Being that I am deployed overseas, I have had plenty of time to talk with people on their Vista experiences, since maybe 30 people here have bought (mostly) Toshiba Satellites from the PX here loaded with Vista Home/Home Premium, or recently bought another brand immediately before leaving. I would say, unbiasedly that vista is a big step back in terms of usability according what people say here. The start menu for certain people is awkward, UAC is an annoyance for many, some have complained that their XP and even Vista apps do not work right (Microsoft's own Zune software for instance), but the biggest complaint of all is that it is wretchedly slow. Opening Control panel is a 8-10 second wait at times (with a core 2 duo 1gb ram) in which the icons appear one by one by one. I have received 9 different requests to format hard drives and install a copies of XP, which is exponentially less bloated, and sooo much quicker. It actually feels like they are getting that dual core CPU they paid for.
Transparent windows and fade in/out effects are great, but when it comes down to it, people expect it to work, and work well. Especially the mostly non-techie crowd in this case. If Ubuntu (which I happen to use) can capture some of these disappointed end-users who use their PC mainly for email/myspace/PrOn it will be good for everybody. I had a copy of mandrake on an old Packard Bell box I bought from a friend back in the late 90's. I knew nothing about gnu/linux at the time, but played with it for a while until I toasted something I couldn't fix, but even that short acquaintance with linux left me with a positive impression and curiosity, until a few years down the road when I tried out Fedora 3 and never looked back. Market exposure with a good product (albiet different from the norm) is bound to familiarize at least *some people*, and end up driving demand for better drivers 3rd party apps, etc in the long run. For the rest it might just create dormant curiosity for later on down the road when Microsoft denies their vista key in 2012.
Zach
I disagree that Apple has the best engineered notebooks on the market, I believe that would go to Lenovo/IBM. I don't believe the T61 "looks like crap", some individuals tend to cater to the "all business black" look as I do, rather than "trendy silver" or plain white. Thinkpads have been black from 1992 onward, while many other companies (including apple) have played with their designs to conjure brand recognizability in the crowded market.
You can't tell me you wouldn't feel a little awkward using the circa 1998 toilet seat tangerine ibook in a public area in 2007, or at least less-so than I would using a 9 year old thinkpad in the same instance. I'm glad that apple has seemed to find their own unique style everyone seems to like, but matte black fits my needs better, and has been a mainstay for 15 years.
At least with my machine after 6 months my palmrests don't wear away and reveal a the dark grey plastic underneath like many Toshibas and dells do around here.
Speaking of...over here in Iraq all they have at any PX are toshiba laptops. With Vista home. AAARGH!
MY $.02
I too have been Windows free for over a month now. Free BSD has really surprised me with it's functionality over Windows, and has really made computing "fun" for me again. Sure there are things I don't understand yet about the inner workings of BSD, but then there are things about Windows that unfortunately I understand all too well...
Personally, one of the reasons I am a fan of Thinkpads, is the lack of BS software installed from the factory. Access IBM has come in handy once or twice that I can remember, I don't consider it useless, as say the 30 "helpfull" bloated utilities that come with HP or Dell's systems. My roomate's Satellite came with unremovable advertising icons in the start menu. He already bought it, c'mon, what more do you want Toshiba?
As I was tossing my trash out at the local Burger King yesterday, sitting directly on top (where the trays are supposed to live) was an AOL CD dispensor. Suprisingly enough, it was only half full, which would seem to indicate that there are people still buying into thier "services". I was just tempted to knock it in..
Slashdot Mirror
Being that I am deployed overseas, I have had plenty of time to talk with people on their Vista experiences, since maybe 30 people here have bought (mostly) Toshiba Satellites from the PX here loaded with Vista Home/Home Premium, or recently bought another brand immediately before leaving. I would say, unbiasedly that vista is a big step back in terms of usability according what people say here. The start menu for certain people is awkward, UAC is an annoyance for many, some have complained that their XP and even Vista apps do not work right (Microsoft's own Zune software for instance), but the biggest complaint of all is that it is wretchedly slow. Opening Control panel is a 8-10 second wait at times (with a core 2 duo 1gb ram) in which the icons appear one by one by one. I have received 9 different requests to format hard drives and install a copies of XP, which is exponentially less bloated, and sooo much quicker. It actually feels like they are getting that dual core CPU they paid for. Transparent windows and fade in/out effects are great, but when it comes down to it, people expect it to work, and work well. Especially the mostly non-techie crowd in this case. If Ubuntu (which I happen to use) can capture some of these disappointed end-users who use their PC mainly for email/myspace/PrOn it will be good for everybody. I had a copy of mandrake on an old Packard Bell box I bought from a friend back in the late 90's. I knew nothing about gnu/linux at the time, but played with it for a while until I toasted something I couldn't fix, but even that short acquaintance with linux left me with a positive impression and curiosity, until a few years down the road when I tried out Fedora 3 and never looked back. Market exposure with a good product (albiet different from the norm) is bound to familiarize at least *some people*, and end up driving demand for better drivers 3rd party apps, etc in the long run. For the rest it might just create dormant curiosity for later on down the road when Microsoft denies their vista key in 2012. Zach
I disagree that Apple has the best engineered notebooks on the market, I believe that would go to Lenovo/IBM. I don't believe the T61 "looks like crap", some individuals tend to cater to the "all business black" look as I do, rather than "trendy silver" or plain white. Thinkpads have been black from 1992 onward, while many other companies (including apple) have played with their designs to conjure brand recognizability in the crowded market. You can't tell me you wouldn't feel a little awkward using the circa 1998 toilet seat tangerine ibook in a public area in 2007, or at least less-so than I would using a 9 year old thinkpad in the same instance. I'm glad that apple has seemed to find their own unique style everyone seems to like, but matte black fits my needs better, and has been a mainstay for 15 years. At least with my machine after 6 months my palmrests don't wear away and reveal a the dark grey plastic underneath like many Toshibas and dells do around here. Speaking of...over here in Iraq all they have at any PX are toshiba laptops. With Vista home. AAARGH! MY $.02
I too have been Windows free for over a month now. Free BSD has really surprised me with it's functionality over Windows, and has really made computing "fun" for me again. Sure there are things I don't understand yet about the inner workings of BSD, but then there are things about Windows that unfortunately I understand all too well...
Personally, one of the reasons I am a fan of Thinkpads, is the lack of BS software installed from the factory. Access IBM has come in handy once or twice that I can remember, I don't consider it useless, as say the 30 "helpfull" bloated utilities that come with HP or Dell's systems. My roomate's Satellite came with unremovable advertising icons in the start menu. He already bought it, c'mon, what more do you want Toshiba?
As I was tossing my trash out at the local Burger King yesterday, sitting directly on top (where the trays are supposed to live) was an AOL CD dispensor. Suprisingly enough, it was only half full, which would seem to indicate that there are people still buying into thier "services". I was just tempted to knock it in..