It wasn't necessary for me to update, either my hardware or my OS but, i'm glad i did in the end. (Vista aside, i needed to upgrade to a new generation of graphics cards so i needed a mobo with PCIe.. but, anyway.. ) So now i'm 64 bit, and i'm Vista. Made the choice to go 64 bit to put more power behind memory hungry apps, and expand how much i can put in to my machine. Vista, because of its file sync and stability. The choice was easy, knowing tha Vista at retail ships with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the OS. My processor is backward compatible so if it didnt work out i'd fall back to the 32 bit version. Well i was pleasantly surprised.

All of my software works, with one exception: LiveOneCare does not install to a 64-bit environment. Free AVAST download, an i'm covered. My Nvidia and Audigy hardware had drivers available, and although Logitech screwed up their hardware drivers, my stuff works fine without the bells and whistles.

Some applications like dreamweaver and fontexpert required administrative privledges to run. No worries. Everything adobe runs great. I notice no performance loss, unlike when running adobe on an intel imac. I dont know if having a fall-back processor is the key, but i run 32-bit and 64-bits interchangeably.

The most annoying thing about Windows Vista so far is all the damned whiners.

Are there 86 bit also?

no, and...uh, there will never be.

(shudder)

Ya know....there are 10 types of people in the world.....

LOL! (If you don't understand where I'm going with that, find the nearest geek and have 'em 'splain it to ya...lol!)

omg, we had a TSR-80!! And a TI-994A and a Commodore 64 before we got our first "PC"....

ahhhh, those were the days....

and now I'm pretty close to obsolete, despite my continuous exposure to technology. I'm now in a workplace where I have an IT person available to me at pretty much anytime I need. While it's just FRICKEN' SWEET to go on break when the 'puter locks up and have it working when I get back, I do realize that my own personal skyllz are already oxidizing.

and to confirm my own personal experience with your commentary on end-users having really no choice in OS, I just purchased a refurbished Dell for a LOT less $$ because it has Windows Media Center.

now, guys, before you go on to bashing Windows Media Center, consider that I am an average user who really just wants to browse the internet, play/mix music, watch a video here and there... This OS is MORE than adequate for me (specially with a 2ghz processor and 2gb ram!!)

I SAVED a ton of money, plus the headaches and hassles of learning a new OS!!

Most people though, aren't going to purchase a used system. They'll want new new new, and that's Vista.

Good luck learning it, Gid! And MAN am I glad you IT guys are out there!

I won't bash Media Center. The truth is, contrary to popular belief, you can even join Media Center onto a domain (it's a simple registry edit). Media Center is much, MUCH better than Home.

with a 2 ghz proc and 2gb RAM, you probably have a Vista capable machine. All you need is a 128 mb video card, which, if you don't have, is easy enough to get. But stay with Media Center. You already have it, and it meets your needs. It's foolish to upgrade "just because". You should have a reason for it.

oh yeah, it's got that too. And while the idea of 64 bit computing is COOL in theory, I'll wait a long, long time until there's a nice stable, easy OS to put into personal practical application.

I don't think I'll have to think about it til they upgrade at work, and I don't think they'll be doing that too awful soon.

(There's not a whole lot of thinking going on in that last sentence...)

Don't worry, I'm sure Linux will come through for you.

Oops...did I say that? I think that means Bill Gates will be siccing his goons on me!

Iv'e been running x64 since early 2006.Firstly XP Pro x64,and now Vista Ultimate x64.In the early days,yes it was a pain,very nearly went back to XP 32,now glad i stuck with it.I remember sending countless emails to hardware and software manufacturers asking,no begging,for x64 support,to no avail.Even developed drivers for my TV card myself.So it was with much doubt and fear that i pressed the "Install Now"button on my Vista x64 Beta 1 DVD, allowing it to upgrade from a perfect Win XP Pro x64 installation,approx 120gig of data would have to be reinstalled if it went tits up.After a couple of hours of dreaded anticipiation Vista started for the first time.NICE i thought,now lets see what works and what dos'nt.A couple of old games did,nt,no great loss.Hardware,scanner,webcam,needed driver reinstall.So when Vista Beta 2 came along i did'nt hesitate.Things got better.Vista RTM came along "WOW" everything installed staight out of the box,even my poor old TV card.So come on guys there's nothing to be scared of,no scary monsters under the bed.x64 is here to stay and so is Vista.Why have x64 hardware and run a 32bit OS?.All the hard works been done,by we pioneers.

I said EASY! I'm not tech-savvy enough for (l)unix.



yuk yuk yuk!!!

Asked and answered   

That is one of the most uninformed comments I have seen in a long time.
I'm not going to get into the reasons why I have had issues with Vista on my home pc as I have shared that info in other threads.
I am using it on a couple of systems at work, at the present time and I will tell you that from the perspective of an enterprise class domain admin, Vista is a living nightmare that has proven over and over again how it will not run apps that are mission critical AT THIS TIME. The software vendors are working to resolve those issues but it will be later this year before said issues are fixed. In the meantime, try to explain to end users (with high influences) that are using vista on a home pc why we cannot deploy it in our network environment at this time.
As a matter of fact, most web apps that are mission critical will not even run on IE7 in an XP environment.

The Vista Ball has been dropped by so many people that it is impossible to lay the blame on any one entity. MS should have done a better job preparing vendors, and vendors should have done a better job of preparing. In any case the end users suffer. Hmmm, but of course sales are low because of piracy... my @!!.

I agree, a lot of you are misinformed, or basing your judgments on personal, limited and subjective experience.

There is nothing wrong with 64bit computing. If it does not work for you then you are likely using hardware or software that does not comply to MS hardware or software programming standards, or you do not know what you are doing. This is not the fault of Microsoft.

My 64 bit setups run perfectly, all hardware has drivers and the vast majority of it is WHQL. There are virtually no applications that fail. Things like Autocad, Photoshop, Maya, AVID, Cubase, korg music synthesizers, FSX, Tablets, programmable keyboards, HDV (HDA is currently broken in 64, but nobody uses it anyway) all work flawlessly as 32bit apps. And, because the underlying architecture is different(server code in x64), it is actually quite a bit faster than win32 as its better optimized (Even In WOW and I have the stats to prove it - we have tested this extensively).

It is nearly flipping perfect.

Why is it so perfect? Because I did some friggin research before buying new hardware, and am experienced enough to know that these things take time to get going for any new OS, be it by MS, Apple, Sun or Linux.

And no credible person in IT would deploy IE7 in the workplace... no credible IT shop runs the latest, they run the most stable. Its called Zero Down Time Tolerance. And no credible IT manager would deploy Vista on a network except as a network connected desktop PC ... its not designed for Enterprise Level Computing, Windows Server and Client are.

Who gives a crap what (influential) people are using at home or as a workplace PC (verses a proper client). A file is a file. As long as the application format is the same, the platform architecture is irrelevant (I have a mix of Unix and Windows of all kinds on the network here and they all run like they were one machine. Via a network, no end user would ever need know what the host platform is running as long as the data is compatible.

64 bit is here to stay and its not just welcome, its necessary. In two years, you will not even be able to run many high end app on Win32 because of the memory addressability limit and the need for enhanced threading.

And in ten years, when we jump to 128bit, we will be having this conversation all over again. Its called evolution. Get with it.

For the third time.. If..what you use and need.. doesnt work.. case closed.

I'll wait.. till it.. works.

I hear some whining. I hear a lot of griping. But Foxwolfen said it. It is coming. Be on the bleeding edge or the curl. It will be here.

For my clients, I dont recommend bleeding. For me? Cut me. Do I not bleed?