New laptop - Should I give Vista a chance? Thread poster: Claudia Alvis
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I just bought a new laptop that comes with Vista Home Premium (32-bit) installed. Before buying this computer, I made sure that it can be downgraded to XP and all the laptop's XP-compatible drivers can be found.
Since I don't want to waste a lot of time trying out a software that has so many issues as Vista has, I was going to downgrade from Vista to XP immediately. But I'm not so sure now; apparently there's a SP1 coming out in February, which might solve many of the MANY Vista's i... See more I just bought a new laptop that comes with Vista Home Premium (32-bit) installed. Before buying this computer, I made sure that it can be downgraded to XP and all the laptop's XP-compatible drivers can be found.
Since I don't want to waste a lot of time trying out a software that has so many issues as Vista has, I was going to downgrade from Vista to XP immediately. But I'm not so sure now; apparently there's a SP1 coming out in February, which might solve many of the MANY Vista's incompatibility issues-- or so I've heard, but it's still a risk.
I have a full copy of XP but I've been told that even pre-installed copies of XP can be activated with Vista's product key, so that wouldn't be a problem. The main thing for me is the time it takes to install all the software to a new computer, and I don't want to do that twice: once to Vista and the second time, to XP after realizing that Vista is indeed unusable for a translator.
For the record, I bought an HP dv6700t with 2Gb of Memory, will upgrade to 3GB in the future, just not now. For those translators using Vista, is it worth the trouble?
Thanks,
Claudia ▲ Collapse
| | | | chord0
United States
English to Spanish
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| vista a chance? | Jan 27, 2008 |
hello
this question has a lot of sides pro and against.
first, concerning security downloads both vista and xp, have them available on microsoft.com for free if you have enough memory available and you can connect to the internet.
second, vista is fairly new that is why many people had trouble when trying to use their old software or games, because is not compatible, and some people had to install windows xp and erase the vista because they could not afford to buy... See more hello
this question has a lot of sides pro and against.
first, concerning security downloads both vista and xp, have them available on microsoft.com for free if you have enough memory available and you can connect to the internet.
second, vista is fairly new that is why many people had trouble when trying to use their old software or games, because is not compatible, and some people had to install windows xp and erase the vista because they could not afford to buy new software, or could not find compatible software for windows vista. Of course, geography or location of these people has something to do with that, but also technology when it comes to software is not always able to catch up to changes in operating systems, such as windows. It will take a few years to solve the problems with vista compatibility.
third, there is also the fact that vista menus are entirely different than windows xp, if you need help in this area, there is a free class on windows vista under hp.com.Some people are not that fast learning something totally different or just do not have the time, due to work, family or hobbies (or all 3 like myself).
all these things need to be considered, and some might not be your situation.
anyway good luck with vista
georgina ▲ Collapse
| | | | Boris Kimel 
Israel
Local time: 22:56
English to Russian
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| Vista issues | Jan 27, 2008 |
Claudia Alvis wrote:
MANY Vista's incompatibility issues
Do you mean any particular issue? "Issues" in general are incurable indeed.
Vista is indeed unusable for a translator.
Do you have any "special" programs/workflows/tasks?
It's been some 8-9 months me running smoothly with Vista on 2 computers. No issues, highly usable for a translator.
| | | | Natalie
Poland
Local time: 21:56
Member (2002)
English to Russian
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Moderator of this forum SITE LOCALIZER
Main problems for translators are caused in fact not by Vista but with MSOffice 2007. If you can install MSOffice 2003 then you will have no problems at all. I have just (a couple days ago) bought a new computer (desktop) with Vista Home Premium (32-bit), i.e. exactly like yours, installed MSOffice 2003 - and everything runs smoothly (I use Metatexis which is a Word add-in). All other programs I use also run smoothly (Photoshop, Acrobat, FineReader, System Mechanic etc.)
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Angus Woo
Local time: 03:56
Chinese to English
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Don't try that yet, for compatibility and stability are facing some serious problems. Vista in my eyes is the worst operating system that Microsoft ever developed. Also once you changed to Vista, that means you won't be able to use most of your old softwares any more. That would cost you some extra money.
Trust me, I have tried vista for months and moved back to XP. Now I have both system in my computer.
Wait another year or so.
[Edited at 2008-01-28 00:11]
| | | | Marcelo Silveyra
United States
Local time: 12:56
Member (2007)
German to English
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| With Natalie on this one | Jan 28, 2008 |
Do give Vista a chance (this is from someone who's not that fond of Windows or Microsoft, by the way) - every single one of my programs (Photoshop, QuarkXPress, Office XP, and a bunch of others) has worked perfectly fine with it. However, here's a little tip:
If any of your programs (notoriously Trados and MultiTerm, in case you use them) aren't working properly after installation, uninstall them and then reinstall them by right-clicking on their Setup file and choosing "Run as Adm... See more Do give Vista a chance (this is from someone who's not that fond of Windows or Microsoft, by the way) - every single one of my programs (Photoshop, QuarkXPress, Office XP, and a bunch of others) has worked perfectly fine with it. However, here's a little tip:
If any of your programs (notoriously Trados and MultiTerm, in case you use them) aren't working properly after installation, uninstall them and then reinstall them by right-clicking on their Setup file and choosing "Run as Administrator." This got Trados and MultiTerm working like a charm.
Now, Vista itself....well, apart from the much-improved search function, which you could replace by installing Google Search on XP, there's really not much to write home about. The overhyped "security enhancements" are a weak adaptation of Linux's (and Unix's) features, and they're mostly annoying for people who know their way around computers anyway. But it seems pretty stable so far, and I'm sure downgrading to XP will be more of a hassle than just getting used to Vista. In other words, try it. It's not half as bad as you'd think. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Claudia Alvis
Peru
Local time: 14:56
Member
Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all for your input. It seems that Vista isn't nearly as bad as I thought. I mostly use my computer to work, no fancy software, just the regular translator's programs and the good ol' Office 2003 Pro.
Gerogina,
Do you have a direct link to those classes that HP offers. I was searching the website but I couldn't find anything, just very general guides that aren't very useful.
Regards,
Claudia
| | | | chord0
United States
English to Spanish
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| about hp.com free classes | Jan 28, 2008 |
hello
the exact place for hp.com classes after much searching is:
http://h30187.www3.hp.com
they now have several vista classes, since I only took the introductory course, I am not sure which one is best for you, but the one I took which informs about most of the menus is very good and very informative.
By the way they also have some new classes on laptops
if you registered with t... See more hello
the exact place for hp.com classes after much searching is:
http://h30187.www3.hp.com
they now have several vista classes, since I only took the introductory course, I am not sure which one is best for you, but the one I took which informs about most of the menus is very good and very informative.
By the way they also have some new classes on laptops
if you registered with them they will notify you of new classes to your email.
again good luck with your vista
georgina ▲ Collapse
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I have not had any problems with Vista until now and I've been using it since November. Things have changed from the first release.
| | | | Mer286
Argentina
Spanish to English
| I agree with Natalie | Jan 28, 2008 |
I have Vista and I like it. It might time sometime to get used to it but it's no big deal. BUT I installed Office 2003, and Trados 7 works perfectly fine. (Office 2007 is awfully unfriendly to me!)
Hope you like it too.
Mercedes
| | | | Claudia Alvis
Peru
Local time: 14:56
Member
Spanish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | It can't get worse, right? | Jan 30, 2008 |
Thanks Georgina for the links. I couldn't find those classes by myself.
Angus, that is exactly what I was afraid of. Using Vista for several months and then giving up on it, and having to migrate everything back to XP. But since the reviews here are actually positive, I will give it a try. I mean, even if it's buggy, it can't get worse, can it?
Thanks everyone for the advices and tips.
Cheers.
Claudia
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