I suspect that people wouldn’t have a problem with Vista if it wasn’t that it appears to have been a botched job. The only aspect of the OS that interests me is the improved security over XP (I know, that’s really boring) but if the User Account Control is so intrusive that you end up turning it off then it kinda defeats the objective. For those people that really need a Windows PC I’m recommending them to stick with XP for the time-being, particularly if they are buying a budget PC since Vista seems to require much higher resources to run adequately.

Of course, as with any OS it typically matures over its life so the recommendation to stick with XP is something that needs to be reviewed periodically, particularly when the Service Packs are released. However, I still find it quite telling that my company’s IT organisation still bans Vista. Thankfully they have at least approved Office 2007 and IE7.

I’m generally very reluctant to reinstall my computer (I pride myself on the fact that my previous XP installation lasted for just under two years, without any loss in speed or stability during that time and would’ve lasted longer if I hadn’t decided to upgrade my PC), so this really was the perfect opportunity. And so far, I haven’t been disappointed.

As for XP outliving it’s time, I am not so sure. Thanks to delays, the gap between XP’s release and Vista’s was longer than any other major Microsoft OS release since I started using a computer. It only takes one look at OSX’s more regular updates/releases to see just how far behind XP is.

I find it strange that before Vista was released, people were saying how overdue MS was for an up-to-date OS. Now it’s here many of those same people are now saying that XP is fine for now and to wait. That said, I am indeed one of those people.