Vista - it's (un)suitability as a content creation platform

[jpal]

I know this may be contentious, and I'd like to hear the forum's views of whether Vista is helpful as a platform for content creators. Obviously Vista isn't kind to us as MSP owners, but are there any compelling reasons for using it for content creation generally?

I've gone through a cycle of having had to get a new platform, and have come to the view myself that Vista is not only a pain from a transition perspective, but has some specific disadvantages. I loaded Vista on the new system to trial it out vs. XP64. Apart from the usual ache of drivers, learning, and application incompatibility (much worse on Vista, though can be sidestepped using Virtual PC/VMware), I don't see that much general productivity for the pain. The UAC (access control stuff) is still FAR too intrusive, gets in the way of the experienced, and will probably not protect the innocent. I believe I can get equivalent levels of security running XP64 with good firewall/av plus sensible practices. The UI is "nice" but not that compelling.

The specific disadvantages for content creation relates to the astonishing levels of control that the Vista OS is trying to put on content and DRM. There is substantial controversy (search for example on Peter Guttman and Vista), some quite entertaining, regarding the impact of DRM and what it will do to Vista machines. The bottom line here is that apparently Vista's premiere feature is the ability to play protected HD content - even though that ability is not optional, and appears to taken the majority of the development effort, downstream costs and hassle, at the expense of real improvements to OS functionality. This does nothing for me as a content creator and there may be a risk that it will actually reduce functionality.

I've been through ALL the MS OS transitions from DOS upwards, and Vista is comfortably the least compelling. I've decided to buy a few years grace by running my content creation on XP64 (as well as keeping MSP8 going that way), run Vista virtualised if I "have" to, and will make a decision downstream on what to do - will there be a Vista 2 with real productivity improvements (they left so much out of Vista)? Will the DRM adventure have played out? If I'm not happy, then I'll just move to Mac or Linux for content creation and run VMWare for my old apps.

Looking forward to hearing your views of this.[/url]

[Devil]

IMHO, no reason.

As this subject has already been treated in n other threads and is not specific to MSP, I'm taking the liberty of moving it to the General Discussion category.

[sjj1805]

What I suggest - hard drives are so cheap now - is a multi boot system using removable hard drives. This way you can use XP as your main operating system that faithfully runs all of your existing software.

You can then shut down the computer, swap the removable hard drive with your Vista Drive and play with it to your hearts content in the safe knowledge that you can shut down, swap the drives back and continue to use your computer in the tried and trusted manner in which you are accustomed.

like it or lump it, Vista has arrived and a visit to "PC World" computer superstore shows that all of their computers come pre-installed with Vista.
As much as I love my XP system it will take some convincing to get the purchasers of new computers to go out and get XP and replace the system that was pre-installed.

[Gorf]

...like it or lump it, Vista has arrived and a visit to "PC World" computer superstore shows that all of their computers come pre-installed with Vista....

When I was "shopping" on the Dell site for my Wife's new laptop, I had to tell her that she couldn't have one because they were all preinstalled with Vista. For her, it was a problem because she'd have to upgrade Photoshop in order for it to work, and that was a luxury we couldn't really afford on top of the new hardware. She had a few weeks more with her old PC, and when it finally started driving her barmy again I tried to use the same tactic - but Dell had folded under pressure and started offering XP (and Linux) for their new PCs in addition to Vista.

I'm just about to downgrade an old XP machine to its original Win2K in the hope that it will free up a bit of CPU power for the job it will be doing. This constant fretting about Vista is a sign that the user is basing their purchases around the machine rather than their need. I'd much rather pick up a cheap licence for old software on eBay, and run it on an old o/s (and machine) if necessary, as long as it does the job it was bought for.

I don't begrudge the absence of a Vista version of MSP at all, but I do worry that the (ridiculous) expectation that any future versions will support Vista will has been the nail in the coffin for MSP.

It's interesting, Steve, that you recommend the dual boot option as a viable solution on the basis that hard drives are so cheap. You don't mention that there is the cost of the XP licence to factor into all this.

[sjj1805]

.........It's interesting, Steve, that you recommend the dual boot option as a viable solution on the basis that hard drives are so cheap. You don't mention that there is the cost of the XP licence to factor into all this.

Every silver lining has its cloud!

[jpal]

...I don't begrudge the absence of a Vista version of MSP at all, but I do worry that the (ridiculous) expectation that any future versions will support Vista will has been the nail in the coffin for MSP.....

I'm with you on that, without this distraction we could have been using MSP happily for a few years anyway, just a service pack here and there and some more codecs... Come to think of it, I intend to be using MSP quite happily for the next few years anyway!

It'll be interesting to see what strong-arm tactics MS use to "encourage" adoption apart from the pressure on the OEMs to include in new machines. We'll probably be finding that copies of the old OSes rise in value due to demand on eBay!