RandomThoughts

I was having a conversation with one of my good friends the other night about some software she was installing and somehow we got off on the subject of how she was using Windows Vista rather than XP (which she now cannot stand, by the way). Now just so you know, my friend is not a computer guru, IT admin, Microsoft lover, or anything like that–she’s a perfect example of the everyday average consumer, and if she likes Microsoft’s latest OS, there probably aren’t many valid reasons why you shouldn’t either! There are so many un-informed people out there writing articles attacking Vista, I thought it might be refreshing to find some more positive reasons to upgrade! Take a look…

1. Personalize your stuff
   From the desktop background to color of the application windows, Vista gives each user of a PC a variety of tools to adjust their computing experience until it meets their specific needs and tastes. Whether it’s changing the sound scheme, adding and removing gadgets from the Sidebar, adjusting what applications load when you log on, or even adjusting the size of objects on the screen so grandma can still see her icons and read her email, Windows provides the ability to allow users to customize just about any part of the system to their liking. It’s the ultimate in flexibility.
2. Stop starting, Start searching!
   Gone are the days of visually scanning over the list of three-hundred program folders in your Windows start menu. No longer must you open half of the folders in ‘My Documents’ to locate the minutes for last week’s status meeting. Instead, just click on Vista’s ‘Start Orb’ and begin typing! Windows will return the top hits for your query. Use your keyboard’s arrow keys to navigate to the program or document you were looking for and hit enter–it’s that easy. As long as the file is in an indexed location on your hard drive (typically somewhere inside your Users\My User Name folder) or is an application listed in the start menu, Windows will find it for you. Just like that.
3. Gadgets
   Whether it’s weather you’re after, just the latest headlines, a scientific calculator, or your favorite internet radio station, chances are there’s a Gadget for it. Popular functionality found in the Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly Konfabulator), Google Desktop, and other 3rd part tools is now built right into Windows for the first time. The Windows Sidebar provides this new functionality and generally uses fewer resources than other solutions. Gadgets built by Microsoft are slick and provide users with both fun and functional utilities. If you decide you don’t want them or need them, you can turn off and disable the sidebar in about two clicks.
4. Aero-dynamics
   Microsoft usually gives each unique graphical user interface style a name, and Vista’s default is no exception. It’s been dubbed ‘Aero’–and the name fits. You won’t have to stare at the carnival or plastic-like theme that shipped with Windows XP (which for some reason was called ‘Luna’…I’m really not sure why). Vista provides a look that will dazzle you out of the box. Whether you’re using Flip3D (Windows key+Tab) to visually cycle through your open applications, Alt+Tab to see all your windows in a more traditional, yet stunningly useful interface, or just minimizing a program to the taskbar, you’ll be pretty wowed by the new visual effects. Check out the partial window-transparency while you’re at it. Now you can see just what exactly might be hiding behind that Word document. Oh! I almost forgot…start playing a movie, then hit Alt+Tab or Windows+Tab to switch to a different application. The movie will keep playing ‘live’ as a preview in the window switcher. In fact, all of your windows are enabled with live previews. Just hover over an open program in the task bar to see what i mean. Pretty cool, huh?
5. Media for the Masses
   Introduced for the first time as a completely separate edition of Windows, Media Center quickly caught on as the way to watch movies, listen to the radio or other digital music, browse local television listings and watch live and recorded TV shows to the heart’s content. Windows XP: Media Center Edition was officially available only through computer manufacturers as part of a new system, but Vista changed all that. Now available in both Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista, media center received a makeover, tighter integration with Windows itself, and includes new and more organized features. I’ve been using it extensively and it works great with most modern TV tuner cards and USB adapters. It will lock onto both analog and digital channels, but prefers the digital ones if your area has those available (which by this time nearly all stations should be broadcasting in both analog and digital HDTV formats). The media experience is seamless–from pausing and rewinding live TV to recording your favorite shows while you’re on vacation, the new Windows Media Center won’t miss a thing as long as you don’t forget to pay your power bill
6. DirectX 10
   Probably not terribly important to you unless you happen to be a gamer, Windows Vista is the only version of Windows to date that supports DirectX 10 (DX10). Most of today’s games continue to ship for DX9, but many will take advantage of the feature set DX10 has to offer if it’s available on your system. The new version is faster at rendering full-frame 3D graphics and creates much more detailed textures. Compare Halo, a top of the line game written for DX9 to Crysis, a game made for DX10 and you’ll see the difference I’m talking about. Human forms still appear slightly boxy in DX9 while DX10 renders nearly life-like images. Of course, without a DirectX 10 capable video card, this technology is useless, but if you don’t own one already, you can pick up a good model for around $100.
7. More with your Windows
   With Windows Vista launched a plethora of new apps and features. Whether you’re looking for a simple email client, need a place to dump all those RSS feeds, or just want to browse through pics from your last trip to Panama, Windows can do it all without the need for a single 3rd party application. And that’s not to say that Vista does it perfectly, but either way it does a pretty good job on its own. Windows Photo Gallery provides a quick and easy way to organize, tag, edit, and browse through any photo–including those shot in one of today’s popular RAW formats. It can also generate a quick slideshow with nice fades and effects through each picture in the currently displayed view or catalog. Hop on over to Windows Calendar to get your life quickly organized. Supporting major calendar formats, you can get your data in and out with ease, so you aren’t tied to one application. Vista is all about working and playing well with others, and this it does very well. There are all kinds of other productivity and entertainment apps available right out of the box, but I’ll let you explore some of those for yourself. Just don’t forget to check out some of Microsoft’s newest games that ship with Vista. Titles include: Chess Titans, Hold ‘Em poker, InkBall, Mahong Titans, and more. Most of those are fully 3D and make use of the new Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), which makes for blindingly quick and elegantly smooth graphics and effects. In fact, you’ll begin to see a lot more commercials apps using WPF as the technology matures.
8. Leave the crash guard at home
   If you thought Windows XP was solid (and it started to get there around Service Pack 2), just wait till you experience Vista. With a more robust kernel (that’s the core of an operating system), better memory management, and some new application/system management features, this OS is one of the most stable ever. In my nearly 2 years of using Vista, I can count the number of ‘blue screens’ (otherwise known as kernel panics) I’ve seen on one hand. That’s between several machines that I’ve used for more than just run of the mill stuff, too. I’ve been known make my systems jump through some pretty serious hoops, and Vista has handled whatever I’ve thrown at it with ease. Any blue screens that have popped up were a result of a buggy driver. Compare that with some of my Mac-loving friends who, in certain scenarios after upgrading to Leopard, experienced a kernel panic several times a week. Windows…just works. Really.
9. Faster than Lightning McQueen
   One of the best and most amazing things about Vista is its speed. The OS has been called a bloated mess by some and a lumbering giant by others, but whether or not either of those allusions is accurate, all I know is that Vista is fast. Really fast. System requirements are a bit high in some areas, I’ll admit, but you can’t build a next-gen operating system and expect it to work really well on six or eight year-old hardware. Yesteryear’s integrated graphics were nothing to write home about and computer makers who sold machines containing 512MB or in some cases 256MB of RAM were more or less insane. Windows XP doesn’t even run very well on 512MB of RAM once you start using it in a normal setting. Vista on the other hand performs very well on 1GB of RAM with some room to spare. Throw in another GB and you’re set to go for a long time. With the price of RAM so low these days, nobody should be complaining. Better memory management also goes a long way to making this one of the best systems ever. Case en point, I generally have my Vista systems running under normal use for nearly a month at a time without rebooting–and only then do i begin to see a performance hit. That’s pretty solid stuff.
10. Security you can (almost) forget about
    If you pay any attention whatsoever to the news, you’re nearly constantly bombarded with stories about security breaches, viruses, hackers…the list goes on and on; and I certainly realize that security will always be a concern. Don’t watch for the day when security is just a passing thought, because it isn’t coming; however, Microsoft’s latest OS does help put your mind at ease when it comes to locking down your computer. It’s more difficult than ever for malicious software and users to get into and gain control of your PC. Windows comes packed with some great new features: from User Access Control (UAC) to Windows Defender, you’re more protected from the start than ever before. One of the most criticized technologies in Windows, UAC requires users to manually approve new software installations and changes to specific system settings. (For years, Mac users have been required to perform a similar authorization check before installing software or making system changes, yet several commercials have poked fun Vista’s heightened security. I’m still scratching my head at that one…) Many viruses require administrative privileges in order to infect your system, so you’ll have the chance to deny malware entry to your system right at the door. Windows Defender is an anti-spyware utility that runs in the background and scans for unwanted software. Until it finds something, you’ll never even know it’s there! Of course, none of these tools including the Windows Firewall will take the place of good antivirus software, so make sure you do some research and buy one of the top-rated virus protection suites to complete your security solution.

I’ve touched on ten of my favorite reasons why Vista truly is an upgrade to Windows XP (or any other flavor of Windows for that matter). In fact, I’d even encourage those Mac users out there that have Leopard/bootcamp or some sort of Virtual Machine software to grab a copy of Windows and educate themselves on Windows to some degree. It’s hard to help 95% of your friends and colleagues when you don’t understand how their OS works.

For more information, check out Paul Thurrott’s site and some of his articles. He’s quite the level-headed reviewer and generally tells it like it is. He’s got a ton of other details and information on way more than I could possibly cover here. Go on: you’ll like it!