[SixtyAte]

Anyone who wants to get Vista these seem to be the cheapest around. Be sure to test your system first.


Vista Prices here---> http://www.pricewatch.com/software_o...me_premium.htm


System Test --> http://www.tigerdirect.com:80/sector...CODE=WEM1288CR


Kev

[clwilcox33]

I'm waiting for the 64bit retail ultimate version myself. Make sure you know the difference between OEM and Retail (boxed) versions before you buy.

[CFunK]

Yeah, the OEM version rules if you want to install it from a clean slate.

Retail (boxed) upgrade versions of Vista require an installed OS and will not let you install it from a clean slate unlike other other Windows upgrade versions.

Make sure the one of eight versions of Vista you are buying will do everything you want.

I think there will be alot of upset consumers who buy the wrong version of Vista.

Tropher: You are a glutton for punishment, aren't you.

[no69x-44]

Microsoft will be supporting XP for at least 7 more years. If you don't have a new PC, you are better off sticking with XP as your OS at least until you buy a new PC. IMHO, I'm in no rush to go get off of XP at this point. Microsoft's own omission is that it is an "incomplete" OS. There are many applications (software packages) that will not currently run on Vista. They are already working on a Service Pack 1 for Vista. Tread carefully ...

[SixtyAte]

I agree with Rob, wait for the bugs to be out and the revision release , Service Pack 1 to come out. I did beta testing on the Vista program and have decided that unless you have a fancy ,new, up to date, computer, its best to get the OS installed already in a new system. Most mfg's have taken the time to get the bugs out to allow Vista to work at its best in their machine. Besides, the $125 up bucks saved is going to purchase a nice Camaro part isn't it


Kev

[clwilcox33]

MS is much harsher on OEM vs. Retail versions with Vista. The rules are that once you activate an OEM version on a PC, you will not be able to reactivate it on another PC, it is permanently tied to that group of specific hardware. IE motherboard. Each part gets a "score" on how important the part is. If you replace enough parts in your PC to earn a high enough score, MS will consider it a new computer and says it needs a new license (new copy). The retail can be transferred to new machines as many times as needed as long as it's uninstalled from the old machine. If you're the type that is constantly upgrading your PC like me, the retail version is the best option. I build all of my own PCs and am constantly changing hardware in them. With MS's licensing scheme, you don't own the software, you just bought the license to use it. For OEM software, you bought the license to use it on one specific computer and it is not transferable to another even if uninstalled on the previous one.

The comments above about the upgrade version is true as well. The upgrade disks will not be bootable and you will not be able to install the upgrade version on a cleanly formatted hard disk like you could with previous versions of Windows. You will have to first install a licensed, activated copy of Windows 2000 or XP and then install the Vista upgrade. For someone like me that formats and reinstalls his OS every 6 months or so, using the upgrade will just take too long.

[Steptoe]

As you may know, NZ was the 1st country for the 1st release (time Zones)
I have a legit copy from my wholesalers a liitle while back
This is my opinion
1/ It is very pretty...very pretty, enough to make windows and stuff not easy to find and pick functions out...
2/Its just like XP with a few more nice functions in, and several of the old ones do more with a name change... things like the XP syscop file has 'hide' removed.
3/ and the "are u sure?" and "u do not have permission, clk to carry on" is a pain in the butt...The orginal intention and correct set up with XP was for normal use, not to be logged in as Admin, hence changes to system files could not be made by outside influences...If u needed to load something that needed changes to sys file one then logged in under admin.
But in practice this doesnt happen....so I suppose that is why the ""u do not have permission, clk to carry on" has been put in as it has

Personally, for the ave user and for the techy fixing, XP is far better lay out and GUI

I started with Dos
Dos to Dosshell I gave thumps up
Dosshell to 311 a big thumbs up
311 to 95 a even bigger thumbs up...upgrade was buggy
Same with 98 and SE... thu upgrade was buggy
ME big thumbs down....and the upgrade was buggy
XP very big thumbs up and even bigger with SP2....the upgrade is faultless
vista....the GUI thu pretty is a pain...again very nice....upgrade, havnt trialed it.

[SixtyAte]

Vista Info...

Some good stuff here.
Kev

http://www.pcmag.com:80/article2/0,1895,2087792,00.asp

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

[HwyStarJoe]

As I do with all Microsoft OS's.... I'll wait a couple years before taking the plunge. And I learned a LONG time ago that upgrades are more of a pain than configuring a system clean.

[Nashville Beth]

Upgrade cd's are no different than other windows cd's-just one small difference.
I used to work for dell and lots of customers bought "upgrade" versions of XP when it came out.
Upgrade cd's can be installed to a formatted hard drive. When the system boots to the upgrade cd and all it sees is a formatted hard drive, it will ask you to remove the upgrade cd and place the older version of windows in the cd drive. It then examines the older version cd to see if it qualifies for the upgrade. Then it asks you to reinsert the upgrade cd and it takes off just like any other windows cd.
That is the difference between upgrade and normal windows cd's. The upgrade versions are a little cheaper- microsoft's way of rewarding long time customers.

[Nashville Beth]

I just installed Vista ultimate ($200 from newegg) yesterday.
I've been using pirated stuff for 6 years and it does take more effort to use the illegal, so I wanted to get rid of those headaches.
The install went quite well. I was surprised to see Vista save all of "My Documents" as I did a clean install. They were saved in a folder called windows.old. I like the look of Vista. It takes lots of memory; I have 1 gb and it uses 400 mb when you're doing almost nothing!

[CFunK]

The way Vista uses memory is FAR different than previous versions of Windows.

[clwilcox33]

Originally Posted by Nashville Beth

Upgrade cd's are no different than other windows cd's-just one small difference.
I used to work for dell and lots of customers bought "upgrade" versions of XP when it came out.
Upgrade cd's can be installed to a formatted hard drive. When the system boots to the upgrade cd and all it sees is a formatted hard drive, it will ask you to remove the upgrade cd and place the older version of windows in the cd drive. It then examines the older version cd to see if it qualifies for the upgrade. Then it asks you to reinsert the upgrade cd and it takes off just like any other windows cd.
That is the difference between upgrade and normal windows cd's. The upgrade versions are a little cheaper- microsoft's way of rewarding long time customers.

Yes, that's the way upgrade CDs worked for XP, 2000, etc, but they changed the way it works with Vista (supposedly). You can't do a clean install with a upgrade CD, Vista does not provide the check for you to insert your old version CD, it doesn't boot from the CD either. It will not install unless you install a previous version first. (unless they changed it at the last minute).

[ZZ430DropTop67RS]

I'm undecided here. I was going to install Vista home premium on a perfectly fine XP computer.

Should I wait, or forget it?

[clwilcox33]

If you have a legal, perfectly functioning version of XP running on a decent computer, I'd not worry about upgrading.