Yes it requires more hardware bu then so did Sindows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT and so on. On the Mac side OS 6,7,8,9,X all have pushed up the hardware requirements also. That’s how it works. To get more features you need more hardware. The real question it do YOU need the new features. in 90%+ of the users it’s no. But to get them to move (and stop running old os’s and hardware) they “force” some requirements that probably aren’t necessary but in the long term they will appreciate having.

I still get a kick out of my Mac Fanboy friend tho keeps throwing out that the lates Mac OS ‘works fine on older macs’ but when I ask him why he hasn’t upgraded all of his machines to it he says that they run to slow with the new OS!

I wonder if Microsoft will ever allow “advanced” users vs clueless users to distinguish installation of the OS? see the list of services that can be disabled on this page for Tips and Tricks #1 for Vista. I’m a user who considers Explorer.exe an application.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see more products forthcoming products artificially restricted to Vista. The OS may never contain a new feature you want, but some MS product might. Microsoft appears desperate enough to force the issue.

1. You are still using and defending that TURD of an os “Windoze”.
2. You really believe that a Mac “costs twice as much”.

Linux is pretty decent but it’s still difficult for the average user to comprehend. The Mac OS is a healthy stable, and now, CERTIFIED UNIX operating system. It is as simple as you want, or as complex as you need. The reason it seems expensive is because Apple doesn’t sell crap. If you were to pull your head out of Microsofts a-hole and actually compare exactly same spec’d machines, you would find that the Macintosh is actually cheaper than most Windoze units. Yes, you can scour the bowels of the internet searching for the absolutely cheapest junk components to build your own machine with, but the vast majority of computer users do not build their own computers, or even upgrade components aside from maybe the hard drive.
I have both Windoze and Mac computers. I will not upgrade beyond WinXP Pro. It’s a decent product compared to the Wins of past but it still falls FAR short of anything my Mac can do. And luckily the very few products I needed to use Windoze for, I have found replacements to.
When the rest of my crappy Win PC’s die (1 down 2 to go), they will be replaced by Macs. I have a Dual500 G4 I bought in December of 1999 that is still running strong after being used as an edit/special effects workstation and server all these years. And yes, I did upgrade the processors to Dual 1.8Ghz this year so don’t complain that you can’t upgrade them.
Ironically enough none of my WinXP workstations will take newer processors and one of them has already died after just 3 years, and if I want to upgrade anything else in them I have to get Micro$oft’s permission to reinstall my OS. Exactly who owns this machine anyway? Another annoyance is that EVERY time I run a software update, it has to update the stupid updater program first and then I have to run software update again. That’s just one example of how it takes several more steps to do anything on a Windoze box.

Oh well, I’m finished with them. Micro$oft can kiss my A$$!

Are you forgetting Windows 98 to ME?”

And win 2000 to xp (ok, xp is better but the difference is marginal)

i was perfectly happy with my w2k system until everything started requiring xp without any reason. most just refused to install. (but worked fine if you managed to get around it)

What are you talking about? Protected Video Path has nothing to do with Media Player. It’s built into the OS layer, and good luck using any new technology without it. MS isn’t being the only menace here, but they sure did lie down with the beast. If you don’t believe it, just educate yourself a bit before accusing people of overreacting.

I wish I could forget this. But Microsoft didn’t kill off 98 to force users to switch to ME. Instead, they continued to support 98 until 2000 Professional became available. They might have even waited until XP came out, but I don’t recall; I was solidly into the Linux camp by then.

The fact is that XP is a mature OS now. But you seem to forget it too went through some growing pains.

I’ve tried out some of the linux OSs and not one of them is easily maintained for the average user, and just forget it if you game. Everybody is behind MS when it comes to gaming.

I guess I’m lucky, able at this time to upgrade, so all of my hardware works on the 64-bit version of Vista, but I do have over three year old hardware (printer & camera) that worked with no drivers that I had to install, and I can’t do that with XP.

Oh, when XP came out, I had to upgrade my hardware cause it wouldn’t run with XP. That is going to be a constant throughout our collective PC experiance. Hey it’s good for the economy!

n# - it’s good that there is competition - and I say your distro’s are also good.

But for people who are on a commercial environment - they don’t need Vista Ultimate - and they don’t want 1GB RAM. If you say 90% of the features came with Windows XP - you got to have lot of READING to do. B’coz you should not compare if you don’t know about the product.