Vista, the osx wanna be....?

[wolf_pack]

vista to me has come out loud and clear you have to have a pc that really has alot of memory a big harddrive and a video card that has the latest and greatest? which I can run the latest and greatest osx stuff on my g4 with half of what you put into a pc... I think from the get go ms knew that and the great monoply of ms begins once again letting us as consumer just accept it!! well i get tired of getting half of the product and paying full price and waiting to pay even more money for the ugrades? I don't know about anyone else on this board but i have 6 kids and when i put money into something it has to last a long time without the worries of upgrading everytime which is a cost I can't afford... at least with osx I'm going to wait for tiger or leopard depending on the price of leopard but i know my g4 computer which i got for free and had some memory laying around got it up to a gig and it's a heck of a system.. I mean it's whatever you want? its america but to me you should get what you pay for not just half....that's why i switched to apple and don't plan on going back to windows anytime soon maybe if ms go bankrupt then i can buy there product for what it's worth...."HALF"......lol......Bo

[powermac]

Tommo is right, at the end of the day it comes down to what someone prefers. After having used XP and Vista for awhile in the last six months, whether it is just because all I ever used is Mac, I prefer the way Apple designs a operating system.

In my view:
Windows has the system alert you when events take place, which is fine, except where is the line drawn between useful and just plain annoying?
Vista takes this to a new level, with the screen going black, and you have to acknowledge by clicking. Again, not all together a bad idea, except when using the computer for several hours.

On the other hand, I like the way Windows gives you a preview of video files, and preview of pictures on the folder icon. Makes finding things much better. Another thing in vista is adding your own keywords to files for indexing. Although Spotlight is significantly better then Vista search tool.

Lastly, To come out with several versions of a OS I am not impressed. In order to get shadow copy, you have to purchase the ultimate version of Vista. In other words, to be able to easily recover your files you have to have the most expensive version. That is just plain Crap!!!!!!

[Tommo]

Mushy eye candy.... you can rule out both if that is an issue. Get a copy of any linux distro with a basic Gnome or KDE GUI and that should suit. I t will be interesting to see what extra functionality Leopard has when it arrives later this year.

Wolf_Pack, lots of memory, like I said before 1GB is plenty, hard drive space 40GB is plenty. To get the full bells and whistles Aero display you need a fairly modern graphics card, but you do not really need them. The newest PC I have at home is over 5 years old and apart from upping the RAM to 1GB (which I did when I went to XP) it has not had an upgrade and is running Vista quite happily and speedily.

I have just installed 10.4 on a Powerbook with 512MB of Ram and that is not exactly running as fast as the user would like it to.

[fryke]

Yes, Tiger wants 640 MB RAM or more. That's true.

[knight885]

Originally Posted by fryke

Who has the personal preference of an OS always getting in the way, using mushy eyecandy to cover the fact that the UI hasn't really been _improved_ any? (That was rhetorical, but I guess answers will appear nonetheless...)

Here's one - I completely agree with this. Windows is intrusive, counter-intuitive and slows the user down. Everything from unzipping a file to plugging in a USB device is slowed down excessively for no real purpose or benefit. A Wizard to unzip a file? Whoever does MS's user interaction studies needs a new job.

Mine has just popped up another balloon in my face (and I mean in my face - I'm HSP, and stuff like that might as well be the size of the screen) to tell me that Outlook is having trouble reaching the Exchange Server. So f*cking what? Next time I have to switch to Outlook, why not tell me then, instead of interrupting me when I'm busy? Seconds later, ANOTHER ONE appears to tell me, never mind, it's working again. Gee, thanks. Now p*ss off!

I just find OSX completely the opposite, it's there if I need it, and it keeps out of the way if I don't. Imagine if you had an assistant in the office who kept interrupting you to tell you the sun had come out, that's what Windows is like to me.

[powermac]

The two operating system are driven from different perspectives. Windows to me is "dumbed down", while Mac is intuitive to use. Having just recently starting to really use XP, I find the experience intrusive. I never feel like I am working with the computer but against it. I plug my USB flash drive in and it takes several minutes to get to my files. Using the Mac, pop it in, shows up on desktop and bam.
Although there are things that Windows is better at than the Mac, but getting to those features is cumbersome. I never seem able to just develop a habit when using XP or Vista. Dragging and dropping on Windows still seems weird. When you get use to spring loaded folder, and having icons in the side bar in a finder window, trying similar task on Windows, I get lost and start all over. I am not sure why sometimes the file I am dragging actually copies or a short-cut is placed?

[symphonix]

Originally Posted by knight885

Imagine if you had an assistant in the office who kept interrupting you to tell you the sun had come out, that's what Windows is like to me.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it that way.

On Mac, ejecting a USB memory key:
1. Pick the memory key on the desktop. It will have the icon and name you have selected for it.
2. Choose File -> Eject.

On PC:
1. Right click on the ridiculously tiny grey thing with an arrow icon in the lower right edge of the screen.
2. Click "Safely Remove Hardware". Wait 3-5 seconds while Windows polls every connected USB device.
3. A new window pops up. Identify the device you want to eject by its manufacturer's ID code. Click it, and click Stop.
4. Another new window pops up. Identify the sub-domain of the device you're interested in stopping. Click Stop.
5. A balloon pops up in the lower-right telling you it is safe to remove the device. Click X on the balloon to close it, then...
6. Close the subdomain window.
7. Close the device window.

[powermac]

I was in Best Buy last night, and over heard a guy buying his first Mac. After choosing his Macbook and printer he asked the sell person which anti-virsus program he should get. When he replied you don't need one, the customer said, "I am liking the Mac all ready!" With a big smile.