Is Windows Vista the next best thing to sliced bread, or is it an infant that still has quite a bit of growing up to do? Read my review of Vista and decide for yourself...

Windows Vista upgrade? I’d hold off for a while…

Being a computer consultant, it’s obviously important to stay on the cutting edge of technology, to keep up on the latest tech news, and to have the latest software and hardware. But where Windows Vista comes in, I’ve decided to put it off for a while. Why is that?

Call it intuition, or call it ESP. But something told me to hold my breath before I upgrade. For all of my years of experience, I’ve found Windows XP to be the best version of Windows so far, my reasons for this are endless, from my own level of productivity as an end user, to my deep knowledge of XP’s technical insides. It’s always done everything I’ve needed it to do with ease and efficiency. I couldn’t see how Microsoft could improve on an operating system much more where my own needs are concerned.

I've worked extensively with Windows Vista on a couple of house calls so far (transferring info from older XP computer to the new vista one, for example). At first, things seemed a little odd, as I felt as if I was navigating around on a Mac. But after messing around within the new Control Panel and Networking sections for example, most of Vista’s so-called improvements appear to be cosmetic at best. The interface is fairly easy to jump in to and navigate. Mostly, things have been moved around and names have been changed, but the core of the operating system functionality is basically a re-worked and jazzed up version of XP. For example, no more My Documents, now your documents are divided into general categories in an icon that looks like a book. Shared Folders are now called Public. Networking features have been brought together into a central Network interface that looks prettier and is more informative. Outlook Express is now Windows Mail, and to expand on that, you have Windows Mail, Windows Contacts (instead of Address Book), and Windows Calendar, functions which basically look like they were ripped out of Outlook and stuffed into the Start button menu.

So, in summary, yes, Windows Vista looks prettier, like Microsoft stole the visually pleasing component ideas found in Mac and Linux computers, but its core functionality isn’t much different than XP. I admit, though, that system level stuff and information has been reworked, renamed and reorganized for the better, and would offer many people increased productivity over time with use.

Vista does have it’s downfalls. It’s still cutting teeth. For example, on one Vista system I plugged in a USB Linksys wireless adapter and it recognized it immediately without needing drivers, auto configured it with a few clicks, and I was instantly surfing the web wirelessly. However, I tried a USB Netgear wireless adapter. Vista knew what it was called, and asked for drivers. I put in the driver CD, it searched, and said that it couldn’t find any, and ironically asked me to connect to the internet to find them (a catch-22). So I unplugged the Netgear, installed its software from the CD’s setup, then plugged the Netgear back in. Still Vista couldn’t find the drivers. Dell shipped the Netgear adapter with the Dell Vista computer, claiming it was Vista compatible.

Vista had other issues as well. On another system, it refused to recognize Microsoft’s own wireless keyboard and mouse combo. Actually, the keyboard did work, but it insisted that the mouse had dead batteries, even though they were brand new and Vista said the mouse’s wireless signal was maximum. I investigated further on Microsoft’s site, and found that I needed to download and install two patches to make Vista work with the mouse/keyboard combo properly. I did that, Vista still said the mouse’s batteries were dead, even though I had tried two brand new sets of AA batteries in it.

I did find that networking a Vista desktop with an XP laptop was instantaneous. The printers installed on the Vista machine popped up in the networked printers list on the XP machine instantly without any hang-ups. Also, I was able to copy files without issues between Shared Folders on XP and Public folders on Vista.

I noticed that when you first set up Vista, it can prompt the living daylights out of you for confirmations on various things until it learns not to (or until you tell it to stop in some cases). Are you sure you want to run this program? Are you sure you want to do that? And so on. But after a while most of the annoyances of these went away. These confirmations are a handy part of Vista’s security though, because if a virus or Trojan tried to execute while you were doing something, Vista would prompt you for confirmation on it before doing so, for example.

Overall, I personally don't see any real need to upgrade to Windows Vista any time soon. Right now, there doesn’t seem to be any immediate benefits. I found no noticeable performance improvements using the same applications on both an XP and a Vista computer. If you’re a person who happens to use both Mac and Windows computers, then you may be happier with Vista than with XP. For me, it’s going to take a lot more than a pretty interface to force me to upgrade. I believe that XP is still going to be around strong for the next few years. As people upgrade to newer computers from older XP’s, they’ll have Vista pre-installed, and they will run into some hardware and software incompatibilities. But I believe that the primary way that people will be upgrading to Vista for some time is when they buy a new computer.

Within the next year or two, new software will probably start coming out that requires Vista, but until that happens, and until you have a real need for that software, I wouldn't bother upgrading to Vista quite yet. It's still wearing diapers right now, so I've decided to wait until it cuts its teeth, and it starts to walk and talk.