windows vista

okl.....i have the ability to get vista.....but the thing is....is cvista an upgrade of xp (i have xp pro sp2 2003) or is it a whole other os...i dont know a whole lot about it, so if it is a diff os....can i use xp software on vista....please help...and give all the info on vista that u know...even if i didnt give a spcecific question...

 

Its a whole different OS, I don't think you can use XP software on it.

Heres some info in Vista.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/

http://www.longhornblogs.com/

For some more use http://www.google.com

 

Wow I just had this whole great reply typed up and then accidentally quit... so I'll just summarize what I had down before. A friend of mine got a copy of Vista because he's a subscriber and we installed it on 3 computers. It runs great and looks absolutely amazing. They obviously spent a lot more time on visual appeal and it paid of hugely. As for 98 and xp compatability, Microsoft has said that the vast majority of xp and 98 programs will work the same that they do now. We've played a few fps games, used internet explorer and firefox as well as adobe photoshop cs2 and a few others and they all work great. Printers, scanners, cameras and all of that stuff will work just fine too assuming that their manufacturers come out with new drivers. If what you have is relatively new and is made by one of the mainstream manufacturers then you should be just fine as far as drivers go. Some companies already have posted new vista drivers and many more will follow as soon as it is released. Ok my girlfriend wants to go rent a movie, but if you want more information you can just ask me or you can go to

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...bf-4823-4a12-afe1-5b40b2ad3725&DisplayLang=en

That's the official Windows Vista Beta 2 Product guide. Later.

 

thanx guys, but when is the actual version gonna come out (not the beta version) and does the beta version expire....and if a program or os has "beta" after the name....for exp. "microsoft outlook BETA" doesnt beta mean that all the bugs and the ins and outs of the software have not yet been discovered. If so, why would they release a possibly bad version of software. the only reason I can think of would be for feedback.

like i said before, thanx...and thanx in advance!

 

I think Vista's launch date is scheduled for January 2007. Yes Beta versions are for user feedback and to help find glitches and such.

 

Right now I think the business versions are due in the fourth quarter of 2006, probably late November or early December, whereas the home versions are due in January or February of 2007 (hopefully they'll be ahead of schedule and release them all in late 2006 because I'm eager to get a legit copy of it) As for beta programs, it's exactly what you said. It's just a test release that they give to the public to try out, or in Vista's case just to developers and programmers. Most of them have a bug report feature that sends crash or glitch information back to the manufacturer so that they can get it as streamlined as possible before release. Vista Beta 2 supposedly expires on February 1, 2007 when they plan to severely limit features within the OS and encourage people to buy the full version.

 

Yeah but if you are trying to download it from the windows sight today good luck. It looks like everyone wants it. Yes, downloading it is one of the ways to get it. I have been trying to d/l it for the past couple hours. Looks like ill just have to be patient.

 

well, just to let you know. I download alot of my stuff through torrents. so i wont have a prob.

 

Right now I am downlown the vista iso. lucky for me, its only going to take 1 hr 30 min (I am dling at 600 kb/s). I want to know if I could setup the booting like the following paragraph

when I turn on the cumputer it will boot up as windows xp. but at start up, I could hit a key such as F8 and I got the option to run windows vista.

Is this posible.

 

im not so sure if i want vista or not ive herd quite a bit of bad stuff about it like of course the insane copy protection thats built in and i also herd that it only 2 hours to hack vs 2 months with windows xp

 

Yes. Install it to a different partition.

As far as the insane copy protection, a lot of that is based on hardware protection as well, which is not implemented. If you wish to avoid it, don't buy it.

 

From what i have read M$ are recommending that you install it ona machine that is NOT your main PC. My understanding is that Vista will be the dominant OS and doesn't sit well alongside XP (or any other install). Also, even though this is a beta release, when the full working version comes out then you will still have to get the original dvd of it with a license key (i.e. you will not be able to upgrade from the beta to the full working version).
As far as i am concerned, i will stick with XP for what i need it for, and use linux for the rest.

 

well i have had vista installed a few times on my pc, yes there is copy protection but only as far as the serial code goes because you can download vista off microsoft's website as an ISO for public release now.

When you install it you have 14 days to activate with a genuine serial vista code which i hear you can activate 10 installation with the same serial.

As far as the bugs go there is a lot. in my first installation (build 5364) there was lots of problems with Windows explorer and in the public release (build 5384.4) there was lots of problems concerning the respondance of programs such as WMP 11, IE 7 and others but that might just be my system specs. But there was a major problem with me for IE 7.

Its up to you but i can garantee you that you will get frstrated and convert back to XP

 

Ok, lets say i was an idiot and didn't write down my product key when they gave it to me. I just spent 8 hours downloading the ISO and now when i start to instal it asks me for the Key but i don't have it. What should i do to avoid downloading it again? Can i just get another key or do i HAVE to download it again?

 

it says that this copy on Vista is time-limited...mean it will expired on 1 June 2006. can someone confirm that this copy expired on 1st June or not because im downloading this thing right now and i dont want to waste my 5 hours downloading it..

 

@sully

If you went thru the MS site to get your key, they should have sent you an email to your acct with a copy of that key.

@valeron
It's not going to expire June 1st.

 

Yeah lol i found that out on my own but thanx for the reply anyways. It was sent to my Inbox instead of my Junk Mail where it usually goes so i had it all along lol Vista is pretty sweet except that their is always a Non-Recoverable error but that's ok.

Does anyone know how i could find my Audio Drivers that came on the PC?

 

the expiration date is [bold]1st june 2007[/bold] not 2006

 

im thinking about vista now and wonder if my hardware drives will be recognize by vista. can anyone confirm that vista beta 2 comes with a lot of drivers because i really need to try this things out. i already googled it and my intel mobo seems dont have any vista drivers but my ati g'card do. have anyone try install vista?

 

It varies from computer to computer. So you can't be to sure about it. When I tested out the early version of vista, 2 of my hardwares didn't work so I had to install them the manual way using Windows XP drivers. Not sure about the recent release of Beta 2. Waiting for the DVD to come in so I can try it out. So the only way to find out is to test out the new OS and see for yourself.