For those buying Vista: Which Edition would you buy and why?

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:23 pm

The idea of this thread is to see of those who want to legally buy Vista, what edition they are buying and why, and not about why we should not be buying Vista (plenty of other threads about that). Also, it's not for people using free upgrade coupons or other methods where you can get it with a system.

Windows Vista can be bought now at many stores despite the Jan 30th official release. It is quite complicated to choose an Edition due to the myriad of editions, and buying options now available.

Also state if you will buy either the 32bit Edition, 64bit Edition, or the Edition which you can select either when installing. (Poll would be huge if I put them there).

Cost is important here - perhaps in an ideal world everybody would want Ultimate 32bit+64bit Retail, but over here that costs £352.49, so price will probably be a consideration to you.

In before lol M$haft, lol buying software, lol DRM, I am still using RTM, RCx lol etc.

Post by **Nach** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm

If I was buying, it'd be whichever version is the 64 bit one and provides all the programming functions such as fork(), mkfifo(), and all that. Which is the cheapest version which has that? I want compatibility.

Truth Unknown · Post by **Truth Unknown** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:12 pm

By the time I upgrade my PC, I would get the proper x-bit version of Ultimate. Most-likely it would be 64-bit.

Que · Post by **Que** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:13 pm

I will upgrade to vista in probably a year or so, or however long it takes for the bugs to be worked out for the most part.

x-bit ultimate would be my choice, probably 64 by the time I upgrade to it.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:29 pm

I'm still undecided...

In the end I would probably get Ultimate though, despite the fact that it costs as much as a PS3, and it's probably online stores only. Hey, in the betas you've tested, you were testing the Ultimate, so you know it works.

also I would get 32-bits, for compatability reasons.

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:46 pm

theres not much compatability in vista tho... theres no direct x prior to 9.0 and even 9.0 is emulated... and no direct sound.... so i aint getting vista anytime soon.... windows XP is just far too stable for me to "downgrade"

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:05 am

If I do it will be with a new computer (OEM). Most likely I want Vista Home Premium. I don't need all the features of Ultimate.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 12:58 am

franpa wrote:theres not much compatability in vista tho... theres no direct x prior to 9.0 and even 9.0 is emulated... and no direct sound.... so i aint getting vista anytime soon.... windows XP is just far too stable for me to "downgrade"

I was talking about hardware

my bad.

so yeah

oh and another thing

I forgot to mention I'd get the retail edition.

And for "theres no direct x prior to 9.0 and even 9.0 is emulated.":

Truth Unknown · Post by **Truth Unknown** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 4:51 am

Only DirectSound(3D) is emulated. All the other features are still the same including DirectMusic (MIDI API) from what I can tell.
Creative is working on a Wrapper for their X-FI, Audigy 4 (Possible) and Audigy 2 (Possible) cards excluding the economy versions. For the other sound solutions, there may be no workaround for DirectSound.

AntoineWG · Post by **AntoineWG** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:44 am

I doubt I will be buying vista any time soon, at least not until I build a new PC, but probably long after that. Whatever the minimum version that comes with a Remote Desktop server is the one that I would most likely consider buying.

DataPath · Post by **DataPath** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 5:39 pm

Is there some important difference between OEM and retail, besides the obvious "must buy with hardware, and costs less"?

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 6:08 pm

Ya, the licence for Vista has been altered since XP days.

- Vista OEM: can only be installed on one machine - after you upgrade certain hardware components (eg. motherboard), you need a new licence.* Good for systems that you are not upgrading like laptops.

- Vista Retail: can be installed on your machine even after you upgrade certain hardware components. Also costs (a lot) more and you get a pretty box. You may need this if you upgrade your system pretty often.

For full Remote Desktop functionality and not just the Client, you'll need Business/Enterprise/Ultimate. Business is the cheapest version with it. (Didn't put Enterprise in the poll since I don't think it is available at standard retailers.)

For specific differences between the editions, then look at the site below:

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_02.asp

For my purposes, Home Basic/Premium look like duds, as they lack many reliability and networking features, and is only slightly less expensive than Business. Home Premium does have Parental Controls, Media Center, Windows Movie Maker, DVD Maker etc which Business lacks, but I don't think I'll miss those.

*Edit: According to the link below, it may be possible to use OEM copies on multiple machines, but you'll have to go through phone activation.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=35 ... pert&pid=4

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:39 pm

Clements, last I read, you can only get Enterprise if you work white collar*

*: Means business owner, CEO, or similar, iirc.

PHoNyMiKe · Post by **PHoNyMiKe** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:57 pm

if I were to actually pay money for it, then I'd buy some version in the middle. the ultimate pry has some stuff I'd never use, so why pay for it. or I'd buy the cheapest version, and pirate all the 'upgrades.' fuck it, I can't imagine paying money for windows, it just does not compute! I'd pry switch to linux before I ever pay for windows.

Cyrus · Post by **Cyrus** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:30 pm

phOnYmIkE wrote:if I were to actually pay money for it, then I'd buy some version in the middle. the ultimate pry has some stuff I'd never use, so why pay for it. or I'd buy the cheapest version, and pirate all the 'upgrades.' fuck it, I can't imagine paying money for windows, it just does not compute! I'd pry switch to linux before I ever pay for windows.

Seconded... I would have written the exact same thing. I would never pay for windows and if I HAD to I'd choose the one which has the functions I need and not the extra bullshit. Then again sometimes the "extra" stuff is what you would expect to be standard in an OS such as multi CPU (not multi core) support which XP home apparently lacks. I'd sooner switch to linux, unix, or a cardboard box with drawings on it than pay for windows or use a mac.

Que · Post by **Que** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:28 am

IMO Microsoft's mistakes with Vista will help Linux become more of a mainstream, common operating system than it has been in previous years. YAY Open source!

MisterJones · Post by **MisterJones** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:17 am

Any Vista version should suffice for me now that I know Robert Fripp will be involved in the sound department, even if only for the startup sound.

Cyrus · Post by **Cyrus** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:26 am

MisterJones wrote:Any Vista version should suffice for me now that I know Robert Fripp will be involved in the sound department, even if only for the startup sound.

Actually, sound will be worse in Vista. I heard that EAX effects (any many other things in general) won't work in Windows Vista because Microsoft decided to be dicks and remove the Hardware Abstraction Layer from DirectSound and DirectSound3D rendering high-end soundcards like the SoundBlaster X-Fi series obsolete. Vista (or at least high-end soundcards used with it) will have to rely on OpenAL. And guess what my soundcard is...

Fucking Microsoft, first they make DX10 Vista exclusive then they screw over DirectSound, what will they think of next?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:58 am

I'd still like to think hardware accelerated sound would still be around, but I suspect it has more to do with latency (for professional sound stuff) than anything. Meh, I'd still prefer high quality audio with little or no resampling anyways.

Bent · Post by **Bent** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:28 pm

The X-Fi's latest drivers have an OpenAL wrapper in them, although it isn't perfect yet I hear it works. I have not switched to vista yet and I'm not sure I am going to with my desktop anytime soon, but it is good to know that by the time I might think about it my X-Fi should work.

MisterJones · Post by **MisterJones** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 6:15 pm

Cyrus wrote:Actually, sound will be worse in Vista.

<technical babble i am aware of (thanks wikipedia), but is besides the point>

Who gives a shit, it will be composed by robert fripp, are you not fucking reading?!

Cyrus · Post by **Cyrus** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:38 pm

MisterJones wrote:
Cyrus wrote:Actually, sound will be worse in Vista.

<technical babble i am aware of (thanks wikipedia), but is besides the point>
Who gives a shit, it will be composed by robert fripp, are you not fucking reading?!

I don't think anyone except you gives a shit about this Robert Fripp person, in fact I bet no one even heard of him until you mentioned him. And that stuff I said was not from wikipedia, dipshit.

Neo Kaiser · Post by **Neo Kaiser** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 4:54 pm

I'll buy Ultimate Full Retail edition when I have the cash to pay for a Intel Core 2 Extreme Edition Quad Core and when the motherboards with DDR3 modules becomes available.

PHoNyMiKe · Post by **PHoNyMiKe** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 7:26 pm

I gotta drop $6,000 into my teeth, so I will 110% definately not be paying a dime for windows vista. if I could pirate a dentist, then maybe I'd buy 32bit vista enterprise. all my machines are 32bit. so why buy the 32bit edition, cause next time I upgrade a processor, I'll get a 64bit one, and have to buy windows all over again. it just doesn't make sense to pay for windows.

Truth Unknown · Post by **Truth Unknown** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 8:26 pm

I'm not 100% sure, but the Ultimate license can work on both copies of x-bit windows vista.

EDIT: It appears that with either version, if need 64-bit, you can order a disc and use the same key. Also MS has a Home Premium Upgrade discount for Ultimate purchases to upgrade other PCs, http://www.microsoft.com/windows/produc ... count.mspx .

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For those buying Vista: Which Edition would you buy and why?

Which Edition would you buy?

For those buying Vista: Which Edition would you buy and why?