Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (Upgrade) (PC)

I'm writing this February 2007. An early adopter I have slapped Vista Ultimate (64) on my machine. The user interface is great - it really does look nice, and the hyped aero-glass is pleasing on the eye. This will be a fantastic OS to have when the rest of the world is ready for it, in two years time I'm sure I'll be glad I invested in it. For now, I feel like I still have beta software... Why?

Well, the biggest annoyances are probably not Microsoft's fault. I was amazed at how few vendors of hardware I have on my existing system have yet released proper drivers. So overnight my webcam and scanner have become redundant (both the manufactures HP and Epson have no planned date to release vista drivers). This expensive kit is now obselete to me unless I roll back to XP. My top of the range Creative X-Fi sound card DOES has drivers, so I can at least get sound - however none of the supporting software it came with works on vista so I now have an expensive sound card running with exrememly basic functionality.

Most distressing of all was that my existing anti virus software (AVP free) wont install. Only a very limited amount of paid software does on the 64 version currently. Another upgrade required there. Amazingly, even Microsoft's own one care anti virus package is not available for Vista 64 at the time I write. Having invested in a new graphics card to ensure things run smoothly I am stunned to find that my counter strike frame rate has instantly dropped from 75 fps at full settings on XP down to an unplayable 18 fps. This is probably due to the NVIDIA graphics drivers still being in Beta and will I am sure improve over time, but I need my counterstrike in the meantime!

The security is beefed up. This is a good thing probably on balance. Just be aware that the trade off around more security is more intrusive pop-ups checking you really, really mean to do what you just did. They seem much harder - or impossible - to turn off in Vista. If you thought it was annoying by XP SP2, you haven't seen anything yet!

Oh, and then there was the music. I was excited by the built in Media Centre feature. It looks pretty cool - until I hit play and turned on the visuliser..... all songs st-st-st-st stuttered con-con-constantly. Again, unplayable, when itunes etc sounded better than my expensive HiFi on XP.

I like the look of Vista. It is the future. However, until the rest of the world catches up - hardware manufacturers, software manufactures and even me realising that I need to upgrade my RAM from 1 gig to enjoy it all more - you do feel that it is just a glimpse and a promise of the vista experience now - not the chance to live it.

Tonight, I'm going to partion my hard drive and reinstall XP. Putting vista on has just made me realise how absolutley fine XP is and how all my paid for kit works GREAT on it. I guess I'll have a dual OS PC for a while until the world catches up. If cash flow isn't a problem - get it and dual boot. If you have a choice of things to buy - get something else this year and then buy this in 2008.

Using Vista is a very underwhelming experience. It's hard to see what they spent 5 years on. My wife calls Vista confusing. I call it annoying. Surface gloss such as Aero is pretty, but you don't notice it after a while. When you go looking for real meat - significant improvements in the OS over Windows XP - it just isn't there (as far as I can see).

The 'breadcrumb bar' is nice. Running IE in protected mode is a good idea. UAC is just plain annoying. Backwards compatibility is the worst ever for a release of Windows. And so on... good bits, bad bits, but no real WOW! feature. The WOW is not going to start now... maybe it will with the next release in 2009(?).

The real failure of Vista for me is that when I use Windows XP again at work, I don't find myself missing Vista. In fact, when I get home I find myself missing XP! That is very unusual for me, as I usually revel in a new release of software, and soon say "I won't go back." With Vista I wish I hadn't gone forward - not because it's a train smash, but because overall XP is nicer, more harmonious.

I feel that it might take Microsoft two or three more versions of the OS to really get the current 'Vista trajectory' right... we shall see.

If you have XP Pro, stay with it. Otherwise you will need 2GB RAM and a 256MB graphics card just to run at the same speed as XP.

Gimmicky sidebar and scrolling windows do not justify the price. Security is obstructive and a real pain in the proverbials. Somtimes it takes 6 clicks to do what you did with one before.

Did I mention the hardware incompatabilities? Loads of devices over 3 years old don't have a Vista driver and there are no plans to provide one from many manufacturers. Many programs either don't work at all, bring up warning messages and dire threats about crashing or else just lock up. "There is a known incompatability between Vista and program XXXX this application has been prevented from running" blah blah blah.

Took the machine back and got a refund. Have invested the money in more memory and HDD for my old system instead.

Microsoft have just shot themselves in the foot again.