Email, surfing the Internet and typing letters: that’s what about 90% of average, non-corporate computer users do with their expensive machines. Throw in looking at photos from Grandma’s digital camera, viewing a few DVDs, playing some games and listening to music, and the figure moves closer to 95%. In addition, they are perfectly content to engage in these activities using their “old, now-obsolete” Windows XP computers.
But, you may be thinking, “Just wait one minizzle! What do you mean by, ‘old, obsolete Windows XP?’ Is XP now obsolete?” Well, XP soon will be obsolete if you believe the marketing hype coming out of Microsoft headquarters and being regurgitated by non-technical media writers, for, behold, Windows Vista is on the horizon!
In case you haven’t heard, the new version of the Windows operating system, named “Vista,” is set to ship to ordinary consumers sometime “after January 31, 2007.”
Originally slated for release well over a year ago, Microsoft has finally declared Vista bug-free enough to unleash on the general public, and, with the cooperation of major manufacturers and electronics retailers, the marketing push is on to convince the average computer user that Windows Vista is the latest “gotta-have” for Christmas.
Except that you can’t have it in time for Christmas. Oh well, never mind that nit-picky detail, the sales lady at Best Buy will work really hard to convince you (as she tried to convince me) that you need to buy a new “Vista-capable” computer now, because, if you do, you will be mailed (for an undisclosed shipping and handling fee) a “free upgrade” copy of Windows Vista sometime “after January 31, 2007.”
“So, what’s in Windows Vista for me?” you may be wondering. I’ve been wondering that myself, and my research leads me to conclude, “Not much.” Vista’s most visible advantage over XP is in it’s built-in management, search and data-shuffling tools, capabilities that will largely be used only by folks in a corporate office environment, and which can easily be added to Windows XP using free software from Google and other third parties. Vista also boasts enhanced security, but again, it’s mostly things that can be added to XP with low-cost or free addons.
Vista does have a very cool looking 3-D desktop and user interface called “Aero Glass.” Interestingly, it’s very reminiscent of Apple’s OS X look and feel. However, you need huge amounts of RAM and ridiculously powerful graphics capabilities to use Aero Glass. What the giddy, brainwashed sales people don’t tell you (or, I should say, I knew about it and the sales lady didn’t) is the difference between a new computer that’s Vista “capable” and one that’s Vista “Premium Ready.” A Vista “capable” computer (which 60% of the in-use PCs in the world are not) is a computer that can, with some serious financial upgrading, be turned into a machine that maybe will let you use all of Vista’s capabilities — that is, if the computer has a 64-bit processor and the special, built-in TPM 1.2 chip. A Vista “Premium Ready” computer is ready out-of-the-box to do all that Vista can do. It’s also very expensive.
Strangely, Microsoft has already announced the release of a group of bug-fixes and security patches for Vista, known as “Vista SP1 (Service Pack 1),” due for release in the second half of 2007. I’ve given advice to and asked a question of those clients who’ve queried me about Vista. The advice: wait until Vista SP1 is released. The question: tell me one thing that you need your computer to do, that you can’t do with XP, but that you can do with Vista. Hmmm. Ho-hum.