I ordered a new Dell laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium about a month ago. I needed a Vista machine to prepare for a class I was teaching (Intro to Windows Vista), so I took the plunge. Of course, the first thing I did was reformat the hard drive, and create three partitions. The first one (C:) I used to install Windows XP, as a form of security blanket. Then I upgraded to Windows Vista, but installed it on the second partition (D:). I set aside the third partition as a redirect for My Documents, so I could access all my data from either OS.
For the first two weeks I continued to work mostly in XP, but as the deadline approached for the class, I decided to switch over to Vista. So far, I have not gone back, except to occasionally liberate something I had left in XP, like Outlook Categories.
It has been working out pretty well, and aide from having my monitor resolution change unexpectedly during hibernation, its really been ok. I might even begin to recommend it to my clients, as long as they are not using any line of business applications that are not Vista ready.
So my advice is – go ahead and take the plunge. Its been a year, and Service Pack 1 is due in a few months, which should clear up many of the little glitches that still exist in Vista. You will find the differences between XP and Vista a little quirky in the beginning, but eventually you will find all your old favorite bits. Personally, the networking piece is vastly improved and should make it pretty easy for anyone to set up or connect to a network.
For a contrasting and humorous view, you might want to read this article on "upgrading" from Vista to XP.
DEC
About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com