Vista

  • Thread starter Thread starter The_old_man
  • Start date Start date
1994 - seems like only yesterday that I was reading the first reviews of that game, aswell as everyone panicing about the requirements, DX4 if I recall was the recommended CPU of choice :D
 
Just flicking through todays papers and see that PC World have quite a large advert in for VISTA.

Didn't realise but all the products listed are 'upgrade'?? does this mean unless someone has XP it won't work on a fresh install??

Prices
(Just out of interest I'm not endorsing in any way:suspect: )

Home Basic upgrade - £99.99
Home Premium upgrade - £149.99
Business upgrade - £189.99
Ultimate upgrade - £249.99

All look to come in a retail box (just as someone mentioned this earlier on.)

One reason I reckon companies will be pushing this hard (like PCW) is that along side offering the software there also touting the 'Hardware Upgrades' you might need and even letting you know that they will fit them for you ................how kind :cuckoo:
 
They'll fit them for you for £30 more like ;)

Yeah an upgrade means you have to have an older copy of windows to upgrade from, I think one of the catchpoints in this is that once you upgrade your old copy is invalidated - so you can't use XP if you've upgraded to vista and don't like it - something I don't agree with personally (there you go, an anti MS comment ;) )

PC World are targeting people with XP already on their systems with that advert at a guess.
 
Darksaber said:
They'll fit them for you for £30 more like ;)
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LOL...Indeed I think they will fella.......and only tell you that when you go back to pick the machine up :eek:

As you say the XP not working bit sounds a little harsh:nono:

Sent off my upgrade for last night for the Vista disc's to come through. One question I did have though.
I've just got a new PC which has XP MCE (Really like the use of MCE reminds me of using 'My HTPC' when I had a music/film server) but if I upgrade will there still be any Media Centre front end on Vista :shrug: or will I be going back to basically a newer version of XP??

(Anyone who has any good links on how to fully utillise MCE would be much appreciated BTW;) )
 
They charge £14.99 for RAM installation too ;) two screws and a little push, I'm in the wrong part of the business.

Everything bar home basic and business will have media centre built into it - its like the big push for it, the more people are likely to have them hooked up to their tvs.

Having XP MCE entitles you to Vista home premium which has pretty much everything apart from the ability to join a domain, the system recovery stuff and the HD movie maker.

Did you have to do your upgrade through moduslink? both HP and Packard Bell appear to be using them for it.

The best way to utilise MCE is to buy an Xbox 360. the 360 acts as a media centre extender and can play pretty much anything that you have on your PC.
 
matty said:
if i buy a mac, will i be able to use cs2 and all the other software ive *bought on it? I would like to get a mac, suit my wifes style choices nicely and ive always had a secret hankering, but i want my software to work!
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Matt, if you have paid for CS2 - Adobe will switch it from a Mac to PC licence for a small charge (less than a tenner)
 
I'm currently running Vista Business and its brilliant. Easy to use with the useful search feature. It is a bit of a memory hog at times especially when you want to do something like processing Raw images in Lightroom and CS2.

Blackvault
 
Darksaber said:
Did you have to do your upgrade through moduslink? both HP and Packard Bell appear to be using them for it.

.
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I used the very same, took a while to progress through the various screens and at the end of it charged me £16 for the P+P+handling :eek: although for the 'home premium edtn' as you say I don't think thats at all bad.

Not free mind, like the bloke in the shop said it would be :thumbsdown:


As for the 360 yep got one of those with a wireless connector - So can MCE pick up all my itunes stuff then and possibly stream them to my living room??
 
Mr THX said:
As for the 360 yep got one of those with a wireless connector - So can MCE pick up all my itunes stuff then and possibly stream them to my living room??
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Yup. That's exactly what I do. It doesn't interact with Itunes but will stream any music that is in your "My Music" folder across your wireless network to your xbox then out to your tv / home cinema system.
 
Darksaber said:
Nothing petty about that at all :)

Its very good advice.

A lot of the bugs have already been ironed out though with the many releases that have been tested to death over the last few months. Businesses have been able to use Vista since November (I think) so there might well be many bugs that were fixed again prior to release.

Its had a lot more testing than XP had with its release.

As long as your PC has a vista capable sticker on it Vista should install without a problem.
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Yet SP1 will be out before Xmas and they've already released updates for it this week. I also hear that driver support is iffy. Unless you really need the new interface, which can be installed on XP with Windowblinds, or are desperate to upgrade I really would wait. I just can't see any reason to use it over XP yet. Sure in 6-12 months when the games are starting to come out, the service pack is out, drivers are better, etc but right this second? Having said all that, it runs fine on my Mac and I do think its nicer than a default install of XP but having just setup my MCE box I'll be waiting a bit :)

Compatibility list
 
Vista Upgrade Disc Workaround for a Clean Install

1. Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.
2. When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next" and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.
3. When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased and continue with setup.
4.Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.
This time, type in your product key when prompted.
5. When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install, choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.
6.Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old directory which contains information from the first Vista install.

This is part of an article written here http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932 Thought it could be useful for those of us waiting for our upgrade discs.

Don't shoot the messenger :)
Dai
 
As far as I know if you've gotten a laptop or PC with a free vista "upgrade" you'll actually be getting through a proper full copy of Vista without the need to perform the above actions. Effectively the new discs replace the ones that came with the system so it should be just a case of installing from scratch and doing a full install.

I guess we'll find out for sure in a few weeks when they ship from Hong Kong. ;)
 
siejones said:
I was under the impression DirextX 10 stuff won't be at it's full potential until it's used in conjunction with a DirectX 10 card anyway.
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True.

Apparently the bleeding edge nvidia cards have Dx10 support. If you want to spend silly money. More sane mortals wait 6 mths ... price drops and you get a damn good card for "acceptable" prices.

... another good reason not to Vista-ize yet.
 
My bleeding edge ATI card is nearly a year old now :(

Get better performance from the Xbox 360 and my new laptop now.
 
I'm due a free upgrade due to upgrading my PC - hopefully it should appear in the post at some point soon.

However, as for when I upgrade, I'll probably wait until SP1 comes out -- unless I hear or find something that makes it worth my while upgrading earlier :)

Matt
 
When I put the upgrade through on moduslink at the end of December it said allow 6 weeks for delivery. Can't be too far off that now.
 
I'm more interested in OS X Leopard really. My personal opinion is the Windows seems to be several steps behind OS X and is just playing catch up as so many of the features are very similar to OS X. I'm not saying Apple were the first either, but they're still a number of steps ahead of Windows.
 
Darksaber said:
The prices amazon are quoting are for retail copies, in a retail box from a shelf. You can pick up the CD with a COA (Certificate of Authenticity) for £130 from overclockers amongst other places.
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Quick question on this if I may Matt....
If I am upgrading a version of XP home to Vista, am I ok to use an OEM version rather than a retail version. I though OEM's could only be sold with a new PC? Novatech have this disclaimer on their web site:

As this is an OEM license Microsoft will only consider the license to be valid if the following terms have been adhered to:-

This package must only be distributed with a fully assembled computer.
This license is only valid if installed on the hard disk drive of the fully assembled computer.

I guess it's just to cover themselves as they seem to be happily selling OEM versions but I would like to get your take on it if I may, as you are a man in the know :thumbs:
 
Matt. said:
I'm more interested in OS X Leopard really. My personal opinion is the Windows seems to be several steps behind OS X and is just playing catch up as so many of the features are very similar to OS X. I'm not saying Apple were the first either, but they're still a number of steps ahead of Windows.
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Interested to know what these OSX features are that put's it so many steps ahead?
 
Grendel said:
I guess it's just to cover themselves as they seem to be happily selling OEM versions but I would like to get your take on it if I may, as you are a man in the know :thumbs:
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OEM is very sketchy - a lot of websites in the past have gotten around it by sending you a piece of hardware - it used to be that to buy OEM software you had to buy a piece of hardware such as a hard disk or a motherboard - something you would normally buy if you were considering a new OS. Now they can get away with not supplying hardware at all.

When I bought XP MCE I got a brown box from overclockers that was a system builders kit - basically not meant for end users and meant for people like me. You'd buy this along with a new PC and then stick the license sticker on the PC case and give it to your customer.

The Vista EULA was going to have a limited number of activations and this upset the PC enthusiasts because they constantly buy new hardware and nobody was quite sure what would trigger the need for a re-activation. MS relented finally and basically said as long as its only installed on one PC at any given time you can re-activate it as many times as you want.

Ebay regulations state that OEM software sold has to be given away with a piece of hardware, so you generally end up with an IDE cable or old floppy drive through the post with it that you just bin ;)

In answer to your question, you're fine to use OEM to upgrade but I would consider buying a full copy rather than an upgrade. Vista home premium is under £80 I think. Ultimate (if you really need it) is less than £135
 
Brilliant, thanks a lot for that Matt, much appreciated :thumbs:
 
I shall read the whole thread after doing some situps and some weights then I may contribute in a more professional manner!
 
Marik said:
vista, is a complete rip off of OSX tbh, end of story :D

Vote Apple!
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Hmmm OSX came of Linux and Linux was originally a CLI with no GUI so they started to create a GUI that looked like and was layed out like windows (only a lot buggier and generally messier). So OSX was born of the operating system that started the whole GUI Idea....Windows. :)

I think you will also find there is a lot more to an OS than it's apperance and navigation methods. ;)

Vote Apple out along with that pathetic new advertising scheme they have started. :razz:
 
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