Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Lyman Green <lymang AT gmail.com>]

Sorry for the delay in answering this.  I use all three WIndoze operating systems, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 RC1.

I find WinXP to be very stable, but it definitely has some flaws.  It's now seriously out of date and rife with opportunities to be exploited (even more than Vista or Win7, neither of which is perfect, of course).  I DO find it quicker than Vista on slower hardware, so that is a plus, but I'm not sure enough of a plus - you can reduce the overhead of Vista significantly by telling it not to do every single fancy bell and whistle.

Vista has IMO, muddied the the waters of it's own stream.  UAC is horrendously annoying, the point of driving most people insane, and turning it off means you're crippling the security mechanism.  In addition, there are a number of "assumptions" that Vista tries to make for you.. they are "lowest common denominator" type decisions on how your computer is configured.  I can't (of course!) give you an exact example at this second, but if I was in front of my Vista machine back at home I could.  Vista unnecessarily complicates things in a few ways - items it was simple to find and configure are now buried, in some cases 3-5 levels into a control panel, where they were 1 level in on a Vista machine.
On the other hand, Vista is cleaner, more secure, and written better than XP.  It is faster given configuration options you can pick.

I have encountered a few odd behaviors that are different between Vista versions.  I use Vista Ultimate 64 bit, and Vista Home 64 bit definitively has different behavior in file copies.  I know that sounds like niggling/idiotic nitpicking but I found a specific behavior that I can do on XP that simply WILL NOT FUNCTION the same on Vista Ult 64 bit.  <rolls eyes>  And yet, on Vista HOme 64, it works the same as on XP.  <shrug>

I have downloaded and am using Windows 7 RC1 on a spare laptop hard drive for testing, also I have put it on my new desktop at home, and on my primary desktop at home I installed it to a secondary drive.  I think Windows 7 RC1 is extremely stable, and far, far faster than XP or Vista when booting.  I literally am constantly amazed at how fast the damn things are booting.  UAC has been largely reduced (though not eliminated) as a pain in the ass.  In addition, the WIndows Recovery Environment (I saw this demoed at Tech-Ed back in May) is really a neat technology - like Safe Mode, only useful.  So far, it's known about all my hardware and found fully functional drivers.
I've installed it in the 32 and 64 bit flavors, and both seem to work equally well.

If I had my druthers when buying a new WIndows laptop, I'd probably go with getting Vista, backing up completely (ghosting or cloning in some way) and then upgrade to Win7 RC1, which is good till June of next year.  at release or next June I'd revert to my backup, and then actually buy a copy of Win7.  Well, if what they announced at Tech-Ed holds true, we'll see Win7 holidays this year, so you could buy win7 sooner.  The backup is because they are currently saying you'll have ot uninstall Win7 RC1 before going to a production/RTM version. 

Good luck.

Lyman

On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 7:15 PM, <cmccarthy1 AT nc.rr.com> wrote:

Hi Folks,

I'm somewhat email impaired, so please forgive typos and delayed responses...

All of the machines that I've looked at so far come with Vista.  Do any of you who are currently using Vista want to tell me to run screaming away?

Thanks!

Colleen



---- Jim Ray <jim AT neuse.net> wrote:
> i am partial to StinkPads and Toshiba Tecras yet am told the Dells with their solid state hard drives are the shiznit. i ran into a prospects that swears by his $600 Acer laptops.
>
> i have some laptop hard drives if you want to fix yours. i might wanna get some beer out of the deal.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jim Ray, MCSE
> President
> Neuse River Networks
> 919-838-1672
> http://www.neuserivernetworks.com
>
> Neuse River Networks, based in Raleigh, NC, is redefining IT Outsourcing with its Managed Services ONE Plan that automates computer processes to provide proactive computer networking solutions for businesses. The ONE Plan is designed to manage your computer network so you don't have to. Neuse River Networks has been developing client trust since 1997 by applying expertise in Computer Networking and offering superlative service.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: internetworkers-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org on behalf of cmccarthy1 AT nc.rr.com
> Sent: Fri 6/12/2009 10:38 AM
> To: Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
> Subject: [internetworkers] Laptop Purchase
>
>
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> I'm looking for a laptop to replace my Compaq Presario R3000 which had a hard drive crash.  Does anyone have any brands to recommend or avoid?  This is for home use, so I won't be using it for any heavy processing.
>
> Thanks much!
>
> Colleen
>
> ---
> Come and play at the InterNetWorkers Web site!  http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
> You are currently subscribed to InterNetWorkers mailing list
> To unsubscribe visit http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/internetworkers
>
>

---
Come and play at the InterNetWorkers Web site!  http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/
You are currently subscribed to InterNetWorkers mailing list
To unsubscribe visit http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/internetworkers