Windows Vista Transition

I am an avid fan of Windows XP. I've worked with it since SP2 came out and have not had any complaints. Then Vista came out and all hell broke loose. It was not XP yet it was for some people. Yes, it had all the same features of XP and then some but in all honesty to a Comp Sci Major pretty does not make up for all the errors attached to Vista's first release. So like most of my peers I stayed the hell away from it knowing that XP was good enough and there was no need to go to the dark side. But sadly my old system, the CPU I built from scratch was dying. Yes, it was a stupid virus that I killed but unfortunately the damage was done. So I had to do the only thing I could do, buy a new system that came with Vista...

Now I know you are saying I sold out, no that is not the reason. I had my choice of getting a system with XP or Vista. Believe me getting stuck with Vista was the last thing on my mind. However, I gave in because thankfully I had enough nightmares with my brother's laptop running Vista to know what to look out for and how to make sure I wasn't stuck with crap.

First of all I knew RAM was an issue with Vista. 1GB of RAM was not enough, of course it was more than enough for XP but let's not get me started on that again. I know it sounds like I was already planning to get Vista but I wasn't I was just facing reality.

You see before anything I had to calculate the expense of building another CPU or buying a ready made one. I knew already that in the future I would have to get Vista, therefore I was planning ahead. There's no use in building a system if it cannot expand right? So after careful calculations I realized that building my own system cost more than a ready made one that came with almost all the things I wanted. Let's face the fact that no factory made one will be the one you always wanted but if you look around you can find one that comes close enough.

So that's what I did I found a computer that came very close to the specifications I wanted. So why Vista and not XP? Well... one of my compromises was that the new computer came with 4GB of RAM. What's the problem with that you ask? Well that's it it comes with 4GB of ram and cannot expand anymore beyond that. Now I know on average most computers are running on 2GB so I should shut up and stop whining but I was looking at the future. If you look at the ratio of RAM increase from XP to Vista it's 1:2. Meaning when the new version of Windows come out your computer may need to have 4GB of RAM to run properly so I'm just about screwed when the new operating system comes out and I'm foolish enough to get it.

But then again I am very loyal to my operating system so I'm guessing that I won't want to change for the next couple of years at least so if that is the case screw it I am stuck until this computer dies!

So I bought it and it arrived in 2 days! Once out of the box it took me half a day to set it up, hook up the printer, scanner, set up my mother's account and guest account.

Amazingly it was not that difficult the whole transition of peripheral devices and software. Believe me I have heard horror stories of people not being able to use this or that because it was not Vista compatible. I did have my scary moments though don't believe me that it was smooth sailing. First of all I did not realize that I just didn't get Vista I got Vista (64-bit)! I know the horror!!!

By now lots of companies have patches or firmware that are compatible with Vista, which makes transitioning a lot easier these days. BUT I just don't have Vista I have Vista (64-bit)! So what's the big deal? Why am I bitching? Let me put it to you this way, I can safely say that of all the computers in the world only 10% have a 64-bit processor.

Yes, this is a good thing to the computer science world and I'm actually really excited about this. But this was a surprise, I wasn't expecting it, and guess what it makes downloading Vista compliant software just a little bit more tedious because I must make sure it works with 64-bit Vista!

But all complaints aside I am starting to like Vista. Yes it asks you permission for every little thing but I kinda like that because it feels like it's looking out for itself. I love the power I have over other accounts especially the guest account je je je.

All in all I don't miss XP that much and ironically my mother fell in love with it's "ease" of use. Personally I thought XP was easier but I realized why Vista is easier for her because I already made all the decisions for her account and if anything does come up unexpectedly, Vista does a good job of explaining itself.

So therefore I am now a Vista user and proud of it!