THE PACK Message Boards

The new Microsoft OS came out today, and is any one concidering upgrading?

If i had a system that was compatible and money (which i don't), i would wait untill the bugs are ironed out before upgrading to Vista.

I've had it installed at work for the past couple of months, and I'm not really impressed with it. It's wayyy too 'helpful'.



(This was just after reboot. I don't even know why it wants to do this.)

I may upgrade soon

I am going to, but only after I get a 8800 so I have a use for direct x 10.

Dude! they're trying to look like MAC's OS. NOOO!!!! I hate macs!

Pfffft. I'm fine with my Windows 98, thank you. (THAT was my upgrade. Nyahaha...)

MattSullivan wrote:Dude! they're trying to look like MAC's OS. NOOO!!!! I hate macs!

Something I've tried to tell my Mac-loving friend many a time. Still, he insists that they are better than Windows. Hell, he even says that the commercials are accurate! How in the hell are this and this accurate?! You don't need to upgrade all of your system parts when you upgrade the software, and a Mac does not work with everything. In fact, it works with less than a PC does (silly Apple and their role reversal).

On the plus side, I disagree that Vista looks like the Mac OS, so I won't have a problem with it once the bugs are worked out enough for me to consider buying it.

I don't plan on upgrading to Vista unless I absolutely have to.

XP works fine enough and if it's as 'helpful' as Lupin says it'll annoy the crap out of me.

yeah forget that....and microsoft office 07' isnt worth it either...

MattSullivan wrote:Dude! they're trying to look like MAC's OS. NOOO!!!! I hate macs!

My mate loves Macs. Its like being a Jeep owner. When you find someone else with a Mac you stop and talk about how great they are. This happens with him all the time. Its like a cult.

Macs can't run ANYTHING. my mac(s ) could never run any video file, or a program well, the mac makers were ALWAYS stingy about memory....and the bomb! The dreaded BOMB icon that was always popping up a mere millisecond before the mac froze up...and it always did...

macs SUCK.

I got a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to install it yet. I'm stuck at work for 24 hours, so it'll be at least tomorrow afternoon before I get a chance.

I spent part of yesterday setting up separate partitions so that I can have XP to fall back upon, in case one or more important programs don't work in Vista. I'm looking forward to actually getting into Vista, as my desktop system will support Aero. I'm also looking forward to seeing some new desktop gadgets; it's only a matter of time before someone creates a moon phase tracker.

Am I the only one who doesn't think it looks like a Mac? Mac interfaces are very white and the buttons are round orbs rather than tabby-looking things. About the only thing that's decidedly Mac-ish to me is the background wallpaper, which is the first thing for both Maccies and PCers customize out.

I've had a sneek peak at some of this functionality beforehand, with Stardock's Object Desktop, a suite that includes Windowblinds, which skins Windows (I've had on my desktop about a year now an imitation of the work-in-progress version of Aero's transparent "glass" edges), as well as various other programs, including one that makes desktop gadgets. In fact, some of Object Desktop's work went into Vista's visual interface.

I have installed the new Office on my laptop; I'll also put it on the Vista partition of the desktop tomorrow. It's certainly prettier in looks, though functionally it's similar. It does have a few new features, including a publish to blog feature that looks like a good time saver.

One thing I have noticed about both Office and Vista is a really screwy box. Here's my comments about it previously posted on CNet:

I have as of this writing not yet seen complaints about the IQ puzzle box that houses Microsoft's new products, but I fully expect it to become an ongoing topic and the subject of countless jokes and complaints. I also fully expect the packaging to change in a year or so in response to all of these forthcoming complaints. Aside from being bulkier than the simple DVD clamshell of its predecessor, the plastic casing of both new Office and Windows products is rather complicated and tricky. (First peel off two transparent labels along the sides. If you wish to preserve the "authentic Microsoft product" sticker on the top, use a knife or box cutter to cut along the seams and be careful not to hurt yourself. Then pull the red tape--and admire the accidental symbolism--to fold out the inner clam shell from the outer, opening it from the top to the side. This will reveal the CD (or DVD in the case of Windows Vista) plus packaging insert literature.)

Edit:

Additional comments: Matt, you're the first person I've encountered in more than a decade to complain about Macs. Not getting defensive, mind you--there's plenty of die-hard Mac people who have been trying to convince me to switch, but not as long as Apple considers the tablet format an unmarketable novelty. But, most Mac people have argued for their stability over that of PCs. Granted, that was a much stronger argument in the days of Windows 95/98, and XP went a long way towards improving reliability, but not until after the damage had been done to Windows' reputation. Still, I haven't known Macs to be unstable since my college days in the early nineties. Well, I do distinctly remember one incident fairly recently, where another filmmaker here was up all night trying to recover some missing files from a film entitled Red Victoria, right during the premiere, so if a Mac does get fracked, it doesn't fool around with simple freeze and restart.

MattSullivan wrote:Macs can't run ANYTHING. my mac(s ) could never run any video file, or a program well, the mac makers were ALWAYS stingy about memory....and the bomb! The dreaded BOMB icon that was always popping up a mere millisecond before the mac froze up...and it always did...

macs SUCK.

Mine runs well enough to run windows


And while I'm posting images:





I can't make stuff this good up.

Wait... If you're running XP on a Mac, why have the Mac in the first place?

well for one theres the gigantic amount of freeware that you can get for FREE. These apps can do many of the things that you would have to BUY on a windows.

Second theres 32 viruses compared to 114,000

third, you can get different skins for macs so they LOOK like windows, just with out all the viruses.

Those are my reasons for getting a mac.
Though I do agree that OS9 was AWFUL and if that painted your picture of macintosh you should consider looking at OS10

geekboy1500 wrote:well for one theres the gigantic amount of freeware that you can get for FREE. These apps can do many of the things that you would have to BUY on a windows.

Second theres 32 viruses compared to 114,000

third, you can get different skins for macs so they LOOK like windows, just with out all the viruses.

1. Like what? Not doubting you, just interested.
2. That's a good point that I will jointly address with the next response, since they're related.
3. Counter-point: It's not the look, it what you wouldn't be able to do with it. Most games are for Windows, and that's one of my main interests when it comes to computers. Before you counter that statement by mentioning that Macs can now run Windows, what exactly is preventing that OS from getting viruses? I'd rather just get a good anti-virus program and protect my Windows-running computer with that. It's only about $30 a year, isn't it?

ravaged_warrior wrote:Wait... If you're running XP on a Mac, why have the Mac in the first place?

Because I work at a company that produces Windows sofware which, oddly enough, requires me to interact with Windows sometimes. The only thing that really gets used for is running RDC. Some of the stuff I've seen soured me on windows. Plus, I now have the income to buy the kind of computer I want.

ravaged_warrior wrote:

geekboy1500 wrote:well for one theres the gigantic amount of freeware that you can get for FREE. These apps can do many of the things that you would have to BUY on a windows.

Second theres 32 viruses compared to 114,000

third, you can get different skins for macs so they LOOK like windows, just with out all the viruses.

1. Like what? Not doubting you, just interested.
2. That's a good point that I will jointly address with the next response, since they're related.
3. Counter-point: It's not the look, it what you wouldn't be able to do with it. Most games are for Windows, and that's one of my main interests when it comes to computers. Before you counter that statement by mentioning that Macs can now run Windows, what exactly is preventing that OS from getting viruses? I'd rather just get a good anti-virus program and protect my Windows-running computer with that. It's only about $30 a year, isn't it?

Nothing prevents the virtualized copy of Windows inside my copy of OS X from getting viruses. (OS X won't catch anything from windows inside it because they're completely different.) The same is true in windows on windows. However now Undo applies to the Whole virualized OS instead of just stuff within it.

The following happens several times a day:

1) I click the wrong thing.
2) I swear.
3) I hit revert to snapshot.
4) I wait two minutes.
4) I go back to what I was doing before.

More screenshots of vista:

geekboy1500 wrote: Second theres 32 viruses compared to 114,000

That's because noone really cares about Mac enough to write viruses for it. Too few people use it so virus-makers never do it. It reduces their range of targets.

'sides a good firewall and virus software and it doesn't matter. Avast works pretty well for me. Also, much of the freeware runs fine on Windows, like Avast itself.

vista i dfun need

Aki wrote:That's because noone really cares about Mac enough to write viruses for it. Too few people use it so virus-makers never do it. It reduces their range of targets.

I'm not so sure abut that anymore, they pretty much seem to do anything that gets them a return on their investment nowadays. Like throwing every single exploit from the past two years onto a single webpage.

More screenshots of vista:

If this looks familiar:

Lupin wrote:

ravaged_warrior wrote:Wait... If you're running XP on a Mac, why have the Mac in the first place?

Because I work at a company that produces Windows sofware which, oddly enough, requires me to interact with Windows sometimes. The only thing that really gets used for is running RDC. Some of the stuff I've seen soured me on windows. Plus, I now have the income to buy the kind of computer I want.

Ah, I see.

Why is everyone hating Macs? Theres nothing wrong with them, they are just as easy to use, more reliable, very little viruses and they are really good for graphics and sound engineering. Now a PC has its pros too, its cheap, highly customizable, easy to customize, lots of softwares and games for it, simply the recomended system for gaming and multimedia.

I've been using Vista at my college for awhile now. It's not that impressive. It has a better interface, I guess. Not drastically different. I dislike how they try to integrate the other OS applications with Internet Explorer. I'll keep my copy of XP Pro at home. Vista isn't worth it unless you want to run the 64-bit version. I hear it has great backwards compatibility.

Z wrote:

MattSullivan wrote:Dude! they're trying to look like MAC's OS. NOOO!!!! I hate macs!

i agree

same here