Vista redux

[samintx]

for those that don't want to read the whole article:

"After all the hype and delays, Windows Vista is finally here. Should you rush out and buy a copy when upgrade versions go on sale on Jan. 30? Probably not, given the odds against a satisfactory upgrade eXPerience. But I'd certainly consider speeding up the purchase of a new computer when PCs loaded with Vista become available in a few more weeks.

The marketing barrage that Microsoft (MSFT) has prepared will focus on Vista's new look—the first major design overhaul for Windows in more than a decade.*** Many of the concepts come from Apple Computer's (AAPL) Mac OS X *** , but Vista pushes the visual effects much further. Photorealism replaces the garish cartoonishness of Windows XP for everything from program icons to file folders. To cut the confusion that can occur when you have lots of windows open, a thumbnail image pops up when you run your mouse over the program's task-bar icon. Folders look like actual manila folders and show a glimpse of what's inside: a bit of album art for a music folder, a slice of one of your pictures for a photo folder. "

[olnacl]

I have the pre-release version on one of my PCs at home and I have to say the GUI changes impressed me the most in this XP Service Pack 3 release of the Windows OS. I'm especially glad they got rid of the PlaySkool icons and desktop themes. As for the rest of it, they won't find me spending $200+ to upgrade from XP, even if it does happen to run on my "old" (1 year) computer.

[ztirffritz]

After Microsoft sent Acer Ferrari laptops (approx $2700) pre-loaded with Vista Ultimate ($400) to 100 bloggers for free I decided that they were getting desperate for good press. Not that Vista is worthless, but I've played with it and it really is nothing to get excited about. It is what XP should have been long ago. They cut out so many of the features that made anyone want Vista that it is nothing more than XP sp 3 (as mentioned above). I honestly have no idea what MS does with their 10,000 software engineers. Apple has turned out 10 times more product at a higher quality with a fraction of the developers. Linux has gone through more development in 3 years than Windows has since '95. MS may have billions in the bank, but they are burning money to heat the buildings.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Paul Thurrott "M$ apologist" had some fairly scathing things to say about Vista (like using components from Win3.0, and you thought it was all new...) but overall gave it a pretty neutral rating.