Vista an acquired taste

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 06 February 2008 15:40

Opinion and Analysis

When I rebooted in Vista, I was pleasantly surprised. It was fast (contrary to what I had been told), I wasn't unduly bugged by UAC pop-up windows and it recognized all of my devices. 

What's more, after nearly six months of use, Vista has proven to be remarkably stable - no system freezes (none that I can remember anyway), no blue screens of death or constant forced reboots that I regularly suffered running XP SP2.

Now that I hear that Microsoft is due to release Vista SP1, my main concern is that the company doesn't end up fixing something that isn't broken because I really have no problems with my current version.

I have considered going the Mac route. I certainly like the iMac and Leopard looks superb - love the Time Machine concept. However, for my purposes and budget, Vista running on my souped up white box has proven to be a satisfying solution. Oh, and backing up my entire PC to an external hard drive, while not as elegant or powerful as Time Machine, was dead simple - a couple of clicks away from the Windows Start button.

A quick word or two on security. I run AVG Internet Security suite and my system has suffered no unacceptable slowdowns like it used to when I was running Windows Home Server or XP with the security package with the Scottish sounding name. So far, touch wood, I have not run into any security issues, although I know Vista is becoming an increasing target for attackers.

I know everything I have said about Vista above is going to be anathema for those who hate Windows and Microsoft with a passion. However, all I can say is that as a user, I have found that Vista has done the job I require. To me, Vista has been an acquired taste, far superior to its predecessor Windows XP SP2 and the best option available.

The next question, however, is will I be able to get acceptable performance from Vista on my Dell notebook? That's another story.