I'm quite confused'

Clarifications

Do you have older software that you wish to continue to use? Office 2000 and early versions of QuickBooks, for example can be troublesome on Vista, or not run at all. How much money are you willing to spend to update your older software?

How robust is the hardware on your computer? Vista has some fairly stiff hardware requirements.

How amenable are you to GUI change? There are some GUI changes in Vista that are a pain the wazoo to deal with, initially. (Don't like them at all, but that is my opinion and others differ considerably.)

Do you have to purchase a Vista or XP Operating System disk, or do you have one or the other already? Again, how much money do you wish to spend.

This is a small list of things to take into consideration.

I'm staying with XP until I have to move to something else. In the meantime, I am also using Linux Ubuntu 7.10.

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

Yours is a complicated question. As you probably know, Microsoft has just issued its [i]final[/i] service pack (SP3) for XP. XP Professional will no longer be marketed as a stand-alone operating system after June 30th this year.

Due to substantial consumer pressure, Microsoft has relented and will allow computer manufacturers to load XP Pro on new machines for another year. After that, the only Windows OS available will be Vista.

XP has enjoyed a long life for an operating system, and the business community clings to it because it is familiar, stable, and relatively easy to configure. These are strong points of recommendation.

Microsoft boasts that 140 million licenses for Vista have been sold since Vista's debut. Obviously some of these folks are satisfied with the product, but many are not. Many computer manufacturers currently provide [i]downgrading[/i] to XP Pro for purchasers disgusted with Vista.

Some of us who prefer XP are waiting out the Vista cycle, anticipating a release Fall'09 of a new Microsoft OS called Windows 7. Very little has been disclosed about this new OS, but there is considerable pressure on Microsoft to [i]get it right[/i] this time, due to widespread disillusionment, frustration, and disappointment with Vista.

Vista is a resource hog. XP boots much faster than Vista, and XP runs applications faster than Vista. With XP, you don't have that annoying hard disc chattering from background processes and swap file activity.

If you want a stable system that is easily configurable, boots quickly, runs applications fast and reliably, and supports virtually all consumer hardware, then XP Pro is a better choice. Depending upon the computer you intend to purchase, you may need to act quickly, because you will not be able to purchase a stand-alone copy of XP Pro after June 30th.

Hope this helps you.

Rick/Portland, OR

Vista is a nice OS but there are too many changes on far too many problems to introduce into a work environment. The Vista OS is also quite the FAT (or robust as MS likes to say) system. This means that it's a hardware hog. The bigger, the better.

Not to mention the 3rd party software packages that just don't play well with Vista's hightened security.

Now if this is just for personal use I might consider Vista only because it IS the direction that the next version of desktop OS is going so you may as well get accustomed to it.

Hope this helps.

Neo is absolutely right (Sorry for shortening it, would have mucked up the spelling anyways.) As a new computer owner I am familiar with your plight. Last September I purchased a Compaq f572us laptop which of course came with Vista. After tuning the heck out of it, Vista worked ok for me and did not take entirely too long, although I was a bit peeved on how my new dual core computer was the same speed as a single core with the same clock and half of the ram.

Then I came across a site that teaches you how to dual boot a Vista based computer. Already having another parition I decided to give it a go. One problem with my situation is that the drivers for my computer are native to Vista. After checking around I found a package of XP drivers that I tried. Everything worked perfectly. I have since completely wiped my hdd and did a fresh install of XP. Now my new computer acts new, and fast like it should. It blazes through app loading and the internet speed is amazing. It does everything that I did with Vista only better, including being part of my network and using a dual monitor setup via my d sub out. These were things that vista does easier due to its interface, however XP does them just as well and just as easy if youre not an idiot. (Assuming you aren't ;).

So the moral of my story is, if you have ALL of the drivers for the machine or hardware you would like to use, go with XP. It is tried and true, and supported very well in forums just like this one. If you already have a machine that came with Vista, google the model number and 'XP downgrade' following your model number and you should be able to get an idea of who is doing what with your machine. I decided that if tons of people were having success with my laptop and XP then so could I.

as they are stopping to sell XP shortly.

you could downgrade legally tho.

Use the one that suits your Applications and Hardware.

If you have any mission Critical Applications that have not been rewritten for Vista then XP is the better choice.

However if you have New Hardware and the ability to get new Software that is compatible with Vista then Vista is the better alternative.

Of course if this is a Business computer then stick with what the business uses.

There is nothing preventing you from buying a system loaded with Vista and installing XP on it. Just look carefully at any new purchase to make sure that there are XP Drivers available for it if you plan on this.

Col