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The pros and cons of buying Windows Vista. Earlier in 2007, I decided that I was due for a new machine. My old Fujitsu Lifebook laptop was over two years old, and I wanted to get rid of it before things started to go wrong with it. Since dual processors have already came onto the scene, I deiced to go with the newly released Windows Vista Home Edition as my operating system. I loved Windows XP. I never had a problem with it, and I install a lot of crap on my machines due to the nature of my work (I am a web designer/programmer). However, to make use of the multiple logical processors, you have to have an operating system that can make use of it. The only other operating system besides Windows Vista that can do this is Apple’s Mac OSX and I wasn’t ready to make the switch simply, because the same hardware in a Mac would have cost me at least a thousand dollars extra if not more. So, I picked up an HP Pavilion dv6000 (read a review of the machine here) with Windows Vista Home Edition as the operating system.

Before I go on listing all the things that make me unhappy with my choice, I have to say that recent updates and bug fixes from Microsoft made Vista a lot more stable. I am confident that in time it will become as stable as Windows XP is, and it is not another case of Windows ME, which was a complete disaster no matter how you shuffle it.

My first troubles reared their ugly heads on the second day after I took delivery of my new laptop. The system crashed permanently and Vista had to be reinstalled from scratch. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The cool thing was that it did it all by itself; I only had to click my way through it. This is a major improvement over earlier versions of Windows where one had to have a degree in IT to do something like that. While this never happened again, Internet Explorer 7 had (and sometimes still has) a tendency to crash and close itself. I traced the problem back to Flash, the software that is required to play videos online and view fancy websites. The problem is not as severe now, but it still happens at times.

One other thing I want to point out as a shortcoming to switching to Windows Vista in my review is the fact that a lot of programs won’t run at all on it and some will lose some functionality. If a program doesn’t run at all, try disabling Usrer Account Control feature of Windows Vista. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts And Family Safety -> User Accounts -> Turn User Account Control on or off and uncheck “Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer.” This is an extra layer of security Microsoft added, which is great, but older software can’t handle it. In the mean time, you might have to live without it.

Otherwise, Windows Vista is a great operating system. It has a ton of Mac-like features that put it light years ahead of its predecessors. Just to name a few: better overall appearance, (supposedly) better security, built in “un-zip capability” (why the hell did they wait so long?), widgets (you can add things like news feeds to the sidebar) and the list goes on and on.

I am sure that, in a few months time, pretty much all the bugs will be gone and new releases of your favorite software will be Windows Vista compatible. If and when that happens, there will be no reason not to ditch your old Windows XP.

I hope you enjoyed my Windows Vista review.