Ahhh.... XP and Vista on the same machine.

[Ruler2]

All I can say is WOW. I didn't think i would be able to do it with no prior knowledge or experience. I pulled it off, and it's just amazing, XP is DRASTICALLY faster at opening IE and other things, now... I haven't opened much up yet, as I've only been an XP user for about 30 minutes  . But I've loved every second of it and it makes me wonder more and more how they developed Vista if new technology is supposed to be "better".

[OOZ662]

XP is DRASTICALLY faster at opening IE and other things

You've made the first step in improving your computer. Now, take the second step, and save yourself from ads and many viruses while you're at it.

FireFox
NoScript
AdBlockPlus!

[Mr No Name]

Or really make it faster and better by switching to a good Linux distro...  (Then you never need the AV/Spyware stuff either)

[OOZ662]

Very true, but kiss easy use/maintenance and most of your "instant" gaming goodbye.

[Mr No Name]

I never have to defrag, nothing to maintain, AH and many many modern games run great (using cedega)  ALL of the software I will use is on the distro disk, there are so many distros to choose from, you can find many tailored to your exact needs, including gaming.  TONS of free software that do ANYTHING under the sun are available.

BTW, I am not a strict Linux user, I also use Win7 - Which is AWESOME!  It is also EXPENSIVE.  I really believe Win7 is the best thing MS has put out in quite some time, MUCH trimmer than Vista with speed as good as XP, in 64-Bit it beats XP IMHO.

I also run XP (and all MS OSes back to DOS 5) as a virtual machine under Linux when I MUST use a MS specific program - perhaps I could use Wine but Virtual boxes are the way to go for seldom used programs, etc...

I was just pointing out that Linux is a cheap way to get speed and security

[Fishu]

Yes, I haven't found much bad with Win7. Only the lack of flawless drivers for mouse and soundcard, but that's not really an issue brought by the OS, but by the lazy manufacturers.

[Nilsen]

I am one of those annoying people that has had no problems at all with Vista.

[john9001]

my computer came with vista 64 with free upgrade to win 7, just did the upgrade.

[Die Hard]

I am one of those annoying people that has had no problems at all with Vista.

Me too.

[Dragon]

+2

[Die Hard]

my computer came with vista 64 with free upgrade to win 7, just did the upgrade.

So, what's the difference? Good? Bad?

[Irwink!]

I am one of those annoying people that has had no problems at all with Vista.

Likewise. However, especially in the case of a laptop upgraded from Vista, Win 7 yields big performance gains. On desktops that I've upgraded the really noticeable performance pickup is in boot times and gaming. I've also had better success with installing legacy software than I had with Vista. I never wanted to let go of XP for certain applications until now. That's not going to be everyone's experience but it's mine for what I do at home. At this point I wouldn't lose much sleep if my XP installs went belly up.

[Irwink!]

Or really make it faster and better by switching to a good Linux distro...  (Then you never need the AV/Spyware stuff either)

Linux offers some good choices for the very techy/geeky crowd. But desktop Linux os's aren't anywhere near ready for primetime for the masses. There are a multitude of reasons but a lack of standardization and consequent lack of third party for-profit support are at the top of the list unless all one wants to do is web surf and do simple office applications. Yeah, there is powerful opensource software for Linux out there but then you fall back into the techy/geeky realm to find it, install it and troubleshoot when needed. The masses of computer users aren't ready for that.

In terms of it being faster - that is true but only when running native applications. Running Aces High, as an example, via Cedega or Wine will yield a performance DEGRADATION as compared to running it under Windows using the same hardware. If you want to run other games you have other twiddling and fiddling to do with Cedega or Wine and in very many cases will NEVER get it to work. If you do you still deal with performance degradation vs. a Windows platform. Take a look at the list of Windows games officially supported by Cedega. It's paltry in terms of newer games. Look in the Cedega user forums for the hoops people have jumped through only to be met with ultimate frustration. The tech/geeky crowd might enjoy that kind of challenge. The masses won't.

I don't love Windows. I don't hate Linux. It's a choice not a religion as some would lead you to believe. The bottom line as I have said is that Linux on the desktop is not anywhere near ready for primetime for the majority of computer users IMO.

[OOZ662]

Many people don't have "problems" with Vista. But if you cloned their computer and put it next to the other and installed XP or 7 on it, the clone would be much faster, more stable, and all around more effective.

[Nilsen]

Many people don't have "problems" with Vista. But if you cloned their computer and put it next to the other and installed XP or 7 on it, the clone would be much faster, more stable, and all around more effective.

Maybe in many cases that is true. I had win7 installed on this dell lappy for about a week but it was more sluggish than the vista it was supplied with. Im guessing that is because of drivers that was not optimised for win7. Even if i could get a say 10 % performance increase if i tried it again now its not worth the upgrade. Its snappy enough as it is for me and not worth the upgrade cost.

My firm opinion is that win7 is better than vista but its NOT magic and many who may be expecting a more stable and faster windows experience may be disapointed. Win Vista as it is now is in my experience 100% stable.