Sick of the Vista performance FUD [modified]
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I rant. I need to get this out of my system. Early last year, I wrote a (another) petition against CNET's Vista Upgrade Advisor[^] because half of its claims are exaggerated and half are just plain wrong. But I figured at the time that I should be spending my time doing better things than defending Microsoft, so I never advertised the petition. Almost a year's gone by. More people are using Vista, yet I find myself even more frustrated. No, I don't care how much money Microsoft makes off of Vista or how much market share it gets. I don't work for Microsoft, I don't write Sidebar gadgets (yet), and I'm not a DX10 developer. I'm critical enough of Microsoft that I've written petitions against them[^] when it was necessary. What I do care about is the people who are using Vista (that's a lot of people, myself included) and the stress they are burdening because of the hysterical naysaying. All the people begrudgingly and unhappily using their newly bought computers. People keep looking at me as if I'm somehow responsible for every problem that happens on a computer running Vista (everything from overheats to Firefox crashing and flakey wireless routers) just because I'm the only person they know that doesn't hate Vista. I write this acknowledging that I'll be treated no better than Mac fanboys or Linux zealots or Steve Ballmer by more level-headed people, so I respect those who accuse me of being a fanboy. At the same time, I'm not ashamed to admit that all this BS flying around doesn't exactly make my day. Because seriously, does anyone these days have the guts to bring up any facts that might be even remotely supportive of Microsoft without pretending to be apologetic or skeptic? Don't tell me Microsoft has enough money to run its own PR. Their advertising is total garbage despite the millions that they spend on it. Apple's ads are dead on when they poke fun at Microsoft's marketing. And don't tell me it doesn't matter if everyone hates Microsoft; people hate Microsoft for the wrong reasons, if any reasons. My ISP refused for several months to replace my modem on grounds that "it's Microsoft's fault" for letting Blaster loose a year after it happened.
reinux wrote:
Memory management is evidently improved, even if memory usage is debatable.
Something that's been bugging me recently is the constant harddrive thrashing. I realize it's indexing files; what I don't understand is why it does this for 6-8 hours; stops for 15 hours; then starts up again right when I decide I need to use the computer. Everything goes much more slowly while this is happening and it's infuriating. About the best I can say about Vista is that it's "nice." That's not really a rousingly positive endorsement. One thing I do not like is the built-in DRM stuff. This has less to do with the operating system and more to do with my principles, but it is still something that affects my decision to use it. I'm using it now only for testing and have no intention of installing it on any of my machines.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. - Albert Einstein
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reinux wrote:
Memory management is evidently improved, even if memory usage is debatable.
Something that's been bugging me recently is the constant harddrive thrashing. I realize it's indexing files; what I don't understand is why it does this for 6-8 hours; stops for 15 hours; then starts up again right when I decide I need to use the computer. Everything goes much more slowly while this is happening and it's infuriating. About the best I can say about Vista is that it's "nice." That's not really a rousingly positive endorsement. One thing I do not like is the built-in DRM stuff. This has less to do with the operating system and more to do with my principles, but it is still something that affects my decision to use it. I'm using it now only for testing and have no intention of installing it on any of my machines.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. - Albert Einstein
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=284[^] The DRM has never affected me once, because it only affects media that's DRM'd. And there's almost none on the Internet. Indexing becomes less vigorous after the first week or two. Vista actually has a tendency of giving off really bad first impressions, partly due to that, partly due to SuperFetch not yet kicking in, and partly due to UAC being the most verbose in the beginning.
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http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=284[^] The DRM has never affected me once, because it only affects media that's DRM'd. And there's almost none on the Internet. Indexing becomes less vigorous after the first week or two. Vista actually has a tendency of giving off really bad first impressions, partly due to that, partly due to SuperFetch not yet kicking in, and partly due to UAC being the most verbose in the beginning.
reinux wrote:
The DRM has never affected me once, because it only affects media that's DRM'd. And there's almost none on the Internet.
Well - this is sort of what I meant when I said it had less to do with the operating system and more with my principles. I don't think an OS should be telling me what I can and can't do with my computer (beyond the obvious, of course; no teleportation, no magically inventing more disc space than there physically is for file copies, etc). Period. That an OS now contains built-in ways to attempt to prevent piracy seems wrong to me. I wasn't really referring to performance issues or the inability to play your own home movies, as in the article you linked to. I'm talking about things on a more abstract level, I suppose. Note that I don't really blame Microsoft for including it. From what I've read, they tried to resist at first, until the content companies threatened to make sure their DVDs wouldn't play on home PC's. Which of course would KILL any new operating system. Microsoft got strong-armed by the media companies just like the rest of us are. Yeah, they could have stood their ground, and I probably would have respected them alot for it. But I understand why they didn't.
reinux wrote:
Indexing becomes less vigorous after the first week or two. Vista actually has a tendency of giving off really bad first impressions, partly due to that, partly due to SuperFetch not yet kicking in, and partly due to UAC being the most verbose in the beginning.
I haven't actually found the UAC to be as bad as everyone says. Although, to be fair I'm using the first account the install created, which is an account in the Admin group. When I do switch to the Standard User account for testing, I get the UAC alot more often. In my case though, this is for software testing, so I actually WANT the UAC to come up so I know what my user's experience will be. So I guess I don't get annoyed by it. As for the indexing... I'm sure it will level off. I just don't get why it is so sporadic. Unfortunately Vista thinks my hardware won't run Aero so I don't get to play with that (I've played with it on computers at the store though). It's amusing, but not really that interesting. I guess I look at things differently than an end user might though. Being a developer, I care about how things work, not really what they look like (well.. to a degree. I definitely c
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reinux wrote:
The DRM has never affected me once, because it only affects media that's DRM'd. And there's almost none on the Internet.
Well - this is sort of what I meant when I said it had less to do with the operating system and more with my principles. I don't think an OS should be telling me what I can and can't do with my computer (beyond the obvious, of course; no teleportation, no magically inventing more disc space than there physically is for file copies, etc). Period. That an OS now contains built-in ways to attempt to prevent piracy seems wrong to me. I wasn't really referring to performance issues or the inability to play your own home movies, as in the article you linked to. I'm talking about things on a more abstract level, I suppose. Note that I don't really blame Microsoft for including it. From what I've read, they tried to resist at first, until the content companies threatened to make sure their DVDs wouldn't play on home PC's. Which of course would KILL any new operating system. Microsoft got strong-armed by the media companies just like the rest of us are. Yeah, they could have stood their ground, and I probably would have respected them alot for it. But I understand why they didn't.
reinux wrote:
Indexing becomes less vigorous after the first week or two. Vista actually has a tendency of giving off really bad first impressions, partly due to that, partly due to SuperFetch not yet kicking in, and partly due to UAC being the most verbose in the beginning.
I haven't actually found the UAC to be as bad as everyone says. Although, to be fair I'm using the first account the install created, which is an account in the Admin group. When I do switch to the Standard User account for testing, I get the UAC alot more often. In my case though, this is for software testing, so I actually WANT the UAC to come up so I know what my user's experience will be. So I guess I don't get annoyed by it. As for the indexing... I'm sure it will level off. I just don't get why it is so sporadic. Unfortunately Vista thinks my hardware won't run Aero so I don't get to play with that (I've played with it on computers at the store though). It's amusing, but not really that interesting. I guess I look at things differently than an end user might though. Being a developer, I care about how things work, not really what they look like (well.. to a degree. I definitely c
Patrick Sears wrote:
Yeah, they could have stood their ground, and I probably would have respected them alot for it. But I understand why they didn't.
Well, what specifically would they have done? I mean it works just like XP does in terms of DRM. If someone wants to protect their media, they arguably have just as much of a right to do that on their computer as you do to pirate it. You can't make everyone happy, really, and Vista itself doesn't do anything to change accessibility of existing media, so it's a totally moot point.
Patrick Sears wrote:
Unfortunately Vista thinks my hardware won't run Aero so I don't get to play with that
Aero's disabled right now, I think DivX or something killed it. I don't really care though. Its significance is overblown, really. Other than offloading CPU workload onto the GPU and reducing window invalidation, which is a slihgtly good thing for performance despite what people think, it's not what defines Vista. At least, that's what I'd say. But there are idiots out there who will go so far as to sue them for $5M[^] because they can't get it. Well boo facking hoo, your video card doesn't have Shader 2. That spoils Vista. :doh:
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Patrick Sears wrote:
Yeah, they could have stood their ground, and I probably would have respected them alot for it. But I understand why they didn't.
Well, what specifically would they have done? I mean it works just like XP does in terms of DRM. If someone wants to protect their media, they arguably have just as much of a right to do that on their computer as you do to pirate it. You can't make everyone happy, really, and Vista itself doesn't do anything to change accessibility of existing media, so it's a totally moot point.
Patrick Sears wrote:
Unfortunately Vista thinks my hardware won't run Aero so I don't get to play with that
Aero's disabled right now, I think DivX or something killed it. I don't really care though. Its significance is overblown, really. Other than offloading CPU workload onto the GPU and reducing window invalidation, which is a slihgtly good thing for performance despite what people think, it's not what defines Vista. At least, that's what I'd say. But there are idiots out there who will go so far as to sue them for $5M[^] because they can't get it. Well boo facking hoo, your video card doesn't have Shader 2. That spoils Vista. :doh:
reinux wrote:
If someone wants to protect their media, they arguably have just as much of a right to do that on their computer
Hehe. We'll save that can of worms for another day :) I'll just say there is a very large movement based on disagreement with the fundamental assumptions on that point; the disagreement is based on why Jefferson included copyright protection in the Constitution in the first place. It's not a simple issue by any means.
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. - Albert Einstein
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I rant. I need to get this out of my system. Early last year, I wrote a (another) petition against CNET's Vista Upgrade Advisor[^] because half of its claims are exaggerated and half are just plain wrong. But I figured at the time that I should be spending my time doing better things than defending Microsoft, so I never advertised the petition. Almost a year's gone by. More people are using Vista, yet I find myself even more frustrated. No, I don't care how much money Microsoft makes off of Vista or how much market share it gets. I don't work for Microsoft, I don't write Sidebar gadgets (yet), and I'm not a DX10 developer. I'm critical enough of Microsoft that I've written petitions against them[^] when it was necessary. What I do care about is the people who are using Vista (that's a lot of people, myself included) and the stress they are burdening because of the hysterical naysaying. All the people begrudgingly and unhappily using their newly bought computers. People keep looking at me as if I'm somehow responsible for every problem that happens on a computer running Vista (everything from overheats to Firefox crashing and flakey wireless routers) just because I'm the only person they know that doesn't hate Vista. I write this acknowledging that I'll be treated no better than Mac fanboys or Linux zealots or Steve Ballmer by more level-headed people, so I respect those who accuse me of being a fanboy. At the same time, I'm not ashamed to admit that all this BS flying around doesn't exactly make my day. Because seriously, does anyone these days have the guts to bring up any facts that might be even remotely supportive of Microsoft without pretending to be apologetic or skeptic? Don't tell me Microsoft has enough money to run its own PR. Their advertising is total garbage despite the millions that they spend on it. Apple's ads are dead on when they poke fun at Microsoft's marketing. And don't tell me it doesn't matter if everyone hates Microsoft; people hate Microsoft for the wrong reasons, if any reasons. My ISP refused for several months to replace my modem on grounds that "it's Microsoft's fault" for letting Blaster loose a year after it happened.
Bah
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I rant. I need to get this out of my system. Early last year, I wrote a (another) petition against CNET's Vista Upgrade Advisor[^] because half of its claims are exaggerated and half are just plain wrong. But I figured at the time that I should be spending my time doing better things than defending Microsoft, so I never advertised the petition. Almost a year's gone by. More people are using Vista, yet I find myself even more frustrated. No, I don't care how much money Microsoft makes off of Vista or how much market share it gets. I don't work for Microsoft, I don't write Sidebar gadgets (yet), and I'm not a DX10 developer. I'm critical enough of Microsoft that I've written petitions against them[^] when it was necessary. What I do care about is the people who are using Vista (that's a lot of people, myself included) and the stress they are burdening because of the hysterical naysaying. All the people begrudgingly and unhappily using their newly bought computers. People keep looking at me as if I'm somehow responsible for every problem that happens on a computer running Vista (everything from overheats to Firefox crashing and flakey wireless routers) just because I'm the only person they know that doesn't hate Vista. I write this acknowledging that I'll be treated no better than Mac fanboys or Linux zealots or Steve Ballmer by more level-headed people, so I respect those who accuse me of being a fanboy. At the same time, I'm not ashamed to admit that all this BS flying around doesn't exactly make my day. Because seriously, does anyone these days have the guts to bring up any facts that might be even remotely supportive of Microsoft without pretending to be apologetic or skeptic? Don't tell me Microsoft has enough money to run its own PR. Their advertising is total garbage despite the millions that they spend on it. Apple's ads are dead on when they poke fun at Microsoft's marketing. And don't tell me it doesn't matter if everyone hates Microsoft; people hate Microsoft for the wrong reasons, if any reasons. My ISP refused for several months to replace my modem on grounds that "it's Microsoft's fault" for letting Blaster loose a year after it happened.
reinux wrote:
people hate Microsoft for the wrong reasons
They hate them because they're top dog. It's human nature.
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Hmmmm. Oh well, I'm not going to flame it because I happen to like Vista. I like the geekier features that it provides (the much improved message box called the Task Dialog and the Kernel Transaction Manager). I'm still not sold 100% on the eye candy, but it doesn't offend me so I'm prepared to live with it.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
people hate Microsoft for the wrong reasons
Not yet used Vista but have used some of the Live apps that have the Vista lokk and feel, e.g., Windows Live Mail and Live Photo Gallery. They're pretty cool, IMO.
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
people hate Microsoft for the wrong reasons
Not yet used Vista but have used some of the Live apps that have the Vista lokk and feel, e.g., Windows Live Mail and Live Photo Gallery. They're pretty cool, IMO.
Ooh boy. A bug in CodeProject - that quote wasn't from my post. Oh well - but yes, the eye candy is well done. I just have deeper reasons for liking Vista.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Ooh boy. A bug in CodeProject - that quote wasn't from my post. Oh well - but yes, the eye candy is well done. I just have deeper reasons for liking Vista.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
A bug in CodeProject - that quote wasn't from my post.
:omg: Yep, bizarre.
Kevin