[Malikor]

To clarify an earlier comment, yes you can reactivate Windows up to 5 times. If your computer messes up and you reformat it and reinstall Windows, it will tell you that you must reactivate it within 30 days. You can do this process online or on the phone. The icon with be in the right side of the taskbar and you click it to begin the process. Each CD Key is allowed to be used for only one Windows XP install, and if you use the same CD Key on 2 different computers, that is illegal and thus you would not be running a valid copy of the OS.

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I have had installed RC 1 and all I can tell it is very pretty but very annoying, it is like mac os in a way that for every single program action requires permission by user.I understand that is done for security but it is time consuming and you can not add allow list.
Drivers are scarce and DRM are really problem.
Price is really big and requirements for hardware are big and it is bang for a buck.
I would wait for a year, so I would let programs and codes to be written for the drivers because it is very unstable os at this moment.
If you have Direct X 10 ready graphic card and If you have a money to spend for her which is around 800$US or more (still they are un-certified, because DX10 is still in development) and you are UBERCORE gamer with "no wife or life" it is for you,otherwise still a NO NO....at least for me.........

I will post the 10 reasons not to go with Vista at this time.........soon

[mexell]

I have had installed RC 1 and all I can tell it is very pretty but very annoying, it is like mac os in a way that for every single program action requires permission by user.I understand that is done for security but it is time consuming and you can not add allow list.
Drivers are scarce and DRM are really problem.
Price is really big and requirements for hardware are big and it is bang for a buck.
I would wait for a year, so I would let programs and codes to be written for the drivers because it is very unstable os at this moment.
If you have Direct X 10 ready graphic card and If you have a money to spend for her which is around 800$US or more (still they are un-certified, because DX10 is still in development) and you are UBERCORE gamer with "no wife or life" it is for you,otherwise still a NO NO....at least for me.........

I will post the 10 reasons not to go with Vista at this time.........soon

[warriorscot]

I have heard of all the DRM but have not once actually came across it and trust me alot of ym activities on my PC DRM would be a problem but its not appeared once, you can turn of UAC you know, not that its overly bothersome try RC2 they improved it and its even more refined in the final. The onlly DRM ive heard thats even a minor problem is the HD-DVD and Blu-ray stuff since i dont intend on purchasing them or use the HDCP standard and most people wont unless you are a movie junkie with more money than sense(in which case it wouldnt matter). Its going to be at least a year or two before the price of the drives drop enough for people to want them besides the DRM for HDDVD has allready been cracked.

DX10 is pretty much finished and with the money the gfx card companies and MS spent on it they arent going to let it pass into history it is also fully certified although i suppose it depends on your ideas on certification its a microsoft standard so its not like they are going to block there own standards.

Works fine for games, new explorer ive found that pretty much everything is better than XP it runs faster makes life a little easier certainly a much better improvement than XP was over 2000 to me, i like it ive been using it for a few months and had no major incidents and its only RC2 not even final which ill prbably get next month as its actually fairly cheap.

Drivers are somewhat of a problem but not overly so, Vista has picked up most of my hardware and allready had drivers(64bit, 32 can often use XP drivers) my tablet works fine, my printer has drivers out end of the month, my TV and wireless cards dont work but the TV card is a cheapy and i didnt expect it to and the wireless doesnt work in linux either.

Besides it doesnt cost $800 for dx10 they start at half that $400 and the most expensive is between $500-$650 and prices will drop by another $100 when ATI releases there DX10 cards and there will be midrange dx10 cards ATI are even putting it in a integrated laptop chip in the spring. And if the OEM prices are anything like they are here a single copy of vista for your system should only be about $100-$150 retail is expensive but the OEM single liscences with either 32 or 64bit(you dont need both) are on par with XP pricing so if you are building a new system or dont allready have a windows liscence you bought then i dont see any reason why not.

[Optikal]

Hmm, there is that number 5 again. Perhaps my point wasn't clear. You can reformat your pc and reinstall windows XP more than 5 times. I have used the same user information during the registration, and the same pc each time. Whether this means anything i have no clue... one thing I know for sure is that microsoft has me on record re-registering the same os version every week for a little over 5 years now.
Vista.. The only big improvement that stood out for me was the updated T.O.S - Who owns who?..
(No reply needed to that question)

[Malikor]

I once had a computer that I had to reinstall Windows more than 30 times on because my family doesn't know how not to get viruses. When I registered my version, I would call instead of use the internet. The person that I would talk to would ask why I had installed the OS so many times using the same License Key. I told her that my computer is being attacked by computer-illiterate relatives and she allowed it.

[Kat]

microsoft has me on record re-registering the same os version every week for a little over 5 years now.

You reformat completely once a week? for over five years?? For what?! That is a bit over the top, to say the least.

are you using a corporate version of windows??

[admin]

You can activate the retail version of Vista as many times as you want. The OEM will be limited, but I've never seen an official number from Microsoft. I've read two additional free activations elsewhere. A new activation would only be required after major system changes. For example Vista creates a unique hash using 10 components in your system. As long as seven of those remain unchanged, you won't need to re-activate.

The biggest difference is that you can't move an OEM version from an old system to a new one. It's only valid for the system it's originally installed on. There's also no phone support, or manual included with OEM.

[krmooo]

if your reformating once a week i suggest you spend more time in these forums to find out why

[Optikal]

I'll ignore those insults.. I myself wouldn't assume anyone to be so inept after being online for so long. If you can't see why one would possibly have the need to work from a clean box, then your knowledge is somewhat lacking.
Admin - "The OEM will be limited, but I've never seen an official number from Microsoft."
If vista's OEM rules are related to xp's, i will be happy.

[warriorscot]

Actually if you need a clean box every week you would be better using a virtualised OS reinstalling a clean OS every week wont be doing your hard drive any good and even the people here who work on malware fixes dont install every week and have perfectly clean systems, they are right and not insulting you there is no need to reinstall every week unless you are tampering with the OS and not knowing what you are doing.

[Kat]

I myself wouldn't assume anyone to be so inept after being online for so long.

Your assumption would be incorrect in that case. I have seen many people who have "been online for years"..and still don't have a clue as to how their computer actually works.

If you can't see why one would possibly have the need to work from a clean box, then your knowledge is somewhat lacking.

My knowledge is certainly not lacking. I know how to keep my machine perfectly clean, and have never once had to reinstall my O/S...even after intentionally infecting myself.

Warriorscot is right. You should look into using a virtual machine.

[Optikal]

I have used vmware for awhile now, i even advise it on a blog of mine ( http://network-surfer.blogspot.com ). I sit opposite my better (at times) half trying to gain access so-2-speak to each others systems. My friends are no different. Reformatting and re-installing windows takes 10 minutes and even less clicks, a small price for paranoia. Maybe it's just the circles we live in.