Improvements:

- Shutting down and logging on. Both of these are much faster than on XP.

- It looks nicer. Aeroglass, the new start bar, DreamScene, it all looks much nicer than the butt fugly green and blue bar of XP. And things like the live preview, and flip3D are really cool features. And this window transitions are nice.

- Windows Experience Index - It allows you to make sure your computer works with everything without you actually knowing the ins and outs of your computers specs. If you have a WEI of 3, you can't run any software that requires more than a 3.

- The Start Search. I know this was copied from Mac... but you know what, I don't give a shit. It's still much better than the search engine inbuilt for XP. It finds things with much more pace, it finds more relevant things, and it's inbuilt straight into the start bar, so it looks tidy.

- Previous Versions - You overwrote something by mistake? Has the file become corrupt for some reason? Have you ever worked on something, saved it, came back to it a week later to find that you don't like it? Well, by just right-clicking and hitting the properties button on any file you can go back to any previous version of the file.

- Games Explorer. This is a handy little specialised folder that automatically adds shortcuts to any game that is installed on the PC. It integrates that Windows Exprience Index, so that you can tell whether your system can run the game. It also shows age ratings, defines the games genre, gives links to the developer's, and publisher's website. It also allows you to enable parental controls on the game.

- Parental controls. These tools allow you to limit the age rating that can be played on a user account. You can also limit how long the person plays on a particular game... or on all games. They also allow you to add different levels of website filtering. And you can also view the activity reports of the non-admin accounts.

- DirectX 10. This is the latest version of Microsofts API, and it allows developers to go even further when it comes to pushing out the best graphics avaliable. DirectX 10 is exclusive to Vista.

- Inbuilt DVD burning software. Before, you had to rely on third-party software to make DVD films, this is now integrated straight into Vista.

- Improved folder navigation. It's now easier to go through the folder browser, and you can search within folders using a search bar integrated straight into the folder menu.

- Windows Media Center. This was avaliable at extra cost to XP, and also came free in the Media Center versions of it. But, now it comes at part of Vista.

- Windows Pictures Gallary. This is like the Windows Media Player but designed especially for images.

- Improved support for laptops (inbuilt screen brightness sliders, different volume levels for when plugged in and on the go, etc) and Tablet PCs (improved handwriting recognition).

- Windows Meeting Space allows for multiple people to work on the same document at the same time, it also allows for easy easy file transfers over to different people, and an easy way to "share notes" (which basically means, inbuilt IM service).

- Advanced networking tools. It's now easier to keep track and monitor different things going on through the network. And it allows you to connect to wireless networks much more securely. Allows you to remotely fix issues with the network with much more ease.

- Inbuilt, and improved syncing with other devices. Before, copying things over usually meant going through the "My Computer" and copying things over manually, possibly even having to install third-party software beforehand. Now, it's as simple as connecting the software, going down to a little icon in the start bar, and adding the files that need to be copied. You can create copy lists, that work kind of like playlists.

- Advanced security. Although, if you like to prod around, and install lots of little bits of software without cerfication from Microsoft, this thing can become more of a hinderance than a help, and you will probably end up switching it off.

Since SP1:

- Gives the meaning of the word silence whole new grounds. Before, on XP, being silent meant that you would have to either manually mute your speakers, or to go down to the system tray and hit the mute button. Now, all you need is a sound card, or onboard sound that requires the AC'97 dirvers, and Vista will automatically go into silent mode. Great.

Two weeks ago, I decided to be adventurous. No, I didn't take skydiving lessons or go white-water rafting; rather, I installed Windows Vista on my home computer.

I had heard a great deal about Microsoft's new operating system. The main idea that I heard coming from other reviewers was that it looked cool, but had its drawbacks. For the past two weeks, I've been trying to see if that's the truth.

First, Vista does look a lot nicer than Windows XP. The Aero graphical theme makes everything look more modern. I will admit that at times, it seemed like there were too many special effects on the screen at once, which resulted in distraction and extreme memory usage. Speaking of extreme memory usage, if you're going to install Windows Vista, make sure you have more than 1 GB of system memory. Even my computer, with 1 GB, could have used some more juice at times.

So the verdict on the graphics in Vista: nice, but memory hungry. No surprises here.

Functionally, Windows Vista is significantly different from Windows XP and its predecessors. However, I often wonder if the folks at Microsoft changed things around for simplicity, or just to make Vista look different or dummy-proof. As an example, the disk defragmenter in Windows Vista, a utility that optimizes hard drive performance, has two options. The first defrags every hard drive in your system, and the second allows you to defrag all your hard drives on a schedule. There's no option for choosing just a particular hard drive and there is no progress bar during the defrag process - two features that existed in Windows XP. According to people on some online message boards that I read, Microsoft took away the features that I found useful in the defrag utility in order to dummy-proof the operating system. I understand that many people using PCs today do not understand what the disk defragmenter does, but there are many who do, and those people like to have options. What kept Microsoft from keeping those options in an advanced settings area? I'd love to know.

There are a few new features in Vista that I like, but I quickly realized that all of those features were "borrowed" from the Macintosh operating system. For example, user files are now kept in a user folder rather than the My Documents folder, similar to the home folder in Mac OS X. Also, on the left side of windows, there is now a configurable list of often-visited places, just like there is in Mac OS X.

I could go on with my analysis of all of Vista's new features. What it comes down to is that most of the useful new features were taken from Mac OS X, and anything else just seems stupid and useless. Speaking of stupid, I still don't understand how Microsoft expects people to pay over $100 to upgrade to an operating system that really isn't that superior to Windows XP. On top of that, most people have no reason to upgrade any time soon, since Microsoft will continue to support XP until 2014.

What I would recommend for users: If you buy a new PC with Windows Vista, you might as well stick with it. It's certainly not inferior to XP; it's just not superior in any ways that will benefit most users. If you have a computer with Windows XP, stick with it … unless you're adventurous.

original link: http://media.www.thetriangle.org/media/storage/paper689/news/2007/03/16/ArtsEntertainment/Vista.Proves.To.Be.No.Better.Than.Xp-2778493.shtml


You just put in all the positives, ill help you out with the negatives.

yeah I find the Vista SP1 pack to be much better...

I've had it for about a month now and I can confidently say I have had MUCH less trouble with Vista since installing it. I still have issues with it but now I find it a lot more stable, with less program halts, and much faster in doing the simpler tasks...

I updated two months ago? Same SP???

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=16346