I've had my music laptop for 4 years using Vista as OS. It never went down on me, never crashed. Only program causing me problems was proteus VX (that freebie rompler) which made the computer go BSOD! Every other program works! Music releated or not.
My other laptop has Windows 7 and is used for internet and movies etc only. It crashes way more than the Vista despite being 4 years it's junior.
Have I just been lucky or is Vista actually better than it's reputation?

For some reason people love Win7 which is nearly the same as Vista (& was probably launched earlier because of Vista's bad press).
I can't see the difference between Vista & Win7 either.

Now if an -app- (& not driver) caused a bsod, you should be worried.

I'm not surprised you say that Tony. I'm not too impressed with w7 either and w8 looks like a complete joke to me. I remember my old w98! Most stabile OS I ever had! But then again, that was before my music making days and the 56k internet line was too lousy to ruin anything.
I've always stated the fact that ultimately one will ruin every computer. And yet we all use them. The internet.!

I use whatever's cheapest, last computer had Vista. It was a dual core, a big upgrade for me and I could surf the internet while in Reaper.

Isn't that more of a RAM issue? I mean, the more you have the more you can do at the same time.



Well, I suppose Proteus is an app (sorta) - it screwed up everything so I just forgot about it. Sad thing really, cause it would have suited my style of music.

I really just think Vista came out way to early , most computer manufacturers affordable machines were way to weak to run it , no graphics chip and a weak amount of RAM were the culprits . But, look at how cheap RAM is now and intel i3 processors have integrated graphics . Another note Windows7 is Vista, but just configured and streamlined to be more like XP. Same with Windows 8 being the same stuff but with Metro gui added to it until you get to the desktop . Im guessing Microsoft is going the way of Apple with the App store so they can make more money ??

That would be a very logical think for them to do. These days everyone wants apps and touch screens. And that's what W8 (if I'm correctly informed) will offer.
But judging from the last 2 OS's it will fail. At least among the tech heads.
I still like vista

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUpZ7trmmls

vista had a bad transition from XP - it seemed less reliable, complicated and there were no drivers at first. then once there were vista drivers ready 7 came out using the same architecture, so no one stuck with Vista. i always considered it a pointless upgrade away from XP which treated me fine for about 11 years.

As a linux user, a few things annoy me with vista, and windows in general:
the default hand-holding control-freak gui philosophy, the default popups that
take effort to close, and more effort to research and disable, the horrid
collections of flawed or worthless apps often pre-installed by vendors,
and innability to install windows on external drives.

If stupid warnings never popped up, if no 3rd party apps were installed,
if the startup menu held properly configured utilities, if m$soft apps
were not default defaults, if installations were not treated as
grudging loans to the criminally insane, there would be much less hate.

There are several good choices among sub-700 meg
linux versions, that are easy for a first-time computer user
to use for mundane tasks and communications. A typical windows computer,
can be a nightmare when received as a Christmas gift, and that without mentioning
the dreaded mals. I've seen the return lines at BestBuy, on December 26th,
and it's not a happy camp.

To be fair and balanced, I have an OEM xp installation, that has been
trouble free for many years, in some part due to using Directory Opus
for file management, Opera for the little browsing still needed to be done
outside of linux, and just basic use of the great HeadCase, Rhino, and a few
Synthmaker favorites, that don't work perfectly, in linux.

Keeping free xp disk space at 50%, is another good luck policy,
perhaps not scientific, but knocking on wood grain formica anyway.

+1

I used them both on the same computer, and the performance of Vista was in my case even better than Windows 7, probably due to driver issues. What's true though is that Windows 7 has some significant GUI improvements, and in my case, uses up to 400 MB less memory in idle state. But apart from that, the hype around Windows 7 was really unecessary. But you know how it is nowadays... i bet the OS after Windows 8 will be the next super duper great thing!

Because W7 is simply better and more efficient.

Because Windows 7 is basically Vista without the bugs and sluggishness. Vista used to bring my old machine (that originally had XP on it) to its knees, but Windows 7 works like a charm on that same machine.

i dont hate it since i never used it.