Windows Vista - that is, if you want the new Aero graphics features turned on. In our tests, a laptop running Windows Vista Aero had significantly reduced battery life compared to one running in what Microsoft calls 'Windows Vista Basic'. You'll sacrifice the 3D and smooth streaming of video but you'll make it to your destination with some battery power to spare. Unfortunately, changing from Aero to Basic is harder than it should be.

User Account Protection - The User Account Protection feature has already had plenty of negative press. Although I understand what Microsoft is trying to do - protect the user from rogue software installs - I don't think the company has worked it out yet. In order to perform basic tasks, such as install or remove an application, even administrator account users must answer a series of pop-up messages, adding time to the process. Worse, whenever you are prompted to respond, the whole Vista desktop goes dark while the pop-up message remains on the screen, preventing you from doing anything else. This feature can be valuable if rogue spyware attempts to install without your permission but good internet behaviour will do as much. For most of us, the frequent appearance of User Account Protection on common tasks will be security overkill.

Missing drivers and incompatible applications - Not having all the necessary drivers or not having software compliant with a new operating system is to be expected in the beta of a new OS but even after several months of developer testing, I was surprised to see a number of common drivers still missing from the public beta for Windows Vista. For example, I had to manually import several Acer TravelMate 8200 drivers from a Windows XP partition on the same drive.

Troubled sleep - Microsoft claims that it has addressed the complicated issue of whether to put your laptop to sleep or have it hibernate when it's not in use. Instant Off, a new option on the Start menu, allows Windows Vista to take a quick snapshot of your system, then shut down completely, thus eliminating the occurrence of a hot laptop inside your backpack. After experiencing several false starts - literally, I was unable to resume my Windows Vista session as I'd left it - I discovered through Vista's Performance Ratings and Tools report that several legacy drivers, some installed by Vista during installation, were preventing the new Instant Off feature from performing correctly. Vista politely asked that I find updated drivers to replace those on my machine or remove them. I suspect a lot of people will encounter this problem in the months immediately following Vista's full release.

Robert Vamosi writes for CNET News.com
http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39164453,00.htm

 

64-bit Vista is the way to go

Memory max

By Fuad Abazovic: Friday 01 December 2006, 10:37
MEMORY MAKERS are banking on the 64-bit version of Vista becoming the next big operating system.

Initially, people are going to move to 32-bit Vista, but for any gamer or someone that wants to use more than 2GB of memory, 32 bits won't do any good.

So the memory industry will move from 2x1GB kits to 2x2GB kits and hope that Vista 64 bit takes off. But it won't be easy, as vendors are still struggling to have the 32 drivers ready and the target is January the 30th.

After that, the focus will go strongly on 64 bit. We tried the RC2 Vista 64 bit and learned that you can install everything, including Raid and Sound Blaster X-Fi but, despite 64 graphic drivers from Nvidia and ATI, many games wont even install or run on Vista 64 bit. The industry expects that the big move will take place after Q2 2007, so when Vista starts standing on its feet.

If you use the machine for Photoshop, rendering, video editing or anything else other than gaming only, Vista 64 bit is the way to go. We don’t think you can change your mind and activate 64 bit Vista if you purchased 32 bit which sucks big time, but that is what the big Vole decided.

64 bit means more addressing space and only the sky will be the limit. Even desktops will end up with 8GB memory and that is a lot. µ

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=36100

 

you are still to free to move and copy your files tho? if not getting info from one bad HD to another can be painfull...

 

Definitive guide: Windows Vista and XP head to head

Posted on December 2nd, 2006 by Alex Zaharov-Reutt
So you’ve heard all the hype about Windows Vista, but wonder what it means for you. Here’s the definitive guide on how Microsoft’s Windows Vista stacks up against XP:
SECURITY FEATURES
XP: In the original Windows XP, and with the first service pack or SP1, both versions still in use today, Windows XP has a built-in firewall that gave relatively good protection against hackers breaking into your computer.
The 2nd service pack, or SP2, improved the firewall to protect you from people trying to get it, and bad programs trying to get access out to the Internet, but it is still considered relatively basic compared with commercial offerings. Anyone serious about security should replace it with a good third party firewall or Internet security suite. All versions of Windows XP are also able to be set to download Windows updates automatically.
VISTA: Vista has a similar but improved firewall to Windows XP SP2, but anyone who is serious about their security will still replace it with a third party firewall or Internet security suite. Internet Explorer 7 has an ‘anti-phishing’ filter, but is known to slow down your surfing experience a little as sites you visit are checked by Microsoft’s servers for phishing attack dangers.
However IE7 and Firefox 2.0 have both been rated as only having partial success in detecting phishing sites, and as such have both earned a rating of ‘pretty terrible’ for anti-phishing prowess by us at Free Access (Tech.Blroge).
A new ‘user account control’ system tries to protect you from yourself, so you don’t accidentally make changes to important system settings without being warned first. However pressing the ‘ok’ button lets you do whatever you want anyway, and experienced users will just be annoyed. What did I do? I turned it off completely and am not bothered by it anymore. You’ll probably do the same, too.
Windows also has a new ‘randomization’ layer, which slightly changes the memory configuration of every Vista machine to make it harder for co-ordinated attacks to affect scores of machines at the same time.
Vista also has made protections to the ‘kernel’ or core of the operating system, with a protective measure known as ‘PatchGuard’, but this only extends to the 64-bit version of Vista, a version which most of us won’t be using for at least a couple of years. Most consumers will be using the 32-bit version of Vista which does not have ‘PatchGuard’ built-in.
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
XP: Windows XP has always been able to play mp3 and video files, CDs, DVDs (with third party software), streaming media files and other forms of digital media with relative ease over the years.
An updated version of Windows XP, known as the Media Center Edition upgraded the digital media experience of Windows, giving it a dedicated interface to watch, record and pause live TV, play photos, videos and music, listen to FM and online radio stations and more.
VISTA: Finally, the Media Center capabilities comes built-into most versions of Windows Vista aside from the basic, entry level version. It has also been enhanced over the previous version, although reviewers claim it has not received as much of an improvement as the rest of Windows has over previous versions. 
Vista also plays most other forms of digital media through it’s own Windows Media Player software, with a whole host of competing media players available to download, many free of charge, from the Internet.
GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
XP: Ridiculed as being the ‘Fischer Price’ version of the Windows 2000 interface, Windows XP was still a fresh update upon its release 5 years ago. Today, however, will still perfectly functional, it is starting to look a little long in the tooth, with Apple’s Mac OS X offering Vista like graphics for several years already.
VISTA: Very cool looking 3D icons, transparent ‘glass’ windows and other lovely eye candy such as the ‘Flip 3D’ way of flipping through open windows. This new graphics system is called ‘Aero’. However this will require a graphics card with enough grunt.
Older laptops may not be able to support the full Aero graphics experience, and will default to a mode which looks similar but lacks most of the eye candy effects, such as the transparent windows and Flip 3D effect.
A system wide desktop search engine is built-into Vista and is fully activated. Interestingly XP has a similar function but it was never explained properly, with most people very familiar with XP’s annoyingly slow search capabilities. Vista’s built-in search is fast, like Google’s Desktop Search, and is great to have already built-in.
There’s also the ‘Sidebar’ which gives you access to downloadable mini programs and widgets to display images, the time, sports scores and other information at a glance, with lots of sidebar gadgets being written and on the way, especially so with the consumer launch on January 30th, 2007.
PARENTAL CONTROLS
XP: Without third party software, the parental controls in Windows XP were rather limited and really didn’t prevent children from visiting inappropriate sites on the Internet.
VISTA: Excellent parental controls are built-into Vista, mirroring the powerful features that today’s third party software offers to parents today. Parents have control over the sites their children visit, and are able to see every site they visit or tried to visit.
The software lets parents determine what times computer use is allowed, which games they play and software they run, and are able to track email messages and instant messages that their children send.
NETWORKING
XP: Unless you know what you’re doing, Microsoft’s ‘set up Wizard’ for wired and wireless networks could seemingly never be counted on to actually work, leading to many frustrations for people simply trying to network two or more computers together.
VISTA: A great deal of concerted effort has gone into making Vista the easiest operating system to network with others, especially other Vista systems, so that anyone, even without massive computing experience, can easily set up a wired or wireless network.
To read my latest article reviewing the ‘final’ RTM version of Vista, issued on November 30, in which I believe the final Vista seems to really be ‘RC3', awaiting the ‘real’ Vista launch on January 30, click on this link - it’s got a lot more detail than this article and is Vista ‘final’ up-to-date! Alex.
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