Much of my weekend has been spent rebuilding my laptop – I’ve finally given up on Windows Vista and gone back to Windows XP SP2. The real crunch point in the decision was going along to a games night last week and discovering that nobody was still running Windows Vista. Howard has said that he periodically tries the new OS when he’s setting up a machine, but more often than not is back on XP within a few days. Alongside this I’ve had regular chances to compare the two as my work computer has never been upgraded.
Most of yesterday was spent on the traditional search for the right drivers – especially problematic on a laptop. First off I had a bit of a hassle with the graphics drivers, caused in part by ATi using .NET for the configuration control panels. The basic workaround there was to only put the latest install of the Radeon drivers once all the .NET Framework installs were on and up to date. Having said that, even once all of that was finished, Windows XP was steadfastly refusing to identify the drivers for the sound card and bluetooth functionality, and had basic drivers for some of the rest of the components
Eventually by working out what MSI machine Evesham had used as a basis for the Roma that I have, I managed to get hold of the right drivers from the MSI site – that I managed to do by finding the AMDboard.com page of Turion notebooks, which lists the Evesham Quest Roma as being a re-branded MSI Megabook M635.
After that it was on to feeding the machine a whole series of install CD’s and DVD’s to load back on the various bits of software I had running. That tedious task continued this afternoon, but finally it’s done!
So what’s it like? To be honest I’d forgotten quite what a nippy machine this is – all the games, which with the Mac as my main machine is one of the primary uses I have, seem to run a lot faster. The desktop, without all the bells and whistles that Windows Vista adds actually moves along too – Windows Vista just feels sluggish in comparison. Security wise I’m also not having to contend with the User Account Control which is one of the biggest annoyances in Windows Vista when trying to do pretty well anything to do with files.
In terms of the machine, the other thing that now works that never did under Windows Vista is the power management. When running Vista all you had to do was unplug the power cable to cause the OS to get very upset and generally lock up – a bit of a pain on a machine that was supposed to be mobile.
So will I install Vista again? I’ll keep an eye on the forums when the service packs come along – but ultimately for my purposes I’m fine with Windows XP, and the machine seems to run a lot better with that installed.
Of course that does leave an interesting point for discussion, if my experience is common, as it is amongst the other gamers, it does seem that Microsoft has a bit of a problem. Indeed it is interesting to note which machines Dell have re-introduced Windows XP for – the high end games machines. Vista poses a number of problems at work, and indeed is not being supported with drivers by some of the companies we work with. Then you also have PC Pro recommending that the average user would be better off with a Mac. So is there anybody who would be better off with Vista?
Well – I’m not totally thrilled with Vista either, having run into some software compatibility snags myself. Unsurprisingly, considering your article, the software I’ve had the most problem with has been game software.
That said, I’m NOT going to rip Vista off of this machine and install XP as this machine came pre-loaded with Vista. This backlash against Vista is remarkably similar to the backlash against XP (just swap in the names Vista and XP for XP and 95, and it sounds remarkably similar). Like it or not, XP is pretty much “dead in the water” as far as new developments go. The majority of Microsoft’s software support is going to fall behind Vista, and XP will be “last at the trough”, until such time as it is dropped off of support entirely. Eventually the compatibility issues WILL be repaired, 3rd party drivers reconfigured, etc. The majority of new Windows platform software will be tailored to Vista (backwards compatibility is often sacrificed at some point in the software development trail). Unless you’re going to jump ship entirely off of a Windows platform (and it is going to be a LONG time before the corporate world is weaned off Windows, so you’ll probably have to keep an oar in those waters at least part of the time), you’ll have to rejoin Vista at some point.
I’m not saying Vista is wonderful. Vista is a new OS, and therefore – almost by definition – Vista is going to have shortcomings. Some of those shortcomings are a real pain-in-the-tush, and there’s no denying that. Vista NEEDS service pack updates, just like all its ancestors did. It is just an unfortunate fact that Vista is the proverbial 500 pound gorilla that can sleep wherever it wants, and unless you plan on moving out of the corporate jungle entirely, at some point it is going to want to sleep on a platform you use.
I am in the same boat as you, Richard. I ran Vista for 7 months and just last weekend I gave up and went back to XP. I forgot how fast my computer really was. Windows XP makes my computer feel brand new again. Speedy. Also, I just couldn’t stand Windows Explorer in Vista anymore. I can’t believe how they could mess that up so badly. Copying files (especially small ones) across my network at home and work takes forever. I’ll probably take it for another test drive once SP1 arrives next year, but until then, Windows XP runs like a champ and I have no reason to “upgrade” to Vista.
There’s an interesting news item in the latest PC Plus (November 2007, Issue 261) about Vista Service Pack 1. Doesn’t look like good news.
Quoting Paul Thurrott (www.winsupersite.com) they say: “Microsoft should have been more upfront about SP1 all along and explained very clearly that it was just an aggregate of previously-released fixes for the most part … it’s pretty easy to see that [SP1] will not change the ‘Vista experience’ … very much at all.
“So there’s no need to wait for SP1. You’re either going to upgrade to Vista or you’re not. SP1 doesn’t change much at all.”
I’m planning buying a new PC … needless to say, I want one with Windows XP SP2.
I certainly remember that there was a general anti-XP feeling when it first came along – however I don’t remember many people switching back, probably because the advantages outweighed the problems. The issue with Vista is that many people can’t see the advantage of going to Vista when everything seems to work better in XP. What I guess I have yet to find is a pressing reason why I have to run Vista, something that makes me want to put up with the problems and performance issues.
The attitude towards Vista in the corporate world, at least with the companies we deal with is very much a wait and see. In general they are pretty risk averse anyway – indeed some still run Windows 2000 as their primary platform – and although some have tried Vista, only one seems to have any sort of plan to introduce it, and even then they’re looking at at least a year into the future, all the rest are staying on XP. In terms of our software any upgrade to Vista is currently on hold until somebody wants it – hence why my work machine has never been upgraded.