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XP or Vista user — take the poll!

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zridling:
David Berlind has an interesting take on whether Windows 7 will even be relevant by 2010.
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One reason that my productivity [in Vista] hasn’t improved much is that I find myself spending more and more time in my browser (accessing Web applications). Wordpress (as one example) is our platform of choice for publishing blogs and it’s all done in a browser. I hardly ever do any word processing any more and when I do, I do it with Google Docs because of how (1) I can access that document from anywhere, even without my computer and (2) how easy it is to share those documents with others. Banking? Done in my browser. Attendee tracking for Mashup Camp? Done in my browser. E-Mail? Not inlcuding corporate e-mail (for which a browser-based client — Outlook Web Access — exists), so much of what I do, I do it in a browser.... Unfortunately for Microsoft, it’s getting much tougher to win on the basis of browser differentiation. Especially when your browser only runs on one operating system.

My own take is if you believe Berlind that the OS will be web-centric, then this cedes an enormous advantage to GNU/Linux.

app103:
The whole idea of web-centric applications can give new life to older Windows PC's providing they get a newer browser and not run old, insecure, outdated, incapable versions of IE.

This is great news for snail owners, providing their older systems can handle the resource demands of the web apps.

zridling:
And ComputerWorld has a great article on How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years:

Windows Vista may be shiny and brand new, but as plenty of PC users will tell you, sometimes newer isn't better.... We'll give you tips, tweaks and tricks so that you'll be able to keep XP running smoothly, at top performance, for smooth operation and long life.... we'll also show you how to get many of Vista's goodies, such as greatly improved security, transparent windows, Windows Flip 3D and the Network Map, all without having to spend the money to upgrade or get new hardware.


* How long will Microsoft support XP?

* Get Vista's security improvements in XP

* Get Vista's eye candy in XP

* Get other Vista goodies

* Tweak XP settings for faster performance

* Perform weekly maintenance for smooth operation

f0dder:
Vista is fast, smooth and I havent had many problems.
-Josh
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That just isn't my experience - having tested it (on real hardware, not virtualized) on both my pretty beefy main machine (AMD64x2 4400+, 2 gigs of ram, Raptor main drive, 320gig raid stripe for the Vista install) as well as some Lenovo laptops (core2duo T5600, 1gig ram, Intel 945 graphics). Vista boots slower, and it feels no faster or smoother, applications start a bit slower, framerates in games are a bit slower (perhaps because of immature drivers, perhaps other reasons), things like the control panel are extremely laggy (generic problem with the new Windows Presentation Foundation, or just bad code in those particular things?), etc.

And frankly I don't see anything valuable added in Vista at the user level, and the "we want to be like Mac OS X" thing doesn't really do it for me (and in fact I think the new explorer sucks), I think ~8gigs for just the Windows folder is way over the top (it's quite a sizable chunk of a 74-gig raptor drive), etc etc etc.

zridling:
Good points, and as Berlind noted, your productivity doesn't increase under Vista, nor does your "computing experience" get measurably better. Although I've come to like Vista more than XP, it's my last Microsoft OS whether I use it for three years or ten years.

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