Three years ago now, Windows Vista came out. Many people were not that impressed and a lot consider XP to be a superior operating system. Whilst XP was released in 2001, it is still considered today to be the best operating system Windows have made to date. However, is this general opinion correct or is in fact Vista a better operating system?

Interface

First off, I’ll start with the interface. Whilst it may not be important, it’s still a factor worth considering as the look of the operating system can appeal/not appeal to customers. The interface for Windows XP is a bit old looking now and isn’t overly appealing to me. Windows Vista on the other hand in my opinion looks great. It has a very modernized look with a great default background and also I much prefer the ‘Start’ button in Windows Vista to the one in XP. A much more modern look to it and I think a better look. Saying this, these are only the default layouts. The default in Vista is overall much better though you could give XP a Vista look if you wanted to.

Software/Features

Another factor to consider is software/features. I think in this case, an upgrade to Vista is not necessary. Whilst you do get some new software in Vista, personally I don’t really think they justify an upgrade. The main one being DirectX10. You can’t download it for Windows XP and it does improve the graphics for Vista and is an improvement on XP and DirectX9. Also the new features on Vista are minimal and not overly impressive. Windows Aero is a good idea and makes the interface more appealing, though it requires a higher end graphics card so some Vista computers may not be able to run it. Another thing they’ve added for Vista is Windows Sidebar. It makes navigation easier and there is no compromise. Also the Windows Firewall for Vista has been improved though to be honest, I don’t really think Windows Firewall is an effective piece of software and think downloading more anti-firewall software is required, for example Comodo is a good Firewall and it is also free. There is one new addition to Vista though that I really dislike and it’s a general annoyance. That is that every time you open a program it’ll ask you whether to let the program run. It sounds like a good security feature, though it’s an annoyance and whilst it can be turned off, I think it should definitely be turned off by default instead for those who feel the need for extra security. On the whole Vista is better in the software department though I don’t think the improvements are that significant.

Gaming

Then we go onto gaming. As mentioned above, DirectX10 is one feature of Vista and it does improve gaming because the gaming will have better graphics. However, almost all games are still compatible with Windows XP as well as Vista. However on the whole, the specifications of systems have improved with Vista and the graphics cards are getting better on the whole. Still though, you could just upgrade an XP computer if it isn’t good enough to play decent games… though in the majority of cases game play is fine and this won’t be an issue. Overall Vista offers very little more then XP in the gaming department and this will be the case until games no longer play on Windows XP.

Pricing

Also, price should be taken into consideration. Surprising, Windows XP is actually more expensive then Windows Vista. Windows XP home edition is £65 whilst Windows Vista Home Premium with Service pack 1 is £120 (http://amazon.co.uk), and an upgrade CD alone costs £61 with SP1 and £64 without it. I think personally that the upgrade rates are very high and that really for the limited advantages of Vista, paying that amount of money is not worth it and I would consider Vista to be overpriced and borderline deceitful, because I do not feel the improvements to Vista are £60 worth of improvements and you will see more on that in the paragraph below.

Technical Specifications

Yet another factor to take into consideration is technical specifications. In the majority of cases, Vista will have more RAM, better processors and just better systems. However, don’t be fooled by this. A 2GB Windows Vista laptop will run slowly whilst a Windows XP 512MB Desktop will run smoothly and efficiently. So whilst the specifications might be better on Vista, the performance isn’t as good as it should be and in this area, I think that Windows XP is the superior operating system of the two. It may not run faster in all cases though I would expect an XP computer with 1GB RAM to be faster then a Vista computer with 1GB RAM when it should really be vice versa.

Another thing worth considering is that XP has now been ‘’discontinued’’ as such. You can’t really buy new computers in the shops which come with XP… you can buy the XP operating system though no new computers will come with XP. This isn’t massively relevant though I do think it’s an advantage for Vista because it means less people buying XP as it no longer comes with computers.

After considering all factors in depth, I do not think that XP users should upgrade to Vista. An upgrade CD costs £60 and as already mentioned, I don’t think it would be £60 well spent because what you get is minimal and some of the things that are better about Vista can be changed. For example the interface… whilst the interface for Vista is much better then XP… you can just change XP’s interface to look more appealing or even make it look like Vista. Also, you get better value for money with XP and you can spend a lot less and it will run at a higher speed then Vista computers which are supposed to have better specifications.