Journalist asks--upgrade now or wait?

[watha]

We're doing a story about people trying to decide whether to buy a new

PC now or wait until Microsoft releases the new Vista operating system.

Computer makers are slashing prices and promising free Vista upgrades,

but some buyers don't want the hassle of upgrading sometime next year.

Which side are you on? I want to include your views in a story I'm

doing. I'd like to include your name, age, occupation and the

community where you live.

This is for real; check the links below for some of my recent work.

Interested? Please contact me ASAP. Thanks.

Hiawatha Bray

Technology Reporter

Boston Globe

135 Morrissey Blvd.

P.O. Box 55819

Boston, MA 02205-5819 USA

617-929-3119 voice

617-929-3183 fax

bray@globe.com

watha@monitortan.com

Blog: www.monitortan.com

Recent writings: www.boston.com/business/technology/bray

[TheFlash428]

I'm not sure how a post like this complies with the posting rules of the forum, but I don't mind giving my opinion...

I've never been one to "upgrade for the sake of upgrading".

Computer manufacturers and equipment retailers love it because with the new operating system comes a new set of "Minimum System Requirements", meaning that most consumsers don't have the necessary hardware to run the newest release and therefore are pressured into buying new equipment.

When Windows XP was released several years ago, most people barely met the minimum requirements and were therefore unable to take advantage of the new features and functionallity of XP and at best only managed to slow down an otherwise fine system running an older OS.

Add that to the fact that the initail XP release was full of bugs and security holes, many of which weren't fully patched until at least the Service Pack 1 level or beyond. I personally didn't start endorsing Windows XP until the 2nd SP was released, although I currently think that it is a very stable, reliable OS.

Bottom line, my advice would be not to upgrade to Vista until the release is stable and adequate time for comsumer testing has passed--even if you decide to upgrade your equipment. Microsoft will continue to support Windows XP SP2 (or most recent SP) for at least 5 years from the date Vista is released.

I currently work as a systems admin for a medium sized business office in the Washington, DC area.

Edited December 13, 2006 by TheFlash428

[redfive19]

My $0.02...

I'm a systems engineer for a large financial firm in the New York metro area and we're not upgrading to Vista till at least the first SP. Personally, I am not excited about Vista. It's pretty and all but in a lot of the early reviews I've read that games don't run any faster on it than on XP (I'm a gamer at home). Sometimes they even run slower. I am lucky enough that my system at home meets most of the req's but I would rather wait till all drivers and apps I use are finalized and working on Vista.

Moreover, I am not completely gaga over the new features although the gadget bar is nice.

[nitroshift]

I'm a network administrator / system administrator / pc integrator for a national forestry company. We are NOT migrating to Vista just as yet, XP works fine and has most of its holes plugged. The 2 main reasons for not upgrading are:

1. Money (Vista costs way too much to buy and implement, not to forget the user training...)

2. Being a new OS, it has flaws and bugs, wait until a service pack is released and some big flaws are repaired.

[haggisnneeps]

Hi, I'm an admin for a large british company and we won't be migrating to Vista because its just not worth the cost. XP is where we are and looking forward we can see absolutely no reason to move to and pay for Vista. what advantages would it bring?

We played with the Beta version and within minutes of booting up for the first time saw a black hole opening up into which we would have to chovel millions of pounds for training. The interface is a long way from what 2K and XP users are used to. Big changes in how everything is accessed (like control panels etc - just try getting your desktop icons for my computer and internet explorer at first login - nightmare for the Joe Public user)

From a personal point of view, i am of the opinion this is yet another attempt by M$ to get people to by new more powerful computers they don't really need. DirectX 10 will only be available in Vista so looking forward, if Microsoft bring their considerable pressure to bear on games companies and the like, they are going to force people who want to buys, say, a £40 game into buying a new PC to play it on since the chances are they will have to buy Vista for Direct X 10 and their original PCs resources will be so heavily used it would be more worthwhile to buy a new one

This is MicroBloat - the unnecessary taking advantage of the average user who doesnt know any better and just wants to play a game or make edit a home movie - before you know it they have a new PC WAY overspecced for what they need it for.

Another personal view? Vista is Microsoft getting as close as they can to MAC OS. I reckon the next OS will either be exactly the same as MAC, or MS will just buy MAC outright and be done with it and OS XI will actually be Windows OSXI (Oh sexy?)

Maybe not though..... either way XP will be very long in the tooth before i change up to Vista and unless i'm just playing with it, i will probably just wait til the next one after Vista comes out and in between times save up for the PC that will be needed to run that OS (i'm thinking Cray XTM just now)

[WBHoenig]

I personally am one of the type of techie enthusiasts who was running it as a primary OS starting on RC1 and very well might be camped out at BestBut on Jan. 30.

But until then, I have Beryl on Ubuntu.

But no, I will not be buying a new OEM system. Ever. Again. When I am good and ready for a new PC, I'll build it and avoid Dell's markup.

Edited December 18, 2006 by WBHoenig