Should I indulge or not - what's new?

Is there anything I need to know... I currently have a stable XP SP1 (didn't want to upgrade to SP2)



Steve

IMO you should have all the latest hotfixes and patches on XP to cover the numerous secrity holes, I've been on SP2 for ages and never had a problem. SP1 is just asking for trouble.

I'd personally wait for the first service pack to come out for vista before upgrading, than atleast you can be sure some of the major flaws will have been fixed and most drivers will have been updated to be Vista friendly

[Edited on 26/12/06 by Alfa145]

A word of warning about Vista, unless you've got 512Mb of memory it won't install at all. Also in its raw form it requires 256Mb to run. If you want to switch all the really cool display feature you need a minimum of 1Gb of memory. Got the same dilemma as you, but in my case it's for business and I need to purchase about 150 PC with either XP SP2 or Vista.

I think for business the answer is a lot easier. Stick with XP SP2.

Lots of my clients applications where I work (2000 users) won't work with IE7 and lots of my employers apps won't work (20k users) and you can't run IE6 on Vista.

I know, I know, we could use firefox, but ever tried managing it with Group Policy

Defo get to xp sp2, then just get a vista theme pack, doesn't seem to be enough new features to splash out imho if you have to pay for stuff, I'm lucky enough to get beta's and vlk and stuff sent through so at least I can give them a whirl without splashing out or using a code ripped version which could be unstable due to being p1ssed about with.

The only thing I did like about vista is that if you graphics card is on the aero supported list it really does look gorgeous, but like said above you do need loads of ram.

Most of the problems we have calls for are for users running outlook 2007

Lets fix the bugs first then have a go.

Regards

Rich

I've been using Vista for a few months now. Yes it needs a high spec 'puter to make the most of it but memory is cheap nowadays so it's no biggie.
Personally I love it - it is a bit like XP with all the add-ons you usually have to buy to make it what you really want. It works really well imo and I am buying it when it becomes available ....... and that is a first for me !!

It is still full of bugs so i'd wait at least 8-12 months before getting it.

Or get a Mac as Vista is a rip off of OSX but OSX is ultra stable and not subject to viruses and spyware etc

I have a decent PC and also installed dual boot XP/Vista to have a play.

The reason I don't use it much yet is the sound system for games has changed. EAX used to be the common standard but that's been replaced by OpenAl. So released games may never support this and not all new games will support it for a while.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6198121.stm

I use vista and it worls pretty well. However there are some drivers that not work. Bot i think HP will sort it out in the near future.

And, Yes, you need lots of ram to use the cool features (Aero). I have 3 gigs of ram in my HP 9420 and it works good, not perfect.

Microsoft have a very long history of not getting it right until at least the second revision of any Windows version

Stay off it for at least 6 to 12 months ---- it might be different if you are buying new hardware with Vista already installed but on older hardware no way can you be sure it will work properly.

Personally I only allowed Xp into my network in June this year and that was only because NT4's lack of USB and decent multimedia support was becoming a bug bear.



[Edited on 27/12/06 by britishtrident]

I've got it as a dual boot as well - it's looks great and has some nice functionality - BUT there are no drivers yet from Asus for my graphics card, so I won't be switching over yet.