easymode

I didn't expect to see so much Vista appreciation :lol: Usually that's peoples go to for being the worst version of Windows (the real answer to that question is Millennium Edition)

J3llyf1sh wrote: Mar 3rd, '26, 01:49 Windows 8/8.1 might have been fast but UI change was just wrong

Now this reminds me of a nuclear take of mine that will get me smote from orbit: Windows 8 was good... once you installed classic shell or startisback. Don't get me wrong, the default Win 8 ui was a mess, but once you got one of the aforementioned programs installed, you were good to go. It was nice and snappy.

I don't think it was the best but I must admit I do have a nostaglic feeling towards Windows Vista. Back in the late 2000s I had a HP laptop I used all the time as my primary computer, my gaming PC back then was far too old to play anything more than CS 1.6. Something about the aero theme, the glossy buttons, the start menu bursting out from the task bar. I had a real soft spot for the asthetic they went for at the time. I could take or leave the entire frutica aero movement that has been around for say the past 12 months ago so it isn't me just having general nostalia for the design asthetic but more the OS in general. Would I want to use it now, probably not but I'd love to have my OS look like that once again and just feel like an OS rather than a pop up slop mess trying to push me towards store fonts and showing adverts for AI etc.

J3llyf1sh wrote: Mar 3rd, '26, 01:49 When I eventually get round to rebuild my Core 2 / 8800 era PC I think I'm going to have to dual boot XP and Vista

Keep us posted on this Core2 build. Out of my retro PCs, this era is the most versatile for me...
I kinda miss these old neon tubes:

ward wrote: Mar 3rd, '26, 15:29

J3llyf1sh wrote: Mar 3rd, '26, 01:49 When I eventually get round to rebuild my Core 2 / 8800 era PC I think I'm going to have to dual boot XP and Vista

Keep us posted on this Core2 build. Out of my retro PCs, this era is the most versatile for me...
I kinda miss these old neon tubes:

My Chieftec Dragon Case before I swapped the parts

Unfortunately in the UK we can't see images hosted on Imgur any more but I know what tubes you mean
They were an absolute pain with those transformers which were often a sky blue (why?!) but yeah they looked good

here's a throwback: https://million-dollar-pc.com/

J3llyf1sh wrote: Mar 4th, '26, 02:09 Unfortunately in the UK we can't see images hosted on Imgur any more but I know what tubes you mean
They were an absolute pain with those transformers which were often a sky blue (why?!) but yeah they looked good

Oh damn... that must get annoying regarding imgur... So, I have good file hosting set up for the site but I end up using imgur because it's easy to copy paste images from my clipboard rather than save the file and drag and drop it, but I'll not be lazy this time: Time to dig through million dollar PC... OH WTF?!

My Vista desktop in May 2008
Back when Steam didn't have a functioning Friends list and Xfire was peak
Had enough blue LED fans that I didn't need CCFLs :biggrin:

J3llyf1sh wrote: Mar 4th, '26, 02:43 My Vista desktop in May 2008
Back when Steam didn't have a functioning Friends list and Xfire was peak

e84004ghz.JPEG

Had enough blue LED fans that I didn't need CCFLs :biggrin:

DSC00855.JPEG

Now THIS is a desktop. We used to respect the computer. kids these days and their flat UIs, grumble grumble.

the_skotts wrote: Mar 3rd, '26, 04:56 I didn't expect to see so much Vista appreciation :lol: Usually that's peoples go to for being the worst version of Windows (the real answer to that question is Millennium Edition

Holy hell I got stuck with ME for a while on a Gateway machine to boot. The blue screens the BLUE SCREEENS!..

I think Vista was ahead of its time. I had a laptop with it at the time and the cut into performance was very noticeable.

I fell in love with desktops at 98 I think. At the time to me it was just like a magical place where you could do anything and it made sense as the components tied directly to DOS. I really struggled with the transition to XP at the time and the decoupling.