Here we go again. Sorry, I was pretty busy after the Long Beach tradeshow.
My heck, you people make it sound like Vista is the devil. If you install it on a decent machine with newer software, with SP1, it is a great OS. I have yet to see any reason to want to downgrade to XP unless you have legacy software that isn't compatible with Vista.
As a matter of fact, if you would get off your "Vista Sux" rant, and actually take some time to learn, it actually has a lot of new stuff that can make your life a lot easier. The backup features alone are worth the price of admission.
Yes, for a while there were driver issues, most of which have been sorted out by now. Prior to SP1, there were IO speed issues, but those have been rectified as well.
If you want it to look "old school" it is only a couple clicks away. You can turn off the UAC if you don't like the warnings that you get when you try to make administrator-level changes (or install software). For the average user, it isn't much different than XP other than the added bells and whistles, but you don't have to use them.
I talked to Onyx, SAI, Cadlink (SignLab), and Wasatch last week. All are Vista compatible in their newest releases, and nearly all will be Vista64 compatible within 6 weeks. Not to mention the CS4 suite will been available in a Vista 64 version this time around.
Relearning is a part of life. Why fight the current when you can ride the wave? It's not like you have to relearn everything. There is very little fundamental change in the OS from a user's standpoint.
I would bet the farm that the next version of Windows WILL NOT, repeat, WILL NOT be available in the next 10 months. Are you nuts? I haven't even seen a public RC yet. We are a ways off from Windows 7 being ready acceptable. Let's say that the RTM version of Windows 7 (next version of Windows which is to replace Vista) is available in 18 months (if we are lucky). Then I am going to guess that a Service Pack will be available approximately 12 months after that. I would bet that many will wait for the first SP before upgrading. 2 1/2 years is a long time to wait to upgrade your PC.
I would be willing to bet that in 2 1/2 years, there will be a lot of whiners complaining about Windows 7 too. I heard the SAME complaints when XP was released. It is amazing how XP was sooo hated when it was released, but now everyone is clinging onto it like a security blanket.
Just my 2 cents. I am by no means "right", just educated and opinionated.
My opinion is just that and you know what they say about opinions.
