Windows Vista

Back on January 30, 2007, Windows Vista was Microsoft's newest operating system for use on personal computers. The release of Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows.







Microsoft touted the new features and security improvements that came with Vista, but it also became the target of much criticism and negative press. Vista's high system requirements, restrictive licensing terms, lack of compatibility with pre-Vista hardware and software, and the annoying number of authorization prompts from User Account Control, all were sighted as issues to be addressed. As a result of these and other issues, Vista was never really adopted by the PC community, particularly the business community, as readily as its predecessor, Windows XP.



When many in the business community began to announce that they were sticking with XP instead of migrating to Vista, Microsoft resorted to "strong-arm" tactics in an effort to force people to adopt Vista by not allowing computer vendors to give users a choice between Vista and XP. When that move created more negative press, Microsoft relented and allowed vendors to either give purchasers a choice or offer a "downgrade" to XP. A downgrade means that you have purchased a Vista license even though you are using XP. That way you can "upgrade" to Vista at a later time if you wish without purchasing a new license.




So What?

I'm not saying that Vista is necessarily a bad operating system. It was Microsoft itself that made some bad decisions prior to releasing it. Vista Service Packs 1 and 2 addressed some of the compatibility issues and such, but you still need at least 2GB of RAM before Vista will run "normally".


Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and 2 and all other critical updates can be downloaded from Windows Update by clicking the START button, then All Programs, and then click "Windows Update".

Since the release of Windows 7, the future of Vista doesn't look very promising. Just like Internet Explorer 7, it was here, and then it was gone, then Internet Explorer 8 took over the spotlight.

Having said that, I must say that my experience with the Vista Service Pack 2 version has been fairly positive and interesting. Having at least 2GB of RAM memory is a must. Apart from that, I must admit that the new "look and feel" is somewhat refreshing.

Check out the Windows Vista Tutorials page for help on how to navigate through Windows Vista.

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