Moving On: The evolution of Windows Versions...

When I got my first job in the computer industry, in 2001, I remember that the newest operating system at the time was Windows XP. At the time I had an AMD K6 Compaq computer and was running Windows ME, which came factory pre loaded. And then, after the misery of Me, came in Windows XP, like a Knight in Shining Armor, designed by Microsoft to deliver us from the suffering inflicted by its predecessor. And, until 2006 XP was the dominant operating system. And when Windows Vista came onto the market in 2007, it was like the Me plague all over again...

Regardless of the promises of what was supposed to be, Vista had some serious shortcomings and was, initially, a flop. Even until today, most of us are holding on to our XP licenses until Windows 7 comes around sometime this fall (a release candidate is already available). However, those purchasing computers now are left without much of a choice as most OEM and Branded machines are preloaded with Windows Vista Home Premium. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel and the sky is not that gray in the Vista universe.

First, SP1 fixed a lot of major issues, which was good as some basic activities such as browsing or file management were made dreadful by way of the Aero package which sucks up resources for the sake of poor visual effects...

Also, given the fact that Vista has done a few laps around the track in the last 2 years, hardware manufacturers have taken into account the needs of the greedy OS and therefore have optimized new components to run with minimal hick-ups and resource waste. As you have noticed in my last post about my recent build, I used all 8GB of DDR2 RAM. Since Vista is hungry and RAM is cheap (65$ CAD for 4GB) we may well feed the machine! This in turn provides with a very enjoyable computing experience, something which would have been impossible, or at the very least extremely pricey a few years ago.

Also the fact that the 64-bit version of the OS offers the same type of support and compatibility as its 32-bit counterpart is a big plus. This was not the case with the previous OS, where Windows XP Professional X64 had a known reputation for limited application and driver compatibility. This is normal as only recently have applications been designed to benefit from a 64 bit environment, as this type of hardware and software becomes more accessible and affordable.

In conclusion, although as with every application in early stages, Windows Vista has nicely recovered to become a very useable and beneficial operating system. As we now await the final release of Windows 7, we can only hope that it will be an improvement on the current state of Windows Vista rather than an OS that will go through a prolonged adaptation period.