Microsoft "fudged" Vista for Intel?!?

[Marquette]

Marquette: this is CFB's "hairball" and you won't win. Real world experience pales before arcane possibilities.

Sorry, just one more comment. I've been giving you my real-world experiences. Like I've stated, I've never had downtime with any machine like your husband has. Then again, my computer is vital to my livelihood so I take the necessary steps to make sure I stay gainfully busy.

One recommendation, but I'm not sure how good the product is since Norton bought them, might be to invest in a hard-drive imaging program like Ghost. Your husband can freshly install everything, make an image, and then restore back to that image at any point. I'm sure he's heard of it, but, if not, he might find it to be an excellent time-saver.

 

[Marquette]

Ok, back to the OP.

I'd like to find out more about the claims in the class action. I've already posted one article from "back in the day" wrt what Vista Capable meant. Here's another article from Ars Technica:

The meaning of "Vista Capable": good, not great

Hence, it's no coincidence that Vista Capable means something less than "Vista ideal." To get the Vista Capable sticker, a computer needs only to be able to sufficiently run Windows Vista's core features, not everything that the OS can do in all versions. In practical terms, this means that Vista Capable embraces systems lacking all of the graphical horsepower to run the Aero Glass interface. For some, this is a confusing set of affairs. I think it's confusing, in part, because Microsoft has touted a new user interface that is not actually present in all versions of its new OS.

Al already pointed out that Microsoft kind of screwed up in having so many versions of the same core product available. Between the multitide of skus, a delayed ship date, and generally poor training at the retail stores, I can just imagine the confusion when trying to buy a new computer touted as 'Vista Capable'. I have no doubt that any Vista Capable machine would be able to run the core of Vista Home Basic. However, that doesn't mean that extended features would work well and, of course, the Aero desktop isn't even part of the Home Basic sku.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My last 2c. Ladelfina, I suspect your husbands DLL problems are related to his work with VB. IIRC some VB programs require different versions of the run-time DLL's that are compatible with the version of VB they were compiled with. That IS a pain in the butt but as far as I know its the only "DLL problem" thats been anywhere near windows in a very long time, its related to an archaic language product, and its got nothing to do with windows.

When Windows did have problems with conflicting DLL versions, it had more to do with people installing too many different software products. And I think XP solved about 99.9% of those problems.

OSX has its own version of "dlls" and you can get into some interesting problems with those too. Its just that most mac users dont install that much software on the machine.

So it seems that your opinion is based primarily on second hand anecdotal evidence from old software products installed on 3rd tier hardware platforms. No wonder you're sour on the subject. My Apple experience is first hand from using current platforms starting with the IIe and progressing through the iMac and macbook. I liked them. But I didnt think I got my moneys worth.

As far as this being a "hairball"...you bet...I hate paying extra and not getting a commensurate value in return, and I have to object to people who claim an operating system is impervious to being hacked. Its just not so. If you want to say "I know its all cachet and looks and impressing other people with my good taste, so I paid extra"...well...I get that! But dont make up attributes to try to justify something when they just arent true.

I dont think I'd go with vista basic over windows XP. Theres nothing there that would make it worth the extra footprint and lack of time in the market. Vista Premium has some niceties mostly in system security and protection, but frankly Aero just doesnt tickle me. I played with flip3d for 3 minutes, oohed and ahhed over the transparencies and then 5 minutes later didnt even notice any of it. Its like high def tv. You notice at first, then you really dont.

Funny part is they put some stuff in vista ultimate that I think oughta be in Basic. Like system backup capabilities. Nutty. Definitely bad stratification.

 

[al_bundy]

reason for VB is that he probably programs for MS Excel or MS Access that his clients use

where i work we have a ton of MS Access apps. it's a MS Access file that's not only a database, but it's own standalone small application. we are getting rid of them and our devs are writing java and .NET apps to replace them. but our company is larger than a small CPA office and we have our own SQL 2005 servers for the backend to host the databases

 

[Marquette]

One recommendation, but I'm not sure how good the product is since Norton bought them, might be to invest in a hard-drive imaging program like Ghost. Your husband can freshly install everything, make an image, and then restore back to that image at any point. I'm sure he's heard of it, but, if not, he might find it to be an excellent time-saver.

One more recommendation for someone that needs to stay on the edge with software installs. Your husband should really consider something like Microsoft Virtual PC or some other virtualization solution. He can create a virtual image to do the messier stuff on and, if it gets corrupted, just restore back a previous version of the image. A semi-beefy system will handle that work fairly well and it might feel rather seamless. One other advantages if he needs to work with multiple products is that he can have a common base on his pc and then a delta in each image with the required tools.

I do understand what a pain it can be when you have unruly software on your hands.