As I’ve mentioned earlier I’m a Cakewalk SONAR & Project5 user and licensee. Since I’ve upgraded to Vista last year I’ve noticed lots of nasty driver issues. Audio engine stops, etc. I’m going to do a system-wide search for updated drivers for all my audio hardware this week and if the problems aren’t corrected I’m probably going to revert back to XP.
Now understand I’m a nerd. I’m a Linux server guy and a Windows Desktop guy, if I can’t get the drivers to work with my hardware & software after the OS has been release for over a year, then there’s something substantially wrong with Windows Vista and/or its support.
Don’t get me wrong I LIKE VISTA. The interface is a step ahead (still lagging in some ways, but still much advanced to XP–except the overly complex control panel layout).
iTunes STILL doesn’t start without a black application screen about a third of the time. I believe this is an ATI issue–I haven’t seen it happen on my main desktop nVidia 8800 system, but I don’t run iTunes often on that box, as iTunes doesn’t listen to Multimedia Keyboard player controls.
Pro audio support lags. I’ve got a quad core 6600 system with 4 gigs of ram, there’s still a bit too much latency–even set at ‘very fast’.
I really hate to do it, but I seem to be following the crowd and reverting/keeping XP as my home box, although I’ll probably still keep it on my Laptop as Vista’s power options are far superior to XP’s.
I’d go Linux on the desktop, but there are no good pro-level music creation apps out there and gaming is a joke.* I am dual-screened my Server/Desktop screen is right next to my Windows box screen so I can use either system right next to each other for development or compatibility testing. I really, really like Ubuntu 8.04 (not that I didn’t like 7.04 or 7.10 just improves every version and every upgrade on that system has been smooth as silk) but without 3rd party application vendors supporting it, it’ll remain my choice for a web-browsing desktop and my choice for a server.
- Yes I’m aware of open source apps and wine and native binaries of some popular games, but it still pales in comparison to the support that Windows gets. I’m constantly testing new apps and I’m always left disappointed in sequencing software.