Thomas Nicholson

I decided to upgrade to Vista Business SP1 about two weeks ago.  My first impressions are that I like it.  Comparing it to XP SP3 I like the enhancements made.  Since when I did my install of Vista Business it started downloading updates so I wasn’t able to experience the full blown hell of Vista pre-SP1.  From the research I did before my upgrade, SP1 fixed a lot of the problems that caused some users to rollback to XP SP3.

I do find it annoying that after a clean boot I login to see 33% of my 2.5 GB of RAM is already being used.  I did get my feelings hurt with Vista rated my system a 1.0 over all.  My graphics score and gaming score wer 1.9 and 1.0 respectivly.  If I had a game for a Windows PC I would be hating life right about now.  I guess the P4 3.06 GHz w/ 2.5 GB RAM and an onboard 256MB video card is a little low end for Vista Business.  Funny part is when I dual boot Ubuntu 8.10 beta Compiz Fusion runs fine.  But Vista won’t let me enable Aero because my onboard Intel video is too old.  Not that I want to give up another 33% of RAM to be able to use Aero but still Compiz Fusion I think is better than Aero and it works fine.

I like the sidebar.  Knowing that is a resource hog I only have a few items in it.  I have my Gmail, a network monitor, a CPU and RAM monitor, a weather module and a slide show of My Photo’s.  This is a like setup to what I have had on my Linux desktops for the last 10 years it feels good to be able to have it native in Windows.  I really hate all the third-party Google Desktop and other crap that offer a sidebar.

I don’t use MediaPlayer11 since 99% of the video’s I watch won’t play that’s OK because VLC works find on Vista.  The Windows Search in Vista works better then the download I had for XP SP3.  It saves me from using the “Windows+r” keys so often to launch programs.

UAC isn’t as bad as everyone makes it sound.  I have been running Ubuntu for several years now so I’m used to asking permission for everything.  At least I don’t have to cache the root password after every boot. 

The Windows Firewall is much improved also.  In XP SP3 it’s more like you have only off/on switches.  In Vista I have a little more control.  Not what I want or expect but it is an improvement.

All the “user experience” crap doesn’t really bother me.  I jump between 2000, XP, Vista, CDE, KDE, Gnome, Xfce, etc so a new Start menu, folders and icons don’t get me two excited.  It’s a tool to me I never was that much into how “pretty” can I make my OS GUI.  I never could understand all the “theme” crap for Windows.  It’s bloated enough!  The last thing I want to do is install Plus! Or WindowBlinds to make my crappy PC look like a crappy Mac or Linux box.

I know of all times it wasn’t the best of times to upgrade, especially after finding out that the Windows Vista Memory Protection has been cracked thus leaving Vista a sitting duck for hackers.  I still think Vista has made some huge improvements, including security, over the last 6 or 7 years that it’s worth a try.  Now would I vote to get it deployed at my work?  Not a chance but from what I hear the next lease rolls will be coming with the Vista/Office 2007 vulnerable software pre-loaded.  This is why I love computers and security.

If you are or are thinking of becoming a Vista user I would like to hear your thoughts.  Post up in the comments your experience with Vista and share any tips or tricks you have for making life better with Vista.