Windows Vista

[FliesLikeABrick]

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/26/0643230

[Mangled*]

XP owns all.

Macs are a dying breed and are only bought by stupids or people who don't know the meaning of anti-virus software.

Vista's system requirements are a ridiculous step up from XP because Microsoft don't know the meaning of the word efficiency.

Linux is for nerds who think they're all political and decide to just hate "M$" for being a successful company, but yet, don't seem to mind Apple who are a successful company hellbent on ripping people off.

[FliesLikeABrick]

Macs are not a dying breed, they're growing faster than ever.   

Linux users don't hate MS for being a successful company, they hate it for bullying companies and pressuring people into using feckty products, most notably Windows.  They also support the open-source development model and believe that it produces more secure, more reliable, higher-quality end products.

These are facts, and are the exact opposite of what you just said.

You should make sure you know what you're talking about before you make such bold statements

[El_Spec]

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/26/0643230

Now I see everything.  Because of that, I won't be updating to Vista for several years or until my XP system fails.

iPod are really the only thing that keeps Apple alive.  Their systems are ridiculously expensive and aren't worth the price for it.  Sure their systems are much faster and are nearly invulnerable to most computer viruses, but most programs don't work on them and they have a lot of compatibility problems.

Linux, from what I heard, is probably the best OS.  I heard it is fully customizable and is a really complex system.  It depends if you know how to actually use it.  But the downside is that some popular programs can't work on it.

[blackdevil0742]

Vista's gameing performance is only below 4% compared to xp.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/amd_nvidia_windows_vista_driver_performance_update/default.asp

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

I bought a desktop computer with Vista (I had no other choice) several days ago.  Everything was fine and all, had no major problems or anything... until I realized that Polyworks doesn't run on Vista!  Now I can't map for Soldat.  ;_;

That's odd...isn't it written in MICROSOFT Visual Basic?

[7th_account]

MS discontinued official support for VB6 in 2005. For many it only served as an introduction to programming. One needs serious brain damage to want to make their products in this flamboyantly simple and inefficient language.

For what it's worth.. If I weren't dependent on certain windows-only products for my uni nor too chicken to dual-boot, I'd fire up a linux distribution in the blink of an eye and use the included vista cd as a coaster. =/

[a-4-year-old]

For what it's worth.. If I weren't dependent on certain windows-only products for my uni nor too chicken to dual-boot, I'd fire up a linux distribution in the blink of an eye and use the included vista cd as a coaster. =/

It's not as good as you may think. I have ubuntu and I almost never boot it. If I do it is because I was looking away from the boot screen and let time tick away.

[El_Spec]

I have confirmed this with my mother and she has been finally convinced to buy a system running XP.  As for the actual system, we're still searching some sites and looking for some good deals.  The link of the one I posted earlier seems to be the best choice, for the price.

[Eagles_Arrows]

I bought a desktop computer with Vista (I had no other choice) several days ago.  Everything was fine and all, had no major problems or anything... until I realized that Polyworks doesn't run on Vista!  Now I can't map for Soldat.  ;_;

That's odd...isn't it written in MICROSOFT Visual Basic?

Yes, but I am missing dx8vb.dll, which I am assuming has to do with Direct X.

EDIT: Haha, I got Polyworks to work now.  I downloaded the .dll, moved it to my system32 folder, and registered it via command prompt.

[FliesLikeABrick]

Linux, from what I heard, is probably the best OS.  I heard it is fully customizable and is a really complex system.  It depends if you know how to actually use it.  But the downside is that some popular programs can't work on it.

Once you're used to it, it is 1000x more simple than Windows.  On windows fixing/changing things often requires doing things that don't make sense and aren't what you expect.  With Linux, you have the ability to learn everything about the OS since it isn't all hidden away.  Everything makes sense as it is the result of tens or hundreds f thousands of peoples' logic put into one end product.  The reason you can customize and optimize so much of Linux to your needs is because it is all open and is intended to be as usable as possible.

On Windows, you generally can't fix a problem you've never seen before unless someone tells you where to look or it is extremely similar to something you've dealt with before.  On Linux, you can figure it out.  There is proper logging for everything and most error messages actually mean something and are useful in tracking down what problems are being caused by what.

I could go on for hours, but I figured that this is the most relevant to this discussion

[mxyzptlk]

related:
XP SP3 out shines Vista SP1 is benchmark tests

[a-4-year-old]

related:
XP SP3 out shines Vista SP1 is benchmark tests

Ah, interesting. It seems that with the other benchmark, noted by blackdevil; a high end system (aka; 2 gigs of ram) doesn't have nearly as large of a drawback in efficiency.