Is Vista any good?

[RusskiSoldat]

I just got my free upgrade to Vista and am contemplating whether or not to go through the painful process of creating backups everything I have and reinstalling windows.
Now, some of you may confuse the question "Is Vista any good?" with "is Microsoft an evil being intent on destroying humanity?" and answer it accordingly.
Bear in mind what I use Windows XP for:
1) Playing games
2) The internet
3) Solitaire
4) Pinball
5) Minesweeper
6) Microsoft Word
7) I like the fact that the interface is blue and shiny
Does Vista show significant improvement in any of these regards?
And does it have that one crippling bug that destroys everything before being fixed two years from now?

[wandervogel]

It's the same as XP as far as functionality. It is also bug-free. The only problems are some drivers issues. For your purposes, the only thing you may not like is that there is no pinball.

Also, don't upgrade; get the full version. Upgrades are never as stable as a clean install using the full version of a windows OS.

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

It is also bug-free

...and the pope is impeccable...


Seriously, there is no OS that can be considered bug free...

[sunsmountain]

The answer is, of course, NO.

Specifically:

1) Playing games
Not until some good Direct X 10 games are out there that you actually want to play. The vast majority (99,99%) will be direct X 9 and winXP compatible till kingdom come.

2) The internet
That depends only on your internet connection, never your operating system.

3) Solitaire
4) Pinball
5) Minesweeper
These are nice but unchanged (perhaps a little 3d graphics)

6) Microsoft Word
This totally unchanged.

7) I like the fact that the interface is blue and shiny
Unchanged, though slightly prettier with "3d" effects. Not that Microsoft has found the skill, the time or the money to implement multi-3d-window spanning the superior Mac way (where you can actually move the windows around while viewing all windows in 3d), but hey, they tried. Personally I find that unforgivable, given their market position.

Reasons why you would want to upgrade, are:

8) You have more than 2GB (you need at least 2 GB to upgrade and notice ANY effects besides direct X 10)

1) Direct X 10. See above.

9) Super pre-fetch. Loads all programs you often use into memory automatically, meaning that when you doubleclick on a program you often use, you don't have to wait.

10) Super indexing. When you search a file, you don't have to wait (or only a fraction of the time).

I would wait for at least 1 more year
by then it should have service pack 1a with it. Hopefully implementing multi-window spanning the way it's meant to be, and fixing most bugs and driver issues. Security features are still a laugh and will remain to be so forever. NEVER rely on windows for your security, NEVER.

- Use a hardware coded password-protected router
- Use Firefox
- Use a non-windows software firewal that monitors internet-traffic
- Password-protect your admin-login
- Use AVG anti-virus regularly and scan for ad/malware periodically

That should protect you from most to almost all attacks, but a dedicated hacker can still crack your system as long as you use Windows. (and Linux as well unless you use encrypted Pr0tEcT10n)

[Elrond]

If you like mine sweeper on XP you will love it on Vista - its very flashy and when you blow up a mine they all blow up and you here them blow up one by one.

[Erik]

If you like mine sweeper on XP you will love it on Vista

Better minesweeper.

Best selling argument ever

[RusskiSoldat]

I'm not going to give up several hundred dollars for something I already have for free.

[spartan_phalanx]

What version of Vista are you upgrading to?

[Steistas]

None of the new products are ever bug free, XP had so many service packs and hotfixes, that I believe it is more stable and better, but looking at your list, don't think you will have any problems with Vista. And if upgrade is free ...

[RusskiSoldat]

Most of my arguments were meant as a joke, but I appreciate the help anyway.
Vista seems to work fine and somehow does have faster loading time.
All the drivers I need are available.
Considering it was free, I don't regret upgrading at all by this point.