Vista *IS* following the same path as Windows ME... and in my opinion, Microsoft has verified it.
How do I know? It's simple... I'm seeing all over the place pre-orders for Windows 7 is now available.
Upgrade versions are very, very cheap... $50 for the HOME PREMIUM version... $100 for the PROFESSIONAL version!
Also, this upgrade works with ANY windows XP or Vista version.
ALSO, Microsoft is giving away free upgrades to Windows 7 (when it officially comes out) to anyone who purchases a
computer with Vista on it!
It actually looks like Microsoft is trying to do the right thing here... at least as much so as a large corporation can. Looks
like they've all but apologized for the Vista nightmare.
Now I have little Vista experience... maybe used it for a short while on a dozen occasions but I can tell you that everyone
one of those dozen experiences was less than stellar. Once I spent three hours on a buddies' laptop trying to get Vista
to play nice with his wireless router and internet connection. I finally threw in the towel, and all of a sudden it decided
to work (with no settings being changed at that point)... confused, I left the settings alone and tested it several times...
rebooted several times.. worked great! Went home... ten minutes later got a call from him.. "it's not working again!"
He ended up taking it back to Best Buy (eek I know) and exchanging it for an XP one. It was so ridiculous... I forget specifics
(intentionally trying to forget) but I would change a setting that in XP would have for sure corrected the issue.. and in Vista
it would just spit at my face and set it back to where it thought it needed to be. I almost threw it across the room!
Anyways.. I've been using Windows 7 (RC) 64bit for about a month now... and all I can say is AMAZING! It's pretty.. it performs
well... both games I play (Flight Simulator X and AHII) seem to perform BETTER with 7. From what I can tell it has all the 'bells and whistles'
as Vista without as much of the BLOAT.
AH.. since my upgrade last month is pegged at 60FPS all settings maxed (including AA, etc) in both XP(32bit) and 7(64bit)... so it's hard to
gauge the performance based solely on that.
Flight Simulator X, on the other hand.. well we all know what a resource hog it is! NO I can't max out its settings and there are too many to
list, but with XP using DirectX9.. I can be very happy with the graphics quality and maintain 30-40FPS. With Windows7 I can enable DirectX10
effects and using comparable graphics settings, along with the extra eye-candy that DX10 brings along... and still maintain 30-40FPS.
Now I'm sure that on benchmarking testing, Win7 is likely going to get lower scores than XP with the same hardware... I mean that's just a given
because of the extra features and eye-candy and all that... but in Real Life use, from what I've seen... all I can say is amazing! It boots up
EXTREMELY quick.. appearance-wise it is very, very pretty... I've had literally ZERO problems... no freezes.. no CTD.. no bluescreens.. absolutely
no driver compatibility issues... I mean.. everything just works!
One other thing.. Gaming in Vista (even with good FPS) always had a bit of a 'glitchy' feel to it... perhaps a millisecond pause from time to time.
Now this could be due to me not being familiar with the hardware (I've never used Vista on my hardware.. only friends) but I have a feeling that
Vista by nature is that way with everything to an extent. Windows 7? Smooth as silk. It just 'feels' better. I think Skuzzy and TilDeath can
relate with me here. I can install an operating system, and simply by moving the mouse around and opening a few windows I can gauge the speed
of a computer. I can usually tell that something just isn't 'quite right' just by opening Drive C.. or Control panel... or whatnot just by how quickly
the windows respond to my 'touch'... Vista never did feel right to me (neither did Ubuntu Linux.. however the old Mandrake was great!)... but
Win7 Is a whole different ballgame!
Skuzzy.. If you haven't had the opportunity yet please do yourself a favor.. and play with Win7 some... I know how much you HATE Vista and I'm
sure you'll find your fair share of complaints with Win7 as well, but you are 100% correct when you say that Win7 is everything that Vista should
have been in the first place. Keep in mind that as computers evolve, so must the Operating Systems. The 'average' person purchasing this stuff
is not like me and you. They have limited experience and want things to be pretty, easy, and convenient. I personally believe that XP may live
in history as the best GUI Operating System that Microsoft ever made, BUT O/S technology needs to evolve with Computer Hardware technology
and take advantage of it, even if it does mean a decrease in performance.
Look at cars in this manner. As a seasoned veteran Auto Technician, I tend to see cars as a machine designed solely to get someone from point
A to point B. I don't usually see the point in purchasing something expensive.. sporty.. or pretty. When I purchase a vehicle I look at how
cheap it is (because I don't like spending money), how dependable it is (because I don't really want to work on other cars all day only to have
to work on my own at night), how easy it is to work on, AND how economical it is. This is why I drive a 1995 Ford Escort. 34MPG, very easy to
work on and I only paid $300 for the car!
Most people on the other hand, wouldn't be caught dead driving my car unless they had absolutely no other choice... XP is the same way.. yes
it might do just about everything you 'need' it to do.. but without modifications it won't necessarily do what you 'want' it to do. No GPS on my
Escort... yeah I could add one.... running some wires and gluing it to my dashboard, but that would take effort and look like crud when I'm done.
So If I didn't have the know-how to do just that (or I wanted it to look pretty) my options would be to either do without GPS... or to buy a new
car with it built in.
And If anyone is curious about my system Specs... here is my DXDIAG:
------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 7/1/2009, 09:37:29
Machine name: PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7100) (7100.winmain_win7rc.090421-1700)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
System Model: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.80GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3264MB RAM
Page File: 1088MB used, 5435MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7100.0000 32bit Unicode
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9800 GTX+
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0613&SUBSYS_0592196E&REV_A2
Display Memory: 1875 MB
Dedicated Memory: 499 MB
Shared Memory: 1375 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: unknown
Monitor Id: NTS0006
Native Mode: 1680 x 1050(p) (59.954Hz)
Output Type: DVI
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 8.15.0011.8585 (English)
Driver Version: 8.15.11.8585
DDI Version: 10
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 5/1/2009 05:02:00, 9443840 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4553-11CF-575B-992502C2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0613
SubSys ID: 0x0592196E
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Driver Strong Name: oem3.inf:NVIDIA.Mfg.NTamd64.6.0:Section001:8.15.11.8585:pci\ven_10de&dev_0613
Rank Of Driver: 00E62001
D3D9 Overlay: Supported
DXVA-HD: Supported
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
