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I personally have been very disappointed in Vista.  I had a hard drive fail on my personal laptop, which Dell was happy to replace with a Vista image (I didn’t order the media for XP, so I didn’t get the opportunity to switch back).  My DVD software, anti-virus software, VPN and all sorts of other software was incompatible.  I ended up installing Virtual PC to VPN to my remote machines (ending up in a window within a window within a window).  

 

I have found some features which are kinda nice – I like some of the UI changes, but some tasks have become 10 fold more difficult, if not impossible with the new OS.  Simple tasks such as changing your IP address requires you to go into 8 screens (and 9 clicks of the mouse) instead of the former 3 clicks.  

 

SP1 is in the works, according to Paul Thurrott from WinInfo.  It may require the wait until that is released, or not.   Many vendors are using the upgrade to Vista as a chance to sell customers new versions of software (and to obsolete old software).

 

-Nick Kwiatkowski

 MSU Telecom Systems

 

 

From: MSU Network Administrators Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Wiggins
Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 5:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MSUNAG] Recent / upcoming Windows Vista deployments?

 

I heard back from a few folks:

 

-- One entire academic department is going to Vista either late this year or early in '08.

 

-- One unit just rolled out 30 new machines running Vista.

 

-- One unit has 10 laptops in production running Vista.

 

-- One person cited two "entities" that rolled out Vista and the rollouts turned into disasters due to custom software that wasn't compatible.

 

A couple of you asked why I posed the question.  The particular reason is because I'm working on an article on Vista for computing.msu.edu.  More generally, I'm wondering how big an impact Vista will make when classes start.  I expect several thousand new student computers running Vista, but haven't heard much here lately.

 

As I've researched my article and read reviewers' advice, and based on my own experience, I believe that people should be strongly discouraged from upgrading to Vista on an existing computer.  If you're buying a new computer that comes with Vista, that's a different picture.  But I upgraded a Thinkpad Z61t and had all sorts of problems.  For instance, none of the 4 DVD players on my computer can play a conventional video DVD any more.  I've tried adding codecs to no avail.  Windows Media Player puts out this not-very-helpful message:

 

Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings.

/rich