| Jun 16 @ 8:30 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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chatillion
Posts: 169
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A friend told me you can download free Vista desktop add-ons from Microsoft that make XP look more like the Vista interface. Naturally, there would be limitations in the way it operates (since it really isn't Vista) but it would be a nice gradual step to someone who is planning to get Vista in the future and would like to be more familiar with it's appearance prior to the switch.
I haven't tried it on my computer... anyone out there wanna 'give it a go' and report back here?
They are only Desktop Themes... so you should be able to revert back to your original XP setup with a few mouse clicks.
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| Jun 16 @ 9:24 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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nah12
Posts: 2,868
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i've been using vista on my personal for over a yr and to be honest it isn't that much difference for general use... if your hardware can handle it i really don't see the big deal.... 
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| Jun 16 @ 9:26 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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I know of very few people or companies that plan to move from XP to Vista. Most Vista sales seem to stem from the fact that it's preloaded on new machines.
My sources from large companies, who have subscription licenses and therefore don't have to pay to upgrade to Vista are nevertheless opting to wait and see what "Windows 7" (currently projected to be released next year) has to offer.
Thus far, Vista, in all of its confusing configurations, has as much appeal as Windows Millennium Edition.
I would be far more impressed with Micro$haft if they would put more effort into designing and building a secure operating system and less effort into gadgetry.
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| Jun 16 @ 9:43 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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nah12
Posts: 2,868
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Capo most mid-large corps do not upgrade till they have too because of the expense including needing newer hardware and because of older software that is used usually is out dated and not compatible with the newer OS lots of times.....also they usually wait until the SP2 has been released as well...
think about it this way you have 500-1000 pcs and only say 25% are the newer models (which is not uncommon and can be less) ... guess what the expense to upgrade the hardware is more of an issue then and OS license which they are spending tons on every yr already... besides it's not just the pc hardware or OS expense it's the servers, network equipment, printers and etc that have to be considered if they can handle the OS, load and etc also... so it's always about more than just the OS....
then if there is a projection of still a newer OS to be on the market in say 2-3 yrs then they surely will wait for that reason as well because of the above mention expenses...
plus one must realize that personal use and corp use is a totally different ballgame in this arena completely
[Edited on 6/16/2008 9:49 AM]
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| Jun 16 @ 10:28 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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Nah,
One of my sources is IBM and they would have more that 1000 PCs in a single building, let alone a division, let alone corporate-wide. They prefer to limit the number of configurations that they have to support. Adding a GB of RAM is rather trivial compared to paying for the training and salaries of support personnel.
Obviously, if the hardware is incapable of running of running Vista (mostly related to obsolete drivers and increased video demands), with very few exceptions it won't perform well with XP, either.
As for SP2, I hope your can remember back to the release of XP SP2 when IBM, Hewlett-Packard, et. al. refused to install it until Micro$haft removed many of its critical bugs--and this took several months.
As I said, they are waiting to evaluate Windows 7 (or whatever it ends up being called) because they have found no compelling reason to "upgrade" to Vista.
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| Jun 16 @ 11:04 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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marylou
Posts: 9,653
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I've heard that Vista is very unstable !
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| Jun 16 @ 12:14 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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To be fair to Microsoft, many of the problems related to the early experiences with Vista were due to companies not following software coding conventions as set forth by Microsoft. For many years, these techniques worked; with Vista they did not. As a side note, even Microsoft had problems!
The largest problem with Vista currently is that there is no compelling reason to move away from XP (or even some of its predecessors). Originally, Microsoft said that there would be NO service packs for Vista; we already have SP1. There is much conjecture that "Windows 7" will be little more than Vista SP2.
Micro$haft, of course, is threatening to drop support for prior versions of Windows.
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| Jun 16 @ 1:03 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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nah12
Posts: 2,868
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As I’m sure you know Capo the minimum requirements that Microsoft list for any OS is a freaking joke....my sources were told by Microsoft at the beginning that if they truly wanted performance they needed to increase the minimum requirements by at least 2- 4 times when it comes to the hardware specs and that means we are talking about major hardware upgrades which is more than just a little memory, video and drivers ... Besides remember the class action law suit about XP machines being Vista capable but it’s only the strip down home version at best on the late 2006 pc sales and home will not be running on a corp domain … Heck most corps have some machines that XP will barely run on….
As for any new OS you’re going to endure initial bugginess. If you remember back to XP’s release it was very unstable and had huge security issues and yes even SP2 had real issues as most all SP do. Even with Linux new releases there are tons of issues and it’s a heck lot harder to find expert advise without trial and error alone the way. There are always unforeseen issues with a new OS and they are not built to be compatible with every software or hardware that the previous OS was compatible with.
As for IBM yes that is normal to have more than 1000 in a building as is many large corps (I only threw earlier numbers out as an example) and that even elevates the expense of the hardware when considering a OS upgrade of that magnitude...
I do understand your point and that your sources are just as reliable as mine and I know there is always a wait and see atmosphere but i still stand by my post from the stand point of any upgraded OS deployment involves a strategic infrastructure plan that has to be implemented and cost will be a major consideration ... The ones I brought up are known major cost issues and especially with vista they are reasons for delays in any size upgrade in an infrastructure.....
And if you don’t believe me do some research on the actual deployment issues that adds to the cost of infrastructure ….only certain deployment tools and group policies are allowed to be used with certain Windows Server editions including Server 2003 ….
And yes XP mainstream support is set to end 4/2009 i believe ... unless they extend support it will be very hard for corp domain to support a limited security environment that is changing daily if not hourly some days…
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| Jun 16 @ 1:57 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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"After careful consultation with our customers and industry partners, we've decided to proceed with our plan to phase out Windows XP in June. It'll be a long goodbye. We plan to provide support for Windows XP until 2014." The June "phase out" means that XP will no longer be sold (unless you can jump through hoops, and prove that you really need it). All of the above is according to this Micro$haft web site.
But, I see it all getting uglier before it gets better. RAM has become a commodity item and many companies offer products sporting 4GB of memory. With 4GB being the 32-bit limit to addressability, when will we be forced to go to a 64-bit OS, when will the drivers be ready, and when will the applications utilize this capability?
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| Jun 16 @ 2:15 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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nah12
Posts: 2,868
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looks like we are both right Capo ... per your link
I've heard about two types of Windows XP support—"mainstream" and "extended." What's the difference?
Mainstream support delivers complimentary as well as paid support, free security updates and bug fixes to all Windows customers who purchase a retail copy of Windows XP (i.e. a shrink-wrapped, not pre-installed, copy). Mainstream support for Windows XP will continue through April 2009.
Extended support delivers free security updates to all Windows customers. Customers can also pay for support on a per-incident basis. Extended support for Windows XP will continue until April 2014. New bug fixes require the Extended Hotfix Support program.
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| Jun 16 @ 2:35 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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looks like we are both right Capo ... per your link
Correct! Now, just how many non-security patches have you applied to XP recently? Security patches will still be available (and needed) until 2014!!!
Oh, and what about my 32-bit limit question?
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| Jun 16 @ 3:34 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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nah12
Posts: 2,868
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to be honest you really don't get the full 4GB memory usage in your pc even today (as i'm sure you know)... it's more like 3GB of memory on the bottom end even if you have the 4GB due to today’s devices that eat up about a GB on the top... it was a bus issue i believe with the old 8086's till they sliced it up but it is limited in 32-bit and we're at the max presently...even with 64-bit your still going to be limited with the motherboard chipset and BIOS and still the black hole even though it set at what 8 terabytes (i really don' think i'll have to worry about running outta memory there  ) but someday it probably will...
but don't they say that even if you have apps that need more than 2GB you should move to 64-bit even now?
as for the patching it's usually and probably other apps that will bite you more than the OS ... think about it everyone will move toward supporting the money maker when XP is no longer sold ... if they don't they lose out on the market ... remember the timeline on technology changes... it use to be what 18 months but not anymore....
but you know all this ... so why ask me... 
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| Jun 17 @ 9:55 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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Laidback742
Posts: 2,450
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I heard that XP will no longer be available as a preloaded OS after 6/2008, and MS support for it will end then as well. I bought a new PC 3 weeks ago, an HP with Vista SP1, and to be honest I haven't had any problems with it so far.
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| Jun 20 @ 3:04 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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LB, you are correct about the availability of XP, but it will continue to be supported into the future as we discussed above.
Vista has become a reasonably stable release of Windows and most of the various drivers and application programs from third-party companies appear to have been rewritten. I think you and others will enjoy Vista for years to come.
Windows Aero is "cute" if you have one of the premium editions of Vista and sufficient graphics ability to support it, but neither Aero nor any other feature is, to me, a compelling reason to abandon XP and upgrade to Vista.
I would be far more excited if they wrote a secure operating system that does not need to be continually patched with security update after security update. Then, I would upgrade in a heartbeat!!!
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| Jun 20 @ 11:58 PM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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Laidback742
Posts: 2,450
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I wasn't sure of the support end date, was just what I had read somewhere.
For Vista, I avoided it for a long time, mostly because of third party programs not working with it, but recently I've heard that it is much more stable and compatible with more programs, so basically said "What the Hell".
JMO ... 98 was the worst version I ever used. Nothing but the infamous blue screens of death, no matter what PC I had it on. That's why I hung on to 95 when I could; 98 just sucked.
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| Jun 21 @ 9:24 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP |
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chatillion
Posts: 169
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marylou said:
I've heard that Vista is very unstable !
No dear, Vista is a very stable. The situation it creates is very unstable.
There is no way of determining exactly how much money you need to spend to buy all new software and peripherals after you start using Vista.
I originally estimated $500 would cover it. I was wrong. Microsoft Office is $500. You will need a bunch of other 'essential' programs, so, I'm estimating $1,000 to cover all your 'normal' software expenditures, more if you are running business programs (Quickbooks, Photoshop, etc.) that don't work with Vista. My boss has spent over $2,000 in a total software upgrade for his business.
Think about it... what a GREAT PLAN Microsoft has to revitalize the software industry.
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| Jun 21 @ 9:44 AM |
Vista Desktop add-ons for XP
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capobeachguy
Posts: 3,004
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Intel giveth; Micro$shaft taketh away.
The cost of Office is one of the reasons that I switched to Open Office years ago. Being written in Java, it is slower to initialize but has had for years features (such as creating PDF files) that M$ is only now incorporating. Open Office and others have supported ODF (Open Document Format) which is a vendor-agnostic file format rather than a proprietary one such as M$ uses. The state of Massachusetts made ODF a part of their vendor requirements as have many European countries. They have had the foresight to not be locked into an specific vendor when making their software purchases--great business sense. Besides, Open Office is free.
For giggles, I do have a copy of Microsoft Office 97 that runs just fine on XP. If I can round up someone down here who is using Vista, I'll give it a try there, too!
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