attn: computer geeks windows vista??

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Aside from the Mac jokes (lots of possibly work-necessary programs don't work with Mac either!)....

Lots of important programs don't work with Vista yet. Even HP has not updated drivers to Vista. Vista's release was way too premature, despite its many delays.
Windows XP is way more stable and useful right now.
I would suggest getting Vista disabled or uninstalled, and putting good old reliable XP on your new computer. The people you bought it from might be willing to give you an option to switch. Many people are angry with Vista's lameness and demanding XP instead, and sellers are listening.

[Tater]

I got a new laptop for work applications (can't do Mac, unfortunately) and it came installed with Vista. I haven't had any problems with it yet. It has some interesting quirks, asks for permission for a lot of things, but has ran smooth since I got it in July. It worked with both printers at the office and both here at home. I haven't had it not work with anything yet. Oh, and my laptop is an HP.

[mimitabby]

okay you Mac freaks. getting a mac is NOT an option, i just bought a windows machine!
not to mention the cost of buying a mac, i'd also have to buy all new software which i really DO NOT want to do.. but thanks for thinking of me.

I think i'm going to XP.

I have unix at work, so i am already used to working with it; but i'm not sure an XP emulator is going to be as nice as what i have at work and that isn't so great either.
thank you all; you have convinced me. My new computer has 1 Gig of memory and it is BARELY enough for vista. Maybe new apps are going to need vista, but i don't need new apps. I have microsoft office, paintshop pro and firefox.
I have a few small app's like the gizmo that downloads pictures from my cellphone, but I don't do games at all. thanks very much, you helped me make a decision.

[smilingcat]

At office:
Linux Redhat enterprise
instead of WORD and other MS OFFICE junk I run Open Office (freebie) and can inmport export WORD docs and almost all other MS documents. It can also generate pdf files.

also have XP emulator by VMware. Occasional glitches but minor.

If you want a freebie try Fedora 8 release with Open Office. Or other freebie Linux. Only thing you have to watch out for is hardware support.

At home:
Windows XP wih Open Office (yes it can run on Linux, Windows, MAC, Solaris...) and the files are portable to other platforms. My printer, Wireless G+ MIMO and other peripheral all support Linux and MAC. We do this because when we switch over to MAC/Linux box we don't have to send it to the garaveyard.

My next machine WILL BE A MAC LAPTOP. NO MORE DESKTOPS.
It has things I need and it comes pre-installed.
Objective-C, Ruby, TCL/TK, just need to load Open Office. etc.

Can't run my dreamweaver on MAC or Linux but Ruby on Rails should be able to handle what I need.

Almost all my software are open source freebie or very cheap. Its very reliable more so than windows or other stuff from MS. And I save ungodly amount of money.

The bad thing with Vista is once you upgrade, you can't go back. (that is what I was told) So we have zelch intention of upgrading to Vista. Besides, you have to decide which flavor you want. And you can't switch from one to other.

smilingcat

[Fredwina]

Ok here my rundown
At work at Pentium 4 runing Windows NT4 Yes, you tax dollars at work.
I have a laptop with XP and desktop with Linux(Ubuntu Fiesty Fawn). The laptop used to be dual-boot, but the wireless card doesn't work w/ the penguin (Acer Aspire 3500) No hands-on with Vista yet.
I'll echo Similing Cat's ensdorment of OpenOffice.org (two guesses as to their website) and "Free" software in general.
An Example - The laptop has a copy of Intellij(about $300) installed, but I like Eclipse much better.
I'll also agree that that desktops are dying.
Linux tends to have less attacks, but as to wether it's markety share or Structure...
and OS/X is based on Unix, as in Linux, in Geek talk*nix.

[sandra]

Dump Vista and go with XP. It will be a while before Vista works all the kinks out.

I bought a Sony VAIO laptop right after Vista came out (and you could hardly find anything XP). I dumped the Vista for XP.

[mimitabby]

thanks Sandra; that's what i'm going to do. It's not like i buy new s/w all the time..

[boy in a kilt]

Vista is the reason I'm going back to Mac when my laptop dies.

I'll get a copy of bootcamp so I can run Mac for most things, winders for the stuff that I need to (for instance, logging on to military web sites) and linux when I'm feeling geeky. I ran RedHat most of the way through grad school, particulary for programming.

[light_sabe_r]

Vista ate my Word documents!!!

Word has become aa nightmare!!! I don't care if the music's upgraded and the backgrounds pretty and there's this funky clock on the sidebar! IT'S CRAP!!!!

I'm a real Microsoft access nutcase. I love the damn thing! The 2003 version that is. It's the one thing I'm really good at in my job! Why does microsoft have to change everything to make it so MOUSE reliant! None of my shortcuts work. >_< AND I hate how it's vistified everything.

Plus it ate my network card and all my SIMS files.

Screw this. I want to upgrade - To a mac.

[anakiwa]

Another vote for XP.

I recently bought a new computer and went with XP- I talked to the folks at work about being to access stuff at home- I wouldn't be able to do it with Vista and they have too many other projects right now that it will be a while before they get around to making everything work with Vista.