I have been using Windows Vista RC1 since the day it came out and I have some pretty strong opinions of it. I have a lot of likes, and even more dislikes. I installed Windows Vista Ultimate edition the day it was released online. I decided to try it out now because I figured that the major bugs were most likely fixed, and only had small bugs left to filter out. That was my first error in judgment. Since when has Microsoft filtered all the bugs out of any of its software? I change of heart came easily, because I have access to a MSDN account, and I figured “what the heck, it ain’t going to blow up my computer”. No, this post isn’t about how Vista blew up my computer, because luckily… it didn’t.

So first things first, the install. So the install was easy, nice, simple, cleaner then previous versions of Windows where the wizard would nag with all these questions while you were eating your sandwich in the other room, only to find a half an hour later that you install isn’t done because it’s asking you a question. All in all much better then what it has been, but I think they could still improve.

After about an hour long install later (keep in mind I was putting this on a minimum requirement system, to see how well it works) I was in the GUI and feeling refreshed with this new, for Microsoft, eye candy feel. What I mean by that is that I feel the number one change from XP to Vista is the GUI, but all it is coping old Mac style.

Once logged in I saw so new features.

One, the “gadgets” bar. A sidebar that is modeled from Mac’s widgets idea, the only difference is that it is not as good as widgets, and it’s on a sidebar.

Two, menu bar has changed slightly, adding some new features to easily access different functions. I don’t really care to much for this “improvement”. I feel they are just moving things around to make it seem different, when it really isn’t. The address bar on the other hand I really do feel is an improvement. The basically changed it from a simple address location, to a tree. You still can enter addresses in the old way.

Three, the start menu is slightly setup better. I feel that access programs is a lot better now, because instead of hovering over the programs menu and getting a pop out menu, it replaces quick link area with the programs. So, if you’re running XP right now, open up your start menu and you see (depending on how you setup your start menu) 5 quick links of the programs you most use. When you hover over programs in Vista, that list is replaced with the list of programs. A well need improvement. The last thing in the start menu is that they added the search right to the menu, and again they changed searching over to the indexed system (again, building on old Mac technologies).

If you are a parent with children, and want better parental controls, I have to say, Vista does a fantastic job at the parental controls. You can use when users are able to log on to the computer. Meaning, if you don’t want “Timmy” (your twelve year old son) playing video games, or searching the internet at 2:00AM while you’re in bed, just disallow “Timmy” login at 2:00AM, etc. You can also change ratings for games, and disallow games to be played that have no rating. You can make it so “Timmy” can play “T” rated games, and “Sarah” (six years old) “E” rated games.

Overall these are the main features in my opinion that stood out to me. There is so much more, but I really don’t feel like typing about all of it. So let me sum up my feel on Vista.

Overall Vista is better then XP, when it’s finally released. The beta is still screwed up and I would say not to bother with it yet. Vista in my opinion is still XP, just some “new” stuff added on. All Microsoft has done is implemented old Mac technologies. Apple is pushing out everything new and Microsoft copies to the best of its abilities. Mac OS X put out spotlight, the indexed search, Microsoft added indexed search. Mac gave us widgets, Microsoft makes “gadgets”. Mac gave us the eye candy we all know and love, Microsoft tries to give us eye candy. Mac gives us security, Vista doesn’t.

So is Vista a buy or upgrade when it is finally released? Well the thing is that the only “good” version of Vista is to go all the way and get Ultimate, all the other editions are crappy and lacking key features. The key to all of it is purchase price. I simply say that if you have access to a genuine serial number of Vista Ultimate, upgrade, if you don’t, do not waste your money, stay with XP until you upgrade your machine and then get Vista, or at lease until you finally figure out Mac OS X is better.