Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Mac OS X Vista refugees.

Feb 22, 2007 6:03PM PST

I ahve read many threads lately with horrid Vista tales such as this one:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=77816390&sid=1

My brother had a similar thing happen to him. He bought a new PC and it came with a free copy of Vista once it was released, a new Compaq. When Vista was released, lo and behold, his key did not work. After spending a billion , around 2 hours, working with them, waiting around 20 minutes to get ahold of anyone, he was finally told to send a recept to them and then thye would mail him a new key. He decided not to bother as he is the typical user that just wants his computer to work.

So, after some thought I have come to the conclusion that most people are going to act the same. Only the computer savy are going to go for Vista, and it will be on a seperate drive in a dual boot configuration, for the time being. This may equate to years before anything that remotely appears to be a transition to Vista occurs.

So my question and the topic I would for this thread to center around is; How many people are going to be in the middle, and realize that Vista simply is not ready and since they will have to make a switch to a new OS anyway, to have continued "support" by way of security updates and bug fixes, decide to just take the Mac plunge?

There are 2 ways. One is to buy the OS X and install on a x86 machine. While their machine is not supported the OS will be. The other is to buy a Mac. Macs pricing is comparable to Wintel machines with similar features and small differences such as being fully integrated into one piece and the huge software suite that comes with a Mac more than make up for any shortcummings otherwise, in my opinion anyway.

I think the majority will be like my brother and use XP till the cows come home. But, what about the rest? There will be some tech dudes that use Vista and probably have already hacked Mac onto their rig. I think there will be a lot of Vista refugees that buy a Mac, realizing that they can install Vista and XP on their Mac hard-drive and that the only support available will be From Mac OS X on Mac hardware, or Vista with subpar support on any number of 3rd party hardware manufacturers that allows both parties to pass the buck.

So what do you think?


Disclosure: I use a Mac Dual 2G G5.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Not a good survey
Feb 22, 2007 8:50PM PST

for a couple of reasons.
1. This is a Mac forum so you are unlikely to get a fair cross section of XP users to judge the relative merits of VIsta.
2. Installing OS X on an x86 machine is illegal. It violates the EULA that you agreed to when you opened the packet. Neither the machine nor the OS would be supported in any way.

I think you would be better of posting this in the XP or Vista forums, that should be fun, instead of in a forum that is populated by people who have already made the switch. (Give or take the odd one or two who drop in now and again)

JMO

P

- Collapse -
My XP tower....
Feb 23, 2007 4:54AM PST

... will remain an XP machine till I am forced to buy a new MS based platform.

My mac iBook will continue to benefit from all the improvements apple will provide until it is no longer a candidate for updates due to hardware issues. Then I will get a new mac. It is interesting to think that this will probably happen before I need a new win/amd machine (I was a bit peeved that mac went with Intel but I will force myself to get over it).

grim

- Collapse -
I suspect that the vast majority of Windows users will do
Feb 24, 2007 12:29AM PST

what they have always done. They will continue to use their machines with the software that they have. They will not buy a new version of Windows. In 25 years of using DOS/Windows machines, I have purchased Windows just twice. Windows 3.1 which worked extremely well for its day, and the Windows 98SE upgrade when I needed to add USB support to the machine. Both cases involved a modest purchase price, and both produced MAJOR increased value to the machine.

Like XP before it, Vista usage will be based on buying a new machine. It will not be installed to any significant degree on existing machines. I suspect most Windows users are like me. They are focused on using the machine to perform useful work. They don't much care about the 'benefits' of a new OS experience. It strikes me, and I suspect many others, as a bit odd to be so focused on the operating system which, historically, is a mere supporting player in how the machine is used. Most of the attention goes to applications, such as Sony Vegas, that actually produce useful things.

- Collapse -
Concise and informative, thank you!
Feb 24, 2007 8:00AM PST

I have just recently been exposed to Vegas for film editing. I really appreciate its versatility in accepting a wide variety of video formats rather than forcing me to reformat selected clips into files the program will understand. Happy

grim

- Collapse -
Check into its audio capabilities. Those are substantial as
Feb 24, 2007 9:11AM PST

well. The problem with Vegas is that most of its capabilities are not terribly obvious. We used Vegas for our advanced audio class.

- Collapse -
(NT) Nice tip!
Feb 24, 2007 12:38PM PST
- Collapse -
what the heck....
Mar 2, 2007 3:32PM PST

swap the darn thing in for a Mac, it ain't worth the trouble to delve into the Myriad of Windows Spaghetti Programming (MOWSP).
I used OS9 on a Tandy Color Computer in the old days, but due uncompatiblilty with the rest of the World, I switched over to Windows. Nowadays we use a clone and did a shot with Vista, but due to unavailibity of drivers (then) we decided to get rid of it. We have a programmer in our mids whose job it is to mend Windows misery all the time, you dig? So stay with your old WINXP or what you are normally using and put the Hasta la VISTA Baby ON HOLD. This is the best advise we can give you, most of the people 73% take this road(see poll by CNET). Remember, have fun , instead of worrying all the time.

- Collapse -
Interesting
Mar 2, 2007 9:59PM PST

How far back are the "old days" when you were using OS 9 on a Tandy Color Computer?


P