Ask HN: Does Vista sucks with everyone or just with me ?

by digamber_kamat on 6/5/2009, 9:41 AM with 4 comments

I was an XP user and was involved in a lot of Open Source software development. Mostly PHP and JAVA. I must say I was happy with XP.

I recently brought a new Laptop. It said it is vista read and will ship only with Vista. I brought it thinking Vista is a upgrade to XP hence I am buying a state of art Laptop.(not to mention under a nice term "disk management" they charged me a good amount just to create for partitions of hard drive instead of just a c:\)

I am totally mad with Vista. It keeps on poping up security concerns assuming I am a fool. It has so many processes running in background that I just cant work with Netbeans.

Many applications which worked on XP doesn't work here. It fails to detect wireless hub.

Worst when I tried to install XP on it, I realized that the BIOS simple refuses to do so. Probably i have goofed up with some settings.

Even if I install I don't think it will be of much use because the manual clearly says that they will not proved XP specific drivers at all.

Overall the whole machine is completely unusable and user experience really sucks so hard that I feel like banging my head on wall.

All my friends laughed at me when I told them that I tried out Vista making me look like a fool.

I just wanted to know whether all the developers on HN too had same experience or was it that my Laptop Vendor was a cheat, or is it just a matter of Habit, or the Vista really sucks that hard ?

And another most important question. Can I install Ubuntu on my made for Vista Laptop?

  • by pedalpete on 6/5/2009, 5:19 PM

    Of course you can install Ubuntu, but it sounds very strange that your laptop is THAT poor at running Vista.

    I ran Vista for about 8 months before upgrading to Windows 7, and though Vista definately did some ridiculously stupid things, I never had issues with 'performance' (I'm running 64 bit version for mysql).

    You didn't say who the laptop vendor was. How long have you had the laptop. If it is that poor, I'd return it and get another one.

    I've been running Windows 7 for a few weeks now, and it has been a really good experience. A few bugs (window flickering, and strangely HDMI doesn't support sound), but I have no problem recommending it. And for the time being it is free.

  • by CyberFonic on 6/6/2009, 1:46 AM

    I have had similar experiences with a Compaq Presario C700. Got it cheap. Even after a memory upgrade to 1.5G it ran erratically and the security screens and automated updates drove me to distraction. Sometimes it would take 45 minutes after power up before I could actually get some work done.

    Have installed Ubuntu v9.04 over Vista and everything works fine. (The WiFi required a bit of Googling to locate the drivers) The only remaining problem is an APM issue when powering up or restarting. The BIOS goes into some strange mode. A very small price to pay for the convenience of a system that runs fast and doesn't waste my time protecting me from myself.

  • by quoderat on 6/5/2009, 12:32 PM

    You should be able to install Ubuntu with no problem.

    I am not sure why Vista is so terrible, but it certainly is. I loved XP and like Windows 7, but it was about time that Microsoft release another Windows ME, I guess.

    I used Vista for a year, and hated it the whole while. I am a masochist is the only explanation I can think of.

  • by jcapote on 6/5/2009, 11:26 AM

    Vista does suck. It's at least twice as slow as XP on the same hardware. Nowadays, the latest Ubuntu provides a better experience overall.

  • by jibiki on 6/5/2009, 5:32 PM

    > Can I install Ubuntu on my made for Vista Laptop?

    That's what I did. There was some trouble with drivers, but nothing too bad.