Vista

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » 23 Feb 2008 19:53

I just got a new computer and of course it came preinstalled with Vista. So far all I can say about it is SHINY! Has a lot of cool bells and whistles, don't know if it's going to be a pain in the ass yet.

Anyone else using Vista?

Crysknife · Post by **Crysknife** » 23 Feb 2008 19:58

Hell no, I'm still using an Atari!

Seriously, my machine belongs in a museum.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 23 Feb 2008 20:10

Yeah, OS X is neat, isn't it, even as a ghola!

Rakis · Post by **Rakis** » 23 Feb 2008 21:01

Mandy wrote:I just got a new computer and of course it came preinstalled with Vista. So far all I can say about it is SHINY! Has a lot of cool bells and whistles, don't know if it's going to be a pain in the ass yet.

Anyone else using Vista?

Still with XP and intend to keep it until Vista gets a Service pack 2 or something to work out the bugs...although i have a cool little program that gives XP the Shiny of Vista !

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » 23 Feb 2008 21:11

Don't you love the window pane thingies? That's probably the coolest thing I've seen so far about it. The security alerts are annoying as hell, but I don't download much anyway.. if I ever get high speed internet I'm gonna shut that feature off.

I miss Firefox.. I was thinking of hanging with IE7 for awhile, but I need adblock plus. Too bad IE doesn't have that feature.

Rakis · Post by **Rakis** » 23 Feb 2008 21:17

Mandy wrote:Don't you love the window pane thingies? That's probably the coolest thing I've seen so far about it. The security alerts are annoying as hell, but I don't download much anyway.. if I ever get high speed internet I'm gonna shut that feature off.

I miss Firefox.. I was thinking of hanging with IE7 for awhile, but I need adblock plus. Too bad IE doesn't have that feature.

Well, why don't you use Firefox ? You can use it with Vista...

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 23 Feb 2008 21:24

Yeah, doesn't the latest XP version run on Vista? Surely the Firefox people have put out a Vista version by now?

Anyway, the new Word doc format has been a pain in the ass already. I got tired of having to mail back students telling them to resend their file attachments saved in the old Word format (which my Mac apps can read) and told them to just paste their work into the actual mail message. Has Microslop issued an explanation for changing the format yet again?

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 23 Feb 2008 21:28

SandChigger wrote:Yeah, doesn't the latest XP version run on Vista? Surely the Firefox people have put out a Vista version by now?

Anyway, the new Word doc format has been a pain in the ass already. I got tired of having to mail back students telling them to resend their file attachments saved in the old Word format (which my Mac apps can read) and told them to just paste their work into the actual mail message. Has Microslop issued an explanation for changing the format yet again?

So thay can justify charging 400 bucks for the new Office Suite. I use Pages which is part of the iworks 08 suite and have no problems and it was only 70 bucks.

Rob

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » 23 Feb 2008 21:30

I'm gonna install Firefox, just haven't got to it yet. One thing at a time! I wish someone would install some high speed internet where I live.

Oooo.. just discovered the gadgets SHINY.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 23 Feb 2008 22:02

Gadgets...those are the Vista version of widgets, right?

Thanks for the tip, Rob. I haven't upgraded my version of iWorks yet. (With all the renovation work at the uni, the "hitech" classrooms have been at a premium and I didn't have any with projectors this past year, so I didn't use Keynote much. And I use Nisus Writer so I never had much use for Pages. Guess it's time, huh?

)

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 23 Feb 2008 22:56

Or you can download neo office, http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

its free and handles excel, powerpoint, and word documents, its workable, you may have to tweak some of the settings but for freeware its worth the price.

Rob

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » 24 Feb 2008 10:59

Are widgets a Mac thing?

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 24 Feb 2008 11:53

Mandy wrote:Are widgets a Mac thing?

That is just the name given to them, in vista they are gadgets. A lot of the shine and wow of vista us Mac users have been use to for several years now, Microsoft is so far behind Apple is not even funny. Apple excels at creating and integrating user friendly interfaces into its products.

Rob

Mandy · Post by **Mandy** » 24 Feb 2008 12:31

Finally... I have Firefox, what a relief. I <3 adblock plus.

The gadgets are neat, but they don't actually do that much to enhance my internet experience. The CPU gauge is cool, looks like the dials on a car's dashboard.

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 24 Feb 2008 14:47

I like how the Mac sets them up you have what they call a dashboard and its semi-transparent like an overlay over your desktop when you activate it. The widgets I use are weather updates, calculator, clocks of time-zones certain people are in, dictionary, and sticky notes. Items I like to have on hand for quick use. Apple even included in leopard an app to create your own widgets, which I may try out this summer.

Rob

Tyrant · Post by **Tyrant** » 25 Feb 2008 20:45

everyone i know hates vista..i am the exception..i find it far more convenient than xp...i have 2 pc's with vista and 1 with xp...guess im spoiled..cause everytime i get on xp now i think "what a piece of junk'

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 25 Feb 2008 22:25

Tyrant wrote:everyone i know hates vista..i am the exception..i find it far more convenient than xp...i have 2 pc's with vista and 1 with xp...guess im spoiled..cause everytime i get on xp now i think "what a piece of junk'

I say the same thing every time I have to use a pc at college.

Rob

inhuien · Post by **inhuien** » 26 Feb 2008 06:09

Tell me does a Mac mouse have more than one button these days?

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 26 Feb 2008 06:15

My freshman class this past semester seemed to enjoy listening to me rant at the Windows computer in the Multimedia Classroom we were using.

Seems they picked up a few colorful expressions I hadn't intended to teach them.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 26 Feb 2008 06:18

inhuien wrote:Tell me does a Mac mouse have more than one button these days?

AFAIK they come with the same ole "one-leg" mouse out of the box, but I use a four-button trackball thingy in the office and a two-button w/scroll wheel one here at home with my PowerBook. (Also have the latter connected to an ergonomic Windows Japanese keyboard.)

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » 26 Feb 2008 06:40

I've had to work with Vista a couple of times. I hate it.

I haven't used it enough to have to actually figure it out, which may be the problem, but when people want me to solve problems that should be extremely simple(assigning IP addresses!), I spend half an hour trying everything rational I can think of, and I end up swearing at Microsoft and telling people to go kill some dragons. (Macs require unicorn blood to fix, Vista requires dragon's blood. It's a secret fallback mechanism that I learned from a shaman sysadmin once.)

Robspierre · Post by **Robspierre** » 26 Feb 2008 10:55

inhuien wrote:Tell me does a Mac mouse have more than one button these days?

Apple mice are now programable so the one button gripe no longer applies:)

Rob

inhuien · Post by **inhuien** » 26 Feb 2008 11:13

A computer at the end of the day is a tool it's was you use it for that's important not what badge it wears.

Phaedrus · Post by **Phaedrus** » 26 Feb 2008 11:54

inhuien wrote:A computer at the end of the day is a tool it's was you use it for that's important not what badge it wears.

But the badge is a symbol, and at the end of the day, those symbols represent different implementations of the tool. Some of those implementations are more helpful than others for accomplishing "what you use it for."

inhuien · Post by **inhuien** » 26 Feb 2008 12:23

You have point but it's still what you use the tool for that's the most important element. Or would you disagree. For example you plan to drive from London to Paris does it matter if you do so in a Ford or a BMW, they have different qualities but they both get you there.

J A C U R U T U

Vista

Vista

Re: Vista