Windows Vista

[mikeschn]

Is anyone here playing with Windows Vista yet?

We just loaded it on a laptop yesterday. So far it's looking good!

Mike...

[rainjer]

I signed up for the Vista Beta about two months ago. I am still waiting for my software.

[mikeschn]

Why not just download it. It's quicker.

Mike...

[Nitetimes]

Why not just download it. It's quicker.

Mike...

Yep, only took me a few hours and they said it was really slow then...?
It's interesting...but a little annoying and even bulkier than XP. If they can get it flushed out and make it a little easier to navigate it won't be too bad.
I haven't had as much time to play with it as I would have liked.
BTW- Have you found the 'run' command anywhere. I can't seem to scare it up.

[Mike B]

Is anyone here playing with Windows Vista yet?

We just loaded it on a laptop yesterday. So far it's looking good!

Mike...

<begin_religous_rant>Why? Why not download an operating system where most of the applications are free? And that has no DRM, outrageous licensing and no

Viruses
Infections
Spyware
Trojans
Adware?

An O/S that doesn't crash if you look at it cross-eyed?

I am a professional software engineer, and I am forced to write programs for that sorry excuse of an operating system, 40 hours a week. Too bad the Microsoft marketing machine has such a stranglehold on the computing public. I'd rather be using Linux, BSD Unix or OS/X any day.</end_religous_rant>

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

[mikeschn]

Mike,

I have to run programs that are compiled for Windoze... otherwise I would be running Linux.

I can't tell you the number of times I've loaded the flavor of the month onto my extra seat... once I got done playing with email and browsing, I had to go back to Windows to use my applications.

Mike...

[Nitetimes]

<begin_religous_rant>Why? Why not download an operating system where most of the applications are free? And that has no DRM, outrageous licensing and no

Viruses
Infections
Spyware
Trojans
Adware?

An O/S that doesn't crash if you look at it cross-eyed?

I am a professional software engineer, and I am forced to write programs for that sorry excuse of an operating system, 40 hours a week. Too bad the Microsoft marketing machine has such a stranglehold on the computing public. I'd rather be using Linux, BSD Unix or OS/X any day.</end_religous_rant>

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

Well lets see, mainly because none of my .exe type programs will work on any of those. I have upwards of 200 programs on my PC right now... only a few of which will work on Linux and I still don't think any (real) games will work on it. Oh , and that whole /xxxxxx/xxxxx/ thing is a pain in the ass too.
Something else I have noticed is that from everything I have heard Linux is suposed to work fine on older slower PC's... not on any I've tried it on. I have also loaded it on up to 2Ghz PC's and didn't see any real gain in speed over XP.
Yep, Windows is junk but until Linux gets more user friendly it'll never get a good market share.
Tried Linspire too.... it sucked!

[Mike B]

Since I program Windows at work, and I wanted to learn more about the programming environment at home, I installed a program called Parallels on my Linux workstation. I then used that program to create a virtual operating system using Windows 2000, and loaded the programming environment into it.

So I have the best of both worlds (if there is a best to MS). I do most stuff in Linux, and if I need to run a Windows program, I bring up Parallels in a window. I'm then running Windows in a window in Linux. (Whew!)

So break those chains. Don't let big corporations push you around any more. Drink tea instead of coffee. Vote Libertarian. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain....

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

[mikeschn]

and if I need to run a Windows program, I bring up Parallels in a window. I'm then running Windows in a window in Linux. (Whew!

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

Hey Mike,

Tell me more about this Parallels... Will it run everything? Is it an emulator? Is it slow?

Chell just noticed that it's available for the Intel Macs... but she has to get an Intel Mac first before she can try Parallels...

Mike...

[toypusher]

Sounds interesting! Along the lines of VM Ware??

[Mike B]

Hey Mike,

Tell me more about this Parallels... Will it run everything? Is it an emulator? Is it slow?

Parallels is not an emulator. It is a virtualizing program, exactly like VMWare, except it costs $50 and VMWare costs a lot more. Since you are actually running your software on the real O/S (in a virtual window), all your Windows programs should run in it.

You can get Parallels to use with Windows, Linux or Mac OS/X. So on a Mac, you can run Windows and Linux. On Windows, you can run Linux and Windows. On Linux you can run Windows and Linux. You can actually create as many virtual O/S's as you have room for on your hard disk. Parallels runs really fast, since it is not emulating anything.

Once you have created a virtual O/S, you can download and install Parallels Tools (for free), which provides enhanced peripheral support, like display resolution greater than 640x480, more than 16 colors, better mouse and sound support, etc.

I started my new job today, and as a result of having this loaded, I was somewhat familar with MS Visual Studio instead of being totally at sea. It is very useful.

Oh, yeah. They have a free trial program, too.

Disclaimer: I write insurance software. I do not work for Parallels.

Mike
Hayden Lake, ID

[mikeschn]

Mike,

We'll be trying it soon!

Mike...