Cons: Expensive, lack of drivers, offers nothing that XP doesn't already do.
The Bottom Line: Windows Vista is not ready yet. Does everything XP does except work with your current hardware and software and costs a lot more money!
carey934's Full Review: Microsoft Windows® Vistaâ„¢ Home Premium Edit...
I have no doubt that Windows Vista will be the next OS we all will be using... starting some time in 2008. The problem stems from the fact that so many manufacturers are sluggish to release updated drivers for their printers/scanners/sound cards/modems/video cards, etc...
As a result, you may have to replace those items or wait and hope the manufacturers will develop drivers for Vista compatibility - eventually. But why should they? They already sold you the product and already made their money from you. There is no money to be made to hire programmers to develop drivers they offer for free on their web-site. What incentive do they have? They would rather have those same programmers developing Vista drivers for current and upcoming products and encourage you to buy a new unit (they make more money that way).
Some products will have people protesting a company that refuses to offer Vista drivers and public opinion will eventually cause them to cave-in and provide the driver...eventually.
Vista Basic is so lacking of features it's not even worth considering. Once you upgrade to Vista, and then update all of your existing software and hardware to work with it (Anti-virus, Adobe Acrobat, Quicken, Quickbooks...all need new versions to work with Vista) then everything works.
But once you make this investment of your precious time and money, what do you get in return that you didn't already have with XP?
In other words, what does Vista offer you that XP currently does not? Not security, that's for certain.
The problem isn't necessarily Microsofts fault. Microsoft can't control the manufacturers decision of when or if to release updated drivers or offer free updates to make their software compatible.
The desktop looks prettier on Vista, but on a laptop, that will cause a significant drain on your battery. Vista will EAT your battery compared to a similar laptop with XP (do the research, and you'll see the tests prove Vista with all the eye-candy turned on will drain a laptops battery much, much faster than a standard XP install).
http://news.com.com/2100-1016-6079215.html
CONS
File, Edit, View and Help menus are gone.
(have to press ALT key to see them again... that's intuitive!)
User Account Control is useless and annoying.
Cannot turn off individual Security Center warnings in Vista that you can in XP. If you don't want to be warned that you turned off User Account Control, or you don't want to be constantly warned you turned off Automatic Updates, there is no way to tell Vista (without editing the registry) to not warn you about selected items. The warnings for Automatic Updates, UAC, Firewall and AntiVirus status are ON or OFF all together, not individually, as in XP.
The RUN command is missing from the Start menu. You have to add it back manually. Same with Telnet.
When you are in the registry editor in XP, the folder you select will appear 'open.' In Vista, the icon never changes. The folder is always displayed as a CLOSED icon, even though you selected it.
Makes your super-fast XP computer feel like a mediocre-speed Vista computer.
Here's a fun project - try to change the icon of a file extension. Say, for example, you use WinAmp to play MP3 files. WinAmp offers you several different icons you can use, but none of them will apply in Vista, except for the default. I like the little lightening bolt and I like to see all my MP3 files have a little lightening bolt next to them. There is no way to do this in Vista without a third-party application. You can change the icon for WinAmp, that's easy. But you CANNOT change the icon for the file association. If you want all .DOC files to have an icon other than the default that comes with your Word processor, forget about it.
The 3-D view of ALT-TAB switching between apps doesn't work. You have to press Windows-Key-Tab. Why? If I have the Aero interface installed, Vista should offer me the option of selecting if I want ALT-TAB to display the classic view or the 3-D view. Why make me learn another hot key? Why would I need both views? Let me choose which view I want to use with ALT-TAB. Is it really that hard?
Want to see Vista security rendered useless in less than 30 seconds? Watch this video:
Hacking Vista: Easier than you'd think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fAdcrin9Mc
It's too expensive, too cumbersome, there is not enough manufacturer support and it offers you nothing in return for taking the plunge that XP doesn't already do.
It also requires twice as much memory to run (min. 1GB RAM, recommend 2GB compared with XP's 512MB min., 1GB recommended) and a very powerful video card to take advantage of the new desktop, NOT offered in the cheaper Vista Basic version.
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