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 - Decided not to installAfter reading other comments and doing some research I decided not to try installing this over my XP program. It just sounded like I was going to have problems that I'm not competent enough to deal with. I know the program works great factory installed, I've seen it and used it on a computer at work. Rating:  - Couldn't give it awayFrom the perspective of a MacBook Pro user. . . I run with 2 GB of memory and use Parallels Desktop to run Windows XP Pro simultaneous to my running my Mac OS. I allocate 1 GB to Parallels when I need to run Windows, which is very infrequently. While 2 GB is more than enough memory for me run my Mac OS and all my Mac apps simultaneously, that is the amount of memory required just to run Vista. Given that XP runs fine on my Mac and serves my needs, I decided not to load Vista. Instead I tried giving Vista away to friends who are running XP on Windows machines; none of them would take it! They are so leery of new Microsoft OSs and none of them had the memory required to run it. From the perspective of a Mac user I find this ironic. When Apple releases a new OS, Mac users line up in droves to get their hands on it, confident that the experience will be a positive one and worth the learning curve and occasional upgrade to an existing app. When Microsoft comes out with a new OS, Windows users have to be dragged kicking and screaming to upgrade their OS, in this case, even when it's free they resist. Rating: - It's flashy, it's new...but does it stick?After hearing numerous first-hand encounters and hearsay about Windows Vista, one gets to wondering about it. Is it really THAT bad? Or do people just hype up the bad rap because well, it's easy to criticize in this day and age. After my previous computer (coincidentally the one I'm typing on at this moment) caught a few bugs and malicious spy ware, I decided to upgrade my rig to something a little more powerful (512mb to 2GB RAM, 160GB to 200GB HD). Needless to say it had Windows Vista Home Premium installed and I figured, heck...let's give it a whirl. I decided to stay in the same conference room (Compaq to HP) so I figured the jump wouldn't be all that treacherous. So I got her all hooked up, plugged in, and ready to go. I pressed the power button ... ... and waited. And waited. And wait, I did, so long that I figured the computer was broke. I figured I had gotten stiffed. Just as I was about to unplug the computer, ALAS! Here comes the famed Vista logo! And after that, some more waiting (I'm gaining experience here)! After a whopping 6-8 minutes, I finally saw the desktop loading...and after another two minutes, I could actually access a program. So, being that this baby starts up and is ready to access applications just under the 10 minute mark, I'd say it ranks with...well, Windows 95, I guess. In fact, I'd even say that I recall Windows 95 starting up a tad quicker on my Gateway back in the late 90s. Hmph. Alright, so here's where the rubber meets the road : I plug my Ethernet cable in and I access IE. Load time is almost impressive, in fact the MSN homepage was fully loaded and searchable within 15-20 seconds. Now, let's try opening a few different windows. I pop open 5 IE windows and they all load within 10 seconds, not shabby at all. Let's try a few programs that HAVEN'T accessed the memory cache yet. Windows Media Player and Adobe Acrobat. Let's try loading a page now. Oh, what's this? I think I will go make myself a sandwich. That's right - and when I get back, maybe the page will, oh, nope...still blank. Well, that's okay Vista...it's your first day. Unfortunately this OS just doesn't cut the mustard for me. After shutting it down, I restarted it a few hours later and I sat for almost a half an hour. After shutting it down and turning it back on manually, I realized it was fooling me - it wasn't locking up; rather it naturally took that long to boot up. I think it's ridiculous that an operating system can take this long to boot and operate, even on a system that has more than efficient memory and gusto to support it. Vista IS very very shoddy. It's glitchy, it's slow, and it's prone to more lock-ups and illegal operations than the CIA and FBI combined. I'm sorry but I'll take a computer with spy ware and XP over a clean system with Vista! I got burned! And I expected good things! You stand warned! ^_^ Rating: - Flashy, Requires Plenty of 'Muscle' to Run SmoothWindows Vista Home Premium with SP1 is a great product, but only if you have the CPU, RAM, hardware, etc. to make it run the way it's supposed to. It's smartly laid out, intuitive even, and makes everything look/feel smooth, organic. I installed it on my HP MediaCenter which has 1 GB of RAM and plenty of hard drive space. It lagged horribly, and even Word couldn't open properly. I guess if I wanted to run Vista with all its bells and whistles, I would have to upgrade by buying a completely new system or the needed parts. Vista is very pretty to look at. If you're a PC user tired of XP's wallpaper, toolbars, etc., then Vista is something you should be excited about. I did not really see anything ground-breaking. The new toolbars and interface took a little getting used to, but once you got the hang of it, everything was just like it was on XP (folder views, etc.). I did like the built-in search bar on every window, the new themes, new wallpaper, the widgets on the side, etc., but again, those are all just "pretty," not necessarily a huge step forward for Windows. There is better security than XP. I learned I had programs running that ought not to be even on my computer (eDonkey?!?), so that was good. I ended up uninstalling it because it took A WHOLE LOT OF CPU POWER AND RAM to run. My system simply did not have it. Maybe when I buy a new computer, I'll go with Vista, but for now XP does the job and it does it fine and it does it quickly. Rating: - Not much of an upgradeVista wasn't a mature product at release. The service pack doesn't make it worse but doesn't improve that much either. Seeing as MS is rushing to the next generation of its OS and businesses are sticking with XP the only reason to upgrade is for a slight graphical improvement with some games. Not really worth it unless its coming with a new computer.
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