One question I am frequently asked is “which do you prefer, XP or Vista?”
Of course, I couldn’t possibly reply “Windows 2000″…
There is no disputing the fact that Vista had a very bad press at launch. And deservedly so. Microsoft were so keen to promote it that they encouraged suppliers to put “Vista Ready” stickers on kit that really wasn’t up to it. This led people to upgrade to Vista early and be immediately disappointed.
That is in the past now, we have been Service Packed and it is time to move on. After all, plenty of people slated XP before Service Pack 1 was released – see Windows 2000 comment! Vista is perfectly good and I have sold PCs running it with a clear conscience.
(Note to conspiracy theorists – is it a coincidence that the launch of Vista PC sales also saw many retailers bundle Notrun 360 on the machines? Pick a decent AV package and see a very nice performance boost.)
On a good spec PC, Vista will run very nicely, I wouldn’t install it on anything with less than 2GB of RAM. On an older PC, XP is better. It’s horses for courses. You must also take into consideration what you are comfortable with – if you haven’t used XP then there is little reason to pick it over Vista.
But if you want to get the most out of your machine, take two identical spec machines and the one running XP will feel faster than the one running Vista. As long as all the drivers are available, not always the case with very new laptops.
My desktop is very happy running Vista 64-bit (8GB of RAM, yummy) while one of my laptops is running XP.
But it doesn’t end there, oh no. Next month sees the launch of Windows 7. It’s really rather good. All the nice bits of Vista but leaner and meaner. I have installed it on my other laptop, a teeny-tiny Dell Mini 9, with impressive results. It’s actually running faster than XP did and, as a netbook, it’s sensitive to such things.
It also has quite a few improvements over Vista. The ability to (easily) quieten those annoying “User Account Control” pop-ups (yes, they can be turned off on Vista if you’re feeling naughty), some really nice improvements to the task bar and all round goodness.
I have been using a Mac recently and was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it. Windows 7 seems to have taken the bits I liked and then improved on all the bits I didn’t. Take the Dock and make it useful, if not quite as pretty.
The upgrade from Vista is pretty painless. Sadly, upgrading straight from XP isn’t an option, so one for those more confident with backups and operating system installs.
You can try Windows 7 too, for free – take a trip to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx?ITPID=carepgm – with two caveats. Firstly, it will stop working properly next March and secondly, to replace it you will need to do a complete re-install with a purchased operating system. This is the ‘Release Candidate’ not the completely final version, you would become one of the army of guinea pigs. Smiling guinea pigs.
Let us not forget the Linux alternative – most of my PCs dual boot to Ubuntu and very good it is too. That really gets more performance out of your PC and if it satisfies your needs then you should go for it. For the average user though, until it gets a lot more hardware support, it probably isn’t a very realistic option. Your children will hate you when they cannot install everything their friends have. Something worth considering by you Mac owners too, I have clients who are devoted Mac users but have bought their children Vista laptops to make their life at school easier.
So, to sum up…
If you have a recent PC running Vista, don’t let anyone put you down! Go to Windows 7 if you want but remember that nobody ever got fired for suggesting that they wait until the first Service Pack.
If you’ve got an older PC running XP and you’re happy with it, great. If you’re thinking of replacing it, do so after Windows 7 is launched – who really needs the hassle of these special buy now upgrade later offers?
If you have more than one machine or time and curiosity to kill, download the Windows 7 RC and try it out. It will boost your geek credentials no end.
And whichever you have, consider moving to a leaner antivirus / security solution. Ask me about ESET and how it can save you hassle and HDG, as approved resellers, can save you money.
A Microsoft Certified Professional with many years of large corporate experience and training, he now focuses on helping small businesses make the most of their IT.
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