We have been as vocal as anyone in criticizing how well Vista runs mobile computers, OK, maybe we’ve been a bit more vocal than most. It’s a topic that provokes knee-jerk reactions from almost everyone, with a big contingent of readers who agree completely and another who don’t. The topic of Vista on mobile devices is going to heat up with C/NET and Engadget both reporting two interesting developments in this area. It seems it started with the news that Lenovo is offering customers who purchased PCs from them with Vista pre-installed the opportunity to downgrade to Windows XP. That’s right, no doubt bowing from complaints from customers who find that Vista is not cutting the mustard the ThinkPad manufacturer will sell customers a set of XP recovery disks so they can "downgrade" from Microsoft Vista to XP. This is very big news indeed and gets even bigger with the acknowledgment that Microsoft is allowing OEMs selling Vista computers to do the same.
That’s right, Microsoft, who is trying to phase XP out, is allowing OEMs to offer a similar downgrade to XP for their customers who are not happy with Vista running on their new PCs. This is incredible and demonstrates without any question that even Microsoft is getting so much pressure from OEMs with massive complaints about the new OS that they have to let people go back to XP. See, we were right all along here on jkOnTheRun and this just proves that Vista is not ready to run your mobile PCs. Maybe not even your desktop. Wow.
This may have been covered previously and I missed it, but is there any way for someone to turn Vista into “Vista Lite”? From my little experience playing with a Tablet running Vista, it appears that the handwriting recognition is significantly superior, even without the customizing features. I hear this is the general opinion. Is there any way to turn off some of the “bells and whistles” to make Vista run leaner/faster/smoother and maintain basic functionality, including the HWR?
Other than that, can you tell me here or give a reference to elsewhere on up to date ways on how you’ve maximized the HWR in XP?
Thanks.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3945
Fujitsu looks to be doing this on the U810.
“(Note: Systems with Genuine Windows Vista® Business preinstalled will include Genuine Windows Vista® Business and Windows® XP recovery disc and utility.)”
There are guides all over on how to optimize vista by turning off visuals and services, just give it a google. However, there is only so far you can go – for example, you can’t do anything about the fact that vista is a 7-11 gig install opposed to the 2-2.5 gig install of XP – which is a nasty (and as far as I can tell, unneeded) hit on ultra portable devices with their 1.8″ or SSD storage devices. Background processes may still cause you performance problems even with the big hogs disabled.
Vista was clearly designed to run on powerful computers – in an age where it should have been designed to scale because the range of “PC” devices is exploding.
Vista is the single factor which has stopped me from purchasing new computers. I returned both a Sony T series and a Lenovo X61T simply because Vista is such a turd. I never experienced a 1/4 of the crashes on XP that I have for Vista. The last time I remember so many crashes was with Windows Me.
Please don’t tell me that I can turn off all the bells and whistles in Vista to make it run quicker – that thinking is both counter-intuitive (hey, here’s a phone that also can access the internet – but don’t try accessing it too much because the phone will crash) – and in my experience while Vista may run slightly quicker, it does not stop the crashing problems.
Vista just does not work well on mobile devices. I know that I am not alone in this thinking and I think that Vista is helping to cripple the mobile computing market.
I think it’s a great decision. I’m forced to run vista, and every day I feel like my computer is Harrison Burgeron.
The company I work for has had a need recently to provide customer support to users with Vista/Office 2007, but given the trouble with Vista, we opted to run it inside VMware instead of upgrading.
I decided with our system admin that we’ll never upgrade to Vista. Thankfully, Dell has continued to offer XP on all their business systems.
Let’s hope that all these Vista device drivers work on XP too. That would suck to downgrade and have hardware trouble.
to MD in Philly: First, try vlite.net. Basically its a tool with its help, my install is 3,7gb. You also can integrate drivers…etc. But you have to reinstall. I posted about this tool in the article where James was talking about his unability to work with vista. Vista is far from perfect and except of a few things its worthless to upgrade. (my opinion) :)
What CNet and Engadget failed to mention is that it is standard for Microsoft to do this with the business versions of Windows. We just bought an XP Pro license at work and received a Vista Business license. There is no distinction between the two. You can also use XP Pro licenses to install Windows 2000 if you like. This is just to give businesses the flexibility they need to buy PCs without being stuck with a version of Windows that they haven’t tested yet.
It’s a shame to see JK get caught up in such senseless Vista bashing.