Should I Upgrade to Vista?

I lately have been getting asked "Should I upgrade to Windows Vista?" For obvious reasons, questions like these seem to come up around the time any new operating system comes out. You have to first ask the following question. It may seem obvious at first, but truly, I've found a lot of people seem to skip it. That question is:

"What is it that Vista does that I cannot do today?"

The answer to that question may direct you to the ultimate solution. If Vista is offering something that you are missing right now, then that need may trump any other answer as to why you should or should not switch to Vista tomorrow, next month, or in 2008.

That being said, I have run Vista on a number of computers (desktops and laptops) and have found that, at best, Vista worked well but ran slower than the same exact PC running Windows XP. That's because Vista uses more memory. It uses more hard drive space. It uses more graphics to draw the windows and icons (which slow down scrolling, selecting icons, etc.). I say "at best" because if you have a computer with over 1 GB of memory, a lot of free hard drive space, and a good graphics card, the slow down may be subtle (but still noticeable). If you purchased a new PC that came with Vista, chances are it has at least the minimum to support a decent experience (but if you were to rebuild the PC with Windows XP, it would seem like it went a lot faster as well).

At worst, the switch is painful. Vista looks "prettier" but this comes at a cost. You may actually see the windows being drawn on a slower PC or one without accelerated graphics capabilities. Likewise, Vista solves a lot of the virus and spyware problems by asking you a few more times "Are you sure?" Copy a file from folder A to B? Are you sure? Really? OK! Strangely, it isn't consistent with the number of times it asks you (moving your own files, it may only ask you once but if you move files common to all users of the PC, it may ask 2 or 3 times).

It is quite likely that at some point, programs will be released that require Vista. New hardware might not come with drivers for Windows XP or any other earlier version of Windows. New computers that come with Vista pre-installed may not easily downgrade to Windows XP. When that happens, you have to answer "I need Vista in order to continue using the latest hardware and/or software."

In the business world, the enhancements available to Vista today are much more significant. The new group policy structure allows a greater amount of control to be delegated to the IT department. Security improvements create better confidence that the stolen laptop won't be easily compromised nor will employees be downloading company documents to USB keys or iPods (unless, of course, you want them to).

This brings me back to the original question: What do you need Vista for? All of the above is moot if there is some application that only works on Vista or some other need not met in a previous operating system. If you're looking for just the prettier graphics and the new set of screen savers, then you'll be giving up some speed to get there.