[olug] Vista is AMAZING!!!!

Fri Jul 13 04:32:18 UTC 2007

We HAD Vista on three machines at work because that's
what came installed.  We backed one down to Windows XP
Media Center Edition because Vista didn't like a VERY
NECESSARY application.  No problems with that.

I've used PC-Decrapifier to get rid much of the
bloatware/junk that comes on DELL, HP and Compaq
machines (Also others...but those three seem worst).

No install CD's for years.  Now dual-booting Kubuntu
7.04 Feisty on my work machine with Windows XP home
(rarely use UNLESS absolutely necessary (Video editing
and live video streaming of embedded .sdp
files...which I could DO in Kubuntu 6.10 edgy).

Joe Gulizia

--- Aaron Grothe <ajgrothe at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hey All,
> 
> As part of a project I'm starting I need to port a
> piece of software
> to a Microsoft Windows Box.  This is also when my
> second to last
> e-machine box has decided to go on to the great
> beyond 4 out of 5
> dead!
> 
> I thought about building a box and getting an OEM
> version of Windows
> XP.  I haven't bought a box like the normal people
> do for a while so
> I decide why not see how far its come in the last
> couple of years.
> 
> So I buy a Compaq with the following Specs
> 
> Dual Core AMD 3800+ CPU
> 1 Gigabyte of Ram
> 200 Gig SATA hard Drive
> Windows Vista Home Premium
> Nvidia 6150??? GPU
> 
> This is the most powerful box I have EVER bought. 
> It is at least
> twice as powerful as my last workstation.
> 
> I open the box:
> 
> o - No install discs, not even the classic system
> image CDs
> o - Pretty straightfoward, except for no parallel
> printer port or
> serial ports
> 
> I boot the box
> 
> o - It asks me to create an account.  It then takes
> over 10 minutes
> to "optimize my windows experience".  I rebooted
> twice because it
> gave me absolutely no idea what it was doing.
> o - After cutting my own system image restore discs,
> which I can only
> do ONCE I let Norton activation and the system
> updates fight it out
> for a while
> o - With no apps running I'm already up to 780Mb
> used!!!
> o - So after a bunch of updates I reboot
> o - Allow/Deny confirmations for everything are
> great.  I get asked
> for about 10 times to setup my machine
> 
> Now I'm on boot #2
> 
> o - The time for the box to boot is about 120
> seconds, which is
> amazing - plus 30 seconds to login as a user
> o - I fire up Internet explorer to discover that
> Compaq has sold my
> toolbar space to Yahoo and anybody else who will pay
> for it
> o - With the raw amount of adware/spyware/bloatware
> on this machine. 
> I'm surprised they aren't able to give it away for
> free
> o - I decide to uninstall some of the software such
> as AOL and the
> like.  Guess what they're not in the program
> listing.  Ha! Ha! Ha!
> You can delete the Icon, but the love is always
> going to be there. 
> Unless you use msiinv to work get real access to the
> underlying
> packages if they actually used a package
> o - To verify something isn't wrong with the box I
> boot into Knoppix
> 5.1.1 to make sure everything is Ok.  The machine
> sings in way it
> never will again, until I buy my next Vista box and
> repurpose this
> one to be my Linux box
> o - If you're like me and I know I am.  You probably
> have an html
> file you have on your desktop with links you hit
> frequently.  Well
> know you're going to go to allow/deny every time you
> hit one, because
> they are in different zones
> o - I decide I'd like to be able to print from my
> Windows box.  I've
> got a HP 4050 N with a jet direct card.  Everything
> I have can print
> from it, the only box I had problems with was XP
> because it didn't
> like a real network printer, since it was home
> edition.  I let Vista
> search my network for a printer.  I'm pretty
> excited, it takes about
> 5 minutes.  Maybe its finding a printer I forgot
> about :-)  Nope. 
> NaDa.  So I give it the IP and work through a
> wizard.  It works. 
> Yea!!!  Printing to a network printer in Vista is
> now as easy as it
> was in Linux about 3 years ago :-)
> 
> I can only conclude the following:
> 
> o - When Vista is the only Microsoft Windows Option
> for OEMs you will
> begin to see an adoption of Linux that is higher
> than ever
> o - Vista is the single largest step back I've ever
> seen Microsoft
> take, largely because you have no choice.  ME was a
> choice, this
> really isn't
> o - If this is Premium I shudder to think what the
> poor bastards who
> got Vista basic are going through
> o - If you have to dual boot, hang onto Windows XP
> for as long as you
> can.   
> o - If you use Linux get ready for company, because
> a whole lot of
> people are going to be coming our way :-)
> 
> I'm honestly thinking of seeing if I can get the
> project running
> under Wine so I can truly take advantage of this new
> box.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Aaron
> 0-0-0
> "The Journey is the Reward" - Old Zen Buddhist
> Saying
> 
> 
>  
>
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