Lately I've been taking yet another dive into using Windows Vista. I've used it on and off since the release candidates were available in both the 32 and 64 bit versions. One of my biggest complaints has always been that it seemed like most of the software that I use all the time has incompatibilities with Vista. Also, Microsoft did something that many people have complained about with the 64 bit version. They enforce driver signing. In other words, any driver that has not been approved by Microsoft cannot be used. Also, Vista is a resource hog. Honestly, why should an operating system need 768MB to 1 GB of my memory just to load? With those things in mind, I decided to give Vista a try yet again and I must admit that it hasn't been as bad as the last few times.
First of all, most of my programs seem to work now. Either there are patches for them that give them Vista compatibility or the open-source equivalents give me the same functionality. I guess after an OS ages for a year and a half, things actually start to work (shouldn't that be the case earlier?).
Second, this time around I decided to give 64 bit a try again and was pleasantly surprised. Somebody decided to stick it to Microsoft (however minor it may be) and got around the stupid driver signing enforcement. ReadyDrive Plus installs itself into the MBR and automagically selects the Windows boot option to disable to the signing enforcement. Once I put that on there, all my drivers work well.
Third, I don't see Windows as quite as much of a resource hog now that my Laptop has three GB of RAM and my desktop has four. Besides, everyone has to admit that the GUI does look good even if the looks don't provide extra functionality.
Anyone who knows me knows that I've never been a proponent of Vista. I've preferred Windows XP for a long time now, but it seems like that might be changing. Scary, huh?
No comments:
Post a Comment