VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Tom Test]

It seems that Windows Vista OS is NOT ready for prime time. I’ve heard that is particularly buggy with audio. The first Vista service pack is due early in ’08, but I’m skeptical. Does anyone here have any experience using a digital audio PC with Vista? A handful of interfaces are labeled "Vista-Ready," but do they really work well?

Problem is, it’s getting very hard to find a new PC with Windows XP. In fact, unless you get a refurb, your only option if you needed to replace your XP system might be to build your own (which I just did a few months back myself). For now at least, you can still find Windows XP CDs with licenses at online retailers such as newegg.com.

Folks, if you are a Windows user like me (and please, no snarky Mac flaming), you need to be aware of this issue. If your system conked out today, how would you replace it? Others may now more about this issue, and maybe I’m a Chicken Little…. But if I were you, I’d think hard about snapping up a Windows XP computer while you still can if your current machine is old or even a little unreliable.
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Best regards,
Tom Test
"The Voice You Trust"
www.tomtest.com

[Doc]

Fear not... until Microsoft develops service packs, drivers, updates, etc... there's no way they'll discontinue XP. And, it should be cheaper than ever.

Seems that MS with the advent of Vista which is a 64-bit OS forgot about all those hardware drivers that weren't yet available. However, MS doesn't get total credit for that. The hardware manufacturers are dragging their heels as well.

It's the dawn of a 64 bit computing world, kids. Let's get with the program.

[glittlefield]

The 64-bit version of Vista is not that readily available at the moment and there are a LOT of companies that haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet. I had to go through quite a bit to obtain that version for a client who needed to use more than 3GB of RAM on their 64-bit CAD machine. It took a few tries before our vendor was finally able to send us the 64-bit DVDs instead of the 32-bit media. Once we finally got the correct version installed, we could only find drivers for one HP plotter. So basically, the guy can only use his CAD program and print to that. Everything else he has to do has to be done on his XP laptop.

Would be great if everyone already had products for the 64 world, but I'm not seeing much of that yet.
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Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59

[Chuck Davis]

I can't comment on Vista for audio apps as both workstations are still (and will remain) XP.

My wife's desktop and my sons new laptop are both Vista HP. It really is a resource hog. My wifes desktop came with 1gb of ram..had to bump that up to 2gb to make the machine useable.

Overall, the security is better, the GUI is very pretty, the constant nagging for permissions is a PITA.

From what I've heard SP-3 for XP is coming in '08. That means the OS is going to be around for a long time to come. Also, apparently Dell now offers XP again in new machines as so many people don't want to deal with Vista.
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Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com