Last week, Microsoft announced that it will change its PC logo program so PC makers can flag computers that are capable of running Windows Vista. Of course, tech websites are falling all over themselves to find a snarky take on the “Vista Capable” program:
PC World’s Harry McCracken: “Next month, new PCs will show up with stickers identifying them as being ‘Windows Vista Capable.’ But ‘Capable of Running Certain Versions of Windows Vista, But Maybe Not Stupendously Well’ might be a more accurate designation, it seems.”
Engadget: “[F]or the general consumer, the Vista Capable badge only means it’ll support the baseline version, Home Basic Edition — which we’ll be promptly ignoring, thankyouverymuch — and may not do fun things like run Aero or be able to use more ‘advanced’ Vista features like HDCP. Normally this is the part where we’d get a little huffy and suggest Microsoft do it this way or that, but we’re starting to feel we’re in a little too deep here, you know?”
RealTechNews: “It’s not going to be available until 2007, but heck, if you can’t get the OS, will stickers do?”
Snark is fun, but the question is real. Should you buy a new PC, or should you wait? And who can make sense of the official Microsoft guidelines?
In a post on my ZDNet blog today, I’ve laid out my three simple rules for buying a new Vista-ready PC. No sticker required. (Hint: For starters, don’t buy a cheap PC.)
Ed Bott 
I’ve been a computer user long enough to have acquired the requisite cynicism. I’m going to wait -two years- before I buy.
Ed,
One of my computers is a bit more than a year old. It wasn’t one of those “budget” computers you mentioned. It has 1 GB of RAM, and I think the processor speed is about 4 GHz. In other words, it runs XP Professional and standard Microsoft Office programs like a gazelle. Will it run well with Vista as well? [Note: I don’t remember what graphics card I have, but it is also start of the art, or at least it was when I bought the computer. ]
Also, how much installation space do you need for Vista on the hard drive? My current system partition is around 10 GB. I use approximatley half of it right now for XP and programs. How much more will the new OS require? It’s no big deal — the hard drive itself is 240 GB, and most of it is empty. But I am still curious.
TIA
Ken
screw upgrading! trust me i know!
pc hardware and software is silicon and
code junk! upgrading is actually downgrading
microsoft makes software or hardware it dosent
like real slow and worthless or incompatible !
microsoft will sacrifice quality for ideology
anyday! ask anyone in the buisness!
pcs are only good for porn, online shopping,
email, stuff like that, people who play games on pcs
are not very smart wich is why all consumers get screwed
to start with, they like being robbed
through useless speedy hardware propaganda! whimps!
As more bloated and slower and more
hardware incompatible games AND SOFTWARE keepS
coming out to kill the faster hardware (under the microsoft
fascist regime) they just might realise someday
how stupid and marketing easy they are and that
they dont need a new pc.
the problem is microsoft has serious ideological
psychological issues that makes compatibility
and quality in the pc industry near impossible.
MS creating incompatiblities and bloatware is what
makes you the dumbass consumer pay for a hole bunch
of stuff you dont even need every year.
Unless you wanna throw your money out the window
or feed millionaires, Dont upgrade to vista! not even for
security, its a bogus marketing ploy! vista also has a
hole bunch of mp3 and hd video anti piracy mechanics built in youll hate vista if you like videos and pc music!
Dont buy lose 500$ on a lcd screen! unless they have a cure
for dead pixels and terrible contrast in 2007
(but dont count on it!)
Dont buy an Ati top notch graphics card
microsoft will get game makers to make
over-bloated horribly written games that will make
your 500$ card slow and worthless in 6 months
with benchmarks to prove it! and directX10 will make all
8x and 9x games and open GL and ENVEN JAVA incompatible with
vista and work screwey because microsoft dont like that
coding for stupid reasons.
Dont make a DAW out of you pc! microsoft will not
allow you to use 4 socket motheboards and 4 processors
in parralel to avoid a slow pc on vista or xp, they hate one
time purchase powerful pcs because its bad for the single
chip buisness and those over bloated new games wont slow your pc down anymore!(not to mention that bogus dual core media fluff) microsoft and intel hate parallel computing this is why the tried to kill the paralell scsi market and now charge you for operating more than 1 processor! paralelle computing is too powerfull for the home consumer and bad for buisness! with a strong pc they cant cut your veins open with upgrade prices anymore (that dual core stuff is a joke) theres nothing about paralell power in dual core!) dual core is a marketing scheme they went to because they could not get higher microwave frequencies from their chips without making them melt! so they had nothing to upgrade their chips with nor market them, and met a dead end.
Microsofts ideological wars and marketing wars make it
a very ignorant thing to become a pc fanboy
(unless you make 2000$us a week) because you will never get a quality product! and youll never win buy purchasing new pc hardware, youll never be on top, and it will become useless obsolete incompatible junk in no time, plus and it wont get you laid! so this is why you should always get a bargain basement pc!
just get a pc for basic net access, speedy chips
vista and fancy graphics garbage and games
and lcds is LOST cash. you might as well throw the
money in the toilet.
microsoft will still make viruses and make vista a piece of
junk that will collect any web virus out there so that you
buy antivirus software to keep the pc softare world afloat!
like its your job! to hell with em, let them get real jobs
and stop feeding millionaires!
the only day it will be a good idea to buy pc
software and speedy hardware is when programers start
making their own operating systems to run exclusive
hardware and software on a speparate partition or drive,
if quality and worthwhile purchases are to come to the pc industry The microsoft virus has to be excluded, but like i said for this to happen software makers
and hardware makers need to implement personalised operating systems on a partition that excludes microsoft entirely just to run their hardware or software without microsoft interfering like the pain in the ass it is.
for now instead of playing games alone in your basement
and waste all your money on the pc industry dorks
SAVE YOUR MONEY! they dont care about quality and they
dont care about you they want your money and nothing else!
SAVE YOUR MONEY! Get out and meet people drink beer and get laid instead, this is when youll start winning! youll be glad you listened to me. and 5000$ richer
The guy above, Hollie I think his name is, raises a few points. I will sum it up in a common term :
PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE
Microsofts intention is to allow people to maximize the potential of their home/business computer. Sure, a last generation PC can run all your office applications, plus email and maybe games and other home entertainment. The point in upgrading to Vista, and optionally your computer hardware, is to enable you, the user, to achieve more from new features.
Hollie, a thousand years ago, man was drinking beer and getting laid, this millennium he is doing much, much more. It’s called EVOLUTION OF THE SPECIES. Computers go through the same thing.