shaggy Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Hello i need to buy a version of windows for a computer. But there are that many out there i havent got a clue which one to get. Does anyone have any experience with windows media or vista (if it's out yet). And are they worth buying instead of xp. It needs to be a genuine version as well. The comp will be used for listening to music watching vids internet and games. Nothing major, but it needs to be genuine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siders77 Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 (edited) There's a Public BETA version of Vista that you can download. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/default.mspx Edited June 13, 2006 by Siders77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamtrials Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 There's a Public BETA version of Vista that you can download. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/default.mspx Will you have to pay for it when the final version comes out?Or will you be able to carry on running the beta for free? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siders77 Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Not too sure. I don't see why you would have to stop using it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Just get XP. I have no idea if you'll be able to continue using the beta after the final release (although I suspect not), but the beta is not a final version and I'm sure it has plenty of bugs etc, and I'm not convinced it's really going to be useable as a day-to-day operating system. MCE is basically just the same as XP, except it's a bit fussy with drivers. So unless you need the Media Centre functions, I wouldn't bother with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poopipe Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Just get XP. I have no idea if you'll be able to continue using the beta after the final release (although I suspect not), but the beta is not a final version and I'm sure it has plenty of bugs etc, and I'm not convinced it's really going to be useable as a day-to-day operating system. MCE is basically just the same as XP, except it's a bit fussy with drivers. So unless you need the Media Centre functions, I wouldn't bother with it.just cos i post it in every thread about windows.. don't forget you can get XP pro as OEM for £90 if you buy it with a hard disk or other major component (CPU etc). You can probably get the home edition cheap as OEM too (im guessing about £60-70)the only difference between that and the £300 version is that it doesn't come in the pretty cardboard envelope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 (edited) According to the terms and conditions of the vista download "the term of this agreement is until 31/08/06 or commercial release of the software, whichever is first."EDIT: My bad, that appears to be the terms for the upgrade advisor thing, this is what it sayd about the vista beta 2 software "Time-limited softwareWindows Vista Beta 2 (and RC1) is time-limited, pre-release software that will expire on June 1, 2007." Edited June 13, 2006 by Krisboats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siders77 Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 That's not too bad...We'll get a year out of it anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBProductions Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Get XP Pro if you can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy Posted June 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Am getting an oem version. There is no way i am paying for the retail one when the oem is the same thing. Have found XP pro with service pack 2 for £87, an XP media edition for £72. The price diff was what made me think about the media edition. Is it even worth waiting for Vista? Whats the difference i know i can go and read abut it on microsoft, but to be honest i cant be arsed plus they never look at the crap points of it and why you might as well stick with xp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBProductions Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Its basically optimized for 64 bit processing and also is trying to act like a mac oem and use permissions. It may prove good but Im set on xp till my money is enough to get my G5 and flightcase .Service pack 2 has been sorted now so it is advisible to use it and the media version is more based around little kids and there mp3 players and little toys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Am getting an oem version. There is no way i am paying for the retail one when the oem is the same thing. Have found XP pro with service pack 2 for £87, an XP media edition for £72. The price diff was what made me think about the media edition. Is it even worth waiting for Vista? Whats the difference i know i can go and read abut it on microsoft, but to be honest i cant be arsed plus they never look at the crap points of it and why you might as well stick with xp.Well, XP with service pack 2 isn't any better than XP, as you can (and should) download SP2 for free from microsoft.com. The Price difference is probably because XP MCE is basically XP home, whereas XP Pro is a lot more expensive. But there's not that much reason to go for XP Pro, unless you know of anything specific that's in Pro that you need. So I don't really see the point in paying extra for XP Pro over MCE, just get that f it's the cheapest I'm gonna install MCE this week sometime hopefully. If you can wait until then I'll tell you the differences, but I'm sure you could google that stuff anyway.P.S. Most places will make you buy some "major" component in order to qualify for an OEM version. Although I did hear some places were just requiring you to tick a box saying you would install into a brand new PC. I can't remember where though, sorry.EDIT: Vista ain't gonna be out for a while, and will probably need a decent spec so it doesn't run like Stephen Hawking. Plus it'll probably be buggy as hell for the first few months, I'd go XP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinky Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 or go Linux and not have to worry about shit for the rest of your days and its free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBProductions Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 and not be able to do anything love you pinky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extreme_biker0 Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Windows 3.1 is fast as f**k on todays hardware Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuke Bowel Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 and not be able to do anything love you pinkywhy would you not be able to do anything?Allthough, OSX Tiger all the way for me.. so far I have converted 7 people Wont let you down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Well, as promised I've installed Windows MCE. And... It's good. It is basically just XP with a Media Program. Although it's supposed to be fussy with hardware, it worked fine with my TV tuner, remote and everything else. The only problem I had was finding an MPEG-2 decoder (Who knew you would need one of those ), but I managed that and everything is working fine. I like it. OS X is ten times better though, it's just sooooo much more stable. I've only been running this Windows for about 2 hours, and already I've had 5 "fits" where the computer just does its own thing for about a minute. Gotta love Windows. Anyway, I vote for MCE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfGussets Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Windows XP Home w/ SP2 - OEM. WinXP Home OEM for £64.61 inc. VATYou could download Linux. Or just get a free copy of featured distro's with Linux Format magazine... or Linux User magazine.Then again, you could go with one of the most secure operating systems ever that is free to download - either OpenBSD or NetBSD. And the Mac heads can't diss those because Darwin is based around the BSD kernel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuke Bowel Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 I've only been running this Windows for about 2 hours, and already I've had 5 "fits" where the computer just does its own thing for about a minute. Gotta love Windows.Windows does still enjoy to shit the bed then? It's been a long time since I have used windows, oh the joy.Best thing is, when you install windows not only does it take far too long, but when you start up it reminds you that you need anti virus software, it told me 'your computer may be at risk' oopsss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siders77 Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 (edited) Yes but what you seem to remember is that Mac's aren't immune from viruses at all. They're just more common on Windows as most people use that instead of Macs. Edited June 14, 2006 by Siders77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamtrials Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Yes but what you seem to remember is that Mac's aren't immune from viruses at all. They're just more common on Windows as most people use that instead of Macs.They are if there arent any viruses...Or are there now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siders77 Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 There are and have been for ages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterOfGussets Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 They are if there arent any viruses...Or are there now?I remember a hell of a lot of viruses for Mac's over the years. They just never had many worms. So the infection rate was at whatever people chose to pass the programs around at.I've not really looked but I would have guessed there has been a big increase in the number of Mac viruses and worms since the kernel went BSD. As long as you can get the same amount of control over low-level networking as you can on say Linux it would be a great target for worms. Only problem is not many "security experts" try to find holes in OS X because there are very few paying customers hosting webservers on it. (Not to mention that most worms use security holes to spread now and most kiddies don't know how to program in Assembler for the Mac processors and therefore can't write "shellcode"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomm Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I think you could happily use a Mac for years, clicking "open" on any email attachment you got, browsing all sorts of nasty porn sites and downloading all the warez you want, and NEVER have any trouble with viruses. That's the difference. Whether or not a virus exists somewhere in cyberspace is moot, because it's not a real danger. There's about 20 viruses for OS X, all pretty harmless, whereas there's hundreds of thousands for the PC. True story.I gave my housemate a virus (But shh, he doesn't know) by going on ONE crack site in IE. I didn't open anything at all, or click install on anything. If that ain't shit, what is?I would run Linux if it was as easy to set up as Windows, and all my peripherals worked. Unfortunately, the last foray I had into Linux (A year ago, ish, with Mandrake) was a bit rubbish. I spent days trying to get my mouse to work properly, then I gave up and went back to Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 That's not too bad...We'll get a year out of it anyway. If you wanna run very slow and buggy software for over a year be my guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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