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Windows Vista

Started by tolbs17, July 12, 2019, 01:17:19 PM

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tolbs17

Hello, do you guys remember Windows Vista? It came out in 2007. I liked it better than 7. I'm being serious. I like their startup animation better, and just their UI better. I used to have a laptop that had it, and then I upgraded it to 7, and the laptop died. So I have a computer that has Windows 10 right now. So did you guys remember Windows Vista? Because I've heard a lot of people saying they hate it.

I've went on three computers that had it by the way.


TonyTrafficLight

Vista was good. Seemed much more stable than it's predecessor XP, and then there was something called Windows ME before that  :pan:

I started with Windows 3.1 (1992) myself. Have 7 on my work desktop and 10 at home.
I wonder whats on the horizon. 10 has been out for 4 years now.
I like signals I guess

https://tonytrafficlight.com

tolbs17

Quote from: TonyTrafficLight on July 12, 2019, 01:51:49 PM
Vista was good. Seemed much more stable than it's predecessor XP, and then there was something called Windows ME before that  :pan:

I started with Windows 3.1 (1992) myself. Have 7 on my work desktop and 10 at home.
I wonder whats on the horizon. 10 has been out for 4 years now.

The first windows I had was 98. We didn't have a computer then.

Rothman

Even when I had Windows 3.1 and DOS 6.0, I used commands in DOS rather than go into Windows. :D
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

GaryV

When we first got PC's at work, my co-worker and I were aghast at having to use a mouse.  "What, you mean we have to take our fingers off our keyboard?"

Hot Rod Hootenanny

My 2nd laptop, bought in 2008, operated on Windows Vista.
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

Roadgeekteen

I don't think I ever used it. I remember XP and 7 but not Vista.
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Scott5114

I had to do an emergency purchase of a computer in college when my laptop got water spilled on it and wouldn't function. It came with Windows Vista on it. I hadn't ever used Vista so I decided I'd mess around with it for a while to try to form an opinion on it.

30 minutes later I was formatting the hard drive and installing Linux.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

1995hoo

I had a PC with Windows Vista that I purchased at CompUSA when they were closing their DC-area stores and I got a good price. I never thought it was as bad as everyone said it was, though I like Windows 7 better (and I detest Windows 8.1, which is on my wife's laptop). The only notable problem I had with Vista was with ripping music to .WAV files. For some reason, the files it created were almost always corrupt. But that was easy enough to solve with aftermarket ripping software.

The first operating system I used was IBM PC-DOS 3.30 in 1987.
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index

#9
Oh look, an excuse to show off my vintage hardware.
I guess this is half relevant?
This beaut right here is an IBM PS/2 Model P70 386, manufactured in August of 1989, along with an excessively bulky 360K 5.25" diskette drive included.. Not my oldest machine by a long stretch.
The site looks weird because the orange monochrome gas plasma display only works in 16 shades of orange.

It also has Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on top of DOS 6.22 dual booted. Previously had PC-DOS, only other PC-DOS system I have now is an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 with PC-DOS 3.3 and Windows 3.0 on it. That squeezes the crap out of its puny 20 MB hard drive, just as having two OSes dual booted on the 120 MB HDD on the P70 squeezes free space.
I love my 2010 Ford Explorer.



Counties traveled

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: index on July 13, 2019, 11:27:03 AM
Oh look, an excuse to show off my vintage hardware.
I guess this is half relevant?
This beaut right here is an IBM PS/2 Model P70 386, manufactured in August of 1989, along with an excessively bulky 360K 5.25" diskette drive included.. Not my oldest machine by a long stretch.
The site looks weird because the orange monochrome gas plasma display only works in 16 shades of orange.

It also has Windows for Workgroups 3.11 on top of DOS 6.22 dual booted. Previously had PC-DOS, only other PC-DOS system I have now is an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 with PC-DOS 3.3 and Windows 3.0 on it. That squeezes the crap out of its puny 20 MB hard drive, just as having two OSes dual booted on the 120 MB HDD on the P70 squeezes free space.

Hey, at least AAroads works!
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

JREwing78

I installed the free Windows 7 upgrade from Vista on my desktop the instant it became available (I purchased it within a grace period when it was eligible for the free upgrade). I ran Windows 7 as soon as the beta was released and never looked back.

Vista ran OK on my desktop, but Windows 7 performed significantly better - with no hardware changes in-between.

In_Correct

I remember Windows Vista.

I remember all of them.

I was around three of five major computers. I was not around Commodore Amiga, but I was around I.B.M., D.E.C., and Apple.

The D.E.C. computers, (or just digital) connected to a local network using a giant Parallel port that plugs into the wall, not much different from a Telephone or an Ethernet line. They had a small monochrome (usually green) C.R.T. monitor with a network adapter built into it, and a keyboard. The LK201 Keyboard did not use "ALT", but instead "Compose Character". I don't think it needed a pointing device. The keyboard connection is not much different than a Telephone or Ethernet. These systems interfaced with a file server. They were replaced decades ago, and unfortunately not many exist. The company, and even the hardware architecture is gone as if it never existed.

The other computer I was not around when it was around is Acorn. However, that hardware platform does still exist. Every where. That means that even though I did not use any thing resembling Acorn then, I am now. I also have an interest in RISC OS but have not yet bought a Pi Device.

I have been around a fairly large amount of Apple computers, and I still have them, but none of them are new, and I will never get any thing new from Apple, except iPod and perhaps iPhone & iPad, but only iPhone and iPad by mistake. As said in the other paragraph, these three use Acorn hardware, but so does Samsung and many others. The fossils I was around that were fossils back then were always in classrooms. They kept their old fossils around usually as a computerized grade book. Apple II or similar computers, relying heavily on Floppy Disks (5.25) in one case an external power supply / power strip with two more plugs (meant for a monitor and a printer) complete with fan. The new computers of that time are Pizza Box computers running Ancient Mac OS with colour and graphics better than any I.B.M. style computer. The software and games had a higher quality version. Other software is Apple Works or Claris Works, After Dark Screen Savers, and Talking Alerts. The Pizza Boxes had Ethernet, Speakers, and Microphones. If it could be installed in a computer, it was. Also the mouse plugged into the keyboard. Macintosh and the newer operating system are not worth the money. I will always keep clamshell IBooks with Ancient Mac OS (9.2.2 with aDock and and iText and Classilla and hundreds of other software) but nothing newer than that.


I.B.M. computers seem to be much more rugged when compared to the clones. I always like the Japanese design of them. They are also very easy to maintain. Many that became obsolete some 10 years later were retrofitted to be print servers. There are four types of 1980s I.B.M. computers I had in my possession. One of which is a I.B.M. XT I connected a much newer Cannon Bubble Jet to it and it worked (!) The other three are 286 models. One was a very tall meant to sit on the floor tower computer. Another is a computer with a long narrow power supply with a fan in the middle (seen when the computer is opened). Two diskette drives in the front and a hard drive in the back. These were connected with a riser card between them instead of messy grey ribbons. The other I.B.M. computers I had are the all in one computers with apparently no clock battery, requiring a date and time set manually.

Unfortunately I did not use OS  / 2. But I had used Dos Shell (DosShell) with Word Perfect and Lotus and several other software. 

Yes I did use Windows 3.0, 3.1, and I do not remember if I used any other Windows 3. But I hated them. I was able to get whatever I needed with it, but I will never go back to Windows 3.Whatever and if I had to use an old I.B.M. I prefer Dos Shell instead.

Windows 95 at the time was a breath of fresh air. It added more screen savers while keeping the existing ones. It included Internet software such as Internet Explorer, Netscape, and some "Inbox" icon. Putting every thing directly on the wallpaper instead of cramming it into Program Manager made Windows 95 seem much more ahead of its time. But of course Ancient Mac OS and Amiga OS and RISC OS and every body else all ready did this. I also like the login music and the "It Is Now Safe To Turn Off Your Computer." message. Other software is Microsoft Works and Microsoft Office.

But the best remembered software is Microsoft Plus, Microsoft Bob, or at least software based on Microsoft Bob and Microsoft Agent such as BonziBUDDY. I never used Windows Millennium, which is where I assume they continued to use this software.

Ironically even if I remember Windows 95 and 98 and 98 S.E. as good for having Microsoft Plus and other media software, I also like Windows 2000 for seemingly being without this software. (!) This seemed to be a lot sturdier O.S. I never bothered to look at any Microsoft Plus in it.

Windows XP is an operating system that people continued to use for a very long time. This was around the same time that many people bought their own computers and started using computers. I preferred to make it look like Windows 2000, and did not care for Microsoft Bob's Big Bug Eyed Rover to be included in Search. I switched him for some red bouncing blob, also available in Microsoft Office. (which I had no problem with, as I had no problem with Bonzi either. The default assistant I set was Clippit.) I also switched out the Critical Stop sound.

You could easily do so many things with Windows XP, and people used it for so long, that many skipped Vista entirely. So the literal question in this topic is about my use of Windows Vista. I never did. I don't think Vista is important enough to upgrade from XP. And that is what I do now. I will not upgrade unless there is some reason to.

I had several Windows 7 computers. Windows 7 seemed to be a good enough reason to start using Windows 7. But I noticed a problem. My Pictures is now named Pictures. This can be easily be confused with "Pictures" which is short for Pictures Library. I hate these and deleted the libraries immediately. I never trusted the "My Pictures" etc. folders either and keep my files elsewhere. But Windows added a few more much needed functions. One of them is the Indexed Search, which is yet another thing that Windows needed that Ancient Mac OS all ready had. And even better than Ancient Mac OS and Windows XP, ... Windows 7 finally stops asking if you want to overwrite a file when two files are trying to have the same file name. I think it is Windows 7 (or perhaps Windows 8) that if you move a folder into a new location that happens to have a folder with the same name in it, Windows will merge the two folders with the same name. And again, I do not know if this is a Windows 7 or if they started it with Windows 8, but you can pause a file transfer, unplug the device, plug it in again, and click Resume with no problems.

As for Windows 8 I enjoy using said functions, but I had to make Windows 8 look like Windows 2000. I have always turned off every thing except "Use Thumbnails Instead Of Icons" (another improvement that I love) and use "Adjust Windows For Best Performance" for every thing else. (This feature is also there by default for Ancient Mac OS, but for Mac OS X there is no way to Adjust For Best Performance) I also have the Extra Large High Contrast Arrow, and High Contrast #2 theme. And also I have Classic Shell and Charms Bar Killer.

I do the same thing with Windows 8.1.

As for Windows 10, I will not upgrade nor buy any computers with it unless I know there is a way to adjust it to my preferred settings. If they add a function that I do not like, I want to turn it off.

My preferred computers are the biggest laptops that exist, 17+ inch screen, numeric pad in internal keyboard, quad core A.M.D. The same expectations for All In One Desktops with the biggest screen they have and it would be nice if All In Ones have a laptop battery to safely unplug from the wall. And of course A.R.M. hardware.

My current operating systems are Ancient Mac OS, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Android, and MorphOS. My future OS I want to add RISC OS, AROS, and perhaps ReactOS.
Drive Safely. :sombrero: Ride Safely. And Build More Roads, Rails, And Bridges. :coffee: ... Boulevards Wear Faster Than Interstates.

ipeters61

Quote from: Scott5114 on July 13, 2019, 04:13:15 AM
I had to do an emergency purchase of a computer in college when my laptop got water spilled on it and wouldn't function. It came with Windows Vista on it. I hadn't ever used Vista so I decided I'd mess around with it for a while to try to form an opinion on it.

30 minutes later I was formatting the hard drive and installing Linux.
I toyed with Windows Vista for a bit when it came out, but I would switch back to XP at times.  I'm not really sure why anyway, but I never really felt like it grew on me like XP did.  Then I got a computer with Windows 7 and used that until my junior year of college.  After many pushes from one of my close friends, I eventually did a full switch to Linux (I was dual booting for forever).  I just checked my laptop's uptime last night and it was 40 days! (and both my laptop and desktop dual boot with Windows 10, but I rarely use it)
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed on my posts on the AARoads Forum are my own and do not represent official positions of my employer.
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tolbs17

I usually love seeing this when I start the computer up... I miss it. It's better than 7 and 8/8.1/10 in my opinion.


ce929wax

I don't think I ever had a machine with Vista on it.  The very first computer my family had had Windows 3.1 on it, and then when my mom got remarried, my step-dad had a machine with Windows 95 (this was 1997).  The first computer I bought as an adult had XP on it IIRC, and then I got one with Windows 7, and the one I have now has Windows 10 on it.   I think the next computer I buy is going to be an Apple.  I recently got an IPhone, and once I figured out how things worked in Apple, I found that I liked it much better than Android, so I am going to see how Apple desktops work.  I probably won't be buying a computer for a while though.


oscar

#16
My ancient desktop PC, which I rarely use (and really needs to be replaced), is on Vista. I never did the upgrade, in part since I have some older software than won't work on Windows 7/Windows 10. Other than that, I prefer the newer OS on my laptop.
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catch22

Vista got a bad rep early on but I think that was due to some PC makers putting it on machines that were a tad under powered.

I'm currently working on a friend's old Vista box.  She just uses it for basic web browsing and some letter writing and wanted it updated since it no longer gets any security updates.  As built (Pentium Dual E2200 @ 2.2 GHz with 2 GB of RAM), it's slow booting but serviceable.  I found some older matching RAM in my junk box, and with its current 4 GB it ran decently.  With Windows 10, it runs much better than I would have guessed going in.
 

rawmustard

I think when I bought my previous laptop, it had come installed with Vista but with the service packs that made that OS more stable. (I had dabbled with either my mother's or brother's build with the first edition of Vista.) I don't believe I could get the 7 upgrade for free, but I wound up only getting that for $50 on Amazon, which was a deal at that time because upgrade releases of Windows were typically north of $100, and I remember it being much better. (One of Vista's long-running complaints was the frequency of User Account Control popping up, and Windows 7 made it much more tolerable.)

vdeane

Quote from: catch22 on July 17, 2019, 08:08:18 AM
Vista got a bad rep early on but I think that was due to some PC makers putting it on machines that were a tad under powered.
I remember there being an issue with Microsoft setting the hardware requirements for a computer to come preloaded with Vista too low.  It also didn't help that the makers of software and peripherals like printers and scanners were reluctant to try to support Vista until it was out, because it was delayed so many times, and features had a tendency to be dropped and sometimes reappear in a watered-down version throughout the development process.  There was no way to know if Vista would actually be released or what it would include until it was already out.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Max Rockatansky

I still use Windows Vista on my work computer.  I have no complaints, I always thought it was a solid OS.

In_Correct

Windows Vista seems to be a revision of Windows Millenium. Both have good things about them. But for every good thing there are two bad things.
Drive Safely. :sombrero: Ride Safely. And Build More Roads, Rails, And Bridges. :coffee: ... Boulevards Wear Faster Than Interstates.

Scott5114

Quote from: In_Correct on July 18, 2019, 01:09:31 AM
Windows Vista seems to be a revision of Windows Millenium.

It's not. Millennium was the final released version of the Windows 95/98 codebase. Vista descended from the Windows NT codebase that was developed in parallel before then, coming down from Windows 2000 and XP. Vista is Windows NT 6.0.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

ET21

I've had 95, 98, XP, 7, 8, and 10 on personal computers
Vista I only used when over at my grandparents
2000 I used when I took part in the bring your son to work day with my Dad, played PC games.

I can still get 95 games to work on my 10, with a little coding and registry key updates
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tolbs17

I miss the game Purble Place by the way. Who remembers playing it?



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