The ‘Start menu’ was born, as was an improved graphical interface, TCP/IP was built into the OS even though Microsoft had yet to ship a browser and much more, while Windows 95 itself signalled the beginning of the end for DOS as a mainstream OS.

Now Windows Vista is here, three years later than originally planned, with most of its must-have features, including desktop search and more, already available on Windows XP and Mac OS X, the two biggest competitors to Vista, of which Windows XP is still the biggest competitor by sheer numbers alone.

With many needing a relatively high-end computer for the best Vista experience, simply buying a copy at retail as was the case with Windows 95 and installing it is not likely to give you the best Vista experience at all, especially if you are running an older machine.

While Vista will probably improve performance on current machines with all the eye-candy turned off and Vista looking much like Windows 2000, if you’re going to Vista, it’s because you want the full experience, not some cut-down version. You’re likely already using Windows XP, after all.

For those still stuck on Windows 2000, ME or 98, which millions of people still are, Windows Vista signals an opportunity to purchase a new computer already geared to running Vista.

This means a computer with 2Gb of memory, a graphics card with 256mb of memory, and a dual core processor from Intel or AMD for that extra processing grunt. That’s the configuration I’m using now on Vista RC1 and Office 2007 BT2R, and performance is excellent.

One can only imagine it would be worse on a computer with lesser specifications, as has already been reported by myriad other journalists and consumers testing Microsoft’s betas.

So, should you upgrade to Vista as soon as it comes out? Read on to the next page to find out...