I feel I gotta post here
A couple of things before I begin
1st admission: Long time die hard Mac user from day 1 (Mac Plus 1985)
2nd admission: MS Employee who worked on Vista
3rd admissioin: MacBook Core Duo 2GHz/2Gig/100Gig 7200RPM
There, that constitutes my bias.
First, please, before anyone else comments that "Vista sucks" try using it for 6 months. I took me about that long to really become useful with it. I don't know how many people here remember the OS9-OS X switch by my experience with that was initially "Wow, it's pretty" and then something along the lines of "Now why the heck did they put that there, that's dumb" and finally I became fluid with using OS X. The same thing happens with Vista. It's a transition from XP or any other OS (even some within MS haven't quite made it, we pick on them for it too
).
Second, yes, aero glass rocks. Those guys did a darn good job. Vista doesn't look like a fisher price toy unlike some other OS's (*cough* *cough* XP). There are some other nice things about Vista too, though. Just like the control panels of OS 9 being melded into "System Preferences.app" the new control panel layout is frighteningly useful for setting your machine's options. Also, the new defrag that runs behind the scenes ( like OS X's ) is a serious improvement over previous versions of windows. Shadowcopy is amazing, it's time machine style version control before time machine is even here. Vista is an OS that can take care of itself. Oh, and I'm hooked on the very shiny new solitaire style game: Mahjongg Titans (yes I know this is lame but I like it
, I still play Civ IV too)
Lastly, drivers. They're out there. My Macbook isn't missing a single driver. Even the IR remote works with Media Center. Collecting them all for 64 bit is a little more work, I know, but still, I think about 95% exist (although I found that the IR driver doesn't work so well
). It does take work to get everything in order! Apple has said in every way shape and form that it doesn't yet support Vista, the fact that it works is more of an added bonus. Take that for what it is. If Apple says they don't support it then don't judge Vista until they say they do. That said, I won't purchase any other hardware to run Vista, complete driver set or no. Personally it's still my favorite hardware.
In closing, before you judge it, use it. Vista's slick in comparison to xp and on par with Tiger. Apple, whether you want to admit it or no, has competition for OS X now. Personally, I'm hoping that's healthy for both us and for Apple and sparks some good innovation. I already see it here, let's see what apple does with Leopard
... And right now, I'm very torn between both OS's...
Thanks all. I'm glad I get to post this stuff here. It's good to hear the other side of things (the other side than what are marketing department puts out
).
