Nerd Talk: Upgrading OS (and probably starting an OS war)

[Andy K.]

Ok guys.

So lately I have got my new computer which is a long story of why I needed a new one in the first place. Anyway, I've got all my files from my old comp and I'm settling into this new comp quite nicely. I love PCs (I'm a insanely huge fan of Macs too, I just don't need one =P) but I freaking LOVE Windows XP.

Anyway, most of my nerd friends are shouting at me to get out of XP and into Vista. I've used Vista before, but hated it. Granted, that's when it's first come out and it has probably improved, at least I hope, since then.

So anyway, to make my point. Everybody is yelling "VISTA VISTA" at me... A few are saying, "Andy, you best stay on XP and use your gut instinct." And everybody else is screaming "OSX, THINK ABOUT IT ANDY QUICKSILVERRRRRRRR, UNITYYYYYYY, ETC."' But I am not rich enough to switch to a Mac now, not to mention I just don't need it =P

So do I stay on XP or switch to Vista. I'm pretty educated in what both OSes bring to the table, and all that jazz. But should I trust my gut instinct, or should I listen to what everybody is telling me...

(in b4 UBUNTU...)

[XianForce]

Ok guys.

So lately I have got my new computer which is a long story of why I needed a new one in the first place. Anyway, I've got all my files from my old comp and I'm settling into this new comp quite nicely. I love PCs (I'm a insanely huge fan of Macs too, I just don't need one =P) but I freaking LOVE Windows XP.

Anyway, most of my nerd friends are shouting at me to get out of XP and into Vista. I've used Vista before, but hated it. Granted, that's when it's first come out and it has probably improved, at least I hope, since then.

So anyway, to make my point. Everybody is yelling "VISTA VISTA" at me... A few are saying, "Andy, you best stay on XP and use your gut instinct." And everybody else is screaming "OSX, THINK ABOUT IT ANDY QUICKSILVERRRRRRRR, UNITYYYYYYY, ETC."' But I am not rich enough to switch to a Mac now, not to mention I just don't need it =P

So do I stay on XP or switch to Vista. I'm pretty educated in what both OSes bring to the table, and all that jazz. But should I trust my gut instinct, or should I listen to what everybody is telling me...

(in b4 UBUNTU...)

If you've got the system to run it, run it...Thats my take on it. If you have the memory and CPU speed to handle Vista, you should. Vista usually only sucks when your on a crappy computer. I recommend getting it, because XP will no doubt become obsolete soon, and then if you've already had vista, it won't matter.

[M_D_K]

If you really want to run XP go for it. Personally vista still sucks!

Also there is Linux(ubuntu is you ain't used it before)

One last thing you can run Mac OSX on non-mac hardware, just look here (you will need to score the installer from a bittorrent site)
iDeneb 1.3 is the latest I think, installs Mac OSX 10.5.5

[Trask]

I have 2 main rigs, my desktop of which I play my games and do coding and it's about 4 years old. I run XP SP3 without any complaints. I love XP, most of my professional IT career came with working in a 2000/XP environment. I love familiarity and I love stability, so win win for me.

I recently(this past March) purchased a gaming laptop and I decided to go 64bit and I figured, what the hell, by default it came with Vista Home Premium and if I hated it, I could always go XP. Well... I still have Vista. It annoyed me by taking my familiarity away, but that's about it.

First off, unlike XP, there's a shitload of 64bit drivers for Vista which is one thing that scared me about going 64bit. 2nd, I get 4GB of ram with the possibility of upgrade to at least 8GB(I think Vista home can max to 16GB) in the near future(XP's max is 3 for the 32bit, not sure what it is for 64bit). I love the Sidebar(and SP2 offers a lower memory cost for using it), I love the built in Search feature in the Start Menu. I do think Vista is a beautiful looking OS(not that its that important, but hey). I can definitely see how some more basic consumers could adapt to Vista faster, the menus are layed out more clearly for non-professionals(so yes, they bugged they hell out of me for awhile, but adapting to anything new takes time), I love the rating system that can help moms and dads buy games or software for themselves or children without knowing all the tech talk, and I don't know if its because I'm comparing a P4 at 3.2ghz to a dual core at 2.3ghz or 2.5gb of ram to 4gb of ram, but my laptop kicks ass at gaming(minus a few driver issues here and there). I can throw any game into Windowed mode, if a game crashes, my whole OS doesn't crash... I never once had to restart explorer or something because a game locked up. Infact, unlike any game in XP, I can sometimes wait a lock up out and it'll start running again, while messing around with another app while it works it shit out because the crashed game is only taking 30% of my CPU.

That all being said, I see NO reason to upgrade from XP to Vista. I like it, but it came with my system and I see NO reason to uninstall it either. Its neat, you have a good enough system and it will run fine, but as far as going out of your way to get it? Nah. If you have an open choice and good hardware, then yes, give it a whirl... that's what I did. XP is only a format away.

[MarauderIIC]

Is setting stuff up a pain in the butt?