My two month old Dell XPS w Digital Cable Tuner (a real mess of a system due to M$ and CableLabs politics, content flags, etc) was regularly giving me "No Signal" error messages in VMC before SP1 and generally being unreliable as a media hub for my Xbox 360. Post SP1, I haven't had to reboot once, which was fast becoming a daily experience.

FeloniousMoz

@reddingofish: Ditto. I have a feeling that the marketing department at Apple has two divisions: one to troll Gizmodo (and other tech blogs) with nasty Vista comments and a second to develop the world's most annoying flash banner ads.

madoublet

Vista will be adopted just as XP was.

Mine works fine.

Sleeper_Service

I don't care what the other folks say. My homade AMD/Gigabyte/VIA/Seagate/nVidia system loves Vista SP1. I am glad MS is giving free support and I hope I never have to use it.

reddingofish

Oh the irony.

MeNotYou

Last time, MS gave out free stuff, when they admitted that XBox 360 had heat related problem. Now, they giving out free support before SP1 is finished installing across all machines. Is this a show of lack of or full of confidence?

Aleung

@hkicedude:

Vista is certainly no ME. ME was the worst piece of crap mascarading as an OS ever conceived. I hated it with a burning passion. It locked up, blue screened, bumfuzzled, etc. every 15 minutes. Vista OTOH is an extremely stable and usable OS with many nice multimedia and networking features. YOu can install and uninstall as many programs as you want without degrading the OS. It will run for months at a time without ever skipping a beat. No sir, Vista is certainly no ME.

robinandtami

@MR OPTIMUS PRIME:
Here you go.... [technet.microsoft.com]

Use the section "Non Subscribers" x64 or x86.

There are also great links on that page to read...

But the SP1 is so far great on my Vista Ultimate.

aec007

@Noobs-R-Us:
I went through Tech-net the MS Tech center.
If you wait (long enough) it will show up in Windows Update, but it'll be 65MB download not 435MB as the download NOW with 5 languages support is. (because it will be a cummulative upgrade and some previous updtates to the OS are required prior to the SP1 showing up)

I could not wait... so I downloaded the full SP1 (which has all previous OS updtates included) in about 20 minutes.
I took about 1 hr and 30 minutes to complete the update (on my slow P4 2 Ghz / 6+ yr old hardware).
I recomment checking the "reboot by itself option" for hands free operation.

It completed with ZERO errors on my old hardware.

Now the system runs way faster, it's more responsive to multiple commands and boots a tad faster.
I'm glad I was able to "quiet" down the hard drive's seek/read/write cycles, (almost constant before) now that I was able to selectively choose which drives to defrag on the fly. (I have 6 hard drives so there was no way of stopping the defragging of 1 TB of data across all drives).
Now all drives are idle and UAC is nearly nowhere to be seen.
MS did a great job if you ask me...

aec007

i'm using home premium and i much prefer it to xp. never really had much problem with anything aside from creative zen drivers (creatives problem, from what i read) and the zune software (i have no idea why.)

nikkomorocco

@synth7 - you are happy because you installed SP1, and "everything still works". So, it was worth it I guess?

tombest610

Can someone link me for a 64bit vista ultimate download?

MR OPTIMUS PRIME

Can someone link me to download it for my 64bit vista ultimate?

MR OPTIMUS PRIME

I seem to remember a lot of "Oh it's just a pretty Playskool UI, still Windows crap" when XP was pretty new, and now all of those people are absoluely refusing to leave XP until Vista is more than just "flash."

People I know call their OS of choice great (mainly Linux) because you can change anything you don't like. The same is true of Vista. Don't want to be hassled by UAC? A few clicks and it's disabled. PC can't handle Aero? Turn it off. Feel like you're using too many resources? Disable all the services you don't need (with discretion, of course).

synth7

Yay! I'm getting my free copy of Vista Ultimate in a couple weeks (from that 3 month Windows Feedback Program).

ripfire4

theyre just pushing live support. they had people from microsoft walking around South Station here in Boston, giving out mints and free 1 year passes for OneCare or something like that.

krztov

Sniff...sniff...you smell that? That's the rancid stench of desperation.

craig

I have been using Vista since June, and I have yet to encounter any issues regarding the OS itself. I had a virus, and I had a problem playing Diablo, due to a drive issue, but those are totally user mishaps. I have noticed that Vista is a tad bit smoother since SP1, I really haven't had the time to poke around since I'm always on the go on my Macbook. I honestly don't have any problems with Vista.

TehPath

If I am a laptop manufacturer(HP, Lenovo, Dell) I would seriously demand MS to offer both Vista and XP to choose for consumer. Not a downgrade policy that is mighty difficult. As for SP1 or no SP1 it really did not seem to perform well base on above comments, from no change to lousy.
So far Vista has been helping shrink the traditional laptop market and people are finding that they can do just as well with other Linux base machines and the OS is free.
I still feel Vista is going to be like ME. I just hope it dies soon.

hkicedude

I actually just got done downgrading (upgrading, heh) to XP from Vista on my work machine. I couldn't get SP1 to download, along with a lot of other strange quirks with Vista, and I finally decided I'd had enough.

I don't really have a hatred of Vista, per say, but I feel more productive on XP.

mindshadow

It's worked fine for me on a Toshiba laptop I purchased back in June 2007. The SP1 update decreased my RAM usage by 10%. No issues since the update either.

vagrant

No problems with SP1 on Vista Business, here. I like it.

JRock

Wow, lot's of rants and raves. I understand some people have had problems but I built my own computer and am running Vista Ultimate 64bit with no problems. EVGA nForce 680i SLI - Intel C2D E6850 - XFX 8800 GT - Corsair 4x 1g PC8500... just so you can compare. I upgraded to SP1 when it was accidentally released a month or so ago in windows update and my OS still works terrific. The ONLY problem I have is when I reboot it notifies me that my nVidia driver isn't digitally signed, but it still works fine. SP1 sped up network transfers and transfers from internal HDDs to external HDDs as well as eliminating some annoying verification alerts. But I must be one of the lucky ones. Either that or people without problems have no reason to post on forums which would make sense for all the bad press. Vista is great IMO.. runs all my games in DX10 perfectly and I love the Media Center UI. There are lots of improvements I can think of like any other geek but its really great for me right now.

N@tedog

I meant Email and live chat

jonthomasdesigns

Um to bad it doesn't work , both chat and live chat come back with "An unknown application error occurred. Please try again in a few minutes."

So if anyone can answer this it would be sweet ..

I have a boxed copy of Vista Ultimate and i want to do a clean install of Vista SP1 , how do i go about this ? is there a full Vista SP1 .iso ? how do i get it

jonthomasdesigns

I'm with Synth7... Vista actually made my MediaCenter machine run significantly better.

dfellars

Unsurprising response from the giz crowd:

"Microsoft SUCKS!"
"Yeah! Where's my Ubuntu Build?"
"I never have problems on my Mac."
"Screw you Mac Fanboy!"

Etc...

I've had simmilar experiences with Vista as synth7 has had: It's a relatively stable and full featured OS. My games and applications all run extremely well on my machine, and SP1 has only improved my system's response times.

Like it or not, XP is on its way out, and Vista isn't the failure that you various unix/mac/xp fanboys make it out to be.

the_caveat

@synth7: I'll join you. Vista has performed much better than XP for me. Since I test a lot of programs for the company (meaning I uninstall a lot too), I don't want an OS that slows down 3 weeks into a fresh install.

Also, goodbye to rebooting my XP machine every week!

kakashisan

Free support??

"Yeah, I seem to have gotten some kinda of a spyware or malware or a virus on my computer."

"Well, what's it doing?"

"Every time I go to turn it on, it boots into Vista!"

"???"

"Where's my XP / Ubuntu option, you lock-in *obscenity obscenity obscenity*"

*Calls stupid freaking manufacturer that gave him Vista*

"*obscenity* You guys are wimps you *obscenity*"

cyborgtroy

@Darrone: I am fairly sure Ron Burgundy once said that "Vista" is Bulgarian, and loosely translates to "a whale's penis".
It would make so much more sense that way, wouldn't it?

Hvedhrungr

One year of free support - wahooo.

Horse crap with icing and sprinkles on top is still horse crap.

boe

Maybe it's because I'm dumb but I can't install Vista SP1 because I have Asian language packs installed, even though my primary language is English.

nizz

@thegadgeteer: Messed up?

synth7

I'm gonna be an outcast here on the Giz and go on record as saying that I have used Windows Vista Ultimate since about August of last year, have had approximately 1 problem with the OS itself (user error, no less), and would actually choose not to go back to using XP full time. Running SP1 since I installed from the standalone a few days ago, nothing is wrong with it. Everything still works. Hell, everything worked to begin with.

synth7

How does a company mess up the fix to a messed up OS? This is Hogwash!

thegadgeteer

Damn you for making me agree with Paul Thurrott, but hasn't Microsoft always self-supported service packs (least as far back as XP), regardless of whether you got them from MS direct or an OEM?

Curse you for making him right about all y'all being inaccurate sensationalists.

Sigh.

Rener

i can't believe they sell you an operating system... and then charge you money to fix it yourself when it breaks.

this would not go over well with tangible products, like, say, cars. imagine tat, you buy a new car, it breaks down, and they charge you money to tell you, over the phone, how to fix it yourself.

nutbastard

Ha! Bug busting power of SP1.
Love it!

BigDogues

Put it on my mbpro, can't tell the difference yet... :/

sisedi

I still can't get my update to show the damn SP1? WTF?!?

Noobs-R-Us

Finally got everything cleanly installed and updated. And a whopping (unnoticeable) difference. Reeeeeally not worth it.

Vista is loosely translated from the French meaning "Regret"

Darrone

I can hear Billy Mayes pimping this along with Oxyclean, Kaboom, and Mighty Putty.

SchruteBuck

After SP1 my brand new Dell 2408wfp monitor doesn't go into sleep mode anymore. The monitor just goes into 'no signal mode'. Bleh!

mrgingis

John Mayer here.

Sounds like they really really want to ween people off of XP. I dont care about vista, microsoft!!

trickonion

dell laptop, vista business, and SP1 never showed up. I have been conditioned-> nothing is wrong.. so i am happy.
remember when things use to exceed our expectations?

emanresu

I have vista home premium, and never had problems with it

obelix

@nutb@nutbastard: It's free. Didn't you read the article?

@madoublet: Second that. It always seems like the so-called "fans" that like to throw out all pro-Apple comments appear to work for Apple.

quikboy

i just got a small decrease on my ram and files seem to apen a little faster, but still not worth it.
I have a few minor problems with vista but i think i am just fine with it.

Mike918

@boe:

Why are you in his house or are you just making baseless assumptions like a total twat?

Sleeper_Service

@pammylz: It runs faster than XP - dude that must be some serious stuff you are smoking!

boe

@aec007: Well, I think I've waited long enough. I wish there's a way for you to force the update, the 65mb not 435mb. It's dumb for them not to allow people to update when they want to. Instead, they just talk about it and tell people to wait. You would think that if they really wanted people to have it it would easy. They sure don't make things easy for their customers!

Noobs-R-Us

I'm not eligible for SP1 yet :(

But then again, I'm not having any problems with Vista so the wait won't bother me.

jennyfur

@jonthomasdesigns:

My Brother got a free copy of Vista Ultimate with Service Pack 1 disc. He gave it to me, because I have a media PC, and he already has Vista Business.

@synth7:I haven't had a problem either with Vista. I like it over XP actually. XP was very stable, but Vista is stable too, and it runs faster than XP.

pammylz

I took the risk of ME OS back in 2000. It was the biggest mistake I have ever did. After 7 years of updates, numerous headaches, numerous US$35 MS phone support, running advanced applications at the end it still does not work, now even ME is stable and MS has pull the plug on it. Do you want to take that risk with Vista like ME with your hard earned money when most of the comment are negative with so few positives?
ME has forever changed my view toward software. I would love to give Vista a try because of the beautiful interface but looking at the cost/time perspective and the risk evolve. Forget it.
I am using a Eeepc now with Linux (Debian), it does the basic functions alright and still could not find a Vista base laptop that truly justify the cost with it.

hkicedude

@nutbastard: Works for me. Means that I won't be losing my job any time soon :-D

(no, I dont work for MS either. Dont flame me.)

SomeoneUKno

@aec007:

THANK YOU!

MR OPTIMUS PRIME

After installing some pre-sp1 updates, my VM stopped booting. Whoops! Guess that's why VMs have snapshots!

Not that I bothered making one, because I didn't really do anything on it. Vista = Slow. Vista + VM = Slower. Vista + VM in XP = OMG shoot me!

grumbles. I'd switch to linux completely if I had a decent GPU (think a graphics equivalent to a winmodem) and wasn't so hopelessly addicted to mah itoonz.

lm

Why on earth would anyone stick with ME for 7 years? I upgraded as soon as XP came out - as did everyone else in the universe (I thought).

Ikat

Vista home premium user here, installation was fine.
Performance-wise its noticable: Im getting much higher frame rates on COD4 on my lappy (8400M GS)

ilovekitties

@se.blackheart:
If you read the fine print in the "things to know before installing SP1" you would have notice that is says "some" drivers might fail after installation. And the procedure is to unistall the driver and re-install it.
No big deal... just re-install yours...

aec007

MS had a good chance with this product to deliver something good but as usual they botched it again. All I want is a good, fast, easy to use, and reliable PC OS. Why is it so hard to make one?

ksins5

The install of SP1 on my Sony VGC-LT15E left me without the ability to Mute the volume; either on the remote, the keyboard or in the UI.

I've uninstalled SP1. (What are the kids saying these days? oh yeah.....Fail!)

se.blackheart

I was so happy when i finished installing Vista SP1 to axtually think microsoft would finally get some bugs fixed on the 64 bit versions. So i restarted my computer and guess what guys.

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HAD TO FREACKIN RE-FORMAT THIS PEICE OF SHIT WINDOWS!

majestical

I was very happy with Vista on my loaded Dell XPS M1210 until SP1 blew it up!

After the blue sceen of death and several (over 10) attempts at safe mode and startup repai it finallstopped booting at all.

A call to Dell had Jensen (he told me his Dad named him after the speaker co.) a technician in the Phillipines telling me I needed to reinstall windows and that I would lose all my data!

He told me that they were being told that 60% of their machines were having serious issues with SP1 and that they were being clobbered by increased call volume.

Luckily, my machine recovered after running start-up repair several more times. Could there be a cover-up going on here?

loumart

I managed to get working almost right away. Computer loads faster among all the other positive specs mentioned. It's a good update I dont see why the fanboys would bash that.

redrabbit