I mean as hardware improves? Is it just that Vista is such a resource hog that it makes it appear inefficient? Im looking at buying a windows laptop (wife) in a few months, and was just wondering if the hardware improvements between now and then would make Vista a little nicer to use.
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Do you think Windows will get better?
- Thread starter marine610610
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I think that it will continue to dominate, but it will be because "you can't teach an old dog new tricks"
Yes, and not.
Windows 7 will be good. MS has acknowledged that it can't ship another crap version, and will actually work on the next version of Windows.
Unfortunately, I don't think that means that vista will ever see many improvements.
Granted, it's nowhere near as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but it's nowhere near the smoothness of XP either.
Windows 7 will be good. MS has acknowledged that it can't ship another crap version, and will actually work on the next version of Windows.
Unfortunately, I don't think that means that vista will ever see many improvements.
Granted, it's nowhere near as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but it's nowhere near the smoothness of XP either.
I have to say that Windows XP with SP3 Beta is pretty smooth right now, my younger brother has that on his desktop. He also has Vista with SP1 on his laptop and I have to say that I actually do like the Vista eye candy, very nice.
I wish Macs had better skinning options, I'd actually really love black toolbars.
I wish Macs had better skinning options, I'd actually really love black toolbars.
Pretty colors better.
Ahem. Anyway... has Windows ever really gotten better? I mean, in a relative sense.
Ahem. Anyway... has Windows ever really gotten better? I mean, in a relative sense.
There's always that chance, but based upon Microsoft's past history, I'm not going to hold me breath.
Traditionally, Microsoft has never got it right on the first version it has released. For example:
- 95 SR2
- 98SE
- WinXP SR2
Vista is no different in that regard.
Vista does have some nice eye candy, and does some things nicely. If you look at the development of Vista, Microsoft had grand ideas, but when it came to implementing them, many were dropped or poorly implemented. Since Vista has driver and other issues, I would say XP is the way to go for now.
I would imagine that Vista will be updated like the OS'es above were. That is unless Vista becomes another Windows ME.
I guess you could always wait until the next version of Windows (Windows 7) works out and see what it is like.
- 95 SR2
- 98SE
- WinXP SR2
Vista is no different in that regard.
Vista does have some nice eye candy, and does some things nicely. If you look at the development of Vista, Microsoft had grand ideas, but when it came to implementing them, many were dropped or poorly implemented. Since Vista has driver and other issues, I would say XP is the way to go for now.
I would imagine that Vista will be updated like the OS'es above were. That is unless Vista becomes another Windows ME.
I guess you could always wait until the next version of Windows (Windows 7) works out and see what it is like.
Windows has already improved. Windows Server 2008 SP1(essentially the server version of Vista) which is ready for public release is already much better than the current Vista offering. So much so in fact that many blogs and even MS themselves are providing instructions on how to use it as a desktop operating system. I use it under fusion and I can confirm that it is a winner 
As long as OS X gets better Windows will get better, since they'll have a better template from which to copy.
I don't think better hardware will improve Vista much at all. Microsoft is a company with lots of talented programmers, who are completely stifled by a huge bureaucracy (Can you imagine a team of 24 people trying to decide about the options in the "Shutdown" dialog? And can you imagine a team of 24 people being able to do something that is better than a single developer could have done in half the time), and all in a company where the top leadership doesn't get and isn't interested in what makes an operating system a good operating system.
If I was given the choice between Vista and Windows XP, I would choose Windows XP any day. In the end, you should look at a MacBook in a few months time, and really think hard if you can find anything that is more useful for your wife. I don't think _anything_ with Windows on it will fit the bill.
I guess you could buy a used laptop with a four year old version of MacOS X and get a much better user experience
Windows has already improved. Windows Server 2008 SP1(essentially the server version of Vista) which is ready for public release is already much better than the current Vista offering. So much so in fact that many blogs and even MS themselves are providing instructions on how to use it as a desktop operating system. I use it under fusion and I can confirm that it is a winner
Of course Vista runs fine on your Mac,havn't you read or heard, that the best computer to use it on is a Mac. Try running it on some Dell piece of crap ( like im forced to at work ) then tell me it's a winner. All things considered Microsoft SUCKS and i cant see that getting any better YAY MICROSOFT
I had a chance to use a Vista laptop for a few hours this weekend and did enjoy the vista eye candy. I have a good time playing with new technology (even when its new to just me), so that may be part of my desire to try it. Ill wait a few months and revisit the subject again. Maybe MS will get it together a bit.
I don't think it will. After filing bug reports with MS and getting "By design" responses for things that are badly designed (Apple does this about 10x less often in my experience), I think there is a company ethos problem, starting at the very top.
Exactly. I would also point out that all the people I have conversed with at Microsoft have seemed to be very intelligent and brilliant people.
FWIW I have Vista on my Core Duo MacBook (2Ghz) with 2GB RAM, and the speed/responsiveness is fine, its as good as OS X for the most part, though I do prefer OS X so run more applications at the same time on it.
EDIT: There is a point worth making about Apple. Compared to 3-4 years ago, they are now a considerably larger company and have a lot more money to spend, also Apple's OS team has probably taken out between a year and 18 months first porting the OS to Intel chips, and then making the iPhone OS. As they are now back on track I would expect their next OS to offer pretty solid improvements.
My folks recently bought a Toshiba laptop with Vista that I get to help them with periodically. Vista isn't as bad as I thought it would be after reading all the reviews of it online, it actually works very well, and it IS very pretty. (Although I would advise you to get a fairly high spec computer unless you really like watching something grind on a simple operation).
Vista is not bad at all, for Windows. I would never describe XP as smooth, however.
Vista is not bad at all, for Windows. I would never describe XP as smooth, however.
I was referring to Windows 2008 not Vista. I do have a Dell D820 running Vista and it's rubbish - I was planning on upgrading it to 2008 today but decided to go for a pub lunch instead
I would agree with that. The lack of quality in Vista was attributed (in part) to overbearing micro-management where decisions for very minor parts of the OS (like icon colours) were taken at senior management level. From what I've heard this approach has been dropped so expect improvements in the future.
I was referring to Windows 2008 not Vista. I do have a Dell D820 running Vista and it's rubbish - I was planning on upgrading it to 2008 today but decided to go for a pub lunch instead
Ah Ok,got a little confused there,glad we agree about Vista on dells though. Funny that i was in pub
this lunchtime also
Nope, I honestly think that the next versions of Windows will be a continuation of the route from XP to Vista - more gloss, hardly improved substance. They will tout new touch features, but they'll likely be hardly better than what Vista has, and 'multitouch' that won't be smooth at all.
so you do all your work in the terminal or at the dos prompt? If you are going to look at something all day, might as well make it look nice.
Apple does this too. And Apple pumps out quality release after quality release. Doing this means the visual theme is kept consistent which is definitely a good thing.
I'm talking about bugs like this for .NET.
To give it a car analogy, C is a very fast sports car with few safety features so you can go as fast as possible (but it does have a windscreen
). Whereas .NET is a Volvo, except that it doesn't come with a windscreen, because for some reason Microsoft thinks its better without one. And then even when the lack of windscreen is pointed out (and that very fast sports cars come with them) they defend the decision not to put a windscreen in their car.Indeed - you would have thought that the largest PC hardware and software manufacturers might have got their act together by now.
I think that it is tradition or something
Of course not. I was referring to the terminology "eye candy," which to me means the application of meaningless pretties which don't provide any actual functional benefits.