Why should people move to Vista?

[Robin Springall]

One of my sidelines is helping people with their computer problems (another is being attracted to unavailable women, but that's a different story entirely!)

What's the difference between XP and Vista under the bonnet? I have to decide on the operating system for a couple of my clients, so I've made a list of the software that they use, but there's no mention on the vendors' websites of whether or not the stuff will work under Vista. My gut reaction is to stick with XP, but I wonder what the advantages are of running Vista.

Any ideas?

[terrie]

robin: (another is being attracted to unavailable women, but that's a different story entirely!)

ROFL!!!


>>My gut reaction is to stick with XP, but I wonder what the advantages are of running Vista.

From all that I've read...your gut is absolutely correct...stick with XP...

Terrie

[Michael Rowley]

Robin:

My gut reaction is to stick with XP, but I wonder what the advantages are of running Vista

It might be an advantage to network administrators to stick with Windows XP for a while, but for the user of stand-alone computers, the added security alone is makes it worthwhile to run a new computer on Vista, and even for owners of a recently acquired computer to instal Vista.

Most applications are 'Vista-ready', though if the vendors don't boast about that, they almost certainly aren't.

There are a quite a lot of things that some users will probably find a big advantage to them, but Microsoft doesn't seem to be making a fuss about, presumably because they're not anything that would sell Vista in large numbers.

[annc]

I've had a new Lenovo ThinkPad with Vista for a few weeks, and had no problems with it at all, even with some fairly old software (FileMaker Pro 6, circa 2002 for example).

But a colleague at work took delivery of a Dell desktop and Vista last week and has had nothing but crashes since he took delivery.

[terrie]

ann: But a colleague at work took delivery of a Dell desktop and Vista last week and has had nothing but crashes since he took delivery.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine and he eventually returned the Dell and bought XP off ebay and did a clean install on his old system...

Terrie

[Steve Rindsberg]

On the other hand, there's presumably a reason why Lenovo is offering their customers a CD that enables them to wipe Vista and restore back to XP. These would all be PCs that were offered with XP as an option, whether free or at an upcharge.

There's some level of demand out there for nonVista.

[annc]

Originally Posted by Steve Rindsberg

On the other hand, there's presumably a reason why Lenovo is offering their customers a CD that enables them to wipe Vista and restore back to XP. These would all be PCs that were offered with XP as an option, whether free or at an upcharge.

There's some level of demand out there for nonVista.

I have no option, because I deliberately purchased a laptop with Vista so I could replicate a minor problem in a software package I sell...

[Steve Rindsberg]

I suspect you could get the XP cd from Lenovo if you wanted it. And might well be able to load Vista under a virtual machine for test purposes. That'd require purchasing Vista as well, of course. Probably not worth the Au$$ies and the Aggro. <g>

[Michael Rowley]

Steve:

I suspect you could get the XP cd from Lenovo if you wanted it

You probably can still, but Microsoft are said to be stopping supplies to OEMs soon (or has it already done so?). It's going to continue supplying XP to retailers, but who wants to pay retail prices for the OS of a new computer?

[Steve Rindsberg]

As of yesterday, Lenovo was still making XP available, both on new PCs and as an upgra ... downgr ... retro ... whateverthehellgrade if you'd already bought a Vista box.

I saw something somewhere about MS extending XP sales as well.