I’ve been using Vista since Build 5472, and even after installing SP1, am still sticking with XP for most of my computing. I own, outright, two Ultimate licenses, but only one is installed (Vista 64) and I only boot into it occasionally to keep it patched. I’m evaluating it at work, too, so have experience in it as a gamer and an I.T. worker.

For the standard home user, I see no reason to switch to Vista. None. It’s a memory hog that doesn’t work well with even slightly old hardware, and even some newer hardware is crippled in Vista (by the vendor or by Vista’s internals.. it doesn’t really matter). The only thing it brings to the table, as far as I can tell, is eye-candy. Even then, you need a pretty beefy card to get the best of the Aero interface.

Vista 64 does allow you to address more than 3GB of RAM (I have 4GB installed).. but there are very few apps that actually take of it. Also, because Vista itself requires so much more memory than XP, it’s actually a wash.

The only thing I’ve really seen that really benefits from Vista is Tablet computing. Vista does work better with tablets than XP does. But that’s a far cry from being a worthwhile O/S for every day use. (update: it turns out that they stole this functionality too. /sigh)

The only good thing I can say about Vista’s User Account Control (UAC) is that it can be turned off.

Can it be used? Certainly. It’s stable and if you have lots of RAM, a fast PC, and newer hardware, it works fine. But I maintain that XP works as well as Vista does, and is compatible with many more applications and hardware.

I hope that consumers and enterprises stand firm against Microsoft in this – either force them to make Vista perform better AND lower the price, or extend XP’s support until the next O/S after Vista is released. (update: more info here) And hopefully this time they’ll go with one or at the most two versions of the software. Home, Home Crippled even more than regular Home, Pro, Expert, Really Cool Edition with the neat Black Box, Corporate Edition… wth? Microsoft should go back to what they did with Windows 98. A single version of the O/S at a good price – less than $100. But Microsoft’s corporate greed (over developing good products) seems, right now, to be in full and irreversable mode. Firing Ballmer would be a good start.

And don’t even get me started on the U/I abomination that is Office 2007.

I’ve been playing with a Lenovo X61 Tablet that I got at work, and have to say: it’s kind of cool. It certainly take a bit of getting used to, and it’s not for everyone, but once you work through some of the quirks, it’s pretty nice.

Things I like:

• Portrait-mode! I work in portrait mode all day at work, and highly recommend it for daily tasks such as email, browsing, office apps, etc. The ability to work in portrait on a portable PC is welcome – I just don’t understand why people stick to landscape for anything other than games.
• The Pen/Stylus for scrolling. Again, once you get used to this, it’s hard to go back to scrolling with the mouse (wheel or otherwise). I really like the ability to just click (anywhere) and drag and have the window respond perfectly.
• Handwriting recognition. This is a software function, and I think Vista is better at it than XP, but they’re both pretty good.
• Finger-browsing. Yes, it’s possible to use your finger to ‘click’ and drag. It’s very crude, and leaves your LCD all messy, but it’s cool in a crunch.
• It’s kind of obvious, but sketching with the tablet works well. I’m pretty good at drawing with a mouse, but it’s much, much easier with a stylus.

Things I don’t like:

• Switching into hand-writing recognition-mode ranges from just OK to downright annoying. It should come as no surprise that Microsoft products such as Internet Explorer function better than Firefox, but I have a feeling that some "anti-FF" code has been worked into the Tablet software by Microsoft. Just about every other application has its text boxes recognized by the utilities. Still, it’s always possible to launch the interface by hand… it’s just annoying to have to click outside the box.
• The dimness of the screen. It’s fine for office- or couch-browsing, but in a brightly lit room or outside, you really have to work to see things clearly.
• The speaker. It’s tinny and installed on the bottom of the PC. I’d prefer to have a speaker with higher volume on the top of the notebook, so when I use it on my lap, I don’t have the sound blocked.

 I’ll keep playing with it.