Switching from VISTA to XP

[Coach1310]

My wife and I bought a laptop early this summer with Vista on it. I can't take it anymore, I just want XP back. What can I do to change it? What kind of cost am I looking at? Thanks for any help.

[LMITOUT]

Before you do that, how much RAM is installed? Are you unsatisfied with the performance or just the overall functionality of Vista?

[Sandmannd]

Yea, if you just have minimum ram that it requires, it's gonna dog. I've been using vista for quite a while now and pretty much like it. What is it you don't like about it? To go to XP you need a licensed copy. You need to wipe your hard drive and start from scratch. Back your system up to an external hard drive first.

[upnorth]

I have not worked with Vista a whole lot yet, but also have not heard too many good things about it from others. The few times I have worked with it, it seemed pretty clunky. All the extra security steps is a pain, but I am sure once you have it tweaked to what you want it would be OK. All in all, I would rather stick it XP.

[jwhjr]

I have not worked with Vista a whole lot yet, but also have not heard too many good things about it from others. The few times I have worked with it, it seemed pretty clunky. All the extra security steps is a pain, but I am sure once you have it tweaked to what you want it would be OK. All in all, I would rather stick it XP.

I've only worked with Vista a couple of times myself when I helped my mom and brother get their new laptops up and running. I was able to find what I needed without any trouble. I'll eventually switch to Vista when I get a new laptop, but for now I'll stick with XP on my existing one.

[BobT]

Been using Vista Home Premium since about February. I like it. I think the most difficult thing for me to get comfortable with was Explorer. When I upgraded our system I learned that Home Premium requires a minimum 1G RAM so I ordered our new Dell 2G right away.

By doing so I think I took a good step toward preventing performance issues. RAM was the first thing that caused problems with my previous system. I barely had enough to run the system so this time I doubled it up front. For our next system I'll probably take it up even further.

For me I've heard all the rumors about the security issues similar to what Apple used in their advertising campaign but I personally haven't felt any issues with it myself. Maybe with my limited knowledge I would rather the system warn me when something I do may have an adverse effect on my system rather than just do it and hurt me later. Truth be told, it's rare that I run into issues.

The most troublesome thing I experienced in this regard was something that was experienced when XP, XT, 2000, and 98 all came out. Some of the other party software that I have installed took a while to upgrade their products to Vista compatability. That's not a Windows issue but a software issue for the other parties. In all cases, I was able to work around these issues by formatting my shortcuts to run in previous version compatabilities until the manufacturers came out with their Vista compatible upgrades.

For me, probably the biggest challenge came because I not only upgraded to Vista, I also upgraded to IE7 and Offic 2007 at the same time. It took me more time to get familiar with Word and Excel 2007 than Vista.

Bob

[upnorth]

I work in an IT dept and the only time I got my hands on Vista was to try to get something set up and working for someone visiting our facility. Sometimes finding compatible software for what we do is a large pain. We do a lot more than just Office and Web access. Installing devices and software is more involved than XP. We don't have it here at our facility and are fighting keep XP licenses for what we do need to roll out.

[mnflyfisherman]

My experience on the job with Vista 64 is that it's solid in the way it remains stable and allows me to stay up and running to the point of feeling almost Linux like in that regard.

It's definitely more solid, and while we all love XP, it is now unsupported. I wouldn't recommend reverting to it to anyone, home user or business. You will be left behind by both hardware and software eventually.

That said, it's still just a tool to get a job done and if you prefer one tool over another, who's to say any different.

--Matt

[PierBridge]

XP Pro until death!...

[MuleShack]

I had a 20 minute bout with a computer that had office 2007 on it and i couldn't stand the set up.

If XP ever gets forced out at work, i'd have to quit.

[PierBridge]

You can add about a MILLION other problems with Sofware and Hardware to the Vista fun list.... ... a couple 2-3 more service packs and MS should have the bugs worked out...LOL

On a side note Speaking of Office 2007......

[upnorth]

The real kicker for us is that many of our software vendors are not supporting Vista yet. Pretty hard to use and operating system that the software vendors aren't going to support. And being that Microsoft just release SP3 for XP, I am thinking Microsoft is still supporting it.

[Sandmannd]

The real kicker for us is that many of our software vendors are not supporting Vista yet. Pretty hard to use and operating system that the software vendors aren't going to support. And being that Microsoft just release SP3 for XP, I am thinking Microsoft is still supporting it.

That's the problem we have at teh hospital I work at as well. Too many apps that won't work on Vista. About the time they get Vista to as stable as they want it, they won't be supporting it anymore either.

[BobT]

The problem with the apps not working isn't a Vista or Microsoft problem, it's a problem with the application software. Vista came out and if the world starts using it, the application software manufacturers will have to adapt to remain competetive.

This isn't something new. It happens every time Windows upgrades to a new design and the public buys in to it. It happened when XP hit the market, it happened when 2000 hit the market, and it'll happen when the next version hits the market.

Bob

[upnorth]

Bob we are not talking off the shelf canned software. This is specialized software written for very specific purposes. And believe me we had issues with some when we started rolling out XP. Some vendors didn't support XP and we went through much ado to get that stuff working.

[BobT]

That's why it's surprising that Microsoft can get away with releasing new upgrades without making them a little more backwards compatible. When I say "get away with" I'm not talking from a functional or legal perspective but from a marketing perspective.

There are other operating systems out there and if this is such a big problem, the smart competitors would jump all over it.

Bob

[PierBridge]

When you have thee monopoly of all time you can to what you want.

[BobT]

I have a hard time with the monopoly thing. Didn't Microsoft just produce a product that most everyone wanted or did they somehow force their customers to buy their operating system?

If memory serves me correctly, Apple Computers actually created the concept of using windows and icons and such but failed to market it as effectively as Microsoft. Or did Microsoft steal their product?

Bob

[delcecchi]

Apple tied their software to premium priced hardware. Microsoft didn't since they didn't make hardware.

I think both the Europeans and the US have found Microsoft to be a monopoly and to have taken anti-competitive actions. A little net research should turn up the decisions and articles about them.

[upnorth]

The only reason Microsoft has a Monopoly is no else has a comparable product. I know Apple has a fine OS, but they screwed up in marketing years ago. Too proprietary as far as matching OS to hardware, you buy their whole package or you buy nothing at all.

[BobT]

The funny thing about monopoly laws is that you don't have to try to become one in order to do so. I think that's what happened to Microsoft. They produced a very good product and nobody could compete against them. As a result, they became a monopoly by consumer demand but our laws forced the government to disband it.

I believe Ma Bell was another example. Nobody was willing to put the money into competing. Instead, they filed suit, forcing Ma Bell into sharing the lines that had been installed.

Bob

[cylinder]

One good thing about Microsoft having a 'monopoly' is that things are standardized. If there were several operating systems and office packages that different companies used, there would be a huge problem with people sharing documents and data. Even if the documents could be opened with different software packages, there would be a problem with average users being able to handle the translation. I have a customer whose employees are accustomed to Wordperfect. The new CEO wants to make the transition to MS Office because their people don't know how to convert Word documents to Wordperfect, and vice versa. When they share documents with other companies there is a problem. It's hard to get some of these employees to understand the simplest of tasks.

[PierBridge]

The funny thing about monopoly laws is that you don't have to try to become one in order to do so. I think that's what happened to Microsoft. They produced a very good product and nobody could compete against them. As a result, they became a monopoly by consumer demand but our laws forced the government to disband it.

I agree for the most part. I'm not one of the many Microsoft haters that are out there, granted they have been bully's in some aspects but most big company's right or wrong do that anyway.

I think they were more lucky then anything in the beginning and just turned it into a GOLD mine!

[upnorth]

Quote:

I have a customer whose employees are accustomed to Wordperfect. The new CEO wants to make the transition to MS Office because their people don't know how to convert Word documents to Wordperfect, and vice versa. When they share documents with other companies there is a problem. It's hard to get some of these employees to understand the simplest of tasks.

Went through that way back when I worked for school district. Not fun!!!! Take away people computer apps and replace them with something new and these adults act very much like seven year olds. Good luck

There are apps that will convert files from one format to another, but that is a little technical for most users, all they want is there data/files.

There has been plenty of contenders for Operating systems, but they all far short of taking over the Windows product. Linux in several flavors, and of course Apple have made a few runs at Microsoft, but without major software packages not being written for it, the business world just ain't gonna make the jump to them. I work with a few Linux geeks who have been saying Linux is going to take over for years, just can't happen until software companies are willing to write software for these Operating Systems.

[BobT]

Don't you think that better than breaking a monopoly like Microsoft into smaller pieces, it would be better to just standardize the file formats so all OS writers could be compatible? That way, the OS writers could concentrate on features and benefits to sell their products.

Bob

[DinkADunk]

File formats are standard already. Those defined in the Public domain or via consortium are maintained by their standards body, those produced by a private concern are under the rightful control of their owners (i.e. Word, Excel, WordPerfect, dbase, Paradox, etc.). Are you suggesting government control over what file formats a company can make or design? Or are you suggesting that the government should define the underlying disk operating systems and disk formats? That would severly restrict OS development.