Windows Vista - Should I Switch?

Windows Vista Ultimate has it all, Get the best of the business, mobility, and home entertainment features that Windows Vista has to offer, all rolled into one. Windows Vista Home Basic is intended for budget users with low needs. Windows Vista Home Premium covers the majority of the consumer market. Windows Vista Ultimate contains the complete feature-set and is aimed at enthusiasts. Windows Vista Business covers organizations of all sizes, while Windows Vista Enterprise is only available to customers participating in Microsoft's Software Assurance program.

Vista

Windows Vista was under development for a long time with Microsoft promising a raft of new features together with major improvements to security. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network using peer-to-peer technology, making it easier to share files and digital media between computers and devices. Vista includes technologies such as ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive which employ fast flash memory (located on USB drives and hybrid hard disk drives respectively) to improve system performance by caching commonly-used programs and data. Windows Vista is quite a good OS but it is different to XP so it's requires effort.

Better Security

Improved security was a primary design goal for Vista and It provided a breakthrough design that brings your world into sharper focus while delivering the productivity, entertainment, and security you need from your PC at home or on the go. A new software development methodology called the "Security Development Lifecycle" was incorporated in an effort to address concerns with the security of the Windows codebase.

Features

Microsoft has introduced a number of new features that agencies should consider such as a new graphical user interface, the next generation TCP/IP stack that supports IPv6 by default, network discovery protocol, Windows event log, etc. Ultimate provides the power, security, and mobility features needed for work, and all the entertainment features that you want for fun. Windows Vista contains hundreds of new and reworked features; some of the most significant include an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and completely redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. It also features Complete PC Backup which backs up an entire computer as an image onto a hard disk or DVD

Aero

Windows Aero introduces support for 3D graphics (Windows Flip 3D), translucency effects (Glass), live thumbnails, window animations, and other visual effects, and is intended for mainstream and high-end graphics cards. As such, Windows Aero has significantly higher hardware requirements than its predecessors. The Aero Glass gives Windows-Key Tab 3D switching between windows, the hover over the start menu items shows a cool live screenshot of the window, and the regular Alt-Tab is enhanced.

Criticism

Criticism of Windows Vista has included protracted development time, more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new Digital Rights Management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, and the usability of other new features such as User Account Control.