This article is somewhat heartening to me, since I have shunned Vista, and plan to skip it altogether. I have used it a bit (on others' systems), and I cannot stand it. Windows XP works very well for me, and I'd be stupid to pay $300 for an upgrade to Windows Vista. (Yes, $300, because ONLY Vista Ultimate allows one to install it over an existing Windows XP Pro installation--and I am NOT starting fresh!)

What does Vista do better than XP?
I need to be enlightened

Yes but I was serious?
I cannot understand anyones ability to like this OS
And since I am going to be stuck selling and or working on it
I really want to know what it offers?
Besides that Areo interface which is really just stupid, and if that is the biggest selling point, then I guess I am right in my thinking.
This OS is a dud!
An expensive one too!

I find this hilarious, and it brings to the table once again the question of what will happen when Microsoft really does pull support for XP. What happens with the whole product activation thing? Will they simply pull the plug on activation, thereby forcing people to stop using XP, or will they just release an update that shuts it off, allowing any and all copies of XP to not require activation anymore? The latter would be the smartest move, but the former would fall in line with the tendencies of corporate greed.

And I will say, now having used Vista for several months both at home and work, that aside from the new eye candy, there isn't really a whole lot that's worth the upgrade. Sure, there's new security features, group policy capabilities, diagnostic and management tools, etc., that have some advantage. But as a whole, there is nothing major that can truly justify the cost of the upgrade. UAC was supposed to be one of the biggest new security enhancements, but while it was a good idea, it is so poorly implemented that it effectively cripples a great deal of software that should be allowed to run. What's really stupid is that it was implemented with an all-or-nothing mentality. It's either on or off, no workarounds, whitelists, etc. A person should be able to tell the OS to always let a particular program run with full admin rights without consent prompts no matter what, but such a feat is not possible with the current implementation.

Now, Server 2008 will be a different story. There is PLENTY of new things in the OS that are a major improvement over Server 2003. I can only hope that the next Windows upgrade will have as many major advances. If not, I see Linux and Apple taking more and more market share than ever before.

What people don't understand is that if Microsoft pulled the plug on XP than they will lose millions of sales and Apple and Linux will be the happiest OS companies ever. Think about it most people don't want Vista becasue the OS is crap right now, and barely works on my HP comp. I wish that i could afford XP just to make sure the sales go down on Vista. To sum it up Microsoft isn't stupid enough and too greedy to pull the plug on XP, at least for a few more years. :lol:

well hopefully vista's security restrictions become more lax in order for me to play hd content and run drivers that microsoft doesn't "approve". It looks like the direction vista is taking is that of Microsoft only approving it's own drivers. And then every other driver doesn't work thus making Microsoft own every single industry related to computers.

Interesting discussion.

I would have to side with the comments of the first poster. I have 2 computers, desktop and laptop - both are extremely high spec, desktop I custom built myself and upon which I've both Windows XP Professional & Vista ultimate on a dual boot configuration. Reason I say this is that I believe you need a decent system to work flawlessly and effectively with Vista.

End of the day, I still much prefer Win XP Professional and am also very happy to hear there is still such strong demand for the most reliable windows OS system to date, having used Win 95, 98, 2000 and now XP.

It is not as "bright and glossy" as Vista but in terms of "user configuration", speed, efficiency, XP tops Vista any day of the week. XP was released in 2002, Microsoft just needed to release another OS to prop up investors. I read their next OS called "Vienna" will be released in 2009 so I'll skip Vista altogether hoping Vienna will be the lesser of two evils, didn't really appreciate the EULA that was coupled with Vista.

P.S. One month ago I wanted to purchase a second laptop but unfortunately couldn't find a computer that was sold with XP, they were all Vista machines.....I was very disheartened but will stick to my guns and simply drive to Germany in search of what I'm looking for, wish me luck :P