The upcoming windows is said to be more gamer friendly and easier to move around. Ive seen some reviews and it just might be. Im thinking of holding out on buying a new rig untill i can get my hands on some vista. Your imput?

I've heard the new windows vista will be more locked so the ones who wants to tune, ... will be sad but it was a little info & i don't know if it was true or bullshit. Anyway, i'll wait its release and after a few months if it's good i'll change my computer os but i think it will need a beast to run correctly ?

Vista is gonna need need a pretty good computer to run all-out (3d interface on etc.), but it'll run fine if you don't max out the eyecandy. I wouldn't go out and get Vista, because even more /new DRM-technology is gonna be implemented in it (bad thing in my opinion),the new filesystem (htfs ? I forgot it's name :P) isn't gonna be implemented in the initial version of Vista (which sucks too).I'd rather stick with windows xp (for the games, less DRM crap) and/or linux (security, no DRM crap).

Depending on where you are starting from you could do at least a partial upgrade now, but the main area of concern would be the video card. Vista will have DX10 so you'll have to decide if its worth it to buy a new card now and then upgrade later. How much later depends on how fast the DX10 games come to market as the only DX10 exclusive game I've heard about is a redone Halo 2, but over the rest of the year who knows how many might be announced. The other video card problem is HDCP support, which was non-existant a short time ago. (the gpus are compliant, but the boards themselves were not.) You need it to watch HD-DVD and Blu-ray under vista.

I had seems some review saying that Vista is not that big deal, in fact its kind of worse for some things.

I've had both Vista and Vista-X64 installed on my machine (The February build) and with a 3 GHz Opteron (basically an FX-57+), 2GB of memory and a 7800GTX video card, it just dragged ass with all of the GUI effects turned on. They're incorporating a bunch of neat new stuff, and things are really going to pick up as everything makes the migration to SMP/64-bit/PS2.0 capability, but for now it just takes way too much power to be a feasible upgrade for most users. It's a gorgeous OS though... that's the one thing I miss most about it, is the visuals. Ah well, I've got a MacBook Pro for when I want to look at a pretty GUI.

Once the next iteration of DirectX hits (I don't think they're calling it DX anymore) and everything is running like it's supposed to, it'll be a larger jump in what's possible technologically than has occurred with any other OS. If you're waiting 'till it releases to upgrade your system though, I wouldn't bother. Buy a system now, and by the time you need to upgrade again, go for Vista.

^ Who needs an OS for *visuals* when it is supposed to provide a solid and efficient platform for other programs? Besides, different skinning programs can cheer up the look for those who want it.

I won't be upgrading to Vista unless I absolutely have to. It's probably full of those "anti-piracy" measures that walk over your rights and send all kind of data to Microsoft. Not to mention that it is inefficient and (quite likely) unreliable when compared, for example, SuSe 10. The only reason why I might upgrade are the games if there are several big block-busters solely made for Vista. Which, of course, will never happen, no developer being dumb enough to devote anything for a single, new OS...

So if I have to change my OS, it will not be Vista.

I like your use of asterisks. Very clever - your proficiency with writing certainly lives up to your screen name.

That was complete and utter sarcasm, in case you didn't catch that. I read some of your writings and they pained me in ways indescribable.

Anyway, I happen to like a bit of flash when it comes to my GUI. It's not like the only thing I do at my computer is load services and run programs with the explicit goal of being productive. So I enjoy a clean, well designed environment with some graphical effects to liven things up a bit. If you don't, I don't really care - just get off your damn high horse. Or are you just mad about the thing in the Revolution thread? If so, stop while you're ahead.

Vista's use of hardware acceleration also fixes problems with alpha (if you use a skin with alpha in Windowblinds v5, you know what I'm talking about). By the way, considering they will eventually drop support for XP DirectX once Vista is out, good luck with your whole anti-Vista inanity.

I personally don't plan on updating to Vista (although I know that at some point it's going to be necessary to do so, becuase MS will most definitely drop support for XP). I was seriously considering jumping ship and getting a Mac when I heard that there were six different versions of Vista coming out. The new GUI is cool, but I don't really see anything wrong with the current one. I just hope Halo 2 is going to be the only Vista-exclusive app out for it.

With tech, eberything changes often enough to make most people go insane with decisions. To make things easier on me, ill just wait a while and see how this vista works on systems that come with it deafault. Im in no rush since it dosent really appeal to me much anyway. I prefer XP over Vista at the moment.

I have a friend who has had the 64 bit Vista for quite a while. Unfortunately, he said that, just like what has happened with any other 64 bit OS (XP 64 is the only other I'm aware of...), the manufacturers of most devices are being incredibly slow about releasing updates to allow hardware to function properly. Just as an example, I have a fairly old Archos MP3 player. Hook it up to my computer (Windows XP Media Center), no problem, hook it up to his (at least within the boot with Vista 64)...fizzle.

This also tends to be a problem for more important items of hardware, I.E. hard drives, DVD drives, graphics cards, etc. In fact, he said that when he first got his beta, his computer wouldn't even function with it, thanks to lack of support.

I, like many of you probably, have a 64 bit processor. Nothing fancy mind you, but I'd sure like support for the stuff I have...

...Yeah, like that will ever happen.

^ Exactly, so why pay real cash of something you can get for free and which is also free from all kinds "bundled software."

Wordplay, you are making zero sense right now. I mean, your lips are flappin' but nothing intelligible is coming out.

He only mentioned Windows operating systems in his post, and not only that, he was talking about Beta versions of the software. Not to mention it's not Microsoft's responsibility to make drivers for hardware to work in their OS, especially when it's still in its beta state. XP-X64/Itanium have pretty specific purposes, and they're not designed for the typical end-user.

Also, almost everything except vital services and software can be removed from Windows XP assuming you're not an idiot. You can cram XP on a <1GB memory stick if you know what you're doing. All of the "bundled software" included in retail version of Windows is there so that as many possible things people will want to do with the OS will work out of the box. Distributions of UNIX/Linux and their offshoots aren't exactly user-friendly to people who can barely handle Windows as it is - and I used to work as a computer tech - trust me, there's a lot.

Anyway, feel free to start making replies that are worth reading at any time.

Well, I've been needing a new computer, but I'm thinking of holding off until Vista comes out. However, I really don't know that much about it. I've learned a bit reading the posts here, but what exactly are the differences between Vista and XP?

I got to play with vista64, and I like the changes. BTW you don't have to have all the eye-candy on, but it's definately a nice change.

Wordplay

Who needs an OS for *visuals* when it is supposed to provide a solid and efficient platform for other programs? Besides, different skinning programs can cheer up the look for those who want it.

Yup, forget directx10. Oh I'm sure your a hardcore CLI user right, heck what's Windows? I mean who needs a GUI when you're that good. Mind you we are on a site that has wallpapers for our computers! Oh a novel idea to personalize our computers! Coming from a person that uses windowsBlinds! Bah traitor!

Wordplay

I won't be upgrading to Vista unless I absolutely have to. It's probably full of those "anti-piracy" measures that walk over your rights and send all kind of data to Microsoft. Not to mention that it is inefficient and (quite likely) unreliable when compared, for example, SuSe 10.

Yup, because downloading illegal material is what all the cool kids do! Look, no one is forcing you to buy these things. *Put on tin foil hat, and locks the doors* I'm not parnoid are you? What's there to worry about? Nothing I do on my computer is even worth seeing. Steal my personal data? Like my name and computer's name! Or my hardware configuration! I hope I don't get blackmailed! Sure go ahead at look at my cookies OMG! Cookies! The FBI is out to get me because I was browsing 4chan! Where's my thermite...

Inefficient, compared to what? Downloading warez? Does SuSe magically make azureus download at 1337 rates? Playing games? Because we all know where that leads to.

Stability, unless you are a complete fool that downloads mass amounts of viri, even NT4 is comparable to SuSe 10 in the stability department. Even then it's most likely the app running on the OS that causes the problems not the OS itself. Ghost Recon 3 makes my computer CTD! Bad OS or horrible game? I'd put my money on a horrible game.