The Windows VISTA Poll (1 Viewer)

[Phil Kim]

While I use Mac OS X personally, I will upgrade my wife's notebook PC to Vista Home Premium when it becomes available. Perhaps Vista isn't stable yet, but XP is so dated next to Mac OS X. That said, I am totally confused by all the different versions of Vista. Basic seems to be almost pointless with some of the meatiest Vista features stripped out. Ultimate will be nice to have but it is almost as expensive as some computers.

 

[Parker Clack]

I am going to use another option and that is to wait until it is released on new PCs. I am going to upgrade my PC next year and will get Vista with the new PC. I won't upgrade XP on my present computer to Vista.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I'll stick with XP for quite awhile. It's been very stable on both our PCs. I usually only upgrade OS's when I upgrade PCs, and I have no plans to do that for at least another year. The only exception was one PC I had that ran Windows ME. That version of Windows was so unstable that I upgraded it to XP (it came with a free upgrade).

At work, we are just in the process of upgrading to XP SP2 from SP1. It will probably be at least 2008 (and most likely even later) before we'll consider Vista there.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

One of the advantages of buying a new PC prior to the release
of VISTA is that companies will provide you with a copy of
Windows XP and a coupon towards a Vista upgrade.

In case you don't like Vista, you have a copy of XP to fall back on.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Paul, I did exactly the same thing. Vista is quite a jump in hardware requirements though. Gadgets and gimmicks, pah. Does it make my Photoshop run any better? I doubt it.

 

[Bill_D]

With great relief and peace of mind, I have no plans....

 

[DaveF]

I will unapologetically not buy Vista in the immediate future. What I've read about it has been interesting, but all the really exciting pieces have been canceled or greatly postponed. And MS history teaches me to wait until SP1.

But if I buy a new PC, I will be sure to get one with a free upgrade coupon to Vista.

 

[Parker Clack]

I already notice some new PC models coming with a coupon for a free upgrade to Vista as it becomes available. They are no longer just say that the computer is Vista compatible.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This month's PC WORLD magazine has very good
coverage of Windows Vista. They seem to absolutely love
the operating system, but strongly recommend doing a fresh
install rather than upgrading it over your current Windows XP
configuration. They also recommend that you wait and buy
Vista preinstalled with new PCs rather than going with the coupon.

Additionally, the magazine recommended that no-one buy
the BASIC version as it lacks a great number of features that
really put Vista a step above XP.

While the ULTIMATE version was rated well, it seems that the
DVD authoring program included is bare-boned and that most
likely users will have to depend on other outside software to
do better jobs with burning DVDs and the like.

The article was very favorable towards Vista, though as others
have noted here, it was recommended that people wait
a few weeks after release to purchase and to read the comments
of those on the Internet who have purchased already. In other
words, you may want to wait until all the the bugs are worked out.

As for me? No change in plans. I'll own Vista Ultimate January 30th.

 

[Todd H]

I dual-boot between OS X and XP on my iMac. I really only boot into XP for a few programs that aren't available on Mac OS X. I won't be updating to Vista on my Windows partition.

 

[Bryan X]

Just bought a notebook for my wife for Christmas. I got the Vista upgrade coupon. So I'll install Vista on the notebook (1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM) and I'll buy it for the desktop (Pentium D 3.2GHz Dual Core, 2GB RAM) I'm running RC2 on right now. My son will have to stick with XP until we get him a new computer. His desktop is only 866MHz.


Ron, did they say why they don't recommend the coupon? I haven't had time to read the article. Is it just because many casual users would probably not feel comfortable doing a clean install? I always do clean installs so if that's the only reason, no big deal. I can't imagine why else they wouldn't recommend it.

 

[drobbins]

I remember when I bought a Gateway with Win3.1 and got the Win95 upgrade one month later. I could have retired if I had a dollar for every minute I was on hold for tech support. Luckily I worked night shift so on my nights off I was able to work on it with out much family distractions. Hopefully this upgrade will be smoother.

 

[Bryan X]

For what it's worth, I did do an upgrade instead of a clean install from XP to Vista RC1. It went pretty smoothly and the final consumer copy should be no different if not better.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I don't think there was anything negative written about
the coupons. It's actually a good deal to receive a coupon
to upgrade to Vista. The point the author of the article felt
that he needed to make is that a CLEAN install always goes
better than an UPGRADE install. If having a choice between
buying a computer with XP now (plus coupon) or waiting till
January 30 to buy Vista preinstalled, the author was more
favorable to the latter.

I was running Vista RC2 last month. The first install I did
was an UPGRADE over my current Windows XP configuration.
That did not go well. The install had a problem with my Acronis
backup software and kept asking for that program disc. Even
when I supplied it, Vista install would not recognize it.

I then went and did a format and CLEAN install of RC2 and
all went rather well. I ultimately removed Vista RC2 because
it did not have all the driver support I needed.

Please note that my bad upgrade experiences were with a
release that was not final. I expect that the version released
in January will work better.

Another thing....

If I remember correctly, pending if your computer came with
XP home or XP Pro, the coupon you receive is either for the
PREMIUM or BUSINESS version, which is fine.

Every single Vista DVD has the complete ULTIMATE edition
on it. This means if you buy a lesser version (Business, Premium,
Basic) you can upgrade simply by running the UPGRADE program,
entering credit card information and then a key will be issued
that you can unlock the rest of your DVD to install the upgrade
components.

 

[DaveF]

What's the feeling for how mature Vista will be on release. Win95 was a huge step up from Win3.1, but it was really Win98 that did it right. And even then Win98 needed its second release to become more stable.

WinXP seems to have been a very solid release, worthwhile even before SP1 and SP2.

Is there any sense that Vista will be a worthwhile upgrade before its inevitable, first service pack?

 

[Patrick Sun]

I'm thinking late spring 2007 for it to have the requisite service pack(s) release.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

Vista builds on XP as XP built on Windows 2000. The only real issue that makes me squeamish is DirectX 10 and compatibility with DirectX 9 (or earlier) games.

 

[Ray Chuang]

I think it's less likely we'll get a Service Pack release unless Microsoft adds a LOT of new features in the Service Pack.

 

[Patrick Sun]

And given its "a la carte" nature (paying to turn on features you need), comprehensive service packs for Vista will be less likely, perhaps.

 

[McPaul]

i'm PROUD to say i don't plan to downgrade to vista EVER

Yep.

Switch to a Mac.