Vista, XP, & Ubuntu - Your thoughts.

[Big Dan]

Hey Ladies & Gents,

I'm a geek at heart and really like to know what's going on with my computer at all times. As some of you know I recently bought a brand spankin' new computer with Vista Home Premium on it. While I think Vista is "okay", for me, even for my new computer it's too much of a resource hog. My computer is still very fast, I just don't think that I should be using over 1 GB of RAM at system boot with the only additional startup program being AVG Anti-Virus. Plus with all the DRM they've squeezed in, it's nearly impossible to know what's going on in the background at all times. Aside from a nicer user interface the only Vista has that I like is the sidebar but the same thing can be accomplished with Yahoo Widgets or Google Desktop so I won't be missing out on that.

I've already partitioned and installed Ubuntu BUT for what ever reason Firefox doesn't load pages as fast as it does in Windows, even Vista. I have no clue as to why and as much as I'm an advocate of open source software I have to say I'm very disappointed something as essential as an internet browser that comes bundled with the operating system should be up to snuff. With the lower overhead that Ubuntu has over Vista, I'd expect Firefox to work even better but it doesn't.

Last night, I got online with HP's live chat technical support and asked about compatibility for XP with my hardware. The tech was awesome and gave my links to download drivers for all my hardware to enable it under XP. I'm guessing lots of people are "downgrading"

I "broke down" and ordered an OEM copy of XP Pro off New Egg. I'm kinda miffed by forking over for another XP license, after all I've already paid for three of the for my old computer due to WGA lock outs.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has successfully "downgraded" from Vista to XP. If so, what were your experiences and were you happy with your choice? Secondly, what's your operating system of choice and why?

Thanks,
Dan

[popowich]

I got a new computer last year and had Dell ship it with XP instead of Vista.

I don't want Vista. XP works for me.

-Raymond

[esnagel]

Are you "downgrading", or wiping the drive & installing XP?

[Kaos]

We got the new bad boy computer with Vista and hate it.:censored1: We will probably downgrade back to XP also, whenever I see the computer again. I think Vista looks cool with all there funky graphic features for stuff but not user friendly especially for webmasters doing 10 things at once on them. But thats just my 2 cents :muahaha:

[Big Dan]

Are you "downgrading", or wiping the drive & installing XP?

Wipe and repartition. I'll wipe with the XP install disc, once XP installs and I fully patch it, I'll use the Ubuntu disc to partition for Ubuntu and a FAT32 partition so I can share my Thunderbird & Firefox profiles between Windows & Ubuntu.

[Kaos]

^ and then you're gonna come do mine right Dan :cheers2::comp26:

[Big Dan]

You buy the disc, I'll walk you through it. :)

Hint: It's cheaper to buy an "OEM" Copy off a site like www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) , I got XP Pro for $139.

The only drawback is an OEM copy is locked into one computer your cannot put it on another computer but if you only need it for one computer it suits your needs fine and saves you a few bucks.

BTW, NewEgg ships ultra fast Kim, I put my order in Wednesday night and it's scheduled to be delivered today. Half their products ship from NJ the other half ship from TX.. XP ships from Joisey. :)

[popowich]

One of my computers is needing the genuine XP, but I'm thinking I'd be much better off getting a cheap new second computer than dishing out to put XP on an old one with questionable hardware.

-Raymond

[Big Dan]

Yeah, I wouldn't fork over for another license, especially an OEM copy like I bought if I wasn't on good hardware.

On my old computer I wound up paying for windows 3 times. First time with the computer but I lost the recovery partition :eek:. Then I bought the full version of XP Pro and discovered Ubuntu between formatting and installing so many times I my product key got deactivated.. Lastly I bought an OEM copy of XP Home for that computer and so far so good.

[yukon]

last weekend I dropped twin baracuda 7200.11 (500GB) in a mirror, partitioned into 4 bits:
30gb - xp64-bit, 15 -xp32, 100 - fedora 8, remainder - NTFS shared across all OS's. I generally use both KDE and GNome depending on what I'm doing (usually gnome for work, kde for home type stuff - I like keeping separate profiles with the same username).

I have not noticed an significant difference in speed of firefoxes across any of the OS'es. I did a few months ago "upgrade" my fiance's laptop to Vista via the upgrade coupon I bought when i bought her lappy just before Vista was available. It lasted approximately 2 hours before she pleaded with me to revert it back . . .

I *have* noticed a huge speed increase (upwards of 25-30%+) over the previous root drive (an older WD 300gb). Most notably this is expressed during large data transfers (ie. ripping or burning a DVD). I have been thoroughly converted to the school of "always buy kick a$$ hard drives."

[techguy]

One thing to keep in mind with Vista is how it uses a significant amount of RAM to preload applications. Microsoft's thinking is that if you have 1 or 2 GB of RAM, why let it sit idle most of the time. Your system will learn what you frequently use (Outlook, Firefox, Word, etc) and keep them in memory even when the application is closed. When you launch the application it should load instantly. This should be very helpful for larger apps like Photoshop. However, I think the sweet spot for this technology is 2 GB or more of RAM.

[techguy]

One of the cheapest places to get software (including OEM) is http://viosoftware.com/. I have purchased several appplications from them and have been very pleased.

:yay::yippee:

[popowich]

$91 for a legit XP home seems to be the cheapest that I have seen.

-Raymond

[Big Dan]

NewEgg has XP Home OEM for $85. I've bought a couple of copies and frequently buy stuff from NewEgg, they're awesome. For us NY'ers New Egg has two warehouses one in TX and one in NJ. If your stuff comes out of NJ you get your order the next day a lot of times. :)

Vista has grown on me. For the most part it just works. Both my desktop and new laptop have 3 GB of RAM so I don't notice any slow down and have plenty of RAM to play with. I still haven't noticed a pre-loading effect though. Firefox still takes a bit to fire up on both machines and I use it constantly. Other than that I'm pretty impressed with it. The worst problem I've had is BSOD'ing it by installing ZoneAlarm but I suspect that was a problem with ZA.

I've removed XP from my new computer which I bought an OEM copy from NewEgg only because my DVD Burner doesn't work under XP and drivers aren't available.

Also, I just installed the development version of Ubuntu on both my laptop and my desktop. Hardy Heron is slated to be released next month, it's shaping up quite nicely. :) Firefox 3 is also off the hook. :D