Vista?

I would say that I am your average or slightly above average computer user. Due to my level of computer knowledge, research was necessary when looking for a new computer.  One thing was for sure I wanted to stick with XP rather than switching to Vista.  Unfortunately most companies do not offer a choice in operating systems when buying a new PC. To get XP on a new laptop, I was generally stuck with the older version of the laptop that I wanted or a business class machine. Either of these choices would have been fine, but neither of those were what I wanted. After taking a close look at my options I finally found the computer I wanted. The only problem was the computer came with Vista.

When Vista first hit the shelves Microsoft proclaimed how great this new OS would be. It would be better looking, have better security, and overall would enhance your computing experience. Immediately following the hype from Microsoft emerged the criticism from the user end. The tech savvy media that I was exposed to expressed a dislike with Vista. Some of my friends and family are higher level computer users and they all had the same opinion. They love XP and hate Vista. Well, the computer I wanted came with Vista, and with all the controversy I was interested to try it out. I figured if I didn’t like it, and I probably wouldn’t, I would just wipe it clean and load XP.

At this point I’ve been using Vista on a daily basis for about a month. So far I like it. It has some fun new features, it does look better than XP and I’ve had zero compatibility issues with the older software that I use. Nor have I had a problem with the loads of pop ups that Vista is notorious for. The new features however do come at a price, resources. My computer has two gigs of ram and Vista uses 1 GB just run! With two gigs of ram I haven’t had a problem with speed and soon I’ll be upgrading to four gigs so performance will be a non issue.

I don’t think Vista’s features equal the amount of resources it requires to run, however it does seem to work well. I’m sure that some higher level computer users have valid reasons for not liking Vista. As for me I will continue to evaluate Vista based on my needs. At this point I am happy with it, and it’s staying on my computer.