Microsoft Vista from £64.61

kevinwj

Lord_Jason_The_Invincible wrote:

6. There are (or will be as I understand it) 4 different vista products out there.... (there were 6, but I think that got too confusing so now there are 4) make sure you pick the right one for you as the cheaper editions may not have all the functionality you will expect! see this link to find out which is right for you... http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/default.mspx

:beer: Jason

Keep counting

Also available will be versions made specifically for Europe that, in accordance with an EU mandate, remove the Windows media player.

Link

There could be as many as 12 versions :eek: It all depends on EU rulings.

.

biglugs

Bloody EU - if you don't like Media Player just delete it. Mind you v11 is dreadful - I want v10 back.

h4x3r

kevinwj wrote:

Keep counting



Link

There could be as many as 12 versions :eek: It all depends on EU rulings.

.

theres not 11 versions look how old the article is
the versions are
Vista Business
Vista Enterprise
Vista Home Basic
Vista Home Premium
Vista Ultimate
Vista Starter

kevinwj

Yes but even the Microsoft site says "5 versions" then lists 6.

And if you dig deeper you find,

Microsoft is readying six core Vista packages, or SKUs, plus two additional releases customized for the European Union that won't bundle in Windows Media Player, as ordered by European antitrust regulators. The six Windows Vista variants are: Windows Starter 2007; Windows Vista Enterprise; Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista ultimate, and Windows Vista Business.


Also on the list are two additional releases, Windows Vista Home Basic N and Windows Vista Business N. The "N" releases are those which do not include Media Player.

Snip<

With Vista, there will not be separate Tablet, Media Center or x64 SKUs, said Barry Goffe, director of Windows client product management. All of the planned Vista versions, except Windows Vista Starter, will be available in both 32- and 64-bit flavors.

So I make that 13 versions

.

Lord_Jason_The_Invincible

kevinwj wrote:

Yes but even the Microsoft site says "5 versions" then lists 6.

And if you dig deeper you find,



So I make that 13 versions

.

I guess that just means that you should be wary of the oem versions offered for a cheaper price, or even an upgrade from windows xp (upgrade?! whatever!) as you will probably just get the most basic version; if thats what you want then fine, but if not... be careful!

:beer: Jason

wombler

Just thought I'd add some comments on Vista and OEM after reading this thread:

First, you certainly don't need a £300 graphics card - I can't see Microsoft shifting many copies if that was the case and unless you're a hardcore gamer you're throwing good money away if you spend anything like that on a graphics card. You don't need a DX10 compatible card. In fact you don't need any fancy graphics card to run the basic version of Vista but if you want to have the new "Aero" look to Vista (rotating windows, translucent borders etc) you will need the following, according to Microsoft:

Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)2, Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel. Link

I just bought a new graphics card that is Vista Aero ready (according to NVidia) and it cost me about £25 from ebuyer (where there were also several positive reviewers directly stating that they have run Beta versions of Aero using it). Both the major graphics card chip manufacturers have also published lists of which of their cards support Aero: NVidia ATI


Also, I have an OEM version of Windows XP which I bought a few weeks after it was released. The license does state that because it is OEM it is only valid with the original machine which it is put onto (or something like that). However, I am now onto my fourth new set of hardware since XP was released. I have had to phone up to complete my activation the last couple of times but that is simple and anonymous (they didn't ask for any personal details or question what i was doing, they just asked for the ID key). The problem with truly enforcing OEM licenses is similar to the old analogy about the much loved pair of socks that you keep patching and repairing - at what point does it stop being the original pair of socks?

Obviously the Microsoft policy may change with Vista but I would think that assuming you don't change your hardware every other week you shouldn't have any problems - they're after mass piraters and companies trying to use one copy for multiple machines rather than PC enthusiasts who like playing around with their tech toys.

gromituk

tbird3 wrote:

GromitUK- obviously you like Linux.

I can't deny it *hangs head in shame*

However, for the everyday joe (or josephine) Linux can be a can of worms waiting to be opened ... even I have had problems running Mandrake 6.2

Mandrake 6.2? Just how old is that? Things have moved on in leaps and bounds since then. Why not give it another look? Or at least don't make such assumptions based on something so out of date.

sco0ter

wombler wrote:

You don't need a DX10 compatible card. In fact you don't need any fancy graphics card to run the basic version of Vista.

My Gerorce 6600GT can fully run the aero interface no problem... You will need a DX 10 card to get the full benefit of any "Made for WINDOWS VISTA" games.. They will run under DX9 but not to thier full potential or with the enhanced graphics DX10 will give... They will also give graphics equal or superior to thier console equivelents depending on the graphics card selected. and as Microsoft are talking about bringing XBOX live to the PC so you can play online against 360 users it would be great to have the same or better graphics for that.. And now microsoft has said that all XBOX360 peripherals will be Vista compliant (with adapter) then that means you can buy the controllers and external high definition drive as well.

Richard_45

Microdirect sell xp oems with mice, so i assume that also counts as the hardware http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=15466&GroupID=69 also comes with vista coupon.

everythingblogcast

h4x3r wrote:

gjchester wrote:

Your Wrong

You need to buy it with a "non peripheral" piece of hardwareQUOTE]

No you dont most compaines inforce this but Over Clockers UK dont


i didnt ring microsoft why would i do that?

To active Vista. If the online activtion is not working.