Looming: Vista's death?

[dee-u]

As I am about just to try it I have come across this, is it worth trying Vista or just wait for Windows 7?

[JuggaloBrotha]

I have 1 comp at home running Vista for 1 purpose: testing my apps to make sure they run on Vista and that comp is also my Ubuntu sandbox comp too. I'm waiting for Windows 7 before I upgrade any other comps from XP.

[dilettante]

I don't upgrade very often myself, but when I replaced an aging desktop and laptop over the last two years I never let Vista stand in my way. Seriously, I've had no problems with it.

As a software developer you have to do your research. Windows development rules that were unenforced in earlier versions of Windows will get you slapped down or "jollied along" (appcompat and virtualization) - and you'll find issues you need to deal with.

In most ways we'll find that Windows 7 is just a later rendition of Vista. XP SP2 was by rights a new OS too, though the UI didn't change much. Most of the major overhaul was under the hood going from XP to XP SP2.

It's just too bad we won't get Win7 as an update to Vista.


Maybe when Windows 7 is close to release or shortly after you might find a fire-sale bargain on a really nice machine with Vista preinstalled. I wouldn't hesitate to jump because it is almost a certainty that you'll be able to upgrade it to Windows 7 with little pain later on. The big jump in hardware requirements was from XP to Vista.

[dilettante]

First look at Windows 7's User Interface

Windows 7 to have same hardware requirements as Vista

The Windows 7 Blog for Developers

[Lord Orwell]

win 7 beta is available for download if you know where to look. Also i don't have any issues with vista at all either. As long as you have a good system, vista takes advantage of it. Mine has around 2gb of files cached in memory at all times unless i'm playing a game. The win7 notes don't really show any major changes worth upgrading for, in my opinion. The changes (except perhaps the "libraries" appear to be totally cosmetic and i wouldn't give it much time at all before the new features are cloned. And in fact some of the new features are stolen from other existing programs. For example being able to "dock" programs on the task bar. I wonder where they got that idea? :cough osx dock cough:

[RobDog888]

Dont stress over Windows 7 as its built upon the Vista kernel. Windows 7 is actually version 6.1

[dee-u]

Dont stress over Windows 7 as its built upon the Vista kernel. Windows 7 is actually version 6.1

Does that clearly means that if my app is compatible with Vista then it follows that it is also compatible with Windows 7?

[mendhak]

You're falling for headline sensationalism? Surely as a developer you can see through the layers being applied there.

Your applications will be fine. Whether you go for Vista or Windows 7 is entirely up to what you want. People may complain a lot about Vista, but I'm figuring it's because they haven't figured out how to disable UAC. Vista works fine as an OS and isn't a big debacle as (again) headline sensationalism will tell you. Since Vista and 7 will have the same hardware requirements, you can get the computer now and upgrade when the time comes.

[dilettante]

Here's another difference: Microsoft drops email, photo apps from Windows 7.

[Lord Orwell]

no point in including those things anyway since no one, and i mean NO ONE uses them. I have vista ultimate and the dvd authoring program won't even keep an eye out for buffer overruns. I have to use a different program because i've never managed to get it to burn a dvd completely. There are many free programs for every single vista program that work better than the ones microsoft gives you. Even the side bar: Why the heck didn't they give it a hotkey to show/unshow the gadgets? That being said, with UAC turned off, Vista behaves itself nicely and i am quite pleased with it.

[GettinBetter]

Seeing as Vista's being labelled as 'the king of bloat', (and has already seen future development halted in favour of W7) why hasn't XP taken over as the streamlined version, for all those people that CAN actually use a pooter. I read somewhere that XP64 is widely based around Server2003 and will be supported by MS well into 2012/1013. As typically todays PCs tend to become obsolete in 2/3 yrs, why doesn't someone/somecompany fill that niche driver market?

[dilettante]

XP is dead and Win2003 is dying. It is very difficult for somebody else to make drivers for your proprietary product, so nobody is going to be making XP drivers for new hardware. Vista SP2 is in the pipe and will probably come out about when Windows 7 does, if not slightly before. Beta testing has already begun so we might even see it before January 2009.

According to lore at least, Vista was developed off Win2003 R2 as a baseline, which was then used to develop Win2008 and now Windows 7.

The biggest culprit in Windows Vista crashes is probably Nvidia, who is notorious for lagging on getting good drivers out for new hardware and OSs. Most solid Vista drivers will probably work fine in Windows 7 though.

Windows Driver Testing to Begin Early.

[Lord Orwell]

Seeing as Vista's being labelled as 'the king of bloat', (and has already seen future development halted in favour of W7) why hasn't XP taken over as the streamlined version, for all those people that CAN actually use a pooter. I read somewhere that XP64 is widely based around Server2003 and will be supported by MS well into 2012/1013. As typically todays PCs tend to become obsolete in 2/3 yrs, why doesn't someone/somecompany fill that niche driver market?

xp64 has the exact core 2003 has, and in fact reports to asking applications/webbrowsers as server 2003. I dual-boot xp64 due to the memory i have. For the most part however, xp has defaulted to the streamlined version, but you can't run the newest games on it. dx10 is a deal breaker.

Everyone seems to be forgetting that vista comes in many versions and the basic one doesn't even come with glass.

In win7, the stripped out programs however will be available as downloadable content in most cases.

I have to tell you though, I personally was disappointed to see the add/remove programs changes vista made that stripped out the availability of removing windows features you don't like.

[dclamp]

When win 7 comes out, i will still be using my good old windows XP. It works totally fine for me, and i can do everything i need on it. I happen to not like Vista all that much.

[Lord Orwell]

When win 7 comes out, i will still be using my good old windows XP. It works totally fine for me, and i can do everything i need on it. I happen to not like Vista all that much.

I don't see what the big deal is really. They rearranged control panel. Everyting else can be configured xp style or turned off. The only "advanced" feature my install is using is media center. Not THAT is a program. Why can't the aftermarked people make a program like that?

Actually, one did: Hypermedia center even has the green button. But i've not managed to get the guide to work with it

As for nvidia causing crashes: I haven't experienced ANY vista crashes on either computer i had it on. And one of them not only has nvidia video card, but nforce chipset.

Well... That isn't exactly true. I had a major problem with an incorrectly installed codec. It was bluescreening even in safe mode.

[dclamp]

If it isnt broken, dont fix it. XP works fine, why upgrade? There are people still using win95...

[RhinoBull]

... There are people still using win95...

Although technically you are right it doesn't mean progress has to stop either.

[Hack]

If it isnt broken, dont fix it.

It isn't broken, and it isn't being fixed.

It is being enhanced.

[Lord Orwell]

it's true some people are using win 95, but it's almost exclusively people running computers that don't have the hardware necessary to run something better, such as a POS system booting off a card.