[TheOrator]

So, Alienware has finally worked it out and Vista is on its way--eventually. So, while I wait the six weeks for delivery, tell me, those of you who have it:

What is it like?

[Gobbler]

Sleek. Pretty nice effects, though they can mostly be emulated with XP, too, using WindowBlinds 5 or higher.

It's basically just a better looking XP, with some new programs and improved functionality here and there.

The driver support right now might give you some headaches, though. If you've bought a Creative card like the Audigy 2 which I own, then you might consider waiting a little longer 'till you switch. Even the newest X-Fi cards aren't fully supported as of yet, which has to do with Vista's (current) biggest drawback:

No HAL (meaning no Hardware Abstraction Layer) anymore. That means no more support for DirectSound and all the fancy things that came with it, which ultimately means: No EAX right now. I don't know what they've been thinking, but it can't be much.

I got a friend who's working for Creative Labs as an application developer and hell, they're going crazy with the implication of their biggest technology going down the drain just like that. They're now working on something called ALchemy, which aims to make all those neat "old" EAX sound effects possible using the OpenAL interface, which is also one of Creative's (lesser known) projects, that luckily still works in Vista. Might take a lot of time till that's functional though.

Here, I made some screenshot of what it's looking like right now, it ain't sayin' much, but hey, you asked...

Umm... yah, that's about it for now. Questions so far?

This post has been edited by Gobbler: 15 March 2007 - 12:00 AM

[Deepsycher]

Did your copy require activation through a connection?

This post has been edited by Deepsycher: 15 March 2007 - 12:13 AM

[Gobbler]

Yep. Don't know what everyone's problem with the WGA is, just type in your key et voilá - no further hinderance.

[floppydisk]

I see Azureus at work there Gobbler :D

Yeah, I've got Vista too. Main reason I got it is because XP will not run Direct X 10, which I want so my games will look sexy. I'd have to get it eventually, so I just got it now. Main problem for me is that I need RAM. At least 1 Gig. 512 is just too damn slow.

This post has been edited by floppydisk: 15 March 2007 - 01:56 PM

[Deepsycher]

Then we'll mirror the days of the 186.

Also is there a firewall I can turn off for good?

[Gobbler]

I see Azureus at work there Gobbler

Sure, all those Linux distributions got to come from somewhere.

Yeah, I've got Vista too. Main reason I got it is because XP will not run Direct X 10, which I want so my games will look sexy. I'd have to get it eventually, so I just got it now. Main problem for me is that I need RAM. At least 1 Gig. 512 is just too damn slow.

Aye, the system itself likes to occupy most of that memory when set to normal. 1 Gig helps, 2 help more, but wait a lil' before buying, prices are about to drop a little more in the next two months.

Actually, I couldn't care less about DirectX 10. Wouldn't notice the difference anyway, I guess.

Also is there a firewall I can turn off for good?

Yes and yes.

[Heccubus]

I'm not switching to Vista until it's absolutely necessary. I just got XP to behave properly, there's no way in hell I'm going through four years of bullshit again to get Vista to work the way it's supposed to.

[looktothesky]

One thing I hate about Vista is how it handles those little menu items. You know, like in XP you have Accessories, Games, etc? But when you clicked on the section it would open out to the side, but I don't like how in Vista it opens up vertically, so you have to scroll through everything.

Is there an option to get rid of that? I am making sense, right? lol.

Other than that, Vista seems nice enough. I'm going to wait until it supports more hardware before I get it, however.

[Gobbler]

Right click on the taskbar --> Properties --> Start Menu --> Classic Start menu

And if that doesn't suffice, then you might wanna take a closer look at this.

[looktothesky]

Right click on the taskbar --> Properties --> Start Menu --> Classic Start menu

And if that doesn't suffice, then you might wanna take a closer look at this.

Ahh, thank you. There is hope afterall. lol.
Using the demo instore and seeing the Start Menu turned me off -- thanks for renewing my faith. lol.

[floppydisk]

Sure, all those Linux distributions got to come from somewhere.
Aye, the system itself likes to occupy most of that memory when set to normal. 1 Gig helps, 2 help more, but wait a lil' before buying, prices are about to drop a little more in the next two months.

I'm only going to buy 1 Gig for right now. I'll buy more later on after I get a better processor. I think I'll probably also have to get a new motherboard...

[Slade]

WGA sucks because it is the ultimate obnoxious nagware, and you have no choice as to whether it's on your system once you acidentally choose to put it there. I don't like programs that automatically open themselves up when I terminate their processes, and I especially don't like things that say "You can't uninstall this." when I tell it to GTFO my compy.

No HAL?! WTF?! Do we somehow have to write some assembly to read in our sound files and pass the bits into our soundcards manually one by one now? I think my head would explode if I didn't have DirectSound to keep my buffers in check.

[Deepsycher]

Here is an experiment using some utility to watch registry files. Manually update for WGA. Find the changes and use another partition to remove them and the changes in registry. Somehow I don't think that is going to work easily for their tamper proof mechanism for which I say MICROSLAVE!

[Gobbler]

No HAL?! WTF?! Do we somehow have to write some assembly to read in our sound files and pass the bits into our soundcards manually one by one now? I think my head would explode if I didn't have DirectSound to keep my buffers in check.

Aye, that about sums it up. Wouldn't wanna be assigned to the ALchemy project right now for all the riches in the world, what with all the fanatic audiophiles (like me) sitting in their neck raging.