My company is pushing that everyone switch to Vista on new laptops. I am using Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 right now and had to fix some compatibility issues. I could push for XP and go through HR, but I also could just get accustomed to Vista just for experience sakes.
Any experiences with development and Vista? Pros/Cons?
I would wait for Windows 7. I am using that now for development. I've used Vista in the past, switched back to XP. But now going from 7 to XP is hell.
No programming issues with vista per-se. Vista SP1 has been rock solid for me.
However, I run Vista Ultimate 64-bit, so I have to target 32-bit, if I am using 32-bit compiled libraries.
Now that Vista has a few winters under its belt, it's gotten a lot better. Just make sure you disable UAC ;)
No problems with development on vista that I've found, and I've used a variety of compilers, CLRs, etc.
I do a bit of linux work, but that takes place in a VM.
VM's on modern processors are as fast as native, so if you run into a snag, load an XP VM and run with it. Adds a little friction, but recent VMs overcome cut-n-paste issues, and with network mapped drives there's nothing you can't easily do.
Can you provide us with specific compatability issues with Vista?
I use Vista at home and work and develop on a variety of VS versions. Most often in 2008. There are no Vista specific issues that I run into on a normal basis.
The only big difference between using VS on Vista (and above) vs. XP and below is UAC. I know a lot of people feel differently but I love UAC (strong unix/linux background). UAC can affect your development cycle because it prevent you from doing potentially illegal operations (such as writing to %ProgramFiles% or HKLM). It's possible to get the same effect on XP by leaving the Admins group but few people take that step.
Developing as a limited user (UAC route or lack of Admin) will generally speaking increase the reliability of your application. So in general Vista may be tougher but it will produce a better app.
I've been using XP for many years before and switched to Vista about one year ago. Other than that I was I able to actually see how much application runs on a Vista system, it did not make and real difference for me.
Works for me, but I'm using SQL 2008 and Visual Studio 2008.
Convince them to roll out a few laptops first and see if your particular development environment works in Vista. If it doesn't work, then you can focus on fixing it before everyone is required to run Vista.
Assuming you are using Microsoft tools, they'll all work just fine. I can't vouch for gcc, but the Visual Studio stack works just fine. Microsoft puts a lot of effort into making sure their tools work fine on their own operating systems. Vista gets a bad rap, but most of it is undeserved now.
i recently switched to vista 64 ultimate since i decided it was worth the trouble(wanted to do directx 10 applications). i havent found any problem whatsoever only thing i would recomend is let visual studio run as administrator and dont disable uac!!!! it may be REALLY annoying but it's the best security feature vista has. i really havent had a problem about it since when i install program's i run them as administrator so they are not limited.
From my own experiences, developing on Vista works just fine. Also if you're doing website development, now that you're no longer limited to a single active website (like XP/IIS5.1), this removes lots of unneccesary pain from your life.
Contrary to the usual rumour mills, Vista isn't all bad. It's just a perception change :)
HTH
Kev
Windows Vista Security is quite better than earlier versions of Windows. Mainly because of User Account Control - UAC. Windows Vista will gives standard rights to all non-administrative application when user starts that app even if the user log on windows as an administator. This can cause trouble in terms of compatibility with applications that are designed to work with earlier versions of Windows. If you experience problems running these apps, you need to tell Windows Vista to give administrative rights to that particular app by right-click on the icon can click Run as administrator.
Make sure you download and install the Visual Studio 2005 Service Pack 1 Update for Windows Vista.
Vista is nowhere near as bad as it was at launch. Service Pack 1 fixed a lot of issues, regular patches have helped with others, and still more "problems" were the result of bad pr and perception rather than any real failing.
Even UAC isn't as bad as you may have heard. The trick there is to just put it up with it for the first month maybe two, during your personal "burn in" period with your computer. During this time you're installing and configuring lot of new software, changing a lot user and system settings, and in general just playing around. So of course you see a lot of prompts here. This is exactly what happened with all those reviews you saw online saying how bad UAC is: they were still in the burn in period for the operating system.
After about a month two things happen:
1. You don't see as many prompts, because you're not making as many system changes.
2. You get used to them, so that prompts that remain actually make sense.