Why I still like Windows Vista more than Windows 7

By martin88
in Microsoft (Windows)

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Apprentice

martin88

Posted
Posted

Everyone knows Vista is the OS that everyone loves to hate. When it was launched computers were too slow and crappy for it, but I like it better than Windows 7, and 8 on modern hardware. Here's why:

1. Windows Movie Maker and Windows Mail are integrated and they're better than the Live versions, available for Win 7.
2. Windows Vista lets me use a small bmp as a desktop wallpaper, while Win 7 blurs it.
3. Two extra games for Vista Ultimate (Win 7 Ultimate has no such extras).
4. I prefer Vista's default theme and wallpaper to the Win 7 ones.
5. Vista with SP1 and SP2 is just as fast on my PC as Windows 7.

The only drawbacks of Vista I can think of are:
1. No native DVD writer
2. Cannot switch between wallpapers automatically
3. Unlike Win XP and 7, I have to click "Ok" after safely removing hardware.

 

Apart from those Win 7 and Vista are pretty much very similar, so I don't see the need to upgrade. And I like Windows 8 for tablets and the Windows Phone 8 OS is nice, but I don't like it on a laptop or a PC.
I don't care about Jump lists, Aero Peek, Libraries and the bigger taskbar. And Aero Shake and Aero Snap are annoying imo. I also find the HomeGroup annoying and useless and I don't like its icon that always appears in Windows 7 Explorer.

I hope that when I buy my new laptop with Win 8 I'll be able to dowgrade to Vista. Am I the 0only one that's sticking with Vista? :)

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
Posted

Be prepared for an onslaught of hate.

 

I liked Vista from day 1, but personally I see no reason to use it these days. It's in its Extended lifecycle (meaning it won't get any new features), and I find 7 and 8 to be better, but unlike many around here, I always liked Vista.

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Grand Master

spaceelf

Posted
Posted

Be prepared for an onslaught of hate.

 

I liked Vista from day 1, but personally I see no reason to use it these days. It's in its Extended lifecycle (meaning it won't get any new features), and I find 7 and 8 to be better, but unlike many around here, I always liked Vista.

I would think most people don't care about personal preference that much, even if we might find the reasons a bit lacking.

Veteran

Darrian

Posted
Posted

I migrated from XP x64 to Vista and I, too, loved it.  I got Vista for free from a Microsoft promotion and I was actually grateful for it.  I was already running the beta at the time, so I knew there were no issues with it (aside from having to disable UAC because it was more of a pain in the ass than a useful tool at that point in its development) and I was appalled by the bad reputation it quickly received.  Yes, there were some driver issues for some people, but most of those were ironed out pretty quickly when developers finally realized that yes, they did have to get off their ass and write new drivers, or else people would quit buying their hardware.  It's unfortunate that most developers were lazy during the beta; it wasn't Microsoft's fault.  I didn't see Windows 7 as anything more than a service pack for Vista and was outraged that I'd have to pay so much for something that was more of an update than an upgrade.  But I did upgrade, because in comparison to 7, Vista isn't as good.  I saved money by getting a technet subscription, and was able to update several computers for a reasonable price.  When 8 came out it was pretty obvious that it wasn't much of an improvement over 7, either, but it was an improvement, so I paid my $15 to upgrade (only my primary computer this time).  I look forward to 8.1.  I don't expect 9 to be much of a leap from 8.x, either, but I do expect it'll be an improvement in some way and I will find the cheapest upgrade option available and take it.  Vista was great, in its time.  Good riddance to the XP that it replaced.  However, Vista is dead now and should stay in its coffin.  I suppose some people just don't have the means to upgrade, but I really can't understand why anybody would still be using Vista when 7 is available.  It's 8 years old now, and it shows.

Apprentice

ZeroSeven

Posted
Posted

I too always liked Vista and never had any serious issues with it. To be honest I think a lot of the Vista hate stems largely from media hyperbole and word of mouth from people who had heard it wasnt very good and thus decided to preach that as fact. Microsoft made some very clear (and huge) mistakes with Vista's launch which irreparably damaged its reputation, but the OS itself from a technical standpoint was actually quite good and paved the way for a much leaner and cleaner OS. For those interested in the technical stuff, I suggest reading the Windows Internals 5th Edition book which details at length the changes made under the hood to Vista and thus all subsequent versions of Windows.

Apprentice

martin88

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I really can't understand why anybody would still be using Vista when 7 is available.  It's 8 years old now, and it shows.

I paid for it (got the Win 7 upgrade dvd but reverted back to Vista) and it just looks better imo. I know I can use third-party themes that make 7 look like Vista, but last time I did that I had to reinstall because the desktop couldn't load.

Grand Master

Nick H. Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

At the end of the day you can use whichever OS you would prefer to use. Most of the points you make are to do with the aesthetics which I can appreciate is an individual choice.

Why anyone would want to use a .BMP file for a wallpaper is beyond me though. It's such a hideous format in my mind. :laugh:

EDIT: Looks like Vista's EOL is scheduled for 2017. After that I would strongly recommend changing your OS.

Grand Master

+InsaneNutter MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

I'm not sure if your trolling or not? however your reasons seem some of the most petty ever to me... however each to there own.

 

I'll list the reasons Windows 7 was my main OS since the RC1 build, until January this year.

 

  • Aero Snap, I could not manage without it. It feels strange using a PC / Mac without it, its ever so useful, especially when you have a nice big screen.
  • Much improved Windows Media Center gets used every day by our family
  • Sticky notes application is something i use every day too, it's so much better than the notepad widget in Vista.
  • Pinning applications to the taskbar is something else i find incredibly useful.
  • Windows XP mode has been a great asset for us at work, we could upgrade to Windows 7, then still run legacy applications perfectly integrated in to Windows 7.
  • Much improved start-up time compared to Vista
  • Improved SSD support (Trim)

For the record i personally liked Vista and used it since it was in beta, however even since the early Windows 7 betas my opinion has always been Windows 7 is everything Vista wanted to be with lots of polish.

Grand Master

MikeChipshop Member

Posted
  • Member
Posted

 

For the record i personally liked Vista and used it since it was in beta, however even since the early Windows 7 betas my opinion has always been Windows 7 is everything Vista wanted to be with lots of polish.

 

Vista was important in paving the way for 7. Without Vista there would have been no 7.

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Grand Master

Nick H. Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Win 7 is so smart, it says my old mechanical mouse is optical... go figure! :D

If I had to take a guess, I would assume that's because by the time of Windows 7's release they didn't think anyone would still be using a mechanical mouse. But hey, if it works it works, right?
Veteran

REM2000

Posted
Posted

I used vista in beta and when it was released and it was a terrible OS. It was only with SP1 where the bugs in the system were fully ironed out. Windows 7 is everything Vista was supposed to be. 

 

There were problems with USB, problems with media and network access, problems with sleep and resuming. This wasn't a case of computers not being powerful i tried it on a lot of different pc's and the results were the same, it was a buggy release, nvidia and intel didn't help with their drivers, microsoft didn't help with the vista certification allowing rubbish computers to come preinstalled with it. 

 

There were a lot of bugs and problems with Vista, like i said SP1 solved most of them, but that wasn't to say it was a good release. 

 

Windows 7 and 8 on the other hand have been excellent releases and have built upon the tech introduced in Vista. 

Veteran

GotBored

Posted
Posted

I considered moving to Mac after I got Vista, even tried a few linux distro's before reverting back to XP until limited driver support required me to upgrade back to Vista again.

Vista was slow and heavy, UI was ugly and it was the first big shift from the basic Windows *feel*.

 

I doubt word-of-mouth was the reason why Vista was disliked so much because every PC user would've went through Vista themselves and actually used it.

Grand Master

JustGeorge

Posted
Posted

My main peeve with Vista was that it took a century to shut down.

Don't forget the endless HDD churning that took place if you installed or uninstalled a program. I watched that happen on a lot of machines, even with 4GB of RAM. The only thing I liked about Vista was the taskbar/Window theme.

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