15 Reasons to switch to Windows Vista
PC World published an article listing 15 reasons to switch to Vista. I imagine that the article is aimed at XP users rather than Mac or Linux users. Still, I wonder how many of their reasons are compelling to the likes of me.
1. It’s the Interface, Stupid
So it’s “transparent animated windows,” “subtle and elegant colors” and “a new Start menu?” I don’t know about “animated,” but I already have “transparent” (although I don’t use it.) Unless they’ve gotten rid of the Start menu (in favor of something more like Quicksilver) it’s still not good enough, and I’m pretty sure that you could duplicate the same “subtle and elegant colors” on any windowing system if you choose to do so.
2. Flip Over Windows Flip 3D
Apparently the Alt-Tab behavior in Vista does some sort of three-dee flippady-do thing. Which sounds like a gaudy take on Expose. Which I already have.
3. Live Thumbnails
This actually sounds pretty neat. Hover over a window on the Taskbar and a live (that is: with the actual content from the window) thumbnail pops up. That said: Expose already covers this.
4. Boost Performance With ReadyBoost
Cute. It loads programs you use often in to ram such that they start quickly. Sort of like the Office Quick Start or whatever it was called from a few years back. Thing is, the applications I use frequently are already in memory. That’s sort of how memory on a computer works. Oh well. At least they’re trying.
5. Cool Performance Tools
This reads like a non-ugly PerfMon replacement. Given that I’m satisfied with the likes of “top” and “iostat,” I’m unlikely to be swayed by this.
6. Better Security
Remember, this is better relative to XP. So this isn’t saying much.
7. Find Anything Fast With Search
Oh, like Spotlight? Already have it.
8. Nifty Software Gadgets
Oh, like Dashboard? Already have it.
9. Better Wireless Networking
The only problems I ever have with wireless networking are caused by me upgrading the firmware on the AP and telling it to do all sorts of stupid things. (This is a round-about way of saying “I break the AP when I screw with it.”) I guess the wireless networking in XP was lacking somehow?
10. Map Your Network
Hey, finally something that I’d use! I like this feature. Although it sounds more like a userland application than it does a core OS service.
11. Better Graphics With Windows Photo Gallery
Oh, like iPhoto? Already have it.
12. Become a Director With Windows Movie Maker
Oh, like iMovie? Already have it.
13. Better Notebook Support
Presumably notebook support was lacking under XP. Works for me.
14. File Sharing and Syncing
I’m sure that I’d have more to say about this if I ever did workgroup networking. I don’t, but I remember it always being a little bit harder than it had to be to do correctly. If Vista makes it easier, I’ll count that as a good thing.
15. Protect Your Kids With Parental Controls
I wonder how well this works. Content filtering isn’t a trivial problem — although I’ve seen very good approaches to the problem (of course those solutions were ignored by my former employer, but that’s neither here nor there) — and I wonder if Microsoft solves it particularly well in the OS or not. Either way, it’s not the approach I take to my son using a computer, so I’m not really swayed by this.
There is no number 16
Well, that turned out to be a little more smug than I thought it would. Perhaps I need to get a $1,000 hoodie and start making fun of John Hodgman. Still, it’s hard to think that Microsoft isn’t a day late and a dollar short here. An “I already have it” list could be easily put together for Linux and probably XP for that matter. Way to go, Microsoft.
That said, they’re bound to sell millions of copies of it, so perhaps I’ll be buying some of that Microsoft stock.