Got Vista but not impressed!

[simonmd]

I'm fortunate enough to be able to get some software for free through my stepdaughter's college server and so have got Windows Vista 64 Business. As my new HD is an ample 250GB, I've partitioned it into two so i've got the choice between my orriginal XP Pro and Vista for newer stuff like FSX.

BTW, before any of you scream PIRATE, this is 100% LEGAL as the college pay MS a licence fee to allow it to be shared and she does use my main PC for some of her coursework.

Anyway, must admit that my first impressions were indeed 'WOW' as MS would have hoped, however, this has very quickly faded away. Sure it looks great, I particularly like the 'sidebar' with all the fun things on it and things like transparent windows are cool too. However, after only 12 hours of useing it, I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth the hassle. OK, i'm not used to it yet but almost everything seems to be harder to use that XP. Even shutting it down is harder as I have to go through the start menu with the mouse instead of just pressing 'Start, U, U' like in XP.

My main gripe however is compatibility. As you know, i've recently upgraded my rig and now have a 64bit CPU and board and was expecting great things from the 64bit version of Vista BUT driver support for most things seems to be non existant or rubbish. After spending 6 hours trying to get my wireless USB internet adapter to work, I eagerly installed my dusty unused FSX and was confronted by no sound or joystick.

My motherboard's sound drivers were for XP only so tried to find some that work with Vista, eventualy did but can only get them to work in Mono, this a NEW AM2 64bit board for heavens sake!!

Next my faithfull Logitec Wingman Force joystick. No drivers are available AT ALL, nothing, nada!

So, i've finaly got FSX running with Vista as it was designed but have mono sound and no joystick. Great!

While searching for drivers and help in various intenet help forums, I've found HUNDREDS of threads reporting that people have the same compatibility problems as me. Whatever happened to the promise we were all given when the USB format was launched, ie, 'Just Plug and Play', what the hell is going on?

I think i'll leave the Vista partition to her and try FSX on my XP one. Sorry Mr Gates, you wouldn't buy a car that doesn't work, even if it had a new custom paint job, so why should I? (Thank god I didn't pay for it, I would have been VERY upset if I had!!)

Any others had similar experiences or am I expecting too much? :-/

[garymbuska]

I'm fortunate enough to be able to get some software for free through my stepdaughter's college server and so have got Windows Vista 64 Business. As my new HD is an ample 250GB, I've partitioned it into two so i've got the choice between my orriginal XP Pro and Vista for newer stuff like FSX.

BTW, before any of you scream PIRATE, this is 100% LEGAL as the college pay MS a licence fee to allow it to be shared and she does use my main PC for some of her coursework.

Anyway, must admit that my first impressions were indeed 'WOW' as MS would have hoped, however, this has very quickly faded away. Sure it looks great, I particularly like the 'sidebar' with all the fun things on it and things like transparent windows are cool too. However, after only 12 hours of useing it, I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth the hassle. OK, i'm not used to it yet but almost everything seems to be harder to use that XP. Even shutting it down is harder as I have to go through the start menu with the mouse instead of just pressing 'Start, U, U' like in XP.

My main gripe however is compatibility. As you know, i've recently upgraded my rig and now have a 64bit CPU and board and was expecting great things from the 64bit version of Vista BUT driver support for most things seems to be non existant or rubbish. After spending 6 hours trying to get my wireless USB internet adapter to work, I eagerly installed my dusty unused FSX and was confronted by no sound or joystick.

My motherboard's sound drivers were for XP only so tried to find some that work with Vista, eventualy did but can only get them to work in Mono, this a NEW AM2 64bit board for heavens sake!!

Next my faithfull Logitec Wingman Force joystick. No drivers are available AT ALL, nothing, nada!

So, i've finaly got FSX running with Vista as it was designed but have mono sound and no joystick. Great!

While searching for drivers and help in various intenet help forums, I've found HUNDREDS of threads reporting that people have the same compatibility problems as me. Whatever happened to the promise we were all given when the USB format was launched, ie, 'Just Plug and Play', what the hell is going on?

I think i'll leave the Vista partition to her and try FSX on my XP one. Sorry Mr Gates, you wouldn't buy a car that doesn't work, even if it had a new custom paint job, so why should I? (Thank god I didn't pay for it, I would have been VERY upset if I had!!)

Any others had similar experiences or am I expecting too much? :-/

That can be expected there are few 64 bit programs out there which is why when I do change to vista I will use the 32 bit system
Trying to use a 64 bit system to run 32 bit programs does not make a whole lot of sense to me. Granted the 64 bit system is the operating system of the future but the future is not now. As you discovered the hard way there is very little support for the 64 bit system today. 8-)

[Wii]

I'm fortunate enough to be able to get some software for free through my stepdaughter's college server and so have got Windows Vista 64 Business. As my new HD is an ample 250GB, I've partitioned it into two so i've got the choice between my orriginal XP Pro and Vista for newer stuff like FSX.

BTW, before any of you scream PIRATE, this is 100% LEGAL as the college pay MS a licence fee to allow it to be shared and she does use my main PC for some of her coursework.

Anyway, must admit that my first impressions were indeed 'WOW' as MS would have hoped, however, this has very quickly faded away. Sure it looks great, I particularly like the 'sidebar' with all the fun things on it and things like transparent windows are cool too. However, after only 12 hours of useing it, I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth the hassle. OK, i'm not used to it yet but almost everything seems to be harder to use that XP. Even shutting it down is harder as I have to go through the start menu with the mouse instead of just pressing 'Start, U, U' like in XP.

My main gripe however is compatibility. As you know, i've recently upgraded my rig and now have a 64bit CPU and board and was expecting great things from the 64bit version of Vista BUT driver support for most things seems to be non existant or rubbish. After spending 6 hours trying to get my wireless USB internet adapter to work, I eagerly installed my dusty unused FSX and was confronted by no sound or joystick.

My motherboard's sound drivers were for XP only so tried to find some that work with Vista, eventualy did but can only get them to work in Mono, this a NEW AM2 64bit board for heavens sake!!

Next my faithfull Logitec Wingman Force joystick. No drivers are available AT ALL, nothing, nada!

So, i've finaly got FSX running with Vista as it was designed but have mono sound and no joystick. Great!

While searching for drivers and help in various intenet help forums, I've found HUNDREDS of threads reporting that people have the same compatibility problems as me. Whatever happened to the promise we were all given when the USB format was launched, ie, 'Just Plug and Play', what the hell is going on?

I think i'll leave the Vista partition to her and try FSX on my XP one. Sorry Mr Gates, you wouldn't buy a car that doesn't work, even if it had a new custom paint job, so why should I? (Thank god I didn't pay for it, I would have been VERY upset if I had!!)

Any others had similar experiences or am I expecting too much? :-/

There are these pretty looking symbols on the front of boxes in the electronics store...LOOK AT EM.

All my software just loves vista. Apparently it's your computer or you're using software that is borely compatible with XP.

[simonmd]

Sure, I understand that but my point is, how come a BRAND NEW 64bit motherboard doesn't have drivers to use a 64bit OS? Seems rediculous to me. Never mind, as I was lucky enough to try it for free, no harm done, I'll be installing FSX on XP for now.

The joystick is no big surprise, my old Wingman Force dates back to FS2000! However, I'm the sort of person that cannot justify scrapping a percectly good peice of hardware just to keep up with the latest trends. (and the fact that i'm mean!! )

[BFMF]

I was skeptical when I bought my new computer with Vista, but unlike a lot of horror stories, I really don't have any complaints. I did have to buy a new vista compatible program because my older version was only WinXP compatible. Other then that, I havn't had many compatibility issues that I couldn't deal with

[uncleyuk]

 When I installed Vista 32 bit I did not have any problems with it.  The few programs that were not compatable were easy enough to update.  I still have some old Win 98 software installed on my machine and they run great.  I tweaked Vista so I didn't have to go through all that administrator only stuff and I didn't even know about the shutoff sequence in XP, so I don't miss that.  Oh well............

[Solid]

After a few months of running with Vista 32, I am beginning to like it. I have "stopped" some of the processes it automatically starts which made it slower and have changed some things here and there and it is now much friendly with me .......I was thinking of going back to XP but not anymore.......Happy to say, most everything is "stable" now and even FSX is behaving rather well (T.G and all Cherubins!!!!).....So far all programs I have or added run very well. 8-) 8-)

[garymbuska]

Sure, I understand that but my point is, how come a BRAND NEW 64bit motherboard doesn't have drivers to use a 64bit OS? Seems rediculous to me. Never mind, as I was lucky enough to try it for free, no harm done, I'll be installing FSX on XP for now.

The joystick is no big surprise, my old Wingman Force dates back to FS2000! However, I'm the sort of person that cannot justify scrapping a percectly good peice of hardware just to keep up with the latest trends. (and the fact that i'm mean!! )

Like I said what did you expect A 64 bit operating system is going to have a heard time running 32 bit programs. In a 32 bit system it takes 32 bits to make a (BYTE) in a 64 bit system it takes 64 bits to make a (BYTE).
With out going into details that most people would not under stand that is the basics of it. Kind of like trying to put a round peg into a square hole It just will not work without making some adjustments either in the peg or the hole. 8-)

[richardd43]

Sure, I understand that but my point is, how come a BRAND NEW 64bit motherboard doesn't have drivers to use a 64bit OS?

Maybe I missed it, but what motherboard do you have that does not have 64 bit OS drivers.