4 ms·

Win 11 and Vista have been unfairly maligned, with some minor tweaks (and start11) both are solid performant windows releases.

by NikkiA 1y ago

znpy 1y ago
Windows Vista was essentially unusable on release unless you had very high-end hardware. A couple of weeks after release the first step after getting a new computer was changed from "downloading firefox" to "downgrade to windows xp". Unironically, many people did that.
- NikkiA 1y ago
  And that unusuability was mostly due to the driver model change, once native Vista drivers appeared it performed better than XP/XP64 unless you were running old video hardware that couldn't handle aero - in which case you were still better off running Vista with the classic UI, although that did entail forgoing the Luna styling.
  - ack_complete 1y ago
    Even with native WDDM drivers it performed poorly in desktop graphics, because Vista also removed all GDI hardware acceleration support. This caused many 2D graphics operations to execute in software, or worse, an even slower mix of hardware and software rendering. Windows 7 improved on this by re-adding hardware acceleration for some GDI primitives and adding aperture windows to reduce DWM memory footprint.
_mlbt 1y ago
Windows 11 is the only version of Windows I’ve used where the taskbar routinely crashes on login and refuses to load.
mystified5016 1y ago
I think the vista hate is well earned. Remember when Microsoft had to trick users into trying it by calling it 'Mojave' instead?
- olyjohn 1y ago
  Also the unending and relentless UAC prompts.
  - tomwheeler 1y ago
    It felt like malicious compliance. Oh, you want security? OK, here you go, hope you choke on it.
bigstrat2003 1y ago
Vista was indeed fine. I used it for many years and had nary a problem with it. The problem with 11 isn't the core (everyone seems to agree that is fine), it's that Microsoft insists on putting ads and other user-hostile BS in.
- Modified3019 1y ago
  I basically skipped windows XP entirely, only seeing it on other people’s computers. I staying on a thinkpad R31 with win2k until I got a R61 (4gb ram) with vista on it several months after vista’s release. At that point it seemed like driver and other early teething had been worked out, so my experience was pretty positive. When I eventually moved to win7 I didn’t notice any real difference.

Win 11 and Vista have been unfairly maligned, with some minor tweaks (and start11) both are solid performant windows releases.

by NikkiA 1y ago

Win 11 and Vista have been unfairly maligned, with some minor tweaks (and start11) both are solid performant windows releases.

znpy 1y ago

Windows Vista was essentially unusable on release unless you had very high-end hardware. A couple of weeks after release the first step after getting a new computer was changed from "downloading firefox" to "downgrade to windows xp". Unironically, many people did that.

NikkiA 1y ago
And that unusuability was mostly due to the driver model change, once native Vista drivers appeared it performed better than XP/XP64 unless you were running old video hardware that couldn't handle aero - in which case you were still better off running Vista with the classic UI, although that did entail forgoing the Luna styling.
- ack_complete 1y ago
  Even with native WDDM drivers it performed poorly in desktop graphics, because Vista also removed all GDI hardware acceleration support. This caused many 2D graphics operations to execute in software, or worse, an even slower mix of hardware and software rendering. Windows 7 improved on this by re-adding hardware acceleration for some GDI primitives and adding aperture windows to reduce DWM memory footprint.

_mlbt 1y ago

Windows 11 is the only version of Windows I’ve used where the taskbar routinely crashes on login and refuses to load.

mystified5016 1y ago

I think the vista hate is well earned. Remember when Microsoft had to trick users into trying it by calling it 'Mojave' instead?

olyjohn 1y ago
Also the unending and relentless UAC prompts.
- tomwheeler 1y ago
  It felt like malicious compliance. Oh, you want security? OK, here you go, hope you choke on it.

bigstrat2003 1y ago

Vista was indeed fine. I used it for many years and had nary a problem with it. The problem with 11 isn't the core (everyone seems to agree that is fine), it's that Microsoft insists on putting ads and other user-hostile BS in.

Modified3019 1y ago
I basically skipped windows XP entirely, only seeing it on other people’s computers. I staying on a thinkpad R31 with win2k until I got a R61 (4gb ram) with vista on it several months after vista’s release. At that point it seemed like driver and other early teething had been worked out, so my experience was pretty positive. When I eventually moved to win7 I didn’t notice any real difference.