[ynneb]

For those who have been living under a rock, Microsoft has recently released its new operating system to replace XP.
From what I have read in many places, most people are giving it negative reviews. While it does have some advantages, these are heavily out weighed by its negatives.

What do you think ?

[Nono]

I will upgrade after there service pack two comes out..:banana:

[CNCRob]

I have read alot of bad reviews about it also.

[Aksess]

If it were not for needing to run certain programs, I would still be using windows 98.

[cncbasher]

i am keeping as far away from it as possible , it's a nightmare

[oneyaker]

Vista is nothing but garbage. I just got a used Dell GX270 2.8Mhz and 1G ram with new vista install and it is SLOWER on this relatively fast machine than win95 so I REFORMATTED the drive and put in win xp pro sp2 and win2000pro for mulitboot setup.
Vista is a total and complete rip off of the Mac look (my brother in law uses Mac) and lots of useless eye candy. The ONLY thing I liked about it is the visual preview of images and scaling of the file icons in the Windows Explorer.
Otherwise, I imagine that most of us engineering types run windows optimized for performance so Vista is a complete waste of time.
If I could run my CAD CAMs in Linux, Microshaft would be gone from all of my computers. I hope that for the next 10 or so years I can stick to win xp and 2000 and then bye MS.

MadVac CNC
http://oneoceankayaks.com/madvac/madvac_index.htm

[RedLabel]

Vista is nothing but garbage. I just got a used Dell GX270 2.8Mhz and 1G ram with new vista install and it is SLOWER on this relatively fast machine than win95 so I REFORMATTED the drive and put in win xp pro sp2 and win2000pro for mulitboot setup.
Vista is a total and complete rip off of the Mac look (my brother in law uses Mac) and lots of useless eye candy. The ONLY thing I liked about it is the visual preview of images and scaling of the file icons in the Windows Explorer.
Otherwise, I imagine that most of us engineering types run windows optimized for performance so Vista is a complete waste of time.
If I could run my CAD CAMs in Linux, Microshaft would be gone from all of my computers. I hope that for the next 10 or so years I can stick to win xp and 2000 and then bye MS.

MadVac CNC
http://oneoceankayaks.com/madvac/madvac_index.htm

Well most of the time(going from 98 to 2000 was different but then again actually win 2000 was NT based hence a different OS then 98) when MS releases a new OS it works "slower" then the previous OS.

This does not mean that it is crap. A used Dell GX270 2.8Mhz and 1G ram is unfortunately not a relatively fast machine, it is more like an outdated one.
(Don't get me wrong I understand you and it is really frustrating how fast a comp can become outdated these days.)

The problem is your purpose in upgrading the OS. As far as I see new vista is better for its multimedya capabilities, it heavily makes use of the gpu as well as the cpu this time and of course needs much more memory. For example if you game a lot you have to have a decent graphics card(X1950XT seems greatly priced these days ), lots of memory and a good cpu for decent performance in newly released games which are actually the needs of vista too etc.

But for cnc machining or using cad or networking I see no need for Vista. Actually I believe XP will be a much better choice for quite some time.

[fastestone1]

The problem is your purpose in upgrading the OS. As far as I see new vista is better for its multimedya capabilities, it heavily makes use of the gpu as well as the cpu this time and of course needs much more memory. For example if you game a lot you have to have a decent graphics card(X1950XT seems greatly priced these days ), lots of memory and a good cpu for decent performance in newly released games which are actually the needs of vista too etc.

But for cnc machining or using cad or networking I see no need for Vista. Actually I believe XP will be a much better choice for quite some time.

I AGREE my cnc will remain on XP for sometime.
Vista is just for play time

[ghyman]

If I could run my CAD CAMs in Linux, Microshaft would be gone from all of my computers.

I've been running Mandriva for over a year with no problems.
I'm running Varkon for my Cad system, and Smartcam for any Cad/Cam.
The secret is a nifty little program called "Wine". It is essentially a Windows Virtual Machine that allows you to run most windows apps in Linux.
I only use it for smartcam, but I have played around with a lot of other windows apps as well; the only time I had any troubles was when I tried to update IE6 (which ran just fine under Wine) to IE7. But that was just for fun; I only used IE6 so I could do a remote login to a customer's network; they were set up using a MS setup; only IE would run the required OCX.

But anyway... Try installing Wine and running your cad/cam system.
I hate to say "Linux is great, and here's how to run Windows apps on it", because that is the equivalent of saying "Mopar is great, and here's how to use a Ford transmission on a Hemi".

Give it time, though... Linux is going to take over Microsoft. Soon.

Oh yeah -- if you want all the eye candy that Vista has, there's a great app called "Beryl" (search youtube for some screen shots) that has been doing that and more for at least the past 6 months, with less memory, processor, and video requirements. Something about having the video driver compiled into the kernel seems to make Linux graphics run like a bottle rocket!

[PaulH]

As someone who works for a company that has to support multiple platforms, I can say that the trend is shifting to OS X more-so than Linux. Aqua/Objective C is a rather different language than GTK/C or KDE/Qt/C++, but it's actually easier to use and develop for.

Quite honestly I like .Net/C# and through the Mono project, my code is relatively cross-platform.

Give it time, though... Linux is going to take over Microsoft. Soon.

[Genguy]

As far as I can tell Vista is chocked full of digital rights managment crap that infringes on our rights as consumers.
It appears that you cannot run certain copy protected material unless the correct hardware is in place to do it and forget about making a backup copy of copyright material. To me this makes it severely limited for multimedia applications.
I will never purchase or use Vista unless I have no other choice.

[guru_florida]

As someone who works for a company that has to support multiple platforms, I can say that the trend is shifting to OS X more-so than Linux. Aqua/Objective C is a rather different language than GTK/C or KDE/Qt/C++, but it's actually easier to use and develop for.

Quite honestly I like .Net/C# and through the Mono project, my code is relatively cross-platform.

I am just starting to learn Obj C since I recently became a Mac user. I know a dozen languages so usually I can understand a new language syntax by looking at it, but Objective C had me in stitches the first look. I was expecting a nice C style syntax but with some extensions. I still dont know what it has in common with C. I did some searches about ugly Obj C syntax and read and the like and I read all the arguments. The syntax is ugly but apparently given some time I am going to really enjoy Obj C. I hope so, because I really like the Mac OS X much better than windows. I just wish my CAD/CAM, EDA CAD worked on it.I am also a big Ubuntu/debian Linux user. I am an EMC2 user. Really, I am still rooting for Linux I think. Mac OS X has the best user interfaces though, they have a great programming API from the looks of it too. I love C# as a language, ASP .NET has some shortcomings I think but is pretty good. Mono is really coming along well. I have made a few apps that work on Windows, Mac and Linux without recompiling.

[fizzissist]

I am just starting to learn Obj C since I recently became a Mac user. I know a dozen languages so usually I can understand a new language syntax by looking at it, but Objective C had me in stitches the first look. I was expecting a nice C style syntax but with some extensions. I still dont know what it has in common with C. I did some searches about ugly Obj C syntax and read and the like and I read all the arguments. The syntax is ugly but apparently given some time I am going to really enjoy Obj C. I hope so, because I really like the Mac OS X much better than windows. I just wish my CAD/CAM, EDA CAD worked on it.I am also a big Ubuntu/debian Linux user. I am an EMC2 user. Really, I am still rooting for Linux I think. Mac OS X has the best user interfaces though, they have a great programming API from the looks of it too. I love C# as a language, ASP .NET has some shortcomings I think but is pretty good. Mono is really coming along well. I have made a few apps that work on Windows, Mac and Linux without recompiling.

Oh, so you're a luddite??? (see previous windows programmer post....)

I'm about ready to buy a new Mac, and bone up on my C(place your favorite upper-case whatever extension here) skills so I can be a verifiable luddite.

Vista should run faster, since everyone's had to buy a new, REALLY fast machine just to host it.....

Has anyone here run Mastercam X or later on a Mac under VMware Fusion??

[Drakkn]

Vista is nothing but garbage. I just got a used Dell GX270 2.8Mhz and 1G ram with new vista install and it is SLOWER on this relatively fast machine than win95 so I REFORMATTED the drive and put in win xp pro sp2 and win2000pro for mulitboot setup.
Vista is a total and complete rip off of the Mac look (my brother in law uses Mac) and lots of useless eye candy. The ONLY thing I liked about it is the visual preview of images and scaling of the file icons in the Windows Explorer.
Otherwise, I imagine that most of us engineering types run windows optimized for performance so Vista is a complete waste of time.
If I could run my CAD CAMs in Linux, Microshaft would be gone from all of my computers. I hope that for the next 10 or so years I can stick to win xp and 2000 and then bye MS.

MadVac CNC
http://oneoceankayaks.com/madvac/madvac_index.htm

You can run cad/cam on ubuntu linux - they have a build designed for cnc think its called emc2

[PaulH]

Here's my background: I write computer software for a living. I can set up networks and firewalls in my sleep. I have written software for most of the major Unix variants, every version of Windows since Win95, and just recently, OS X 10.4.

My response to Vista has been a simple one: I bought a 15" MacBook Pro for my wife about six weeks ago to replace her WinXP system (2.53 GHz P4, 2 GB memory, 160 GB SATA hard drive, DVD+-RW). A week ago I bought a Mac Mini and a KVM for myself.

Now I just need to learn how to better program for the Mac so I can write some CNC software. :cheers:

[Newby2]

Has anyone tracked the progress of windows? First was windows, windows 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, XP, and now Vista. Each "new" version required one to upgrade to a newer computer with more memory, a larger hard drive, a faster processor and so on. My belief is that it just gets more and more confusing to those that just want to have a computer to run specific programs and to he77 with all the other BS.
Why is it that most CNC machines run a dedicated OS? CNC is a number crunching system that doesn't need a bunch of garbage running in the background to slow things down! How many of you play solitare on the mill that is machining an extreemly intricate and expensive part?
This is my opinion.
Steve

[HayTay]

Has anyone tracked the progress of windows? First was windows, windows 3.1, 95, 98, 2000, XP, and now Vista.

Don't forget about Windows NT. All of the Windows releases had multiple versions to boot (pun intended); Windows 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, at least 4 versions of Windows 95, at least 2 versions of Windows 98, Multiple version of Windows NT which was updated to Windows 2000 Pro & Server (which had 4 major Service Packs), which was updated again to several versions of Windows XP (Home, Pro, Media Center) which required 2 major Service Packs. And then there's the other two OS's that were too sickly for even Microsoft to keep alive... MS BOB and MS Windows Me. Both should have been aborted before they were allowed to even see the light from a video display. And I'm sure I've missed some other MS OS releases in there somewhere, like Windows Server 2003 and others?

[The Inventor]

IMHO Windows 2000 Pro sp4 was the best os that ever came out.
Fast and very stable!

[yohudi]

IMHO Windows 2000 Pro sp4 was the best os that ever came out.
Fast and very stable!

And so say all of us.....

Vista is the old microsoft /intel arm twist yet again... a bloated and poorly coded OS (what on earth needs 15GB just for the OS) which then needs upgrades to run it... this is what drives the industry and don't we all know it. XP was really the beginning of this.. I still have to run a range of OS to perform the various tasks I require... even have an old 486 here and there running valued ISA hardware that never got developed to more modern PCI interfaces....

If MS was interested in better OS they would get the bugs out of the existing operating systems instead of firing bloatware down your throat... oh and if these "upgrades" are that good how come MS force the title developers to switch off compatibility with the older OS' to get certification for the new. They've been at that since win 95 replaced win 3.11.... don't believe the hype and keep your pennies for buying the bit's you do need.

Personally I rate NT4 (SP6) as probably the most stable and usable microsoft OS to date.. It's one of the longest serving and "ran the world" at one point. Win 2K is just a version of that with a win 95 or win 98 look to it..

[ayteebee]

I value freedom.