Vista a Boon or Bloat?: The Introduction

I often heard of more poor comments on Vista's performance abilities rather than good. Which is pretty unfair in my opinion. Microsoft spent six years developing Vista and released it to businesses and open consumers on December 2006 & January 2007 respectively; surely there must be something that makes people happy, at least. Remember how Windows XP is condemned back during its initial release, and now people are starting to accept it gradually?

My Windows XP crashed due to virus infiltration back in May (I still remember the virus being Kavo.exe), so i took the chance of testing Windows Vista on my machine (It says designed for Windows XP but still, Vista capable).

My HP Compaq branded Laptop's specifications are nothing outstanding for the very least: an Intel Core Duo T2050 processor running at a mere 1.60 gHZ, coupled with 1.5 GB of RAM and an Intel Media Graphic Accelerator 950 graphic card.

My installation comprises of a 32-bit Windows Vista Business and those hardware drivers required for the laptop to run normally.


After my installation it become clear to me why people had such a bad image on Vista; my poor machine had initial difficulty in supporting Vista's overloaded processes, and some features are downright annoying, for example the loathed User Account Control (UAC), prompting you everytime you tried to run a particular software. At some point when i tried to install some memory-heavy software (notably those Adobe stuffs), the processors behind the posh black cover began roaring for mercy until a point where i was quite frightened it will break down just like that. It took about half the entire day just trying to get the software installed on my laptop, and more than a day to install those Windows Update up to SP1.

Till now, my Vista Business however, is running as smoothly as heaven; no crashes, no constant bloat whatsoever. And be reminded that my laptop's specifications are still the same as ever!

My conclusion from this experience is: Windows Vista is actually a GREAT piece of work, depending on how the users themselves use it.

Let me clarify my exclaimation above. Microsoft have been very smart by developing Vista. Vista is developed to be very user-centric, even though some might not notice that. A Vista machine can reflect how its users have been using the machine so if the user is highly sensitive in understanding, mantaining and protecting their Vista machine, Vista is twice the OS of Windows XP. Nevertheless, if a Vista user lack certain ability of understanding how Vista works, needless to say mantain or protect their Vista, for sure we can hardly expect their Vista machine to run at the peak of their PC's performance!

I had initial trouble with Vista at first. But i swore patience and so, i learn and practise. Here i am, half a year after using Vista, trying to convince those who might care on how Vista is making a positive difference. It's not that i don't have a problem with Vista; its just that after learning how Windows Vista behaves it make sense on how a user is suppose to enjoy Vista's pros over its cons.

People are always talking of skipping Vista straight to the next major release of Microsoft, Windows Se7en. Those fellows might have forgotten that Windows 7 is built on top of Windows Vista, and that the major revamp is on performances, which in Windows Vista, is quite, if not entirely, achievable providing you know the "how".

I will comment on how I use my Vista to the maximum in future posts, so be sure to keep waiting if interested...:)