Vista week. Vista year? Not likely.

This week has got to be Microsoft Windows Vista week. After all, it’s a product that will affect the luves of every PC user sooner or later- when we upgrade to it at some point in the future- and it’s Microsoft’s long-awaited operating system, arriving over 5 years since the launch of Windows XP which has been plagued with security issues and bugs.

In all fairness, XP is also a powerful operating system which is feature-packed and has successfully facilitated our computer lives for many year; but out with the old and in with the new.

As you would expect, loads of stories are now coming out about Vista, bloggers are either praising it or tearing it apart and it is flying off the shelves so far, having been launched on Tuesday 30 January.

Here’s an interesting comment by a reviewer I came across: “It took five years, $6 billion and 8,000 workers for Microsoft to develop their new ‘Vista’ operating system, but if you’re smart you won’t buy it right away.”

Why? Well because XP can still give you what you need for now, and maybe the ‘wait and see’ game is the best one with a new operating system.Another sharp comment I’ve seen goes as follows: “Microsoft owns 90 per cent of the operating system market and when you’re big, you’re a target... just by installing it you are going to be putting yourself in front of the firing squad that’s going to be going after Microsoft.”

You can rest assured that Vista will be plagued by viruses, trojans, worms and more; just like good old XP. But, maybe, it will have less holes and vulnerabilities. Vista includes considerable security improvements, including a firewall that blocks network traffic in both directions and an anti-spyware program. You still need to get anti-virus software. Vista also adopts "user authentication," which prompts you before the installation of anything that might damage the system. Moving onto the next major talking point, Vista comes in so many versions!

The version for you and me is Home Premium, which sells for $159 if you upgrade from an older copy of Windows. That’s quite expensive. The cheaper option at $99 is the regular Home version, lacking in advanced multimedia features available in premium. It’s also a very heavy and demanding application, requiring 15 Gigabytes of hard disk space and at least a 1 gigahertz processor plus 1 gigabyte of memory.

It gets worse if you got for the aptly named “Utlimate Vista”. As Microsoft says, it’s the ‘no compromises version’. It’s got everything from the Home and Business versions, plus loads of security features. Needless to say, you’ll have to throw away your PC and buy a new super-duper system to run it!

Summing it all up is one my favourite tech writers, Rob Pegaroro, who says “For most people with older machines, Vista demands too much to justify its benefits. Wait for Microsoft to fix the inevitable bugs in Vista and for Windows developers to rewrite their software to work better in Vista. Then, if you’re both patient and lucky, by the time you’re ready for a new computer, Vista will be ready for you.”

Resist the temptation and wait. That’s what I’ll do, unless the nice people at Microsoft Jordan send me a copy!

zanasser@gmail.com