vista or xp

[JeffC]

looking at a dell 9200 puter 2mrw , have option of  vista or xp (have that now) guy I spoke to  reckons If i want to run old software stick with xp otherwise vista

whats the difference please  

any views ?

[Martin Keene]

A mate in the game who sells computers wholesale says steer well clear of Vista for another 6 months. Too many bugs, software compatibility problems, etc.

[Derby Allen]

Jeff, answer to your question- the difference is about £100, in Bill gates pocket, sorry i couldn't help myself,

my knowledge of computers is probabaly as good as yours, If i was to ask our IT guy in work  for an opionion he would  probably say " turn it off and turn it back on again and see if it is any better"

[polly_x]

What are you going to be using it for?

Ive got Vista installed on a machine and the 3 or 4 times ive been in and tried to install programs ive had problems.

I run all my music through the laptop too and vista does not (cannot) seem to acquire the licenses.

Ive switched back to my trusty XP Pro partition for now.

[stu999]

If buying now - stick to XP. It will be supported for years to come - after all, Microsoft have only just stopped supporting Win98

[perksy]

XP  

Too many bugs with Vista at the moment

Microsoft delayed it's launch a couple of times due to problems with it      

[ljsanders]

My employer's IT infrastructure refused to let us install XP SP2 for about 9 months after it was released because loads of applications wouldn't work with it and they refused to support us if we had any problems. Unfortunately they got backed into a hole because our new laptops were installed SP2.

Laptops being given out this week have XP installed on them (not Vista)... so I'd hate to think how long it will take before they support Vista!

If it isn't broke, don't fix it. Stick with XP, later on the upgrade price will come down. XP does the job perfectly well enough.

[Tigger]

My 2p worth,

If it's just a basic machine with Vista on, it will be fine. You will only run into problems when you try to install software that is not compatible (which is lots at the moment).

Been running Vista/XP dual boot for a while now and apart from in-compatible progs, it works a treat, no bugs apparent with the "Ultimate Version"

Tigger

[Tigger]

On a slightly different note but vaguely linked ......

Anybody tried Microsoft Virtual PC2007?

It enables you to have a "Virtual PC" on your machine that exists soley as a single file. SEE HERE

It's a freeby from Microsoft - Now that's un-usual.

There is also a free "Virtual Hard Disk" image with XP for testing IE6 to get you going for a while - HERE but it expires in July.

You can install any operating system, load it, save the state and load it again in about 10 seconds - it's wicked.

Note: You will need XP Pro or Vista to run it properly (Not XP Home)

Tigger

[JeffC]

xp it is then.. thanks  

[timd]

Bit late to this, but if you do a bit of research first into whether your current software supports Vista or not then if it does, AFAICS there's no reason not to use Vista.

Been using it (Vista 'Ultimate') here for months. No idea what these "bugs" are everyone is banging on about - I've had no problems, no crashes, etc. Some software doesn't work, but I knew that before I started (research, you see.. ) and in pretty much all cases there's a (free) workaround.

As an added bonus, on my machine Vista runs faster..

[Ian Podmore]

I was at a presentation by Microsoft a few weeks ago, and one of the audience asked 'When does the 1st service pack come out for Vista?'  You should have seen the two presenters faces.  There was a very sheepish 'in a couple of months' reply!

Even having managed to stay awake through the presentation, the advantages appeared to be not that great really. My colleague managed to fall asleep - the right move IMO.