What about Vista?

[FlightGeek]

I am Linux fan as I told earlier, and think that the OS of the future has to be a kind of evolved Linux, which is able to run any executable, no matter for what OS has been written: ...

I am a FreeBSD fan.

I can run over 16,000 applications natively with FreeBSD.

FreeBSD has kernel level emulation available for Linux and SCO, so I can any applications for those operating systems, as well.

FreeBSD has Wine available for Windows emulation.

And, FreeBSD can also run QEMU.

Plus you get a fast, solid, versatile networking stack.
Three built-in firewalls to chose from.
Multiple virtual FreeBSD machines which run at full speed (I run servers in them to contain any damage if somebody hacks the server).
Disk encryption
File system snapshots
Mandatory access controls
etc.

I have used it for more than ten years for both desktops and servers and it has been a very solid, reliable and versatile operating system.

[monkpalmer]

I had to start using Vista - got a new laptop at work that runs Vista Business.

Pleased to report that my USB full of the usual apps (firefox, OpenOffice, VLC player, Editpad etc) all worked perfectly. Didn't have to run them in any compatibility mode or anything.

VLCplayer on USB was the ONLY player I cd get to work on Vista (some R300 driver error kept causing MPClassic to keep shuting down).

You're all right about Vista - it's worthless. But at least it didn't interfere with any of the great apps I've downloaded from here.

[teobromina]

Same for me.
I'm happy for you and all the freedom fans around.

Thank you, Simon.

I am a FreeBSD fan.

I can run over 16,000 applications natively with FreeBSD.

FreeBSD has kernel level emulation available for Linux and SCO, so I can any applications for those operating systems, as well.

FreeBSD has Wine available for Windows emulation.

I am going to try FreeBSD too. My only concern is that, once, I lost my data by an inadecuate operation with an older version of BSD (That was before I learnt to have sistematically my data safe in a mirror). May be now I have more experience, and we (BSD and me) may do something great



*JT.

[nycjv321]

respnding to this qoute
"I am Linux fan as I told earlier, and think that the OS of the future has to be a kind of evolved Linux, which is able to run any executable, no matter for what OS has been written: ..."

lol isnt ms-dos based of off qdos (quick and dirty Operating System) which is a clone of CP/M which is a derivative of unix so doesnt that mean the windows 9x and windows nt families are technically derivatives of unix?
lol i wanna see the responces to this so does this mean windows is going to evolve into the OS of the future?(which i know wont happen unless microsoft gets their act together after vista lol) (since linux is based of off unix as is solaris as well as the bsd family?) due to the fact that essentially windows is basically like a cousin to linux?

as for running any executable that is impossible (to an extent)

[teobromina]

Hi all:

I have tested Vista in two ways:
1.-Installing some of my 'must' programs and
2.-Trying portable programs which are good for XP

1.-Installing my favorite firewall (sygate) caused a severe unestability that made the computer going to shut down every some minutes. Yes uncompatibility was anounced by the OS (Vista) at installing time, but I wanted to try. Since I never run Windows without firewall I tried to find and test other firewalls. I found two freeware and I was able to install one of them 'VistaFirewall' http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html

Then I tried to install PartitionMagic 8 and Vista says that is not compatible,
neither Nero 6.3.1.5 is compatible, and so on...

2.-Trying portable apps: I noticed a few better behaviour with my basic portable apps. As a sample: Notepad2, FoxitPDFReader, FastStoneImageViewer, Truecrypt, essentialPIM, PStart, VideolanClient run in Vista, but my precious WXPCDControlPanel (necessary to mount an ISO as a virtual disc) is not compatible.

Comment:

The compatibility of portable apps and Vista is a little better (but not more than a little) than when I run that portable apps into a Live Slax Linux Killbill Edition...

Recently I tested Ubuntu Studio. The skin of the desktop is very very similar to Vindows Vista. But Ubuntu Studio has docens of programs in the same installation disc, and in addition, lots of actualizations, ready for downloading, that cover almost all my needs. In comparison Vista is just the OS...

More than this: Linux is (almost) free.

Summary: My vote goes to... Slax Killbill for a portable (live) OS, and to Ubuntu Studio for a installable OS.

[ohiozzz]

I've used Vista very little. One of the managers where I work bought a new Toshiba laptop with Vista home premium. I played with it a little it looks great as far as eye candy goes but I can't really give a review. I really like Linux myself I use a version called Pizzapup. It's great I don't need a virus scanner, spyware scanner or a firewall. It's run from a live cd so I can use any computer with a cd/dvd rom drive to run my operating system. Now it's not for everyone, I only use computers for fun watching videos listening to music and surfing the internet so it fits my needs. Pizzapup is a version of Puppy Linux it loads into the ram so you can use the cd/dvd rom. It is the fastest os I have ever used. A good site for people thinking about trying Linux is [distrowatch.com] it has hundreds of versions of Linux listed and has links to the sites as well as reviews.

[JohnW]

teobromina raised an interesting point. How many of the PFC apps run under Vista?

For the most part the discussion has unfortunately degenerated into a Vista bashing or a Linux extolling session.

Why Darkbee for example should expect people who have just bought a laptop with Vista pre-installed to ditch it and buy say Windows XP beats me. He also misses the point that some guys will be taking their USB flash drives on to other users' kit which may have Vista installed.
The sad thing is that a very unhelpful first response set the scene.
Some people just don't get it.

Stick to the point. Vista exists and at least for an interim period the issue of portable apps running under Vista is of importance. Yes - we should know!!
All PFC apps show what the System Requirements were at the time of the post and of late very many show Vista in the list. Some don't.
I picked MemPad as an example. Not a product I've used (and so would know). I couldn't find specific references to any Windows flavour either on the site or in the download. But the implication in PFC is that it doesn't run under Vista. So I won't be trying it on a Vista machine. But nonetheless I do still wonder !

So the key point is are PFC apps tested for use under all flavours of Windows by a mod etc.
And to return to teobromina's issue - what about the old apps?

[teobromina]

I propose a simple solution....

Don't run Vista.

It's a good point but I don't know enough about Vista to know how many apps will be compatible. I'm assuming Vista will have a certain level of backwards compatibility (as XP has compatibility mode for 95, although it doesn't always work!)

Hi! I raise this topic again. I have installed Vista in a spare partition, just to make a more in depth test of my portable apps.

I tested about 60 of them, my 'basic' collection. All of them worked this time except the ones that are DOS apps (XP does allow to run them), and a little one "WinContig" that shows a message telling that it is not prepared for this OS.

Conclussion: The test shows that Vista will allow to run the major part of our portable apps, including NVU, The GIMP, and so on...

If Vista spreads itself like XP, there is no problem, we, The Portable Collection Team will survive.

Regards.

*JT.

[teobromina]

After the trials I performed, and seeing that almost all of my favorite portable XP apps run in Vista, I decided to drop Vista again. The thinking below this decission is simple: If I do not need to make trials specifically for Vista, then what is the reason to run Vista at all? Now I know that all I do in XP, with more or less success, will be useful as well when I cannot avoid to use Vista...

*JT.