Another Reason To Ditch Vista

Just a keyboard??? That’s crazy.

I have Vista and love it but what you say is pure silliness on MS behalf.

http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com

Windows XP has some of the same problems, but not nearly as that specific. I will go to a flavor of Ubuntu before I ever go to Vista.

Thanks for your input fellas.

I too will most likely be moving to Ubuntu for home use & will continue to use Windows professionally, until it’s demise that is!

Goldcoaster - How can I speed up my Outlook 2007? It takes 1 1/2 minutes to fully open each morning. The computer is new & spyware & virus free. Thanks for any assistance you can give me…because I can’t find any help on the net. I think that’s because there is no available help yet.

[...] Another Reason To Ditch Vista » eJabs Let me repeat that for the hard of understanding:  “WINDOWS VISTA WOULD NOT BOOT BECAUSE I HAD HOOKED UP A DIFFERENT KEYBOARD!” [...]

Thinking about this.. what type of keyboard was th new one? Was it some kinda super one that needed drivers - was it Logitech brand ‘cos it seems that Logitech themselves are not with it yet Vista style. Their drivers still are not perfect and if the keyboard is more than a year or so old Logitech are not making them Vista comaptible.

http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com

I can’t really comment on Outlook at the moment.
My brand new Seagate HDD failed after 2 weeks of use and so far I have waited 4 weeks for it’s replacement.

I don’t remember it taking any longer than previous versions to boot up though - in fact Vista and office runs better/faster than my current XP and 2003Office.

Linux, no thanks.

http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com

Keyboards shouldn’t have to be “Vista compatible” unless they’re making use of new features in Vista. Just being “Windows compatible” should be enough. Anyway, a keyboard change causing the OS not to function is too much of a hassle in my book.

The two keyboards were exactly the same…I just wanted to reiterate that point.

However, they were nothing special. They’re just plain old Compaq PS2 keyboards. They’re not wireless & have no quick function buttons or anything…just totally basic keyboards that are exactly the same.

Like RT said…too much of a hassle. It all goes back to Microsoft trying to deal with software piracy. This is how they deal with it & combat it, and in my book it’s way too much of a hassle for people who actually paid for the software.

When I was working it IT, my generic keyboard died. This was with Windows 98 or NT (I don’t remember which — it was in 2000). I attached an extra Compaq keyboard we had laying around and it would not work on that PC. Since that time, I decided NEVER to buy Compaq anything.

lol…I used to feel the same way about compaq, but about 2-3 years before HP bought them, they really cleaned up their act.

I was actually mad when HP bought them because I don’t care for HP. Dell is pretty good, and as long as you know how to get the right upgrades, you can’t beat their prices.

RT, you say they shouldn’t have to be compatible but unfortunately they do and my 18 month old Logitech keyboard is not supported - Logitech are not going to make them compatible. And their current ones need a 60MB download for the drivers/functions (even for XP)!!!
The basics work on mine but not the hotkeys etc. Not buying Logitech anymore.
People can say what they like but I beleive MS keyboards and mice to be the best.

http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com

[...] Blog posted a story about Windows Vista being a new target of malware programmers. After reading Another Reason To Ditch Vista and now this, I’m convinced Vista is an upgrade I’m not interested in at [...]

I’m sorry but the fact that you are an idiot who claims to be an IT Director makes me wanna puke. IF you really were an IT Director you would understand why this happened, if you don’t you should be fired. “stay abreast the technology” my hairy butt, seems you’re pretty clueless in this respect.

Gee, Elvis is a bit mean, could you explain to silly, old me what the problem was?

And also not brave enough to put his own site up.

http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com

Sounds to me like “Elvis” is the clueless one. Any M$ fanboy who spouts crap like that probably lives in his mother’s basement.

Boy Elvis, you sound a little bitter. Like goldcoaster said, why don’t you leave your email & domain name if you want to be a serious part of this discussion.

Intellectual arguments from either view are welcome here. If you can’t be a grown-up & abide by those standards, then please don’t visit this website.

Damn - I had pretty much decided that if my new machine had to have windows I would probably go with Vista, might rethink for the tenth time. Love Ubuntu but need Macromedia and Adobe stuff so it’s a Mac or Windows. Dell have been fantastic for me on warranty stuff but I think I will build my own next time. Anyway thanks for the heads up on VIsta.

Go for Vista , coach. I think it’s fine. People whinged about XP when it first came out remember.

Coach: I would go with XP, I have been a working professional in IT for 7 years and would advise against Vista in all but one scenario; if you are buying a brand new PC, you should be fine with Vista.

When buying, make sure you get a video card that is AT LEAST 512MB RAM…I would go with 1024MB if at all possible. Also, make sure you get at AT LEAST 2GB RAM, and when you’re buying, make sure they put in one 2GB DIMM, because PC manufacturers will fill all your RAM slots with smaller sized RAM chips so you have to replace them when you want to add RAM in the future. Get the largest RAM chips possible so when you want to upgrade, you just have to buy a new chip & not replace older, smaller ones.

If you have the above covered you should be fine…you’ll also want to go with a good dual core processor.

GC - XP did NOT require the amount of hardware upgrade that Vista does, not even close. Going from 2000 to XP was just about getting used to a few layout changes…but you could run XP on the same hardware…that is not the case with Vista, but what you say is true to a certain extent…people always complain about change in technology.

Too bizarre!

I had a sudden worry when installing Ubuntu that it wouldn’t see my wireless Microsoft keyboard and mouse, and I had already thrown out my old wired keyboard, and bought the wireless kit especially with my new PC. (Hey - I can’t help liking Microsoft hardware. It’s fine gear.)

I booted into Ubuntu and, dammit, exactly as I’d suspected, neither the wireless keyboard nor mouse would work.

But… a quick search on the Ubuntu forums solved the problem straight away. All I needed to do was set the keyboard and mouse as legacy USB devices in the BIOS.

They both work perfectly

I have changed keyboard, mice, graphics cards, HDD’s etc (Its a test machine)with Vista…no problems never even had to re-activate…To all the Ubuntu fans who think it’s computing Nirvana you will learn the hard way…the hardware support is abysmal…and no I am not a M$ lover I use Suse as my main desktop. Vista runs fine on my old machine Athlon 3000+ 1G Ram etc not a cutting edge machine by any standards, and I find it hard going back to XP when I have to…with any OS there are problems and Ubuntu is no exception

Oh, yeah, and I forgot to say that I declined Vista and bought XP Professional when I bought this box a couple of months ago.

lol…I would do the same thing. Unless I had a really new, fast computer…I wouldn’t even mess w/Vista.

Personally, I wouldn’t use Vista unless I had to, not a big fan as you can tell.

Very odd indeed. I’m an IT pro and got a bunch of licenses for Vista and stuck it on my home PC just for a laugh. It was a 1Ghz ho-hoper with 512 and only 128 on the graphics card. It still ran OK and as fast as the XP it replaced. No Aero though, obviously. So I bought a new MB and Athlon 2800 with a gig of ram and a 512 GPU - much better. I even got my 3 year old video grabber card working as well as my 5 year old Logitech wireless keyboard. It all works fine except for the very occasional lockup using Google Earth. I still don’t like Vista because I’m having to learn new ways of configuring Windows, but it’s the future and it’s my job to know how to do it.

It is our job to know it, that’s why we must.

Which version of Vista are you running? I’m running Ultimate at home which most likely has something to do with the speed issue.

Same as Matthew. Business at work and Ultimate at home. My only gripe is that Nero doesn’t work.

I bet if you reconnect the other kb at this time you will find that it will work just fine. You said that the computer had just been moved and it is my bet that during the move something came slighly loose and during the first power up the components warmed up enough to make a good connection. I work for a computer mfg and i see that many times post shipping or moving that happens. checking all connections inside the sys normally will correct the issue.
so i am curious, have you tried the other kb again?

@point 19.
Matt, I too have worked in the IT industry for many years (Cisco routers, internet backbone etc. not little PCs)
A 256MB video card is perfectly fine. I would really donubt that you could easily find a video card with 1GB on board.
I have a 9550, 256MB video card and it works great all Vista functions are perfect. I you play games you will want a faster card but not necessarily more Video memory.

My PC is a 3GHz HT Pentium 4, 1 GB memory, 256MB 9550 Video card, and (until the drive failed 250GB SataII HDD.
The same PC that ran (and still does) XPpro. Vista Home Premium runs perfectly well on it, as I have mentioned - better than XP. Never had any problems with hardware, software problems were figured out with an update (Nero needed to be updated)
And Apple were really slow updating iTunes.
As I mentioned before, go for Vista.
The Apple ads suggest Vista needs this and that is not true.

#20 , Baxter, if this happened to XP or Vista people would be saying ‘typical MS rubbish’ but not if it is Linux or OSx.

http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com

I say make the switch to Ubuntu today. Bill himself is recommending it.
http://www.cypherhackz.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/281193199519775b141qv8ir3.jpg

SilverDemon: Of course “something came slightly loose” during the move…I moved the computer…everything came loose because I unhooked it all! Anyway, who cares about trying the first keyboard again…the whole point is that Vista cried about a keyboard change.

GC: It is a well-known fact that Vista requires significantly more video card power than XP, there is no argument, it’s simply true, look it up. One of the upgrades with Vista is the video…anyway, everyone has there own opinion, but fact is fact.

Sorry Matt, I wasn’t saying you where lying. My point was that it isn’t as bad as what a lot of sites/press/Apple say. Eg, some folks at my work were saying how bad it runs, that you need the latest PC etc. - had they tried it, No, they were just quoting what they had heard.

My old PC had built in graphics, I knew that was no good, a quick search tells us what cards are fine. I bought a cheap video card 256MB AGP 9550 cost AUD$70 - probably US$30 - not really much of a problem, (in fact a 128MB card would do) . Everything else was the same.

The only problem, not for me though, is my Logitech keyboard, the programmable keys can’t be programmed, they are set at the default (fine cos that’s what I use). Logitech has said they won’t make drivers for it.
So from my experience Vista has been perfectly fine. I would have second thoughts about installing it on an older notebook though as usually notebooks are underpowered (especially graphics) to start with.

BTW, it’s getting to be a popular post you have

http://goldcoaster.wordpress.com

Hello Matt,

As for your Outlook Issue, a patch was released 2 weeks ago to speed performance. http://geekinparadise.com/2007/04/14/is-your-microsoft-outlook-2007-slow/ It really makes a huge difference.

Keyboard issue, I’m not sure. I’d lean towards something being knocked loose, but it’s really hard to say. I’ve switched between a run of the mill generic keyboard to a Logitech G15 and not had any issues.

Me personally, I love Vista and my clients love it as well. I had 1 issue the very first Upgrade I did, and documented where it went wrong, and took steps to make sure they didn’t happen again. I’ve done ~20 Upgrades from XP since then, and people enjoy it way more than XP once the new learning curve is met.

Sorry to hear of your problems.

GC - This post has brought me about $25 in Google Ad revenue in the last few days…pretty cool.

I think I need a new video card in my PC at home anyway…so I’m just going to try upgrading it to see where that gets me…I’ll let you know.

James - Thanks for the link, I’ll check out the patch & let you know how it goes.

My pleasure. Put it this way, my decidedly pro-Linux friend switched back to Outlook after the patch.

His .pst’s were huge and it just added to his hate of Microsoft. After I sent him the patch, he took back any hate he had towards Outlook at least.

Hope you have the same experience. Cheers!

Check out these two links about Vista getting “ditched”.

Microsoft Vista, IE7 Banned By U.S. DOT

FAA May Ditch Vista For Linux