Date:
Monday , January 29, 2007
Author:
Kyle Bennett
Editor:
Joey Seiler
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Editorial - Windows Vista Ramblings

Will I or won't I do the Windows Vista shuffle? How about you? What do you need to know? How about a whole bunch of stuff that you don't need to know instead? Next week maybe we get Ozzy to chime in on Office 2007.

continued...

So here we are, almost back on topic. A bunch of hardware enthusiasts looking down the barrel of Vista. Should I feel as though I am being held at gunpoint when it comes to Vista? That analogy might be a bit extreme, though some people will feel that way when they don’t have multiple choices. But, assuredly, the spoiled vocal minority will do their best to make you feel as though Bill Gates is standing behind you whispering, “Fageddaboudit.”

My experiences with Vista have been many. I get even more feedback from our readers and staff that have been using it. I personally see no reason to upgrade to Windows Vista...except for that whole DX10 thing. Yeah, Microsoft is forcing me to buy Vista to get DX10. Then again, Microsoft isn’t forcing me to do anything. It may be my only choice in the matter, but while a PC may be a basic need these days for some workloads, you damn sure don't need DX10 to do most things. Yes, I will buy Vista, even though I still love my Windows XP and have found no reason to turn it loose, other than Microsoft not allowing me to run DX10 and all of those new games that have been promised for years. Oh, how I dearly hope they show up soon. Unreal Tournament 2007 has been renamed Unreal Tournament 3, which is probably a good idea. Hopefully it doesn’t turn into Unreal Forever. Crysis has been pushed back as well, but it sure looks cool. So now I am sitting here wondering if I even need Vista's DX10 just yet.

Don't think for one moment that the new games coming out are not going to have DX9 code paths. One of the priorities for game developers is that they have a big install base for their games, and limiting new games to just Windows Vista systems would ridiculously cut the customer base. I have yet to hear about Microsoft buying any major “Vista Only” titles and will wager that we do not see this with any must-have titles. Ask yourself why a game developer, whose sole source of income is game sales, would limit the number of potential consumers? They wouldn’t, unless of course Microsoft buys their company.

So is Vista really that gun barrel sticking in your back? Does Vista really have the strange gravitational gaming pull on me that I think it does? Do I have to buy it today?

Nope.

It is going to be a good while before you will be required to have Vista and its DX10 to play the games you want to play. You can likely hold out a good while and the longer you hold off, likely the better off you will be. Let the early adopters work out those problem areas. There’s still the minor detail of just how much better DX10 is going to make those games. That hasn’t been made exceedingly clear, and, frankly, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Admittedly, I have been putting off a new system build until Windows Vista hit the market. And my new system that I hope to get built in the next 30 days or so will have a Windows Vista operating system. I am not sure why, though. It just seems like the hardware enthusiast thing to do. Building a new computer without the brand new OS just seems wrong to me. Damn, I don't want to be moving backwards....but wait, what does Vista really offer me now? Well, nothing. I admit it, I will be buying and installing it on my new computer just to quench my enthusiast’s thirst for something new. I will use "future-proofing with DX10" to further excuse my purchase of those new DX10 video cards. Then one day, in the distant future, I will be able to buy at least one DX10 game that does not totally blow goats and that will validate the entire body of my hardware and software purchases.

And did you know that most of your current games are likely going to run slower on Windows Vista? NVIDIA fully confirmed that last week in a statement to the press. And from the way NVIDIA worded it, it sounds like many of our games that are native to Windows XP will never be as fast as they are on Vista. But hey, us early macho adopters have to fall on the sword, right? Even if it is at a stuttering frame rate that just prolongs the agony. There is a reason they call it “cutting edge,” just be glad that most Katanas don’t have a serrated blade. (Feel free to insert your own Daikatana joke here. I almost did.)

So I see old Bill this morning on the Today Show, and I am thinking to myself, “Wow, that’s some prime TV time. This new Windows Vista must really rock. Maybe right here, right now, Bill will validate my wants for Vista by proving not only to me, but the world too, that it really is needed.” Then he just mumbled some marketing crap - likely from Steve Ballmer, a much bigger Microsoft fan than myself. After the interview was over, it hit me. Bill must not have had much to talk about if he just pissed away 5 good minutes of national news coverage.

I guess the only real reason I will be needing Windows Vista right now is the alpha-geek in me. It’s the portion of my hungry ego that requires I stand above the unwashed masses stuck with that dinosaur OS Windows XP…that I love so much. Guess I will see the other thousands of you in our forums griping about just how much it sucks, even though deep down I could not live without it, although I am probably better if I did, at least for now.

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