Vista Downgrade - Alternate OS Suggestions?

[Agnostic Bear]

Lol, what's the difference between the beta and RC?

RC is Release Candidate, Beta is Beta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwar...e_significance

[Wayne]

Thanks.

[Mentor]

Absolutely useless window managers (still haven't managed to fix vsync on ati card), horrible font rendering, having to build your own software, useless driver support on pretty much everything. I would call it a downgrade.

By this logic when you shove a ferrari in a lake and it sinks so u cant sail across, it must be rubbish?
Your using it wrong, font rendering your choice, again totally customisable, kde, gnome, fluxbox and many more. Its your choice, stop useing ones you dont like. You also get to choose whether to work with a dock or taskbar, and even use the mac style unified menus thingy

Softwares even easier in linux than windows, no hunting for installers uninstaller's, open package manager, search software u want, tick it, install it, untick it, uninstall it. Everything updates via the updated too so no having to upgrade your programs all the time, they upgrade with the O/S
Supports pretty much everything, install restricted drivers if your having an issues. (i imagine u just ran it and expected it to work - try that in windows without downloading any installers - i'll bet linux does a better job)

Everything customizable, dont like something - change it. Its got the basics that new users need and the power features for pros. Plus pretty much all softwares free and i'll run rine on hardware xp wouldn't go near, with full 3d graphical effects that make flip3d look pretty poor :p

So, i'd say upgrade.

[Wayne]

Can I still burn DVDs & audio, use Internet Download Manager, Firefox, CCleaner, Auslogics, MSN, Audacity, VLC Media Player, AVG, iTunes, ConvertXtoDVD etc. Or are there alternatives for these programs?

[Agnostic Bear]

Your using it wrong, font rendering your choice, again totally customisable, kde, gnome, fluxbox and many more.

Gnome is the only somewhat usable DWM, kde looks like they just sprayed huge amounts of CHROME PAINT all over it. *box looks horrible and is about as useful as a chocolate fireman. Font rendering is horrible on lunix no matter what you use, nothing can compare with ClearType for readability. Hell even OS X font rendering is better and that's a pile of crap at best (in before someone says "hurr durr it conforms to the real font!!!". I don't give a damn, I want readability not BLURRY TEXT)

Its your choice, stop useing ones you dont like. You also get to choose whether to work with a dock or taskbar, and even use the mac style unified menus thingy

I know exactly what I can do with lunix, I don't like any of them because they all look horrible and are missing huge amounts of stuff I like.

Softwares even easier in linux than windows, no hunting for installers uninstaller's, open package manager, search software u want, tick it, install it, untick it, uninstall it.

Package managers are somewhat acceptable as a software installer, I don't however find it easier to use them as I prefer to make backups and such of installers so I can just double click them should I be missing an internet connection.

Everything updates via the updated too so no having to upgrade your programs all the time, they upgrade with the O/S

So does OS X and Windows, they just don't update every program as that is quite stupid as I don't always want my internet being hammered looking for the latest updates of a program and I certainly don't want to be going through a list of potentially hundreds of things that need updating un-checking ones I don't want, I'd rather just have it update when I'm ready.

Supports pretty much everything, install restricted drivers if your having an issues. (i imagine u just ran it and expected it to work - try that in windows without downloading any installers - i'll bet linux does a better job)

Nope, Windows 7 fully supports all of my hardware out of the box apart from my sound card, looks perfect, runs perfect. Lunix is horrible and buggy without installing the ati restricted drivers, which are absolutely piss poor and don't even have simple vsync support. I know a little more about computers than you think I do.

Everything customizable, dont like something - change it. Its got the basics that new users need and the power features for pros. Plus pretty much all softwares free and i'll run rine on hardware xp wouldn't go near, with full 3d graphical effects that make flip3d look pretty poor :p

The graphical effects on Lunix consist of:
Wobbly Windows (Oh christ, my Windows wobble, how much will this improve my productivity? LOTS!!!!!!)
Fancy minimising which all look horrible and are poorly implemented (MY EYES BURN)
Font rendering that is absolutely atrocious (see previous argument)
Paint fire on the screen (man this is going to make me work so much better)
Rain on the screen (man this is going to make me work so much better)
Multiple virtual desktops (HEY!! where did my application go I can't find it)
A SPINNAN CUBE (man i can't wait to navigate around my CUBE)

About running on older hardware; Yes it does, that's fine and dandy but considering you can get 4gb of ram for £20 I'd say the point is pretty moot, just buy a new computer and get on with using some decent operating systems like Vista and 7.

So I'd say, downgrade.

[Mentor]

Gnome is the only somewhat usable DWM, kde looks like they just sprayed huge amounts of CHROME PAINT all over it. *box looks horrible and is about as useful as a chocolate fireman. Font rendering is horrible on lunix no matter what you use, nothing can compare with ClearType for readability. Hell even OS X font rendering is better and that's a pile of crap at best (in before someone says "hurr durr it conforms to the real font!!!". I don't give a damn, I want readability not BLURRY TEXT)


I know exactly what I can do with lunix, I don't like any of them because they all look horrible and are missing huge amounts of stuff I like.


Package managers are somewhat acceptable as a software installer, I don't however find it easier to use them as I prefer to make backups and such of installers so I can just double click them should I be missing an internet connection.


So does OS X and Windows, they just don't update every program as that is quite stupid as I don't always want my internet being hammered looking for the latest updates of a program and I certainly don't want to be going through a list of potentially hundreds of things that need updating un-checking ones I don't want, I'd rather just have it update when I'm ready.


Nope, Windows 7 fully supports all of my hardware out of the box apart from my sound card, looks perfect, runs perfect. Lunix is horrible and buggy without installing the ati restricted drivers, which are absolutely piss poor and don't even have simple vsync support. I know a little more about computers than you think I do.


The graphical effects on Lunix consist of:
Wobbly Windows (Oh christ, my Windows wobble, how much will this improve my productivity? LOTS!!!!!!)
Fancy minimising which all look horrible and are poorly implemented (MY EYES BURN)
Font rendering that is absolutely atrocious (see previous argument)
Paint fire on the screen (man this is going to make me work so much better)
Rain on the screen (man this is going to make me work so much better)
Multiple virtual desktops (HEY!! where did my application go I can't find it)
A SPINNAN CUBE (man i can't wait to navigate around my CUBE)

About running on older hardware; Yes it does, that's fine and dandy but considering you can get 4gb of ram for £20 I'd say the point is pretty moot, just buy a new computer and get on with using some decent operating systems like Vista and 7.

So I'd say, downgrade.

I can get whole computers linux would run upon for 20£ - infact xp runs on em pretty well too.
I like everything being upto date, if i didn't want a bit of software i wouldn't have installed it.
GUI will look exactly how you want it to look, if you made it ugly thats your fault, change it to a theme you like or shove your own together.

My laptop worked out of the box on linux, as did 3 desktops - for xp they needed drivers for the wireless cards and graphics cards, linux was fine from the get go.

Displays always been fine for me, no artifacts so guessing vsync works as opposed to your claim its not supported. Font renderings up to the user as well, fonts by default are pretty much 100% identical in rendered result to what u see on windows anyway? so dont know what your on about here - plus flip 3d aint all that useful ether and your missing about 90% of the gui effects... eye candy isnt necessary there for productivity, if i wanted that i'd stick to the terminal

[Agnostic Bear]

GUI will look exactly how you want it to look, if you made it ugly thats your fault, change it to a theme you like or shove your own together.

I don't want to piss about with themes installing and changing, I want to just use it without any changes, I really don't fancy spending hours getting everything perfect when Win 7 has it already done for me.

My laptop worked out of the box on linux, as did 3 desktops - for xp they needed drivers for the wireless cards and graphics cards, linux was fine from the get go.

And that's why you shouldn't use 8 year old operating systems.

Displays always been fine for me, no artifacts so guessing vsync works as opposed to your claim its not supported. Font renderings up to the user as well, fonts by default are pretty much 100% identical in rendered result to what u see on windows anyway? so dont know what your on about here

What are you on about? ClearType demolishes every other font rendering about. What graphics card do you use with this laptop of yours?

plus flip 3d aint all that useful ether and your missing about 90% of the gui effects... eye candy isnt necessary there for productivity, if i wanted that i'd stick to the terminal

Flip 3d is quite useful if you feel the need to use it, windows + tab, click the window you want with a quick preview.

[HotelUser]

@thread starter if you're still interested in Ubuntu check out wubi. It creates a virtual disk on a pre existing partition and installs Ubuntu to it. The disk ia mounted if you select Ubuntu from the dual boot menu upon starting your computer. This mounting proceedure takes secveral seconds and from there on Ubuntu works just as if you're using it from a real partition. All your files for Windows Vis- windows crap are mounted from within Ubuntu in /host. If you ever want to delete Ubuntu you can just uninstall it from add or remove progeams in XP
.

Gnome is the only somewhat usable DWM, kde looks like they just sprayed huge amounts of CHROME PAINT all over it. *box looks horrible and is about as useful as a chocolate fireman. Font rendering is horrible on lunix no matter what you use, nothing can compare with ClearType for readability. Hell even OS X font rendering is better and that's a pile of crap at best (in before someone says "hurr durr it conforms to the real font!!!". I don't give a damn, I want readability not BLURRY TEXT)


I know exactly what I can do with lunix, I don't like any of them because they all look horrible and are missing huge amounts of stuff I like.


Package managers are somewhat acceptable as a software installer, I don't however find it easier to use them as I prefer to make backups and such of installers so I can just double click them should I be missing an internet connection.


So does OS X and Windows, they just don't update every program as that is quite stupid as I don't always want my internet being hammered looking for the latest updates of a program and I certainly don't want to be going through a list of potentially hundreds of things that need updating un-checking ones I don't want, I'd rather just have it update when I'm ready.


Nope, Windows 7 fully supports all of my hardware out of the box apart from my sound card, looks perfect, runs perfect. Lunix is horrible and buggy without installing the ati restricted drivers, which are absolutely piss poor and don't even have simple vsync support. I know a little more about computers than you think I do.


The graphical effects on Lunix consist of:
Wobbly Windows (Oh christ, my Windows wobble, how much will this improve my productivity? LOTS!!!!!!)
Fancy minimising which all look horrible and are poorly implemented (MY EYES BURN)
Font rendering that is absolutely atrocious (see previous argument)
Paint fire on the screen (man this is going to make me work so much better)
Rain on the screen (man this is going to make me work so much better)
Multiple virtual desktops (HEY!! where did my application go I can't find it)
A SPINNAN CUBE (man i can't wait to navigate around my CUBE)

About running on older hardware; Yes it does, that's fine and dandy but considering you can get 4gb of ram for £20 I'd say the point is pretty moot, just buy a new computer and get on with using some decent operating systems like Vista and 7.

So I'd say, downgrade.

Ok im on a mobile device here so ill keep this response short.

1. There is absolutely nothing wrong with how osx smoohs fonts. Many people woul agree that the osx fnts look quite nice and the cleartype smoothing on indows looks like crap.

2. What in th heck is wrong wih a package manager? You dont require any sot of compiling and you don have to venture out into the intenet in search of you apps. The package manager on iponeos is a huge and sucessful feature. Something Microsoft is including soon with Windows Mobile. Oh and you think backing up installers is useful? If only installing apps didnt just require dragging one icon into a folder. Oh wait....you can do that. On osx. Then again, wouldnt want you to use an os that had beautiful/crappy? Font rendering.

3. Wobbly windows and the raindrop effects are part of Ubuntu desktop effects. Very nice looking effecrs that consume little juice to function. Oh wait, but um..Vista has nice window effects too. When windows freeze they turn a transparent white. Very nice.Oh and th new send dont send error reports are absolutely the most sexy thing ever.

4. Vista is NOT and never will be a "real" OS.

I would question calling it a downgrade if your heading to linux, linux is an upgrade. XP on the other hand is far inferior to vista so definatly a downgrade - why not just wait till win7?

Erm...Vista is inferior and absolute crap compared to XP.

[Agnostic Bear]

@thread starter if you're still interested in Ubuntu check out wubi.

Gonna go ahead and agree here, use Wubi before making any permanent changes.

1. There is absolutely nothing wrong with how osx smoohs fonts. Many people woul agree that the osx fnts look quite nice and the cleartype smoothing on indows looks like crap.

Those "many" people are a fraction of the people who would agree that ClearType is superior, it has been and always will be until they release it, which is highly unlikely.

2. What in th heck is wrong wih a package manager? You dont require any sot of compiling and you don have to venture out into the intenet in search of you apps. The package manager on iponeos is a huge and sucessful feature. Something Microsoft is including soon with Windows Mobile. Oh and you think backing up installers is useful? If only installing apps didnt just require dragging one icon into a folder. Oh wait....you can do that. On osx. Then again, wouldnt want you to use an os that had beautiful/crappy? Font rendering.

I see no problem with clicking a few buttons and installing it as opposed to "dragging one icon into a folder" as you so gracefully call it. I get to see exactly what it's installing and configure some options and settings before I install, potentially saving space!

3. Wobbly windows and the raindrop effects are part of Ubuntu desktop effects. Very nice looking effecrs that consume little juice to function. Oh wait, but um..Vista has nice window effects too. When windows freeze they turn a transparent white. Very nice.Oh and th new send dont send error reports are absolutely the most sexy thing ever.

Hey because OS X gives you an indication that one of your windows is frozen (which?) by giving you a spinning beach ball "thing" that is used for loading screens and such, definitely intuitive there.

4. Vista is NOT and never will be a "real" OS.

OS X is NOT and never will be a "real" OS.

But wait, it is! Just like Vista. Your point is moot.

Erm...Vista is inferior and absolute crap compared to XP.

No it's not, it's easier to use, more intuitive and securer, sounds a bunch better than XP to me.


And on an end note, go away, you are so ridiculously biased it's unfunny. (Guess what Operating System I'm posting from! (Hint: It has Roman in it's name!)

You see unlike you, I'm fairly open minded about Operating Systems, as long as it does what I need it to and doesn't get in my way, I will use it (This is why I dislike lunix).

I do believe you are going to ask mr. garner (hello) to close this thread. You are welcome to do so as I leave you with one word:

Told.

[Zokoli]

Just use Ubuntu, it's free and quick.
Easy to use because there is lots of tutorials on the internet on how to install things and what not.