bit-tech Shopping: Microsoft Windows Vista Business

Rating: 8

Time with product: 1 Days

Strengths: Looks extremely nice, not too hard to get used to after XP

Weaknesses: A bit of a resource hog, some performance issues

Summary: So I'm running Vista Business Upgrade in Boot Camp on my MacBook Pro--I'm actually writing this review in it right now. Overall, things work great. I've got all the programs I used in XP running great (minus VB6 IDE) and it didn't take long to learn the ins and outs of the OS.The main reason I can't give it a perfect score is its incompleteness. I feel the OS can be tremendously refined, just like XP after SP2. For instance copying files is extremely slow (takes a while to figure out time remaining). Plus booting and hibernating take a long time.Basically, this is a great OS, but stick with XP until SP1 improves some of the major performance issues--if it does.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 28 Days

Strengths: New!! Cool interface. Lot's of new bells & whistles. Seems a little faster.

Weaknesses: Different than what we're used to. Requires a much more powerful PC to work. Some 3rd party apps don't work correctly.

Summary: If you like new technology and being on the "bleeding" edge, then Vista is for you! If you need a reliable, tried-and-true software that works with everything, then stay with XP. Every 12 to 14 months I like to wipe my drive and reinstall all of my apps, otherwise my system gets so slow it's unbearable. I'm the guy who downloads the latest version of all my current software and even some stuff I don't need and uninstall what I don't like. With that said, I find that wiping the drive and rebuilding it helps with the speed. I did it about 12 months ago and tried XP-64 but reinstalled regular XP. Mainly I took it off because I didn't see the performance boost and there weren't many drivers available for the 64 bit OS. With the new Vista, I figured it was now prime-time for 64 bit. Well I'm sorry to say it's not. 64 bit looks and sounds good until you try it. It installs like a 32 bit OS and it looks the same and it doesn't seem to run any faster. But that's where the similarities end. 1.) Not all hardware has a 64 bit driver. (My older scanner and my 1 year printer would not work with Vista 64). 2.) Some of my older apps that actually run in a DOS shell didn't work. I installed a DOS emulator and tried running these apps inside of the DOS window, but they were very unreliable. 3.) Some of my newer apps that install using the CMD prompt would not install. 4.) Many of my newest apps would not take advantage of the 64 bit OS and my 64 bit processor because they're still written for a 32 bit OS. (No performance increase). After a week I wiped the drive and installed VISTA 32 bit. Everything went smoothly and I reinstalled all of my apps and things work great. Everything loaded and most of my hardware worked with the existing drivers. Only a few need the new Vista drivers to work. What I like: 1.) It looks COOL! 2.) It's faster. Part is due to the fact that my install was FRESH since I wiped the drive and some goes to the new OS. 3.) Lot's of things integrated into the OS install so you don't have to install separately like Desktop Search and Bit Defender. Tight! What I don't like: 1.) Have to learn a new OS. 2.) 64 bit is a bust. I really wanted to see a performance boost, but not there. 3.) Had to install 32 bit and still some hardware drivers had to be hunted down to make the hardware work. Recommendations: If you are a techie and like the new stuff then go for it. If you not or you just want something reliable, hold off. In another couple of years 64 bit will be big. At that point you'll be ready for a new PC anyways, so buy one with Vista 64. Last point, if you buy Business edition and later you realize you want Ultimate, no big deal. You actually already installed it with Business, just your Business license key won't unlock the Ultimate features. Just go to the Microsoft site and upgrade it for a small fee and you'll get a new license key and it will unlock the Ultimate stuff. Slick!