Worried about Vista?

[conanm4]

One thing everyone likes about linux is it's automatic hardware support. Well Vista is going to have something similar and unlike ubuntu will have drivers for any pc. Does this bother anyone? It seems Ubuntu was looked at as impressive compared to current operating systems. Do you think this new big boy OS will kill your love with Ubuntu?

[encompass]

Nope I like open source. I have now understood what fun having open source is all about. And you can only truely experience it by everyone letting all closed source go.
When companies will start letting things be open source this OS will be the ultimate winner. The only reason Ubuntu is lacking is that we have to spend so much time figuring out everyone hardware so it will work from a fresh install. Let the drivers be open from the start and this OS would be amazing.

[jacksaff]

One thing everyone likes about linux is it's automatic hardware support. Well Vista is going to have something similar and unlike ubuntu will have drivers for any pc.

This is rubbish. Vista, like xp, will have ****-poor driver support. The difference is all the third party device makers will write windows drivers but may not write linux ones. As nearly everyone will get vista with a new pc where the seller has made sure that all the drivers are pre-installed most users will remain completely ignorant to this fact.
Wipe the hard drive of your pc and try install windows without using the driver disks that came with your computer (ie. go searching on the net for your drivers) and you will begin to get a picture of windows driver support. Then compare this experience with installing pretty much any modern linux distro. It's having windows pre-installed on nearly every pc sold that is it's advantage over ubuntu. On features and capabilities alone there is not much difference and it's linux that has all the momentum...

[Shay Stephens]

I am leaving Microsoft for freedom. So they can do whatever they like, I am not interested until such time I can run their OS and keep my freedom.

[rko618]

I'm pretty sure that a total of 0 users on this thread are worried about Vista. Not only does XGL kick Vista's Eye candy out of the water but its really nothing special. I know right now that I won't even be upgrading my windows partition.

[Michael_aust]

Vista will not have drivers for all computers. No operatomng system can do such a thing, due to the acyural number of devices in existance (that are currently being used on pc's).

This is just some marketing thing they are putting out. I bet when you get your wireless card you will still have to go and put the driver cd in.

Furthermore if the beta releases are anything to go by then driver support on Vista is going to be even worse then xp.

[CameronCalver]

Take this for an example
Ok im built a computer for my nan the hdd had windows on it but i did not have a ethernet card so i went looking under the house i found a 15 year old card ( dont even no what brand) and put it in it did not even detect it so i though (mmmmm format c:/) so guess what i did put the ubuntu cd in and installed it then put in a blue cable and BAMi had internet and file sharing thats how easy it is

[3rdalbum]

Remember, Windows 95 was going to have plug 'n' play, Win 98 was not going to be based on DOS, and Windows XP was supposed to be secure.

[slimdog360]

I dont use Ubuntu for its hardware detection, though it is quite good.

[ELD]

Remember, Windows 95 was going to have plug 'n' play, Win 98 was not going to be based on DOS, and Windows XP was supposed to be secure.

Haha! You hit the nail on the head my friend.

[wvslkr]

I'm pretty sure that a total of 0 users on this thread are worried about Vista. Not only does XGL kick Vista's Eye candy out of the water but its really nothing special. I know right now that I won't even be upgrading my windows partition.

All I can say: Amen: but(whut's du winuhsprt??);)

[Klaidas]

One thing everyone likes about linux is it's automatic hardware support. Well Vista is going to have something similar and unlike ubuntu will have drivers for any pc. Does this bother anyone? It seems Ubuntu was looked at as impressive compared to current operating systems. Do you think this new big boy OS will kill your love with Ubuntu?

Kill my love? :D
I dual booted
I will dual boot :)

[Lord Illidan]

Come on.. XP was miles better than Linux in 2001. (better device support, less apps for linux, etc, etc, better interface, linux was still using ugly GTK1)
And Linux still thrived. And is now neck and neck if not further along the road.

Who is worrying? If anything, i'd rather worry about patents and DRM.

[_simon_]

Even if MS gave Vista away for FREE I wouldn't be interested. I'm more than happy with Ubuntu, there's no reason for me to go back to Windows.

My reason for moving to linux was the instability and high maintenance of XP.

I do like how Vista looks which is why my current setup looks like Vista. So I get eye candy and stability!

[G Morgan]

One thing everyone likes about linux is it's automatic hardware support. Well Vista is going to have something similar and unlike ubuntu will have drivers for any pc. Does this bother anyone? It seems Ubuntu was looked at as impressive compared to current operating systems. Do you think this new big boy OS will kill your love with Ubuntu?

Does that mean that Windows will run on the UltraSPARC that I'll be making my next machine then (if nothing else impressive comes along in the meantime obviously).

Vista will have horrible hardware support. Every driver will need to be signed by MS which will make it officially the most annoying OS in existence since most reasonably aged hardware will not see a Vista driver since no-one would want to take the effort to get it signed.

[bobbybobington]

i think windows is starting to die, from pressure by linux and especially apple. The way i see it ms will start to get desparate and try to use patents and drm to fight(which is what im worried about). Looking at SCO they will probably loose. Pc manufacturers and developers will jump ship and turn to linux, making it better in terms of drivers.MS in the meantime will probably stick to stuff that makes money like xbox. I agree with Illidan that MS will use nastier tactics after the suckage of vista.

[cjking]

Vista is nothing but a hyped up XP. Everything that Microsoft said was going to be a GREAT inovation in Vista when it was first announced was taken out completely or delayed forever.

I tried the Beta for about an hour and reformated the machine. I'm tired of have to buy new equipment every three years, because the lastest Windows version won't work the the stuff I have. At least with Linux I get a few more years of use out of them.

Microsoft can keep their new OS. I'm not a MS basher. Microsoft serves a purpose, but just not for me.

[23meg]

One thing everyone likes about linux is it's automatic hardware support. Well Vista is going to have something similar and unlike ubuntu will have drivers for any pc.Link with details please.

[LMP900]

I'm not worried at all. In fact, I hope Vista and the operating systems after it are good. Ubuntu will benefit from advancements in other distributions, Windows, and Mac OS X. Competition is good.

[Bragador]

Actually I am pretty worried.

I'm probably worried because I don't fully understand what's going on but the way Vista seems to force people to adopt DRMs is really scaring me. I just recently took the plunge for linux partly because of that.

I'm scared that everyone will be forced to jump in the DRM bandwagon.

[G Morgan]

i think windows is starting to die, from pressure by linux and especially apple. The way i see it ms will start to get desparate and try to use patents and drm to fight(which is what im worried about). Looking at SCO they will probably loose. Pc manufacturers and developers will jump ship and turn to linux, making it better in terms of drivers.MS in the meantime will probably stick to stuff that makes money like xbox. I agree with Illidan that MS will use nastier tactics after the suckage of vista.

I wouldn't compare SCO vs IBM with a potential MS vs Linux suit. SCO are incompetant, a child could have made a better case. IBM are one of the biggest companies in the business. Comparitively MS are huge and Linux, while having resources, is too thinly spread to take them on alone. If IBM backs Linux up (and theres no guarentee yet that they will*) then I think we will win. Without IBM support Linux could hold out for a while given the resources of Red Hat and Novell but even with the comparitive wealth these companies bring they are no match for MS in the court room in the long run.

Anyway SCO are incompetant ligitgators who can't make software. MS are competant ligitgators who can't make software ;). Theres a distinction.

*put simply, a fight between IBM and MS over this will badly hurt one company maybe both. They've had legal battles in the past but you'd be talking about industry defining if the OSS movement was being fought over like this. In order to secure IBM's support it would have to be the case that they need us to dominate the market again. At the moment I feel that is true but theres a multitude of things MS could do to make Linux less attractive and those are the things that need to be dealt with. IBM would survive the death of Linux so it needs to be a large financial incentive for them to get involved.

[jimrz]

One thing everyone likes about linux is it's automatic hardware support. Well Vista is going to have something similar and unlike ubuntu will have drivers for any pc. Does this bother anyone? It seems Ubuntu was looked at as impressive compared to current operating systems. Do you think this new big boy OS will kill your love with Ubuntu?

Thought you were leaving...so go on and take your little troll self back to MS.

[skirkpatrick]

First, I'll add my 2 cents to the discussion that wasn't the original topic.

I think that the increasing use of Linux in every country other than the US will cause Microsoft to eventually pull back to just the US as their strongest position. Of course, if the rest of the world goes mostly Linux, US companies and people would be stupid to hold out.


Now back to the topic at hand.

Vista will not have all the drives for every device. If you install a printer and use one of the "standard" Windows drivers, your printer will work but you will not get all of its functionality because Microsoft's Universal Printer Driver works for most printers and most functions. I also believe that I read somewhere that Microsoft was going to be writing the drivers for some devices, like video cards, for DirectX 10 and that video cards would need to be compliant with how Microsoft writes the driver. Now somebody please convince me that Microsoft knows how to tweak the last bit of performance out of a video card better than say, I don't know, NVidia?

[23meg]

Now somebody please convince me that Microsoft knows how to tweak the last bit of performance out of a video card better than say, I don't know, NVidia?Possible if NVidia open their specs to MS.

To the OP: please clarify where you got this information from, perhaps by posting a link. Right now the discussion is based on a piece of speculation floating in the air.