Sunday, November 9, 2008

Vista x64 review

I hear people say "I'll never buy Vista!" and "I'll poke my eye out before I buy Vista!" They remind me of a Chinese woman who told me she would never eat turkey. "Why not?" I asked. "Don't like turkey," was her reply. "Oh," I said, "then you HAVE eaten turkey and you don't like it." Her reply was, "No, I've never eaten turkey. Don't want to eat turkey. Don't like turkey."

I don't much care for Chinese pickled jellyfish, but I've eaten it. I can understand someone refusing to eat pickled jellyfish based solely on the name of the stuff - I really can understand. But turkey?

So when I bought a new pc, naturally I wanted Vista on it. I had to see this for myself. Not only did I buy Vista, I bought the 64-bit version of Vista. "How do you like it?", I hear you asking.

I like Vista very much. Vista incorporates Windows Media Center which used to be a separate OS. My computer's dual head video card's DVI output drives my monitor and the HDMI output feeds my TV (dualview mode). Pushing a button on the remote launches the Media Center. I can watch TV (cable or broadcast digital TV including HDTV) or Internet TV. I can listen to FM radio or Internet radio. I can record TV (including HDTV), pause or "rewind" live TV, or schedule one show or an entire series to be recorded with one click on the remote. I can work at the pc while the Media Center is playing high definition video on my TV. Playing video doesn't seem to slow the computer at all.

One thing I find a little annoying about Vista is the UAC - the User Account Control. It pops up an annoying "Are you sure you want to do this?" warning all the time. I could turn it off, but it's not annoying enough for that, and it does provide more security from malware.

Bottom line: don't be afraid of Vista if you're buying a new pc. New computers handle Vista just fine.

Windows 7 is on the horizon - it's built on the Vista codebase. Windows 7 will really be Windows Vista Service Pack 2, but Microsoft knows they'll sell more copies if they call it Windows 7.