Kevin's Watch

I upgraded my desktop to Vista a while ago (instead of reinstalling XP - which was long overdue since things kept crashing). But there were a LOT of programs that weren't supported. I'm a big Norton user, and I could only install Norton 360 - and no other programs that I'm used to like Partition Magic, System Works, Password Manager, etc. And I have an HP multi-function printer that I couldn't get properly installed - the printing worked fine, but I couldn't get the original installation CD to run under Vista so I couldn't install the Twain drivers (and I scan things a lot). And HP indicated that they did not intend to release Vista drivers for that printer. *sigh*

But in my surfing, I found the magic solution. Vista lets you run programs in various "compatability" modes. Just right-click on the .exe file (or the shortcut to the .exe file), select Properties, and go to the Compatability tab to change the settings.

I did this for the setup.exe file on the HP installation CD, and it installed perfectly. And although I could install Partition Magic before, it wouldn't let me run the program - but changing this setting for the shortcut icon on the desktop let me run that program perfectly as well.

WHEW!!

Here's a Vista tip: Shun it! Shhhhuuuuuuunnnnnna!

No doubt. I'm running Vista on my tablet, and it just blows.

Edge wrote:Here's a Vista tip: Shun it! Shhhhuuuuuuunnnnnna!

LOL! Yes - I DO feel like I had to cut out a kidney to get it to work right. And I still haven't backed it up (once I got the Norton 360 to work I found out my external hard drive had died) - so I'm going without a net for a while (which is scarey enough with a stable operating system).

MagickMaker's new Dell laptop came with Vista this past summer (we didn't have a choice...). Found out it won't print to my Dell printer. Dunno who to be more upset with, Dell or Bill Gates....

It's possible there's a Vista driver for the printer now. Not an issue right now since she's nowhere near my printer. Maybe we'll revisit this at Christmas break.

Vista is by far the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen that has masqueraded as an operating system. XP is the pinnacle of Windows Evolution.

Emotional Leper wrote:XP is the pinnacle of Windows Evolution.

XP was seen in the same light when it was first released.

I honestly don't know why people are so upset over Vista. It runs great.

Growing pains. I do think it runs pretty well - the startup time has been significantly reduced. But it's frustrating to end up several (unexpected) steps back when you're trying to move forward.

Loremaster wrote:

Emotional Leper wrote:XP is the pinnacle of Windows Evolution.

XP was seen in the same light when it was first released.

That's true. I was XP resistant for ages. Now I'm perfectly happy with it.(XP also has a compatability mode btw.)

I'm still not interested in Vista though.

--A

Romeo wrote:Growing pains. I do think it runs pretty well - the startup time has been significantly reduced. But it's frustrating to end up several (unexpected) steps back when you're trying to move forward.

They're not trying to move forward, except in that they want to move forward in increasing their revenue stream.

Windows XP had definate advantages over Windows 95/98/98se/ME. I've only once had Windows XP give me a Blue Screen of Death (and that was because I was being stupid with drivers.) I've never had it suffer from DLL Hell, it does not behave 'oddly,' in the ways Older, DOS-based versions of windows did, and the graphics are nice without being memory or cpu/gpu intensive.

Windows Vista, on the other hand, adds nothing that I, or most computer users, need, or want, in an operating system, and requires an insanely large ammount of harddrive space and memory and processor power, not to mention it is the only operating system I can recall that, should I wish to upgrade to it, will REQUIRE me to upgrade my video card.

Games should require Video Card upgrades. OSes should run on 5 year old hardware.

Vista is a huge step in a bad direction for Microsoft, which they seem to recognise, since they're allowing manufacturers to 'downgrade' computers to XP.

everyone hated Windows '95, everyone hated '98, everyone hated Millenium (by far the worst disaster of them all, even Microsoft admits it was their biggest booboo), and everyone hated XP. Vista is not, nor cannot, be immune in this regard. It will eventually resolve all issues, and everyone will come to love and praise it as they do XP, as they did '98, and also '95. I've been in the tech biz since DOS, and this is all par for the course. I automatically wait a year or two before I upgrade for this very reason.

Esmer wrote: everyone hated Windows '95, everyone hated '98, everyone hated Millenium (by far the worst disaster of them all, even Microsoft admits it was their biggest booboo), and everyone hated XP. Vista is not, nor cannot, be immune in this regard. It will eventually resolve all issues, and everyone will come to love and praise it as they do XP, as they did '98, and also '95. I've been in the tech biz since DOS, and this is all par for the course. I automatically wait a year or two before I upgrade for this very reason.

I don't think so, Esmer. I've not been in the Tech business that long, but I've been up to my ears in the Tech Business through family and friends and personal interest for a very long time.

95 was an improvement over 3.1. 95 was the introducement of True Multitasking, over 3.1's Cooperative Multitasking.

98 wasn't that much of an improvement over 95. They should have just canned 98 and waited until they'd finished 98se.

ME was essentially "Windows: The Next Revenue Source."

Windows XP was a huge leap in terms of Microsoft's OS offerings. A 'true' 32bit Operating System, NTFS instead of FAT32, Driver Rollbacks, hugely improved stability. And it was slightly more secure than Windows 95/98/98se/ME.

Windows XP SP 2 is pretty much as good as it gets right now. Vista isn't better.

My biggest problems with Vista all stem from my Comp Sci & Eng training. It's bloat. All of its extras over Windows XP are fluff. They serve no good purpose. And the Window Manager that requires a new graphics card? Pssh.

Vista was a response to Mac OS. Specifically, its Window Manager was a response to Mac OS and its eyecandy. Eyecandy which Mac OS can do on older videocards, but Vista can only do on new ones.

of course they ended up being improvements in the long run, but hardware upgrades and driver compatability were all a part of those transitions and are consistently the basis for consumer griping. DOS to 3.1 required everyone to upgrade their hardware, and (gasp!) upgrade their video cards! Coming from 3.1 to 95 was a nightmare for a considerable chunk of consumers, and alot of people had to spend alot of money and frustration to get it to work. Same with the rest. I was there, I was a victim like everyone else. All I'm saying is that everyone bitches when a new OS comes out, everyone has to adapt at some point, and in the end it all works out great. And I think Vista was responding with all this eyecandy because everyone's system had so much extra power going to waste. 3 ghz w/ a gig of ram was overkill for surfing the web or doing spreadsheets, so they responded with their Mac hack approach. Which anyone who has a more professional approach to computing can easily disable, and they do. The whole video card thing was simply a response to the evolution of DirectX, which right now seems redundant or unecessary, but in 5 yrs you are going to see some graphical accomplishments that are going to blow our minds that just won't be possible on XP. Trust me, I just had to blow 150 bux on a videocard that has all the same specs as my old one, but a single chip on that card made it incompatable with the Pixel Shader technology that was being used. So for 150 I got a slight upgrade in ram on the card and the ability to play a single game, Bioshock. Definitely not happy about that......but it's what we do.

Emotional Leper wrote: Windows XP SP 2 is pretty much as good as it gets right now.

I agree.

And I agree about Windows Millenium: it was the Illearth OS.

Matrixman wrote:

Emotional Leper wrote: Windows XP SP 2 is pretty much as good as it gets right now.

I agree.

And I agree about Windows Millenium: it was the Illearth OS.

Does that make Vista the Sunbane OS?

Possibly!

Actually, XP was the Sunbane OS until Vain SP2 restored the balance. So Vista has to be either Kevin's Dirt OS or maybe a Caesure OS.....

So, from what I'm getting...

Windows 95 -- Lord Foul's Bane
Windows 98 -- Gilden-fire
Windows 98SE -- The Ill-earth War
Windows ME -- The Power that Preserves


Windows XP -- The Wounded Land
Windows XP SP1 -- The One Tree
Windows XP SP2 -- White Gold Wielder

Windows Vista -- The Runes of the Earth

Esmer and EL, it all makes sense to me now. The Chronicles. Windows. Vain. Bill Gates.

I'm gratified and terrified.

Romeo, be careful, man! You don't want a Fatal Reboot on your hands.

Matrixman wrote:

Emotional Leper wrote: Windows XP SP 2 is pretty much as good as it gets right now.

I agree.

And I agree about Windows Millenium: it was the Illearth OS.

I never had a problem with it myself.
But it wasn't a corporate product so other then my version at home I didn't deal with it. (I'm an IT guy too).
But I don't remember reading about any public outcry about it in general.

It seemed like 98 with some different hues and icons.
I remember thinking that the "restore" feature (whatever it was called back then) was pretty cool.

I always wanted to use VMware and run WFW,95,98,98se,ME,NT3.51,NT4, W2K just for fun.
But it seemed like too much effort for nothing.

Are there any online simulators to go down memory lane with?