I am a bit surprised at the comments about Vista vs. XP. I have two computers in my shack that are side by side with a KVM switch so I can access either of them from my main control point. I mostly use XP for backward compatibility since all amateur radio programs that I use will run on XP without crashing or having any incompatibilities. I run XP because almost all new computers here in the U.S. come with Vista. In fact, I overheard a conversation at a BestBuy store where the customer (an elderly woman obviously fearful of incompatibility issues) wanted XP rather than Vista but the clerk said they no longer had any machines that they could get with XP. He recommended they look at their web site and consider switching to MAC if she did not want to go with Vista. I wonder if she realized what that meant in terms of incompatibility:(
Vista is pretty much XP with some window dressing and increased security, and unfortunately some decreased practical use for the end user due to the DRM issues. However, that does not affect amateur radio programs. Thus far I have been repeatedly surprised how well Vista works after hearing all the horror stories about how bad it would be. It runs most of the ham software that I use (DX Lab suite of programs, Multipsk, Ham Radio Deluxe with the Digital Master 780 digital program), and runs any of my normal programs which are primarily FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) which include the Open Office suite, Thunderbird e-mail. Firefox browser, MediaMonkey library/catalog/player system that can handle open standards such as FLAC and of course ogg vorbis, Google Earth, Adobe Reader, and AVG Anti Virus. Some exceptions might be the virtual stuff, but after trying some of that with XP, I have decided it is probably not going to work for me anyway. 73, Rick, KV9U WD8ARZ Comcast wrote: > Navigating can be such a pain when going from xp to vista. Both worlds > have there plus and minus properties and I am not advocating or > bashing either. Just happen to use em and other operating systems, and > I am glad to share that experience. >
