As you all may have heard, Microsoft has released Windows Vista to manufacturing yesterday. A momentous event? Well that just depends on who you ask, and if the person is myself then you are going to get the following four reasons why I personally would not even bother with Windows Vista.
1. No new features or speed boost – No kidding, it’s true! Windows Vista won’t run Microsoft Word any faster, won’t make your presentations look any better, and if my own experience is any indication then Vista is not going to make managing your PC any easier either. If Microsoft sticks to their new anti-piracy plan then corporations will be having to setup whole new license management systems to deal with Vista. To make matters even worse this *new* version of Windows is really just the Windows Server 2003 kernel in colorful clothing with some snazzy new mini-applications. Microsoft provided these programs in the “Ultimate” version of Vista as a weak attempt to compete with Apple’s iLife software suite. Additionally, my own informal tests on my Macbook Pro seem to indicate that Vista upgrades will likely run existing applications slower than XP for many folks forcing the purchase of new hardware just to “keep up”. Bottom line; Vista does not add any substantial new features for new or existing Windows users and may even be a significant reduction in speed for some users who dare to upgrade from XP on today’s hardware.
2. The new interface just gets in the way – Go ahead, try it out at your local computer store (demos should be available soon). One of the first things you are going to notice is the new interface which is a major case for the bifocal lens thanks to the excessive use of transparency. Unnecessary eye candy is everywhere, and seems to not add or enhance any features that might make users more productive. No well thought out GUI tricks like OSX’s expose here, just pure bling that quickly becomes annoying on all but the fastest PCs. The bottom line; Windows Vista does not bring anything new to the table other than more gizmo-style features that only serve to get in your way when you are trying to actually get some work done.
3. Security will still be a major problem – Since Microsoft decided not to build Windows Vista on the longhorn kernel (which was rumored to be a complete rewrite, or close to it) they ended up leaving many of the known problem areas of Windows XP (and other previous versions) still in place. In an attempt to address this problem of legacy code support they have tacked on a layer which is supposed to protect the system from malware and viruses. This layer is visible to the user in the form of dialog boxes that pop up every time you require “administrator” or direct access to system resources, something that seems far too common on the Windows platform. What does this mean for most users? More dialog boxes for users to mindlessly click “Ok” to without even bothering to read the message. Bottom line; constantly annoying pop-ups intending to improve security will actually result in even greater problems as users begin to blindly click “Ok” even more than they already do now.
4. The alternatives are so much better – I know what you are thinking, here comes the Linux or Mac OSX vs. Windows argument. Well you’re wrong! Right now the best alternative to Windows Vista is its predecessor Windows XP. The reality is that you can do everything promised by Windows Vista in Windows XP today with less hassle and in most cases faster than you could in Windows Vista on the same hardware. If you already use Linux or Mac OSX then Vista is not going to impress you anyway so don’t even bother taking a look.
Well that’s enough for now, look for me to post a nice (or not) mini-review of Windows Vista Ultimate Edition soon which will discuss some of the above mentioned issue in much greater detail.
Ultimately all three of the main computing platforms; Windows, Linux, and Mac suffer from similar online threats so here are four things anyone (including Mac users) can do to improve their own online safety without going to extremes.