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My New Windows Vista Computer
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Thomas Whiteley
Posts: 786
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: San Francisco Bay Area
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 My New Windows Vista Computer
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I know a little about computers– from mainframes, to PC’s as wells as MAC’s, but I do not know everything or pretend to. Anyway, this is my experience:
My “Big Computer”, which is barely three years old has been used for many things including supporting my family (I am a programmer) and recording audio. It has every bell and whistle I wanted to have as well as the programs I wanted to run. It drives two audio racks of really great equipment which allows me to make some very high quality recordings.
Well, my computer gave up the ghost the other day and that was most upsetting. I backup everything important using USB flash drives, and other computer hard disks.
I took my computer in for repair and they told me, “The mother board is defective and obsolete, and the memory, power supply, and video card also obsolete”. This was a custom built computer created by the same guys that gave me the bad news. The computer has several professional audio cards and lots of other goodies.
During all my computer years involving PC’s (since 1975) I Have either built my own computers or had them built according to my needs. This time I said, “Off to Fry’s, to buy a Compaq or HP, and a five year service contract with replacement if the computer has a problem and cannot be fixed!
Anyone who knows me is aware that I am a very impatient person. My wife said years ago that, “There will never be a computer fast enough for you”! My wife understands me very well! And now for my personal experience with Windows Vista and my new Compaq computer:
1. Spent two hours getting the basic system to work by following the step by step procedure.
2. No Parallel Port – what do I do with my HP laser printer? Use the Internet to experience so many people saying, “Vista will not allow your printer to work”! HP said they would not supply updated drivers. Buy a new printer! I got it to work anyway.
3. Visual Studio 2002, and 2003 will not work with Vista, and Visual Studio 2005 will with “Compatibility Issues”. SQL Server 2000 will not work with Vista, and SQL Server 2005 gave me fits but I got it to work. For those that care Visual Studio is a software development tool. SQL Server is a database. These products cost a bit of money.
4. Pagemaker will not work with Vista.
5. My SanDisk USB Flash Drives will not work with Vista. SanDisk will have one for sale in May 2007. Will it also work with XP? Why worry about such things – just expect total incompatibility and you will not be disappointed.
6. None of my audio recording software will work with Vista.
7. My professional soundcards will not work with Vista.
I am sure that as time permits and I continue to enjoy the “Vista Experience”, that I will discover more issues to contend with.
So what should I do? Well, I have decided to be patient and let the software and hardware vendors catch up with Windows Vista. There are lots of serious complaints about Windows Vista, and it is a truly “different experience”, with lots of security considerations never before embodied in a PC operating system.
I considered having a dual boot system using XP professional, but the chip set and BIOS are not compatible with XP. Can you believe that I accept this and have not blown my cool? My mother and wife have told me for years, “Learn to have patience”! Perhaps I am learning but thank God I have two XP machines to work with as well as this new Vista machine!
_____________________________
Tom
http://home.comcast.net/~flamencoguitar/flamenco.html
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Apr. 22 2007 21:03:45
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Ron.M
Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland
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RE: My New Windows Vista Computer (in reply to Thomas Whiteley)
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Hi Tom,
Glad you are having a "great Internet experience" with your new computer, which is also obsolete, having almost worked for a couple of weeks.
About 15 years ago, I started to suspect something was up when I went to get a 9" bar element for a simple electric fire that was just over a year old.
I was told that they were not available anymore and that the new sizes were now 8 and 3/4" or 9 and a half.
So I bought another complete fire.
18 months later, when the element burned out, again I went to the same place to get a replacement and was told that they no longer supplied elements in "odd" sizes and that it was either 8, 9, or 10 inches!
This is how they keep the moneda game moving...
Like LCD and Plasma TV's...
A lot of folk here think they won't be able to receive TV in a year or so if they don't have one, which is completely untrue, however the Manufacturers and Stockists are not going to tell them that.
They say things like...
LCD and Plasma TV's are "Greener" because they are "digital".
(Untrue...take about the same amount of power as CRT TV's)
They take up less space.
(True if you are hanging it on a wall, but most LCD/Plasma TV's I've seen, are stuck in a corner where the old TV came out of....and Pythagoras solved that problem many moons ago.)
They are lighter.
(Not much actually, but how often do you carry your TV around?)
They display a better picture.
(Well, I've seen many LCD and Plasma TV's working next to a CRT set and actually the CRT still wins out in contrast, viewing angle and colour....in fact even my daughter who was bashing me to get a LCD TV had to admit it..although she preferred the LCD one because it was "cool" and fashionable)
As an Engineer, like yourself, I appreciate good technical innovation..
Like how you can fit 4 high quality TV digital TV channels into the space of just one analogue channel.
Then some bright spark marketing manager got them to squeeze 8 medium quality channels into the same bandwidth.
Then they pushed them further to shoehorn 16 very low quality TV channels into the same space, because 16 channels can carry more advertising than 8.
So the broadcast quality of the programme is much worse than 15 years ago!
It's called progress...
Have another Guiness!
cheers,
Ron
_____________________________
A good guitar might be a good guitar
But it takes a woman to break your heart
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Apr. 23 2007 20:55:06
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JBASHORUN
Posts: 1839
Joined: Jan. 23 2005
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RE: My New Windows Vista Computer (in reply to PacoPaella)
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quote:
Huh?? Please tell me that you are joking? I used to put this in the "urban legend" drawer...you mean to say people are being taught at design school to really intentionally build defects into things?
Well, a certain amount of product development is inevitable. But yes, thats how it works. But they don't consider them "defects" more like "limitations" and "shortcomings". Its BAD design from a designer's perspective, but GOOD from the perspective of the people who make the profits, and ultimately, that is who pays the designer's wages, and who writes the "brief" that the designers follow when creating something.
I think the best designers try and keep this sort of thing to a minimum, as unhappy customers often find alternative products. But at the end of the day, both the designers, manufacturers and owners are ALL in the this game to MAKE MONEY!
Jb
_____________________________
¡Si esto no está en compas, esto no es el Flamenco!
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Apr. 24 2007 13:46:32
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Thomas Whiteley
Posts: 786
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: San Francisco Bay Area
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RE: My New Windows Vista Computer (in reply to JBASHORUN)
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I attended a well-known engineering college in California, and enjoyed my engineering career.
One of the classes I will never forget was one titled, “Engineering Economy”. You learned two important things. To stay in business a company must come up with new designs each model year to sell product. Basic fact.
The other thing that we learned was how to design electronics equipment so it would fail shortly after the warrantee expired. These days in is typically less expensive to purchase a replacement item than have something repaired. After all, the guy or gal who made your stereo received a bowl of rice as a days wages to build - build – build! I exaggerate but I hope you get the picture.
My favorite job as an engineer was for a company in Redwood City, California, called Ampex. They produced the worlds first commercial reel to reel tape audio recorder, invented video recording, video editing, and many more inventions. Ampex video recorders made in 1954 are still in use in Hollywood at ABC, CBS and NBC studios.
Ampex had about 25,000 employees at its peak, and has about 55 now. The bean counters took over and good bye company.
_____________________________
Tom
http://home.comcast.net/~flamencoguitar/flamenco.html
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |
Date Apr. 25 2007 1:30:52
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