If you are thinking of upgrading to Vista, you may want to hold off for a while before you get the new OS. The reason being is that support for the OS from companies such as Creative, nVidia, ATI, ZoneAlarm, Norton, McAfee, game manufactures, and the like, do not have proper support yet. While it may be true that these companies have drivers out right now, they are still in beta form and do not live up to their full potential. With this being said, this is NOT Microsoft's fault. Microsoft has no say so in driver support for your hardware/software. That is the sole responsibility of your hardware/software vendor.

People seem to get this confused and I do not know why. My theory is that since Vista took so long to release, everyone is hell bent on looking for a "flaw" in the OS for a reason to hate it and or Microsoft. This should not be the case. Vista is a great OS with many performance enhancements. Yes, the OS is quite demanding, but that is to be expected. If you stop and think about it, with all the demanding software that is coming out now (especially games), it makes sense. Programs are going to get bigger and more demanding as the years go on. When Microsoft releases their new OS codenamed "Vienna", its going to have higher standards than what Windows Vista does right now. Games that are coming out these days are either CPU or RAM intensive much as Vista is both. So by the time you build/buy your new system, its going to be Vista ready, twice as fast as your last computer, and you will be somewhat caught up in technology.

Computers are getting faster and faster and programs are starting to accommodate that. So either way you look at it, your forced to do it anyway. So instead of complaining on how much Vista "sucks" and that you "hate" it/Microsoft, actually try it first then make your decision. If you have a really decent computer, I give it a 95% chance that you will like it even better than XP.

Again, if Vista does not work properly for you, you need the proper drivers. Since most drivers for hardware are not out yet, you have to wait. Since it is a new OS and has just been released, it will take a few months for companies to write the code into their software for things to work properly under Windows Vista. This happens with all new OS's. This situation with Vista is not any different.

I thought I would make this thread because its mainly the same things being said in every Vista thread I see and I am tired of repeating myself.

If anyone has anything else they would like to add to this, by all means go for it. Or you could just discuss it in general. Either way.

The biggest application problems that I've seen are from antivirus/firewall vendors. Some games have no problems, some have minor problems and some have major problems. For the newer games, I expect most of these problems to be fixed via an upcoming patch or the like.

I can't speak for nVidia's drivers, but ATI's Catalyst 7.1 drivers aren't half bad. Unfortunately, the Catalyst Control Center sucks just as bad on Vista as it does on XP, and ATI Tray Tools isn't supported yet, so I have to suffer with it. But my performance in the games I've been playing lately (UT2004, Half-Life 2 / Garry's Mod) is excellent. Half-Life 2 in particular runs like a wet dream.

As you said, Creative is way behind. They still haven't released a Vista x64 compatible driver for their SoundBlaster Live line, despite releasing an XP x64 driver soon after x64's release. I understand that the Live isn't their latest and greatest product, but it still remains a very popular soundcard out there. As a result, my SB Live sits in an anti-static bag in a box on the floor, and I use the ALC850 on my DFI board for sound. Realtek provides frequent Vista driver updates for both x86 and x64.

I still have a Live! card, havent upgraded since I bought it in 2001. Its been in 4 different PC's now lol!

But when I bought it, it was top of the line, and the sound quality through it is still quite good, and a LOT better than on board codecs.

Saying that, Realtek have been excellent in releasing frequent driver updates for Vista, as they have been through the years. Others should follow their lead on driver support.

Crash, as you know, I agree with you 100%.

Its an absolute disgrace that the major players in discrete peripherals (AMD, NVIDIA, Creative etc) havent got off their collective lazy asses and developed decent drivers. They've had access to the OS for well over a year now.

It should not have been too much to ask for proper, full driver support at release.

Saying that AMD at least have had fairly decent working drivers since release (WHQL), and have another set about to release.
However, nvidia have only just released WHQL drivers (100.65) and they are still quite lacking in what would now be considered 'basic' elements. i.e. OpenGL & SLI

As the saying goes, things can only get better.

Once again, kudos to Realtek. Driver support has always been fantastic, and that doesnt look like its going to change.

no major problems with any games i have seen yet.

Some of the more annoying problems i have seen are no Zboard merc drivers yet.

No working firewalls Yet

AVG,Norton,Zonealarm and other leaders have working anti virus but the firewalls are not as of yet

Lexmark printer drivers are flawed at best.

Also it is not any more of a hog if set up right. Dont use glass and take some of the features like sidebar and stuff off start up. Also use Msconfig it has enhanced features built into it better than XP.

Dublin,

I myself was quite surprised to see how frequently Realtek was updating their drivers. They're pretty much fully functional at this point.

I too bought my SB Live a while back (early 2002 I think it was), and it has seen all the hardware around it change numerous times. It's a great card that stands well over time. I'd like to upgrade to an Auzentech card (I'm done with Creative with their driver and marketing BS), but for being broke, the SB Live is a great card. Hopefully it will work someday with Vista x64 so I can put 'er back in.

Yeah, I've been considering XFI, because it does make a huge difference in games. Especially ones that specifically support it (i.e. BF2142). But the driver support is abysmal, really abysmal.

And I'll be moving to Vista shortly, and need to have a working soundcard, as I'm not restricting myself to onboard if I can help it (although some of the newer codecs are quite passable).

I would need something that will offer the latest EAX modes, and afaik, only creative offer such cards. The extreme music seems exactly what I need (as I do a little music recording /production). But it will seem pointless if I have to revert to XP

I haven't used the final version, but I still have Vista RC2 on this machine, in RC2 my Soundblaster Live 5.1 card worked fine with Microsoft drivers, as Creative did not release drivers for my card for Vista. They say they are not supporting it anymore I think. The Nvidia drivers really sucked especially back in RC2 times. There was a slight noticeable drop in framerates in both BF2 and HL2. But I was still able to play them on the same settings I do in XP.

Yeah, Vista comes with 32-bit drivers for the SB Live, but not 64-bit ...

yep, had to resort to onboard sound with my RC1&2 and beta's of Vista x64

When I tried out RC2 the day it was released, my sound card worked (if I remember correctly). I too have the SB Live! 24-bit line and i really like it. It seems as though what Creative is doing is dropping support for all of their older cards including their line of SB Live! and only giving support for X-Fi which I don't think has final drivers for Vista yet either.

The lack of having a sound card for Vista is mainly the only reason why I do not have Vista now. The majority of the games I tried, would not even attempt to play without sound. I do not want to resort to onboard sound because I do not have device installed on my motherboard.

As for the XtreamMusic, that does not exist anymore. Creative stop making it. The only place you can find it is at online UK computer stores such as http://overclockers.co.uk/. Other than that, the XtremeGamer took over its spot. Its pretty much the same thing, but a bit better I think.

I know for a fact that AVG's firewall worked with Vista x64 because I downloaded the trial AV+Firewall package and it worked just fine. This was with the Vista build 6000. ZoneAlarm will probably never work with x64 until it becomes mainstream.

Crash, the SB Live 24-bit is supported under Vista x86 and x64: http://tinyurl.com/29y2bf

I have the old SB Live, and the latest OS they support for it is XP x64.

I use 32 Bit because I don't have a 64 bit CPU and because I don't have any 64 bit applications to run in x64 Windows. It's a lot easier to find drivers for almost everything for 32 bit then 64 bit Vista. Which is one of the reasons that 95% of people will still be using 32 bit even with Vista. Dell still gives out 32 bit Vista on all their machines, not 64 bit.

McFly said:
Figures. Now they have it. *shakes head*

The one I tried was the one right below that. Since it was not for build 6000, it would not work.

Anyone else want to share what they have about Vista that OWNS it?

User security is great. You can now run as a regular user (not root/admin), be locked down and still step up to admin when needed. This took far too long to happen in Windows, but it is a good thing it is finally here.

Windows Defender runs far too much in the background. Shut it off, man. If you believe defender is going to protect you, i have some bridge-front property you might be interested in.

The pretty new GUI is nice, it isn't as nice as Beryl or anything, but it is good.

prevent the average user from making massive system changes without admin permission, Linux has had that for few years, now is just being implemented into Vista.

I admit that Vista at this stage of the game as you would say is not for everyone.

In addition I agree that many of the major players in the game have not put out viable hardware drivers available for the 64 Bit version of Vista. I have a few peripherals that are back in their boxes awaiting drivers.
One of my biggest concerns at this point is 3rd party firewall availability.

I have had a preference for Zonealarm for the last few years and feel very vulnerable with the Vista firewall.

At this point in time I'm gettting more acquainted with Vista and don't use it for banking or credit card transactions until I'm sure it's secure. That's what my XP set-up is for.

Jay

Well Crash, put it this way.

Since I installed my 32bit Vista Premium last week, I havent booted into XP, for anything.

That surely says something.

I will install the 64-bit version where my XP install is when MS send me the CD, and I'll dual boot both versions as I know some of the x64 drivers are either problematic, or non-existant.

Loving it so far though.

Can you run 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Vista on the same PC legally with the same key code?

Directly from Vista's EULA:
1. c. Alternative Versions. The software may include more than one version, such as 32-bit and 64-bit. You may use only one version at one time.

Water Drop said:
Nope.

I absolutly love Vista. The only things keeping me from using it full time is the fact that there are no 3rd party x64 firewalls yet. And according to ZA's forums, their wont be. There is also the fact that TuneUp Utilities 2007 is not supported by either version of Vista yet either. Still awaiting the update to fix that.