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For the most part, I find the critics of Windows Vista much like the Star War fans that hyped up the prequels until they were released, and then did nothing but dump on them until this very day. One of my favorite moments is when a Star Wars fan tells me about how cheesy the acting was, and the how thin the story line was. My current record for not commenting on these rehashed arguments is nine minutes and thirty one seconds. Since the second day of release of Episode One, I have not heard an original critique of the movie. This is how I feel towards Vista critics. When I hear people in IT repeat the same argument against upgrading to Vista that my mom gives me, who usually is repeating what someone else has said too. Sadly, a majority of the people that put down Vista and call it “a blunder in technology” uses a Mac or XP, I have yet to meet someone that has used Vista continuously for a month say anything negative about it. The only really problem - it seems - that people have with Vista is the security warning.

Instead of going on and on about Vista and its features, I am going to take a different approach by attacking the arguments and the people that recycle them. I have been working with Vista since it was Longhorn and Alpha 1. I installed virtually every release of the operating system on Athlon, Intel, Laptop tops, desktops, Pentium D, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Xeron, Core 2 Quad, iMac, and MacBook Pro, with both flavors of video cards and too many different combinations to mention. The bottom line, Vista is a great operating system, and far better than XP. The Mac proponent introduces the argument of having to upgrade the hardware to make it run. I find that particularly funny as I try to install Mac OS X 10.1 on my Intel MacBook Pro or when I tried to put Leopard on a G4. Since that line is directed to Mac users, your PC users that bought into that argument is left scratching their heads. That is ok. Mac users know that if you want to advance your operating system you need to limit your need for backwards compatibility. There is a point in which software developers need to stop supporting outdated hardware. One of the biggest problems with Windows is that it needs to, sometimes by law, support outdated hardware. The DirectX 10 api is stunning. The difference is unbelievable.

To understand this argument better you need to know that Windows 2000 is Windows 5.0 built on New Technology (NT) Windows XP 5.1, Windows XP 64 bit is Windows 5.2x the same as Windows 2003 server SP1. Windows Vista is Windows 6.0, a completely new version of windows from the ground up. Nowhere in Mac history have I seen Mac hardware survive a full version bump. That is not a bad thing by any means. If one wants to advance their operating system by a full version, you should upgrade your computer as a whole. If someone upgraded to XP from Windows 98 se, they should not expect that same computer to run Vista at all.

“Hardware says that it is Vista compatible, but only for Windows Basic.” That is true, some hardware says that. I recommend not buying “quality goods” from the back of someones truck either. Since Microsoft opened its operating system to far more than its competitors your scams increase along the same ration as well.

“The security warning, it asks me all the time.” If you are using this argument you have to ask yourself, why are you getting this warning so many times? When I install Office on my computer I am prompted only once. When I install Garage Band on my Mac I am asked for the password, once. That goes the same for any quality software. The ported over software however I get the question quite a few times. The reason why you see this so many times is by no means the fault of the makers, however if it bugs you that much simply type the following phrase into Google. Turn off security warning Vista.

Finally my favorite argument, “Windows Vista Ultimate is 500 bucks, what!!!” Followed by pointing out that Leopard is only $150. Tiger, OSX (10.4) was $150 too, I am guessing so were 10.3, 10.2, 10.1, and 10.0. I am going to let you do the math while I finish this post by saying this.

People can no more put down Windows than they can OSX while armed with a lack of knowledge. Anyone that has used only Vista for a period greater than a month, please tell me what you think.