Vista Home Basic: LESS Features and Functions Than XP Home! >>

[The Cleaner]

Sheeha, like this REALLY makes me want to go out and upgrade to Vista. What the HELL is Microsoft thinking?

From what I have read Vista Home Basic is SO BASIC that Microsoft essentially forces you to upgrade to the next package up. It's as if you buy one of those fruit cocktails in a cup and it only comes with grapes; then they tell you if you want different kinds of fruit you'll have to pay more. It's a cocktail dammit! Why do I have to pay more when it should be included anyway?

I surmise that Vista Home Basic will be the pre-installed OS for new PCs for the foreseeable future. This means for functionality one would have to pay for an upgrade immediately after purchasing the new PC. Time to switch to Mac? I say "yes." Too many people have had ENOUGH of Microsoft's idiotic shennanigans designed to SCREW the customer.

First, looking at the various prices of the four different editions of Vista that will be available at retail gives me a headache...

How much you'll have to pay for an upgrade ultimately will depend on where you buy your PC. As reported today by The Wall Street Journal Online, major OEM's will offer different pricing structures. For example, Hewlett-Packard will allow you to buy certain models and upgrade for free. Depending on the HP retailer, however, you may have to pay shipping and handling fees.

And the Journal reports that Dell will also allow you to upgrade by paying shipping and handling fees for systems using Windows XP Professional or Media Center editions. However, the Texas-based company plans to charge you $45 for an upgrade from Windows XP Home Edition to Windows Vista Home Basic.

Oddly enough XP Home and Vista Home Basic carry the same approximate prices: $200 new and $100 to upgrade.

More importantly, Harry McCracken, PCW's Editor in Chief, says that Vista Home Basic lacks some of Vista's more attractive features and will not hit the sweet spot for function and features that Windows XP Home does.

Source: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/003020.html

[alarimer]

1. My next computer will be a Mac

Hopefully XP will work for a few years yet.

[Warpy]

9. I've got an ancient Win 95 computer

and most of the stuff out there will still run on 95.

I expect XP to be the standard for at least 5 years after the release of Vista, and possibly longer.

Phooey.

[slackmaster]

2. If my name was Harry McCracken

I'd change it.

[Bake]

12. Change it to Phil?

Phil McCracken?

:rofl:

Bake

[slackmaster]

14. No, I'd change the last name to "Balsac" or "Beavers"

:D

[area51]

3. "Time to switch to Mac?"

Or switch to Linux or Unix. :evilgrin:

[meegbear]

4. Linux - Macs BLOW!

Sure it has "Darwin", but if you're gonna go for Unix/Linux, go pure.

[kiahzero]

5. But Mac OSX is so shiny

And quite honestly, getting Linux running on a laptop is generally not even worth the effort, compared to getting a Mac and having a quality BSD backend and a vastly superior frontend. The math changes when you're looking at desktops, of course.

[meegbear]

7. I've had Linux on a laptop and was nothing ...

of course, I'm also a systems engineer, so I knew what to expect during setup.

My home machine is a Mac and it's a great machine.

[kiahzero]

8. It comes down to the specifics of the system

I've installed Gentoo successfully on my desktop, but it's mostly standard parts that are well supported. Attempting to do the same on my girlfriend's laptop, even from Stage 3, was a miserable failure. I was a system administrator for three years in undergrad, so I'm no slouch either. It's not so much a problem with Linux as it is a problem with laptops - they're generally filled with nonstandard hardware that makes it difficult to get everything working 100%.

[Irreverend IX]

15. Use Ubuntu for laptops.

The maintainers have done a pretty good job setting up drivers for all the weird hardware you get with laptops. Wifi and sleep/wake functions are now working in Ubuntu Linux with most major laptop brands.

[kiahzero]

16. Haven't played with that one yet

Might have to give that a shot once I can put my laptop out of commission long enough to get it up and running.

[Ioo]

6. HOME BASIC is the Geo - Many more steps to go...

Yes home BASIC is a stripped down vs of Vista, it is for really crappy PC's and my mother. Most PC users, like the one here, will not get BASIC.

Home Premium is what most will get.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/default.mspx


Bet you did not know there is an XP Basic, sold in developing parts of the world, and many school systems.

[Taxloss]

10. I think I will stick to XP. n/t

[tridim]

11. Don't buy it then.

What's your motivation anyway? If you're anti-Microsoft, fine, just admit it and we'll move on. If you're pro-Mac, fine, just admit it and we'll move on. If you're pro-Linux...

Fact is, lots of people are going to buy Vista for lots of different reasons. I'm pretty happy with XP-64, but I'm intrigued by the new desktop model in Vista. Have you even seen it yet?

Here's a nice tidbit of reality for you.. Stuff costs money, even operating systems. Did you pay for your computer desk? Well whatever you paid, IMO you got ripped off. See how that works? It's a BS argument every time.

[DaveJ]

13. Got the release candidate on one of my PCs

I actually like it. I like the idea of more emphasis on the front-end. The video card I have doesn't support the aero graphics but they sound impressive (rotating windows in 3D, I think?). The OS scales down nicely to the limited power of my computer, so it runs just as good, maybe better than XP did.

As far as the limited home edition goes, I suspect that may take out some of the development features that are unnecessary probably even for most developers. Most development tools like servers are not on desktops, but are remoted into by developers.