Vista Hardware Drivers

[freeman]

Did you know that Vista has a database for hardware driver of more than 19500?!

This database is updated each time you connect to Internet!

[cdnvic]

[h90]

Did you know that Vista has a database for hardware driver of more than 19500?!

This database is updated each time you connect to Internet!

I hate Microsoft messing arround in the system while I am online.....

If slow connection, even slower due to downloading useless driver.

When changing a system file, not enough "a system file has been changed, please insert CD--NO", "are you sure-->" "really sure?", "really really sure?".......

Next update it mess your system again.

[The Coder]

I am afraid this is a trend where eventually you won't be able to use a computer without an active internet connection and more and more bandwidth will be gobbled by the operating system not unlike the CPU getting nibbled away by all the little processes running. I miss the days of having a real power switch. Flip a switch and the machine turned off. Now press the button and it's lots of questions waiting.

But the vista scope of hardware does seem pretty good as it found all the drivrs for my laptop which XP SP2 does not. Overall I haven't liked what I have sen of vista. I hate being forced to the role of a limited user where I am constantly nagged to authorize things I need to do. Before running it I had thought Vista would be a good upgrade to get SATA NCQ, but the performance is a crawl compared to XP so instead performance is going to be a big negative. I don't know if there is a machine built that can make Vista run with snappy responsiveness. I am constantly amazed that despite tremendous strides year after year by hardware that software still finds a way to slow it down to a level slower than ever before. You could boot Dos on an IBM PC off a floppy quicker than you can boot any Windows and Vista is the slowest of them all...

[h90]

I am afraid this is a trend where eventually you won't be able to use a computer without an active internet connection and more and more bandwidth will be gobbled by the operating system not unlike the CPU getting nibbled away by all the little processes running. I miss the days of having a real power switch. Flip a switch and the machine turned off. Now press the button and it's lots of questions waiting.

But the vista scope of hardware does seem pretty good as it found all the drivrs for my laptop which XP SP2 does not. Overall I haven't liked what I have sen of vista. I hate being forced to the role of a limited user where I am constantly nagged to authorize things I need to do. Before running it I had thought Vista would be a good upgrade to get SATA NCQ, but the performance is a crawl compared to XP so instead performance is going to be a big negative. I don't know if there is a machine built that can make Vista run with snappy responsiveness. I am constantly amazed that despite tremendous strides year after year by hardware that software still finds a way to slow it down to a level slower than ever before. You could boot Dos on an IBM PC off a floppy quicker than you can boot any Windows and Vista is the slowest of them all...

for most things I do, Win3.11 on a 486 with 66 MHz was more than enough.

But now you need nearly a Supercomputer just to start the OS and play Minesweeper.

Sure the wrong way.

[Simmo]

I had a try of the final vista release on a spare work PC on the weekend. The new 3d glass window look is cool & the 3d task switcher effect is useful. It gobbles up an amazing 500MB Ram sitting there doing nothing though!!

The voice recognition is amazing though, it's the first OS to get this right. Complete voice integration into all windows apps. You can switch tasks, open & close programs , click on links in internet explorer all with voice commands. And the accuracy is excellent (damm near 100% for me ) with no voice training required. I'll probably buy it just for this feature.

On the downside the new Windows Explorer is complete crap. Looks terrible & hard to navigate.

[h90]

I had a try of the final vista release on a spare work PC on the weekend. The new 3d glass window look is cool & the 3d task switcher effect is useful. It gobbles up an amazing 500MB Ram sitting there doing nothing though!!

The voice recognition is amazing though, it's the first OS to get this right. Complete voice integration into all windows apps. You can switch tasks, open & close programs , click on links in internet explorer all with voice commands. And the accuracy is excellent (damm near 100% for me ) with no voice training required. I'll probably buy it just for this feature.

On the downside the new Windows Explorer is complete crap. Looks terrible & hard to navigate.

The voice recognition will be a reason that I ban it in the office. My staff is already speaking far too much......

500 MB Ram for nothing is a joke, is it???

I remember my Win95 SE Computer with 64 MB was lighting fast, but everyone was angry that the OS needs so much RAM.

Now 500 MB for just sitting arround and some 3D effects. It is like a car, needing 300 HP to be able to stay and park and keep the aircon running.....

[Firefoxx]

It's progress. That 500MB isn't for nothing, but for the pretty (and user-friendly) graphics, the interface (again, supposedly user-friendly), the security (or as some people like to say, lack of), the multitude of capabilities (it ain't just a calculator anymore), etc. etc. Well, hey, why would we want any of that? We don't need MS Word and its WYSIWYG and multimedia capabilities, do we? hel_l, we got along fine with Wordperfect and Wordstar! Graphics, schmapics, who needs em? Who even needs a screen? A typewriter will do! Nah, too modern! Let's go back to calligraphy. But wait, we can just use rocks to pound out our business memos on rocks!

Like, we don't need that 300HP car. We can all just go back to walking around naked, au naturel. No, really, I'm serious. We don't NEED these things, but they sure do make our lives a LOT easier. Try being stuck in Bangkok traffic during the summer... would you want to do it in a car with our without aircon? Sure, you'd survive without it, but it wouldn't be something to look forward to.

[The Coder]

There's no question useful features have increased over time, but software development is changing big time resulting in the sluggish, blue screening bloat we live with now. There was a time people would hand craft performance or size specific areas with carefully crafted assembly language instructions. You had a slow processor so you made your code count. You had little memory so you made the best of it. You had little storage so used it with care. You had 2400 baud modems and made every byte transmitted count. The ONLY reason Windows 95 was created by Microsoft was because it could run on Dell who still was putting just 4MB on their PC's; NT was out of the question for this.

Those ways of writing software are gone. Now it's the land of plenty with virtualization, DVD drives, broadband and gigantic hard disks giving software developers no limits or incentives to make things small or fast. So developers use increasingly abstract programming techniques that lend themselves to big and slow. Slapping products out the door ASAP is the new name of the game. Quality is gone too--why worry if a product works when you can just slap some critical patches on the net after the fact. Linux has many examples that demonstrate nice features don't have to give up small, quick, and reliable qualities.

[h90]

It's progress. That 500MB isn't for nothing, but for the pretty (and user-friendly) graphics, the interface (again, supposedly user-friendly), the security (or as some people like to say, lack of), the multitude of capabilities (it ain't just a calculator anymore), etc. etc. Well, hey, why would we want any of that? We don't need MS Word and its WYSIWYG and multimedia capabilities, do we? hel_l, we got along fine with Wordperfect and Wordstar! Graphics, schmapics, who needs em? Who even needs a screen? A typewriter will do! Nah, too modern! Let's go back to calligraphy. But wait, we can just use rocks to pound out our business memos on rocks!

Like, we don't need that 300HP car. We can all just go back to walking around naked, au naturel. No, really, I'm serious. We don't NEED these things, but they sure do make our lives a LOT easier. Try being stuck in Bangkok traffic during the summer... would you want to do it in a car with our without aircon? Sure, you'd survive without it, but it wouldn't be something to look forward to.

the beautification can not need 500 MB. Its like you have that 300 HP car, you have a fine entertainment system in that car. It can do many things, just it can not go forward well (like in the Bangkok traffic). Wouldn't it better you skip the aircon and the entertainment system but instead you can drive on the highway with 180 km/h (instead of sitting entertained in the traffic jam)?

My win95se run stable (other ones not), but there is nothing it couldn't do what WinXP can do (well some network things but that could be fixed with small programs).

[cdnvic]

My win95se run stable (other ones not), but there is nothing it couldn't do what WinXP can do (well some network things but that could be fixed with small programs).

You aren't still running 95 are you?

[tracker]

i guess freeman is having some financial gain if vista gets anywhere....

Sure will bring me closer to linux than ever before

[Firefoxx]

Who determines what features are necessary and what features are just "eye candy" or "frivolous"? If it were up to the hard-core techies, we'd still be looking at blinking lights on a self-assembled computer. If it were up to others, we'd still be using DOS. Others still would say that Win95 was plenty. Yet others say that even Vista is not user-friendly enough, and we need complete 3D interfaces.

Question is, are any of us being tied down to a desk and being forced at gunpoint to use any of this new frivolous software? No. You're free to go back to using a calculator for your word processing if you want to. Thing is, you can't, since it's not practical. You *could* spend a week on Wordstar and collaborating with a print shop to get the same good-looking result that a secretary could do in an hour, but would you be competitive? No. It's progress, and progress gives the tools so that more people (not just geeks like you and me) can get more things done faster. Yes, there are stupid things that come with progress, but it's just a fact of life. You learn to deal with it or go back to living in the stone age.

[Crushdepth]

A typewriter will do! Nah, too modern! Let's go back to calligraphy. But wait, we can just use rocks to pound out our business memos on rocks!

Clay tablets are still the most durable and reliable form of data storage ever invented

I have a general Vista question - I am wondering if this time it has been rewritten from scratch (ie. hopefully a lot better) or is it XP with more dodgy code strapped on (ie. can we expect it to be fairly flaky).

[A_Traveller]

A typewriter will do! Nah, too modern! Let's go back to calligraphy. But wait, we can just use rocks to pound out our business memos on rocks!

Clay tablets are still the most durable and reliable form of data storage ever invented

I have a general Vista question - I am wondering if this time it has been rewritten from scratch (ie. hopefully a lot better) or is it XP with more dodgy code strapped on (ie. can we expect it to be fairly flaky).

I've not found a really clear answer to this one either. Since Windows NT was the first OS actually written by MS one does wonder. The kernel within XP came from WNT not the non-os' {DOS underpinning} Win95+98 and used the HAL {Hardware Abstraction Layer} technique. Though the name has been changed Vista functions in the same manner. It may have been written from the ground up, but somehow I doubt it. The central security revision appears to be based on the traditional multi-user computing model of a locked root and all users being subordinate to it, as per Apple Linux &tc.

Interestingly enough the original XP lines were being developed to provide a more stripped down interface for the business version. However, user panels in the MS review process complained and therefore the same interface components were activated in both lines. This time MS has decided that the options will be defaulted by system resource {i.e. 128k video = Aero} rather than versioning.

The resource issue is a relevant one, as is the network ubiquity approach being touted. If one now requires twice the capacity to do the same things, this should not be viewed as a success. Equally the functionality of the layout, especially in the Network configuration area is fragmented. This means, unless one writes a MSI or reg-script commissioning a non-MS-Standard topology is both time consuming and frustrating.

Overall the Vista experience reminds me of the swan on a strong river, graceful above, and paddling like he_l under the surface.

Regards

[h90]

My win95se run stable (other ones not), but there is nothing it couldn't do what WinXP can do (well some network things but that could be fixed with small programs).

You aren't still running 95 are you?

I may would still run it if I would get all software running on Win95se.

Now there are already some software which are not running on Win2000 perfect anymore.

So what other choice to go to WinXP and later to Vista as the older OS are not supported anymore.