Windows Vista
Test System Specs:
Gateway MT6705 LaptopIntel Pentium Dual-Core T2060 1.6Ghz
1GB DDR2
Dual Boot - Windows Vista Home Premium/Fedora Linux
Things I like about Vista:
- Seems to boot quicker *(see note below)
- Reliability and Performance Monitor (particularly report generation features)
- Windows Aero (reminds me of my XGL Linux desktop)
- Search feature - i.e. click Start, type "r" as a shortcut to Remote Desktop, Run, System Restore, etc...
Things I DON'T like about Vista (so far - I'm sure this list will grow):
- No progress bar for disk defragmenter (at least I haven't found one yet)
- UAC (User Account Control) is a pain **(so I turned it off, see second note below)
- Some tools are buried deeper than in XP, more steps to get there
- No NetMeeting, replaced with something that doesn't work
Conclusion
After using it for a couple months, I just really don't care for it. As usual for Microsoft, they have found something that works (XP) and broken it. I still prefer Linux as my main desktop OS (currently running Fedora 5, 6, and 7), and of course the servers in my office are Linux. But some apps just will not work on anything but Windows, so I have to keep at least one machine with the latest MS offering. Plus, I have to know how to "fix" it when it breaks, so that I can help my clients that haven't switched to Linux yet. For those who would like to try Linux, but still need to keep Windows - dual booting is a great way to give it a test. My next article will explain how to get it up and running side by side with Vista.
Here is an interesting article I found comparing the two operating systems:
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/entdev/article.php/3694206
*As I mentioned above, it seems to boot quicker. I don't have XP and Vista on the same machine to compare, so it could just be that this machine is WAY faster than my desktop, and thus it SEEMS to boot faster. It does boot faster than Fedora 7 which is on the other partition. Normally the time it takes to boot is not a factor that I would even worry about, because my desktops rarely get shut down or rebooted, but on a laptop that isn't the case.
**Yes, I know UAC is a "security feature", but give me a break! If I am logged in as administrator, I don't need all those stupid repetitive questions asking me "are you REALLY, REALLY sure you want to do that?"
This page last updated Dec. 22, 2007
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