So as far as pricing is concerned it does not make a huge difference between Windows XP and Windows Vista. I would recommend new buyers to go for Windows Vista.
Windows Vista is very different from the first view. I have been tracking windows vista from beta stages. I am not a internal beta tester or I do not have any MSDN subscription to receive the CD’s. But from Paul’s WinSuperSite I got a glimpse of how the operating system is building up and through the screenshots I can see the growth of the Operating system. I got the opportunity to test the software from Beta 2 stage through customer preview program. I downloaded Beta 2 and I installed on my Machine. To be honest, my machine is not a latest system and it is three year old system. I will write the config below.
Hardware Requirement
Many of them argue that you need to have a dual core CPU (Even friend of mine was having same thought) to run Vista which is totally wrong. I will give my PC spcs
- AMD Athlon 32 Bit (Barton Core) – 2600+
- ASUS A7N-E Deluxe – with nVidia N Force 2 Chipset, Dual DDR 400 Mhz.
- 80 GB SATA Seagate HDD
- 2 x 512 MB DDR 400 SD RAM = 1 GB (in Dual Channel Mode)
- nVidia GeForce Fx 5200 -128 MB RAM
- 17” Flat Panel Monitor
Before 3 years when I purchased this specs it was premium specs as was just 64 bit processors entering the retail market. With nVidia graphics and Drivers sets it was superb in Windows XP. But when I searched for drivers in nVidia site there was no drivers for my motherboard. Huh, I thought it was end of story to install Windows Vista. But I wanted to try.
So I downloaded windows Vista upgrade Adviser and checked for hardware components. Except for some Virtual CD Drivers and Other software’s everything was OK. For some it said it has to get drivers from Windows Update.
I proceeded to install. First I am not aware whether it will take the Silicon RAID Driver which is supposed for windows XP. Otherwise I would not be able to install since I have SATA HDD.
There are major changes in installation routine. It is very simple, quiet fast (I should not say very fast, at first Microsoft promised much more faster installation for vista but yet…), and clean. Setup routine can now detect USB medias, where in windows XP you have to use only Floppy Drives which was very horrible. After I installed Raid Driver, I was able to proceed with setup.
In windows XP also, there is no drivers for nVidia based boards, MCP and Network Cards and Marvel Gigabit Lan. After installing XP I have install using driver installation CD ROM.
When I installed windows Vista, Everything got installed, everything means all the drivers that I used to install separately in windows XP such as nVidia MCP drivers, Network Card Drivers, Gigabit Lan drivers etc. In Vista everything is pre installed, except one or two. Mainly I could not hear sound from my Vista on first start. That was really bad. But……
After restarting, it ran automatic updates and I got my sound. I just did not do anything. Everything was just out of the box for me. I did not go hunting for drivers this and that. Even in nVidia site there is no supported drivers for nVidia nForce 2 Chipset for Windows Vista. But that does not affect because all the drivers are installed.
One more thing I forgot to mention is that even nVidia GeForce 5200Fx Driver is also installed. There is real “WoW”.
Still there are lot of “WoW”s in Windows Vista.
First Look
So after installation and first boot, everything was there except antivirus software. I would like to make some suggestions to Microsoft that they should definitely give at least a basic antivirus system inbuilt into the system, which is very very essential. It is up to the customer to get any other antivirus software according to their trust level. I do not know how many of them know about “MSAV”- “Microsoft Antivirus” and “MWAV”-“Microsoft Windows Antivirus”, Which was there during the days of DOS and Windows 3.11 which was very basic antivirus tool, similarly there should definitely be a antivirus software right out of the box.
Any ways lets proceed.. So there was no antivirus and I wanted my PC to be always in a secure zone, so I searched for antivirus software’s for windows vista. There was just one from PCCillin which gave internet security beta product for testing which was for free, so I downloaded and installed, and everything was just nice.
When I went on, I found more difficulties, because Beta2 is was like half baked food and it was slow, also 50% of my softwares and tools working in Windows XP did not work properly in Windows Vista. I decided to just keep that in dual boot and use Windows XP.
Then I got windows Vista RC1. I installed RC1 as well and I saw a huge difference in speed and application compatibility. Seriously… but still I could not install Virtual Machine, Virtual Drives (CD /DVD) to load my ISO Images. Though most of the items are usable I could not make it as my Full Time OS.
Then I got Windows Vista RC2, This is where I totally abolished Windows XP and I decided to make Vista as my Full Time OS. Windows Vista RC2 and RC1 was not huge difference but there was lot of speed and lot more application compatibility. I could install almost all software’s that I installed in Windows XP. For some I got updates from internet to support Windows Vista.
So my journey to Vista Started there. Until I bought Windows vista Ultimate on Feb 2nd I was using RC2 Version Of windows Vista.
WoWs
There are numerous comparisons for Mac OS X and Windows Vista. Honestly I should say, it has take some time for Microsoft to get to that level. It is not because of lack of expertise or lack of thinking but it is because of huge customer base and partner base. I will write a article on Mac Criticisms in detail, now we follow with Vista Hands On.
First when you see Windows Vista you will immediately see this (provided you have minimum compatible hardware) Windows Aero Interface. Seriously to impress in first glance it is very well laid out. Very professional. There I not BIG UGLY START BUTTON, but now it is windows squabble Logo. It is really nice. Total Black rendering which is my favorite color. Total reflective interface is really wonderful.
The My Computer has totally changed. Context Menu’s has changed. Networking has changed.
Some of them will be in doubt whether they want to upgrade to Windows Vista. My answer is undoubtedly they can upgrade if they hardware platform support. There are numerous reason for that.
On the surface level you can see all these enhancements.
- Flip 3D – User windows Key + Tab to switch using Flip 3D, - Flip 3D in RC2 was not very smooth while in Final Release version it is really smooth and good
- Flip – Using Alt + Tab – Very nice , Very fast to switch between running programs, with live preview
- Live thumbnails- Just hover over the minimized windows then it shows the preview – it is a negative in some areas because whenever my boss comes I used to minimize all windows using Windows + D Key. Now they can easily see a preview without even opening Window. L(
- New Games
- Windows Photo Gallery – In windows XP you do not have a photo organization tool or good photo preview tool. So you got to have either ACD See or Corel PhotoPaint or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Picassa at least. Now there Is no need for all those. You can do minor edits, color adjustments, crops, red-eye fix, exposure fix all in windows photo gallery. So no need to spend extra bugs.
- Windows Movie Maker – it is a upgraded version to what you have in windows XP. Though I did not use it very much, it is very well laid out.
- Windows DVD Maker – Simple DVD Authoring tool.
- Windows Calendar
- Windows Media Player (of course)
- Windows Meeting Space
Apart from surface level changes, there are huge improvements in productivity applications
- Internet Information Services 7 (IIS 7)
- Enhanced Remote Desktop
- Windows Network and Connection Center
- Dot Net framework 3.0
(I will post screenshots in next part)
Again from a developer point of view, Windows vista comes with .Net Framework 3.0. So all my Dot Net applications just run out of the box. Seriously it is a very important thing for me as a developer point of view as I always have problems to make the user to download and install Dot Net framework 2.0. So the new deployment will just a XCopy Deployment where no need to install any frameworks (unless you have written some libraries to include in GAC).
Windows Vista has Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation which will leverage the full power of windows vista when there is a custom applications based on these frameworks.
When I wanted windows to be just want to everything I want without scratching me for extra money for additional software’s Windows vista is the right Go.
I wanted IIS server on Windows XP and thus I need windows XP Pro. I also want to enjoy with Media Center sometimes where I could not do because I need to have Windows XP media center edition (or get some third party stuff – paid or free) which does not have RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and IIS. So I have to stick back to Windows XP pro. Let’s say if I get a tablet pc, I have to get tablet pc edition which again lacks some functionality. Now with windows Vista Home premium , it is best for all home users where u can get everything including tablet pc functionality if you have a tablet pc. For users like me Windows Ultimate is ultimate choice as it as everything I need. So one great problem of having different versions to fit different environment is no longer there and I can do everything I need to do with Windows which is what I always expected from first.
After having mentioned so many Plus points there are some negative facts too. I will cover them in next part. First I will cover how well the OS laid out not at the surface level but inside the OS itself.
As it is.. the article is getting bigger.. thus I will continue the rest in next part..
Until then bye..