A Close look at Vista without drinking Haterade

Since it's suddenly cool to rip into Windows Vista; I'd thought I'd give my take on it. I've had Vista Basic for close to a month now and I've gotten the recent security and compatibility updates. After getting everything just the way I want it I have to say that's it's a Love-Hate relationship with Vista. I'll go on....

I unboxed my copy of Windows Vista with much glee and excitement (after crying about having to pay for Windows, that's another story) and read the manual. Simple enough to install, within twenty minutes my home built machine was brewing something of the Vista variety and I was pumped. I was greeted by a fresh crisp GUI that was easy to navigate. I uploaded a few programs (Avast, Spybot, VLC) to get myself started. Everything went nice and smoothly.

I ran into my first annoyance when I went to open these programs and was told that as an Administrator I needed to okay the running of said program. No biggy, I'll adjust the account settings later. I uploaded all of my music in little to no time flat.

I installed some games and for the most part they went great; DX10 really is worth it for visual intense games that support it. I did have the occasional random slowdown on some games that was only fixed by rebooting the machine. These slowdowns would even affect navigating menus! I was very annoyed.

These complaints and compliments come and go like every other budding iteration of Windows. Driver incompatibilities, new graphic support, random problems that cant reproduced and others are to be expected. My only really bug with Vista is the amount of privileges Administrator accounts are given. As an Administrator I expected to be able to do anything I wanted, not have to wait in line like everyone else. I upside though is that Vista "claims" to offer improved security. I haven't run into many problems yet but I think most of it is geared towards anti-piracy, yarrrr.

For the power users on the other hand Vista may just seem awkward and unresponsive for some things. Drivers and security problems are annoying, but nothing users can't find a way around after awhile. Given the nine months since Vista's launch these users are getting hungry for more support and are quite happy to stick with XP for now and I'd agree with that decision.
My take is all about where you and your PC are currently. I think that you should take the plunge to Vista if you

1.) Just got a new computer with the recommended requirements
2.) Really want to show off your Directx10 hardware
3.) Just upgraded your current machine to a Multi Core Processor

I would wait to upgrade to Vista and stick with XP if you...

1.) are a power user
2.) don't plan on getting or upgrading your machine for some time
3.) are not a big PC Gamer
4.) are constantly installing programs and want to make sure they are supported

For me I'm quite happy with Vista. Sure there are times when I wish I was still running XP, but there are times when I'm glad that I have Vista. I'm not WOWed by Vista, but I am definately satisfied; even a little pleased. At the end of the day it all comes down to what you want to do on your computer; and only YOU can answer that

DX 10.1 Won't work with current DX 10 hardware

Leave it to Microsoft to screw over consumers.

For all of you like myself who just plunked down a couple hundred bucks on a spiffy new DX10 card, be prepared because DX 10.1 isn't "supported" by the current slate of DX10 cards on the market. What does that mean, well nothing TOO bad but if you thought you had the latest and greatest you might just be out of luck.

At Microsoft's annual SIGGRAPH conference, they gave a lecture on Directx10 and the eventual Directx10.1. Directx10.1 wont require SP1 for Vista, improves rendering and is not "supported" by the current Dx10 cards as the lecture stated. It's interesting why the current hardware won't be able to "support" Directx10.1 and whatever "support" means. Is it a software issue or is it truly a hardware problem?

This news could render the current DX10 cards out of date within six months time. Details are scarce on exactly why DX 10.1 is not supported. The validity of this information is still up for debate but until further news.

It's my (updated) Dic% in a box!

No matter how you cut it, Vista has got some issues which make upgrading from XP not really worth it. But Vista will eventually come to dominate with its clean interface and DX10 for cutting edge visuals.

Many problems which hampered Vista from the get-go have been solved with the newest performance /compatibility & reliability updates available for download.

some issues addressed include

-poor memory management
-faster time remaining calculations on media data transfers
-being able to put Vista into Sleep mode without crashing

and much more. I recently installed these updates and can already see a huge difference (namely I actually feel like I have 2gbs of RAM in my computer and it sleeps like a baby). What could be considered SP1 is really just some quick and easy fixes on the launch bugs from Vista.

These two updates are available here and here

Happy updating

P.S- watch out for the Vista verification if you're running a *cough*phony!*cough* version of Vista