Should I update to Vista?

Well, zero hour has finally come and Windows Vista is here. I’ll be the first to say that I’ve finally gotten my first real solid reason for hating Microsoft. I feel like I’ve been alienated by their absolutely pitiful launch strategy, and I for one am not even going to think about updating to Vista until the prices are almost cut in half. Rediculous. Absolutely rediculous.

Let me get this straight.  The people that are going to be looking to buy Vista at launch are the users that are considered ‘power users’.  They’re the only ones who are gonna get geeked enough to run out to the midnight madness sales and buy Vista.  However, to get the OS they’re expecting(with all the features that make it worthwhile to get rid of XP)…the OS that they NEED to be able to do the things they need/want to do, they have to spend $400.  FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!  I feel alienated.  I feel screwed.  I feel abused.  Needless to say, I’m sticking with XP for as long as I possibly can.  Here’s why you should too.

First things first.  Vista is gonna be buggy at launch.  All new software is, no matter who you are, or what your track record is.  MAC OS, Windows XP, Adobe Photoshop; they all have bugs when shipping.  That’s just the nature of the beast.  So initially, Vista may very well be an inferior experience when compared to XP.  Maybe.

Secondly, hardware drivers for Vista aren’t growing on trees these days.  Many hardware vendors have been working overtime to get stable drivers out the door for their product lines by the time Vista shipped.  Some succeeded, some did not.  Lets not forget that alot of vendors aren’t even planning on creating Vista drivers for their older hardware.  So you’re gonna have to be damn sure that all your necessary hardware will work with the new OS. 

Third, If you ARE going to get Vista, prepare for a preformance decrease.  No new OS(from anybody) has been able to claim better performance numbers than it’s predecessor.  This isn’t entirely a bad thing.  New operating systems have more features and are more secure/stable, therefore they’ve got more background processes running and eat up a bit more system resources.  This shouldn’t be of concern in an ideal world as it’s such a small decrease in the benchmarks I’ve seen, but it will be.  Here’s why.

Everyone will have to upgrade if they wanna be happy.  The basic users of XP just won’t be able to run Vista on their current system with all the bells and whistles and still have acceptable performance.  They’re probably squeeking by on a Celeron 1.8ghz with 256mb of memory right now.  XP is choking their current system, so why should Vista be any better?  The extreme users will not be content with sacrificing performance when it comes to things like gaming, 3D rendering, audio/video work, or transfering large files.  They’re gonna want to experience Vista as it was meant to be experienced, and that means an upgrade.  It’ll probably be along the lines of more memory, or a new direct X 10 video card, if not more.  But it’s still a substantial upgrade.  My personal tally would be $1100 just for hardware to get my PC to a point where I can say I have a solid Vista-era machine.  That’s just for a new CPU, motherboard, video card, and memory.  Unreal.

The fourth reason you should not upgrade to Windows Vista at this time is the price.  To get an OS that isn’t a steaming pile of bum spit, you’re gonna want Vista Ultimate, which is $400!!!! That’s unheard of.  I will NOT spend $400 on an OS.  I’m a student.  I have bills.  I have to eat.  I can’t justify spending more than $200 on something that I really don’t need, and nobody on this planet really NEEDS Vista at this time.  Lets also point out that lower priced versions of Vista are missing key features that people will want/expect in their OS.  For example, one of the biggest selling points of Vista is the new Aero desktop.  Guess what?  The Home Basic version of Vista(which is a ball jarring $200) doesn’t even come with Aero!  WTF?!?!?!?!  So you may start thinking about purchasing Home Premium for $260.  Ok, but Home Premium is missing a gaggle of network features that many users would appreciate having, and most importantly for me, it only supports 16GB of ram compared to the 128GB+ that Vista Ultimate supports.  When Windows XP shipped, 128mb of ram seemed to be normal.  Today, Vista just shipped, and the norm for power users seems to be about 1-2GB(4-8 times what was common when XP shipped).  So to follow this path, when the next Microsft OS ships, 16GB may very well be the norm.  And I hope for Home Premium users that it’s no more than that, cause you’ll be SOL if you want a bit more.  Why on earth would MS blatently exclude something like this on their “premium” package?  I just saw a $60 motherboard on Newegg.com yesterday that supports 32GB of ram.  So if you buy a $60(bargain) motherboard, but need $400(ripoff) software to fully appreciate it.  I just don’t get it Microsoft. 

So if you disagree with my reasons for not upgrading to Vista, then by all means, leave me a comment and then run over to Best Buy.  I had considered getting the OEM version of Ultimate for $200, but I don’t think I wanna spend $200 on an OS that I can’t transfer to a new system in a few years(NOTE:  It is still unclear as to whether you can or can’t transfer OEM licenses to newer systems as you upgrade your hardware.  MS has been in and out of courtrooms concering this matter).  What a mess.  Microsoft just blew it bigtime.  I want to love Vista, and I may one day actually do that.  But it sure is hard when it seems like so many roadblocks have been set up.  First I need to do an hour or two worth of research to figure out which OS I really need.  Secondly I need to decide if I want to pay a hefty premium for the full version instead of the update version, and not have to keep my XP install disc around.  Thirdly I need to decide if my system is up to the task, and if it isn’t, plop down $100s to get it upgraded, or get a new system all together.  Fourthly I have to spend half my paycheck just to get the functionality that I’ll need/want.  Fifth, I have to go through all the tangles and mess of transfering files.  Sixth, I have to deal with the instability and lack of support that comes with any new OS.  No thanks Bill.  What a joke.

I think I’ll wait.  Way to blow it MS.  You seriously have your heads up your asses.  I was a fan of MS, and I always had a problem with all the Mac fanboys talking smack about ‘em (I own a Zune for petes sack), but this is rediculous.  Maybe I’ll experiment with another Linux install.