POSTS
Review by Roger J. Buffington
Windows Vista with SP1 is a pretty darned good operating system. Its main problem is that Windows XP is also a superb operating system, and most users will have difficulty understanding why we needed more than an incremental upgrade from XP. To the extent that the Vista interface deviates from the XP menus, I mostly have found this to be simply irritating.
The main flaw with Vista is that it deliberately did not have backwards compatibility with many earlier-version Window drivers. Some printers and other devices flat out would not work with Vista. This was an outrageous decision by Microsoft and it ultimately doomed the operating system with many users and businesses as word of this incompatibility got around. Windows 7 essentially corrected this fatal mistake years later.
That having been said, Vista with SP1 is very solid and reliable. In my experience on my Notebook computer, however, be advised that it runs a LOT faster and better with plenty of DRAM. It seems to need more DRAM to run well. My new Intel dual-core Notebook came with 1GB DRAM, which was usually enough in Windows XP (except for most imaging software, which needed at least 2GB). However, I splurged and upgraded the computer to 4GB DRAM, and the difference was literally night-and-day. Vista could get doggy with 1GB. With 4 GB DRAM it literally screams on my Intel dual-core machine.
One unforgivable lapse on the part of Microsoft with Vista Home Premium is that it does not include Fax support. In this day and age, this is truly astounding. This represents a very obnoxious decision by someone.
The Vista interface is prettier. What more can I say?nnOne thing I think that Microsoft needs to watch is the security options. Security features are all well and good, but at the end of the day the beauty of a microcomputer is that it frees most of us, most of the time, from dependence on the IT crew in the white labcoats. XP and Vista have so many security protocols that in some instances it is rekindling this dependence.
Overall, I am satisfied with Vista, and I would not hesitate again to buy a computer that came pre-loaded with it. The upgrade learning curve from XP is really not all that great.