Sticking with Windows XP: The Case Against Windows Vista

I got my Windows Vista RC1 DVDs the other day and promptly installed the 64 bit version. I only live once right? Even though I knew I would encounter more driver problems with the 64 bit edition, it went pretty well and I have a dual boot between Vista and XP Pro. I've played with Vista for about 6 hours. It is different in a number of minor ways, but enough like XP that I've adapted to the changes more easily than I had expected.

Aeroglass is okay, but not a deal-maker for me. I probably most like the taskbar button thumbnails -- those are neat, but again, not nearly $300 worth of neat. I add that to the driver incompatibility issues and the shakedown period that any new OS needs and I'll be sticking with XP for a while. At least until Vista SP1 and until I replace enough hardware because some of my older hardware will never support Vista 64 drivers (if I can't move to 64 bit what is the point, really?)

After having a good look at Vista RC1 on my own hardware, I decided to see what Paul Thurrott was saying these days. I spotted this article. It is timely and so agrees with what I've experienced so far. Based on my personal experience with Vista, I think he has a good point.