So after using Vista since before it was released I have now rolled back to XP primarily due to the continuing and annoying sound issues. Sound distortions, no support for EAX, and a mounting list of applications failing are the reasons.

After years of perfect audio from 95 though to XP, it now accounts for my no.1 computer issue. Trying multiple cards, multiple different driver sets, and spending much longer than I might like playing with it, I'm just dumping Vista completely. If I have to restart the Vista "Windows Audio" service once more I think I'll go insane.

The OS doesn't add any value in any other areas really either ... The admin thing isn't really any more secure, and the only feature which I believe truly adds security is IE 7's own reduced privilege user account (which I can setup on XP if I'm not lazy).
 
Has anyone else rolled back to XP after trying Vista? What was your reasoning?

I too installed Vista shortly after it was released, and while an improvement (in most areas) over XP, I too just re-installed XP.

Some reasons I did this:

1) Camera import wizard - My wife and I take alot of pictures every month.  The import wizard were perfect in XP.  You could specify the exact directory to put the pics, and the filename.  With vista, you have to specify a subdir, and it is VERY confusing how to get vista to continue with the next available filename in a directory.    In my opinion, this is the over the top reason why I reinstalled XP.

2) Not everyone can afford to buy a state of the art computer every two years.  I have a dell xps from 2.5 years ago, and I can tell this computer can barely keep up.   I went through and disabled all of the useless (for me at least) services (searching, readyboost, etc, etc,), and I can still hear the hard drive pounding away when the computer is idle.

3) I can not get adobe premiere / photoshop elements to work right with vista.  Again, I am not buying a new version of this software every year.   I think if a company is making software for release every year, it should be dirt cheap.

I got my copy of vista through the power together deal a few months ago.   Thank goodness that was free.   I hear there is a beta going on now with the vista photo gallery that will improve the camera import wizard.  

I used to be the type that would install the new microsoft os the moment it was available, not anymore.  

I do realize that there are alot of people that love vista, and will use it.  I am one that does like vista.  It has alot of potential, but, I really, really believe MS rushed Vista out the door too soon

Legacy hardware

I had a dual boot on my 1.7mhz Centrino laptop with a gig of RAM but just a 1.0 Windows Experience because of the legacy GPU.

The Ethernet jack worked fine with the Vista betas, but stopped working with the RTM, the microphone and headphone jacks never worked.

eagle wrote:



Legacy hardware

I had a dual boot on my 1.7mhz Centrino laptop with a gig of RAM but just a 1.0 Windows Experience because of the legacy GPU.

The Ethernet jack worked fine with the Vista betas, but stopped working with the RTM, the microphone and headphone jacks never worked.

The frontmounted (rear ports work fine) mic/headphone jacks on my pc worked fine in XP, no sound comes out of them at all in Vista. RT Audio recognises something's been plugged in, but nothing comes out of them.

Lloyd_Humph wrote:



The frontmounted (rear ports work fine) mic/headphone jacks on my pc worked fine in XP, no sound comes out of them at all in Vista. RT Audio recognises something's been plugged in, but nothing comes out of them.

Sounds more like the cables come lose that connects the front ports to your mother board then a software problem.

This is an audio driver issue. When I installed Vista I needed to get audio drivers for my computer before the headphone output would work.

No thanks to the idiots who put the driver installation together, (Sorry, this product is for "Windows 95" and above only), I told the installer to run as Windows XP and hey-presto, I have working audio drivers! wooteh!

Sadly lots of people think this is a Vista issue. It's not. Microsoft, LINUX, Apple etc cannot be held responsible for hardware manufacturers making bad drivers, or failing to make drivers at all for the hardware that they create.

Surely the lack of EAX support isn't a Microsoft problem but a Creative Labs one.  Yes Microsoft changed the way the audio system works but Vista has been released to the public for over 6 months now and who knows how long in beta before that.  Creative labs surely could have got it working in that time!

littleguru wrote:

Hey Manip! What soundcards did you try? I'm curious, because I have a very low budget soundcard that came with my Dell and it works without any problems at all. It is a SigmaTel C-Major Audio.

Started out with an Audigy 2, then tried an SB live 5.1, and then onto my motherboard's built in audio ... Each getting progressively worse than the last.

And audio is one of those things which I'm very touché about ... I'd prefer the internet connection to die before my audio does.

Lloyd_Humph wrote:



eagle wrote:  Legacy hardware I had a dual boot on my 1.7mhz Centrino laptop with a gig of RAM but just a 1.0 Windows Experience because of the legacy GPU. The Ethernet jack worked fine with the Vista betas, but stopped working with the RTM, the microphone and headphone jacks never worked.

The frontmounted (rear ports work fine) mic/headphone jacks on my pc worked fine in XP, no sound comes out of them at all in Vista. RT Audio recognises something's been plugged in, but nothing comes out of them.

This might be a problem with jack sensing. I had this to, but I could turn off jack sensing in the driver options, and now the ports work fine.

Still running Vista, not planning on ever going back.

ManipUni wrote:



littleguru wrote: Hey Manip! What soundcards did you try? I'm curious, because I have a very low budget soundcard that came with my Dell and it works without any problems at all. It is a SigmaTel C-Major Audio.

Started out with an Audigy 2, then tried an SB live 5.1, and then onto my motherboard's built in audio ... Each getting progressively worse than the last.

And audio is one of those things which I'm very touché about ... I'd prefer the internet connection to die before my audio does.

My previous machine in the Netherlands had a Sound Blaster X-Fi, which gave me no end of trouble under Vista (most notably stutters and botched SPDIF passthrough) until sometime around a February (iirc) a driver update fixed the trouble. It never gave me trouble after that.

On this machine I use the on-board Realtek HD Audio (although I probably will shell out for good speakers and a good soundcard at some point, I miss my old setup) and it has never given me any trouble at all. Worked OOB without needing drivers, and works just as well with Realtek's drivers installed.

evildictaitor wrote:

This is an audio driver issue. When I installed Vista I needed to get audio drivers for my computer before the headphone output would work.

I was replying to Lloyd_Humph's post. If his rear ports work then either his cable to his front port is dodgy, the ports themselves are dodgy, or the connector on the motherboard is dodgy. It's not a seperate big of sound card, just some sockets on the mother board that a cable plugs into (like from panel USB is the same USB controller, just rather than the sockets being soldered to the board they're attached by a long cable.)

I changed my main desktop PC to Fedora 7 from Windows XP.

You decide if thats an upgrade or downgrade.

I put Vista Home basic on my notebook and it runs fine but there is no Aero or special features. Its equivelent to Windows XP Home or less, IMHO.

I have Vista installed on three different PCs, one single core system (two years old), one older dual core system and a new Tablet PC. The only issues i have are the missing driver for my very old Lexmark printer I didn't use and the new Microsoft LifeCam NX6000. I will never go back to XP but can understand it if there are such issues as you describe.

ManipUni wrote:

The OS doesn't add any value in any other areas really either ... The admin thing isn't really any more secure, and the only feature which I believe truly adds security is IE 7's own reduced privilege user account (which I can setup on XP if I'm not lazy).

The OS adds value, but the apps and drivers have yet to catch up, despite the long lead time that everyone complained so bitterly about.

Bottom line is that you should not need to be logged on as an admin, to run an application. You would not normally log on as root or su with a *nix system, just to run an application. However, Windows is unusual in this regard, as it has all this Win9x-to-DOS baggage, which just assumes admin access. Being logged on as admin is the most common reason why virus, worms & macros are able to wreak so much havoc.

Vista provides the platform for devs to write to a secure user model, and it attempts to coerce its use... but obviously legacy apps and missing device drivers will be an issue for some time to come.