u235

The Times ran an article today that talked about why people weren't switching to Vista in droves. It was a pretty funny article because it gave individual vignettes of semi-anonymous users woes and crises. Later they revealed that these users were high-powered MS execs. Seems this information has come to light as a result of a class action suit against the Evil Empire resulting from the "Vista Capable" fiasco (in short - machines granted that moniker were either unable to run Vista graphics *or* were unable to run any software other than just the OS because... nothing was compatible).

I think it's funny, personally, that anyone - even an MS exec would think upgrading to Vista would be a good idea at all. Other than the "Ooooo Pretty" factor what else does it do that XP doesn't? I mean in a practical sense?

Here's what I need a machine to do:
1. Boot/Shutdown
2. Not crash in the process of booting or running (shutting down is optional unless it corrupts my drives)
3. Provide net access
4. Support my printer/ router/ camera/ flashdrives/ trackball
5. Play my games
6. Run my basic apps for word processing, image editing

That's it really. That's what I need a machine to do - sure there's more I'd like, but that's gravy in my mind. And if an OS can't suitably do all the necessities, then why the fuck would I want to use it?

But there's more... If I'm going to go through the hassle of getting a new OS installed, then I want it to take at most the same amount of RAM as the current OS, or less. Why would I want to spend more memory for the same capabilities?

Vista really doesn't offer me anything special that I'd prefer over XP. I even run 64bit XP so eh, again - nothing there in Vista-land for me in that respect either. Hell even with XP, I still use the "classic windows" look and feel, because I'm not interested in wasting even a nibble for flash that's not part of a game.

It took a long time for me to move from NT to 2k and even longer from 2k to XP (in fact I still have 2k machines around). I'm not fucking upgrading to Vista until I'm backed to the edge of the cliff with one foot wiggling in thin air... Half Life Episode 50? Fear Expansion XXIX? Unreal Tournament 2025? Dunno - but I'll post something when I get there...