There are probably a number of people out there wondering why on earth I’m making such a big deal about choosing Windows XP instead of the newer Windows Vista (see “Buying a PC with XP“). On user forums they say “But I have had a laptop running Windows Vista for almost a year now, and haven’t had any problems”. Admittedly, a large percentage of people who buy Notebook or Desktop PCs pre-installed with Vista are sticking with the new Operating System. Yet there are some major driver issues with Vista, not the least of them being a “New Hardware Wizard” which seems to have some serious bugs, like forgetting that it has drivers for previously installed hardware.

Some websites say only a small minority of rather vocal users are still choosing Windows XP instead of Vista, being resistant to change. Others say Vista is broken and suggest an Apple iMac with the Leopard OS or a compter running Desktop Linux. Personally I remember running Windows 98 a couple of years after Windows XP had been released. The main problem then was the hardware requirements for Windows XP. In retrospect it seems like a small jump in comparison with Windows Vista’s requirements, and I’m not referring to “Vista Capable” but “Windows Vista Premium Ready”, a term I only began hearing recently.

Inevitably Vista should reach a point where it is the primary Windows desktop Operating System. I would be surprised if Microsoft were to bring out a successor before this, as too much time and money was spent developing Vista.

With this in mind, I was intending to buy a new Desktop PC with Windows Vista Ultimate edition. That was until a work colleague mentioned that he was having major problems HotSyncing his Palm handheld with Vista. Since I need to HotSync my Palm handheld with my primary desktop PC, I found a “Windows Vista Premium Ready” desktop PC and chose to have it pre-installed with Windows XP Professional. Should Palm bring out an improved Vista compatible Palm Desktop, then I would make the switch to Vista.