Vista is nice but not necessary - yet

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 30 January 2007 15:56

Opinion and Analysis

After witnessing a demonstration at the Australian consumer launch of Windows Vista and fiddling around with an RTM version since the business launch on November 30, my view is that Vista is very nice. But do I really need it right now?

The four themes being played up by Microsoft about Vista is that it's easier, safer, more entertaining and better connected than its predecessor Windows XP are all true to a greater or lesser degree. However, there is nothing I see that cannot wait until I buy a new PC and I can certainly do without the hassle of going through a major upgrade, worrying about whether my current hardware drivers are compatible and whether my system has adequate resources.

The Aero interface, with transparent borders around open windows, has advantages that makes it more than a simple cosmetic GUI upgrade. The same thing holds true for the Flip 3-D feature which spreads and displays open windows across the screen like an old fashioned record flipper.

Then there is the mouse cursover rollover feature which pops up thumbnails that allows users to see the contents of folders and minimized windows on the taskbar.

And of course there is the much vaunted new lightning fast desktop search feature, which really is a vast improvement over the totally inadequate and archaic searching facility of Windows XP.

Then of course there is the photo organizer which allows you to catalog your snapshots by date, name, theme or whatever.

All of the above features definitely make Vista easier to navigate and use than XP. However, aside from the Vista search facility, which can be addressed with a free third party application in Google desktop, none is essential to have until you're ready to buy another computer.