After I bought a top-of-the-line Vista machine, I found I would have spent less money going with Apple, or having a custom made machine. I will not make the same mistake twice. MS may make a lot more money on Vista per computer, but I doubt their market share will be anything like what it is now in ten years.
I do give lessons on how to work Vista..
Vista reequires previous experience with computers and how Operating systems work.. I agree it isn't plug n play like XP was, however Vista is faster and more powerful than XP...
Sure there are program incompatibilities, like programs written VB 6.. and companies complain about their software being broke in Vista because they program in VB.
There are 2 schools of thought on that.
#1. VB 6 allowed you to write sloppy code and get a desired effect on older OS's like XP on down. Vista makes programmers use standards because the OS will not interpret sloppy coding. VB 6 itself was inherently broke on many coding algorithms even in it's own help files and guides.. which is why Microsoft killed it off from support with XPSP 2. Companies still use it along with way outdated DirectX 8.0 runtime libraries to compile it. Net result.. a poor program pawned off on the public which we bought and now complain about because it doesn't work in Vista correctly or at all.
It isn't Vista's fault that it is broke.. it is the programmers who didn't get with programming standards or continue their programming education as advancements were made available.
2. You can install DX7vb.dll and DX8vb.dll into the System32 folder of Vista and then use regserv32 and register them to the system registry.. this will usually fix most vb programs unless the coding of the program itself is fubarred to begin with from freelanced programming code instead of using standardized coding techniques.
Take SFC OP for example.. the game code works just fine with Vista and most game functions have no problems.. however the networking code when dealing with Direct Play (which was written in DirectX 8.0) was for the most part freelanced coding and Vista has a difficult time utilizing it when taling to the Dynaverse 2 server kit. If the source code was available for SFC OP, then the game could be recompiled under Visual C#.net (2K3, 2K5, or 2K7) using DirectX 9.0c SDK and the game may just work correctly because DirectX 9 can communicate much better than DirectX 8 as well as Visual c# (2K7 version at least, I'm not sure about 2K5 or older) will check for erroneous coding and prompt you to fix it before you compile the program.
Unfortunately the game was written in Visual C# 6 Sp 5 and the runtime libraries were designed for Win 2K SP 1 and DirectX 8.0 (last compatible edition for VC 6).
This is why Vista can not communicate SFC OP Client very well with the Server Kit.
Also, People complain about the UAC pop-ups and disable UAC.. then they complain that their programs broke when they turned UAC off, or the programs were broke with UAC on.
UAC should never be turned off. The recommended method to get rid of the annoyance of UAC it to put it into Quiet Mode. to do this you have to download a program called TweakUAC.exe .. takes 5 seconds.
Second, any program that needs to alter files needs to have Administrator Privileges.. this is easy as well.. just right click the shortcut or the program EXE and select properties, and put a check mark into Run as Administrator. Click OK and that is that.
For programs that use utilities to edit files, you have to change the permission level of the program folder.. Find the folder that your program is in, right click and select Properties, and click on security tab, click Edit and go 1 user at a time and give Full Access permission to using the Apply button.. when done, click OK and your utilities can work the folder and files without a problem.
About 90% of my software works jsut fine in Vista once you LEARN how to use the OS. Vista is not as IDIOT proof as XP.. you actually have to learn how to use it.. just like you had to learn how to drive a car.
As for Vista, the graphics in games are unbelievable.
As for programs.. sure there are some programs that don't work correctly or at all, but Most software developers will give updates for their programs running undr Vista, others offer a newer Vista compliant version that will have an extremely reduced price with a valid CD key.. (I have Nero 6 Full edition, I now have Nero 8 from my Nero 6 CD key and it only cost me $15 to upgrade and DL an ISO of the install CD with a new key).
I'm curious why you bought a Vista machine that did not have MS Office already on it.. Usually most decent systems come with MS Office Home and Student 2007 free (and budget systems have a 90 day trial)...
As for Research.. Vista comes with 1 year of MS Encarta Online for free.
Plus if you really want backwards compatibility, check out my posting in the Engineering forums for Dual Booting Vista with XP.. I have a guide on how to get your system to Dual boot both Operating systems so you have backward compatibility under XP and future compatibility under Vista.. All you need is your Vista disk (Manufacturers OEM or retail), Your XP disk (Retail or system builders OEM version, not Manufacturer OEM), and my installation guide.. Takes about 2 to 3 hours to get everything installed.. but the guide is step by step adn very easy to do.. mostly you wait on your HDD partitioning.. And the great thing is that you do not have to reinstall Vista.. you can make your system into a Dual Boot without losing any data that you already have in Vista.
So there are many solutions to your Vista experience.. the Internet is your teacher.. use it and become wise.
Topic: DirectX 10 ported to XP? (Read 5360 times)