The only reason I have VISTA is that was all Dell was offering when I needed a new laptop PC about 2 years ago, and that machine needed to be able to process the many documents and other files coming from my employer who had standardized on XP and all MS software applications. So a Mac was not a good choice for me then, and would have cost much more to get limited compatability. I bought a Dell because they were the only company who would provide me a machine without a glossy (read glare everywhere in every user situation) display screen. (Why the market has accepted those displays I also have never understood. The color and resolution are excellent, but the glare is constant, unless you're working in a cave with dry walls.) I had to pay a slight premium for that screen, but am very glad I did. Most other PC makers were pushing VISTA at that time, too, excepting Apple, of course, and close-out machines with XP. I would have chosen XP if it was available to me at that time. Unlike many members of FOG, I am not saavy regarding PCs and software, etc. I couldn't even take or post a digital photo until a couple of months ago. I still have not been able to setup Mozilla Firefox to work correctly -- still no photos and no videos. In contrast IE does work, reliably. VISTA lets you know if the program you're about to download is compatible, too. The main problems I have had with VISTA is MS' ever increasing list of security updates. Some of those "automatic updates" knock out various System32 drivers, resulting in my PC no longer booting until I insert the factory installation disk and go through a reload and repair. That has happened often enough that I now know how to do it myself. And VISTA is a huge DRAM hog compared to XP, for no increase in real world speed in most operations. My PC with 2GB of RAM and essentially no software applications and a core-duo Intel CPU has always been slower to boot up than the Dell PC my employer provided running XP with only 500MB of RAM and a much slower, non core-duo CPU. VISTA also buries most of what is going on, and makes it harder to do maintenance or setups compared to XP. I wholly agree with those who opine that VISTA is a failure, as it should be. MAC.... maybe next time. But they are no without problems, either. My daughter has a Mac lapto and my son has a Mac desktop. Both have had some problems. Her machine totally failed and needed replacement of the HD within the first year. My son's machine had a total software/OS crash within the first year, but has been fine since reloading, which took a couple of days with many calls to Apple. So which is better? The jury is still out within my family, but leaning toward Apple Mac.
Dave R.
