Thursday, July 3, 2008

XP Vista Battle Rages On!!

The vista or XP question raised its head in the class yesterday. (Yes classes are on; the MBA preparatory thing GJ-IMT does). I was asked for my views on OS of choice. Here is the answer, read on if not bored to death already!!

Tried Vista ultimate a couple of years ago, returned to XP. Too many driver and compatibility issues…… Tried Vista Business an year ago, returned to XP. But this time most commonly used software had become “Vista Compatible” and there were far fewer driver issues (none that I recall). We came back to Vista only because the systems we have at the college are not built for Vista. Yes Vista can run on 1 GB Ram (we have even run Vista Ultimate on 512 MB!!), but anything less than 2 GB will cause bottlenecks, freezing and system hang ups. My system is a “barely decent” setup with Asus Maximus Mobo with the Intel X38 chipset, Quad core Q6600, 4 GB DDR2 800 Mhz, nVidia 8600 GTS). These days I am on Vista Business X64 (64 bit) and I am pleased to inform one and all that I have not come across any bottleneck, compatibility issue or speed issues. Even Vista Business 32 bit which I used for a few months (Dec – April) had no issues at all except one: Acrobat and the issue of 64 bit OS. But that is not Vista or Xp issue. It is a 32 bit or 64 bit issue.

Then Why Do People Hate/fear/disbelieve/suspect Vista???

The problem is everyone wants the Aero interface but at their own terms. The reasons are numerous and in most cases there are none. Here is a list of what I think are the dominant reasons for Vista baiting:

1. They are still dragging the history…. In the past, Vista had issues but as a common home user, I have found that those issues don’t exist anymore.
2. The migration from Windows XP to Vista requires significant hardware up-gradation too. Since most of us will try to run everything on our “P4” which used to be our pride a few years ago, problems will arise. Vista needs one of the newer chipsets, at least a core 2 duo, at least 2 GB RAM, at least 256 MB Graphics card (preferably nVidia 7 series or better).
3. Certain features of Vista like UAC might be irritants for the user who does not like to be interfered with but there are ways around it.
4. It is a fashion to bash Microsoft, Bill Gates and any product that release. The much loved XP too faced this when people like you and me were reluctant to migrate from 2000 to XP.
5. Last is the status quo and the natural inertia to change. If I have become comfortable using one OS over that past few years, I will shy away from the upheaval my computing life will go through because of a change in OS.

Bottom line is: I like Vista, I have no issues with it but I think XP is a rock solid OS. So it is a matter of personal preferences and the configuration of the system you have.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

so sir...flaunting your P.C's configuration...???/lol

Unknown said...

whatever said and done, a lot needs to be changed in our so called 'upgraded' systems to run vista COMFORTABLY. I myself has used vista ultimate on my laptop which has a humble core duo processor, 512 ram (not going into finer details).... it was complete S@*t for 2 months that i used it and i leaped back onto the trusted XP.... then cudnt muster any courage to install Vista again.... but it was a complete new experience..... true, there were a lot of compatibility issues, but then in beginning there are alwaz bottlenecks.... remeber when v started learning a two wheeler and cudnt apply brakes due to our lesser height but then gradually we pulled it off one day..... ditto with vista... those who havent used it even once, try and give it a shot.... u'll regret using XP till now....!!!!!!!

Jagdeep Singh

Ashish Pillai said...

Ha! Ha! Ha! 512 and Vista Ultimate!!!

Jagdeep tu sudhar jaa!! Tera bas challe tan khote de pichhe train bann daven!!!

Jagdeep is right, once you get used to vista, XP will seem rather plain!