OT: VISTA

[shinigami]

For me upgrading to Vista is out of the question. Built-in DRM crap that won't let me watch a high-def movie that I paid for on my monitor just because it doesn't have the "correct" connectors? No, thank you.

[Arralen]

Windows 95
Latest version ("c") worked quite well - as long as you didn't asked for
- networking/internet
- package writing support
- USB
...& other fancy things
Had a Win95 (without a,b,c) run for 3,5 years without any problems - until I replaced it with W2k to be able to use Internet Connection Sharing.


Windows 98
Second version ("Second Edition") is quite a nice OS - for a standalone-PC, again. Security is non-existant. Can't really cope with apps which use 512MB RAM ...


Windows ME
Crap.
Really.
The first try from M$ with the next generation of artifical isolation between user (interface) and whats really going on under the hood - where the unsecure and unstable Win9x base and M$-DOS were still present.
Consumer product with 5 years of "support", which are over by now.


Windows NT 4
With service pack 6 finally an OS that could do more than connect to a network securely. Lacked, nevertheless.


Windows 2000 (NT 5.0)
I'm happy with W2k on all my comps for quite some time now - usually 'til the HDD dies, and then I simply re-install again on the new one.
Sadly, the "Extended Support" will cease on 07-13-2010.


Windows XP Professional (NT 5.1)
If I had to get a new Windows license, I would take XP Professional at any time. It will be supported until 2014.
Windows XP home / media center edition
Castraded crap. Every user having admin rights is the cause for all the trouble with trojans/virii/spy- and addware.

Support for all versions of XP will last 'til 2014, btw.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...WindowsMA.mspx


Windows Vista
You don't have to buy the most expensive verions.
Do you really need
- support for 2 real CPUs ?
- Users/Groups with different rights (NOT everyone admin) ?
- "runas" option ?
- imaging of the system partition for backup purposes ?
- to be able to connect to a domain ?
- remote desktop server (service) ?
- dynamic storage media ?
If you need any of those, you'll have to get the "Business" Edition (369 Euro full, 249 Euro upgrade, 139 Euro system builder version)

If you want to get
- Media Center
- DVD-Replay (MPEG2)
- Moviemaker
as well, please choose "Ultimate" Edition. (499/329/189 Euro)


And what if you DON'T NEED
- DRM
- overboarding hardware requirements
- more colorful desktop
- more hidden system settings
.. what are you going to do ?????????

I simply hope that when support for W2k/XP ceases it will be time to switch to:
http://www.reactos.org/