It has been 13 days since I converted my laptop from Vista to Windows XP. The process was more involved than I expected, but for me the end result justified the effort. Your mileage may vary.
In a head to head competition with an identical Compaq Presario laptop running Vista, the converted XP machine is observably faster starting up and is less prone to those annoying blackouts which occur when you ask the Vista system to do something it is not ready to do.
The downside to this adventure is that you have to learn a lot more than you ever cared to know about driver software and the idiosyncrasies of machines that were designed to run Vista and are not really supported by XP.
I no longer relish looking under the hood of my cars or inside the guts of my computers. I have learned the hard way that cutting edge refinements require constant upkeep and are not compatible with standard upgrades.
When you modify a mass-produced system in any significant way, it no longer is part of the mainstream repair and service network. You are on your own, so to speak, and you had better be satisfied with the help of Internet forums.
The bright spot in all of this is that customers are using the Internet to work around problems and the forums are full of useful information on converting Vista machines to XP machines and advice on handling arcane problems involving Conexant High Definition Audio Systems, whatever they are.
I have been installing new drivers on the XP laptop while I am writing this and the laptop now recognizes some of the hardware that was previously hidden from it.
A few more steps and the laptop now has a fully operational sound system. What a relief!
If I had it to do over again, I would go to my local PC expert and if he had done Vista to XP conversions successfully, I would get him to do the conversion. Proper division of labor, you know. Give the work to the person who does it professionally.
If you are already in the midst of doing this conversion for yourself, here is a link that may help you with audio problems: http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?pid=8558#p8558
Hello, David.
I wasn't posting here for long time, but I keep reading your log.
I have at home a PC with windows XP.
Despite what people say about windows, I am satisfied with windows.
A few days ago I downloaded Ubantu.
It was running on my machine smooth.
It's cost? zero. So I consider to buy another PC and to dedicate it to linux.
You should try linux too.
best regards,
Your International Reader
Posted by: GUY | Apr 23, 2008 at 05:15 PM
Just in case you missed it, I thought you might enjoy this review of Vista from John Dvorak in pcmag.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2286065,00.asp). Paroding Microsoft’s hype extolling the virtues of Vista’s ‘three pillars’, Dvorak offers his 11 Pillars of Failure. From poor marketing to missing components, here is his take as to why this operating system will most certainly fail. Enjoy.
Posted by: Murray Abramovitch | May 11, 2008 at 10:41 PM
Hello David:
it has been a while since I have looked at your blog, glad to see you are still around and thriving. You are a great source of inspiration to me...especially having just completed two years of school, as an adult, and finding myself having to be a worker again...:-)
btw, the link to the Vista story does not work, here it is again...
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2286065,00.asp
all the best...
Stephen Read
Posted by: stephen read | May 20, 2008 at 10:47 PM