Others say...

"Better than most people say"
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.

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.

The Vista interface is prettier. What more can I say?

One 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.

"I don't understand complain about Vista"
When years ago Xp debuted, many people cried how they machines hangs ,...freeze,,..etc.Now Vista is bad,...if you are using machine build for Windows Me or early Xp don't badder to buy this software just buy new computer.This OS with SP1 very good and stable,..my 2.5 years old Hp laptop working great with this vista I have no problem just installed 2giga ram.


"Smooth Vista Upgrade "
Way too many horrible and unjustified reviews here for the upgrade. Just upgraded a new low cost e8400 build from XP. Only needed to load one updated device driver to have full functionality.
Vista has a far superior interface. Yes, it takes some getting used to but clearly a great improvement over XP.
The biggest problem for Vista is the poor upgrade path from various shady and unscrupulous app & game developers but this is not the fault of the OS.
I suspect most of the whiners here have an old PoS PC build that should be scrapped not updated.

"Great operating system with poor marketing"
I've been using Windows Vista in various incarnations since shortly after it was initially released and have since migrated most family members to Windows Vista. Unfortunately, Windows Vista has not been marketed properly by Microsoft and suffers from negative perceptions from people that attempt to install it on inadequate hardware (Microsoft's fault for bending to manufacturer pressure to sell obsolete computers) and word-of-mouth negativism from people that have never used Vista.

When combined with adequate hardware, Windows Vista is a good operating system with lots of built-in media management features. In fact, Windows Vista is superior to Windows XP in many ways:

* Improved media management support for movies, pictures, and audio. Plug in a digital camera and Vista automatically downloads the pictures to the Pictures folder. Combine this with Windows Live Photo Gallery (a free product) to tag your pictures and browse your photo collection by date taken or by tag.

* Improved security so users no longer run as a system administrator by default.

* Improved user interfaces to make using the operating system easier.

* Volume Shadow Copy makes it a snap to recover previous versions of files and folders.

* Backup and restore files easily to external hard drives.

Some of the disadvantages of Windows Vista:

* Windows Explorer attempts to automatically determine how folders should be viewed, but it nearly always gets it wrong and the folder view changes at random. Fortunately, a simple registry hack is available to disable this misfeature.

* Microsoft marketing decided to release umpteen dozen editions of Windows Vista to confuse the dickens out of everyone. The recommended editions are Vista Home Premium or Vista Ultimate for home users or Vista Business or Vista Ultimate for business users that need to connect Vista to a domain controller. All other editions are superfluous and should be ignored.

* Microsoft marketing changed the license terms but utterly fails to spell out the licensing terms in a clear and concise manner in its marketing materials. If you are upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista, you can install any of the Upgrade editions on top of Windows XP; however, the Upgrade editions do not allow you to perform a clean install. If you want or need to perform a clean install either now or in the future, you cannot use the Upgrade editions.

"The reason why new computer sales are off"
Who wants to buy a new computer if you have this operating system?

Never in the history of the business world has one company been allowed to force customers to constantly buy new, inferior products.

I put off buying a computer because I had heard horror stories.

Vista is like operating systems before XP. It just suddenly freezes and you have to turn your computer off to make it work again.

I'm doing constant damage to my computer by being forced to turn off the power.

The new office software is beyond confusing. Absolutely nothing is the same.

Buy this at your peril!