That’s right, I said it.  After many hours of teaching myself Vista in personal and business environments I’ve almost given up.  I really wanted to like Vista.  It had a clean looking interface and looked modern.  However, this obviously is at the expense of real processing power.

Over time, the more you use a computer you’ll probably notice that you care a lot less about the graphics in your Operating System then about Performance.  For me, in the past couple years Vista has failed miserably in the performance arena.

As a IT Professional, there were some things I did like about Vista and these are it:

• Clean Interface
• After a Windows update is handed down from the server – it would install, log-off, reboot, then log back in with all your old Windows open.  This was pretty nifty and end-users rarely noticed the update.
• Gadget Sidebar – There were some nifty little tools you can use in there.

BLOG UPDATE – July 1st 2009! Guess what? Windows 7 is now available for Pre-Order!  Check out the link below

What I hate about Vista as an IT Professional:

• Upon booting in Safe mode you aren’t given a choice of the default Administrator account. If someone forgets their password, you need to get a boot-disk utility to unlock the administrator password!  XP made this so much easier.
• Constant crashing of Apps.  Sure it’s great that they only crash inside the app, and not the entire OS.  But this isn’t good enough.
• Will they ever fix the Printing Preferences crash bug?  I administrate about 75 computers and every single one of them does it, including anyone’s laptops they give me.
• Resource Hog:  Vista uses up so much ram and resources it’s ridiculous.  This severely slows down the computer.

Stay with XP

Thank you Microsoft for making it impossible for average users to get PCs with Windows XP on it.  We’re all stuck with buying Vista on our PCs for the most part.  If you have a choice or can get the “downgrade license”, please do so.  Then DOWNGRADE to Windows XP.

Windows XP at this point in time is probably the most stable Operating System Microsoft ever had.  It interacts well with servers as well as makes efficient use of resources.  If you take a laptop that had Vista installed on it then install XP – you’ll immediately see the speed difference.

Sorry Microsoft, but you did drop the ball with Windows Vista.  Server 2008 is another story – so far I’ve had good experiences with it.

Please Note:  Windows XP will have a direct upgrade path to Windows 7!  It was cited here: Microsoft: Windows XP to Windows 7 Upgrade and PC World: Upgrade Path for XP to Windows 7

Windows 7 So far

Personally, I haven’t had a chance to try it out.  However, what I’ve heard from my colleagues in the field is that it’s everything they wanted Vista to be, with the performance of Windows XP.  I hear it even has some touch-screen capabilities, that’s pretty neat.  Here’s a list of new features also: Windows 7 Features

That it’ for my gripe session.  Love to hear yours! Anyone else out there had their hands on Windows 7?  What do you think?

Related Blog’s on the Topic: Computer Pros say wait for Windows 7 – Avoid Vista – Should you wait for Windows 7