Don't confuse cost with price.
i bought a bootleg copy of Vista in Moscow last year, a month before MS released it. (have no desire to use it).
I had the same choice recently.
Went with a Mac. Works like a champ. With VMWare, I’m running WinXP on the Mac as well as OS X.
Then with Apple bringing out the Time Capsule as the back-end for Time Machine (the backup facility under the latest OS X), hey, backups are about to become pud-easy.
The other thing about Vista that I don’t like is the DRM crap. I run a legit shop, and being treated like a felon is simply offensive.
Well, I know Mac users tout the wonderfulness of their desktops, and I haven’t worked with a Mac too often. But when I have, I have been very frustrated by the lack of a right mouse button and a delete key.
As for Vista, after having bought a family computer with it installed last year, my own opinion is that XP is much better.
I just recently helped my mother-in-law buy a desktop, and I ordered her a Dell business model because it was the only one I could find with XP available instead of Vista.
I’m only glad my trusty laptop Charlene has XP instead of Vista.
I don't expect to spend a lot of time in a Vista environment, but as time goes by, I think it may be nice to have. And games aren't going to work well in a virtual machine, so the host will be useful for that.
In addition to me, my business has three partners. All of us have brand spanking new computers, but I was the only one to insist on the XP operating system for mine.
Whose computer do you think functions every day, without any problems? You got that right.
Like ME, Vista should be cast on the dung heap of software history.
The main problem with Vista is Microsoft treats its users like children, slapping their hands and scolding them whenever they try to do anything Microsoft has determined they’re too stupid to do, like install software or move a file.
I have no pain:-)
My new p.c., a made in the USA Systemax, which I bought last May, came with XP Pro (SP2) and Vista Pro loaded (no extra cost), but NOT running, XP is the OS.
I have three years (length of warranty) to turn Visa on. All I do is call Tech support - also in the USA at the factory - and they run me through the steps of making Vista the OS.
Knowing the issues with Vista they were pretty smart doing that and the only p.c. manufacturer that gives you XP and Vista (to my knowledge).
(And I wouldn't take a Mac on a bet, let alone buy one.)
XP works fine for me. I’ve never been the type to need the “latest and greatest” just because.
xp works great. theres no way im upgrading to vista. if it aint broke, dont fix it.
I switched to a Mac late last year. (iMac, 2.4 GHz dual processor, 2 GB SDRAM, 20” screen), she’s a beaut I tell ya!
Other than issues I’ve had with trying to play Windows games on it (using Parallels Desktop), I haven’t had a lick of trouble.
It’s worth the cost. It really, really is.
This upgrade was driven only by my interest in "keeping up", as the many people I help with their computer problems had moved on, and I needed to understand how to work on their problems. For myself, I am happy as a clam with Win88SE as a rock solid, hardly ever crashing system that is easy to use (in my environement anyway.)
I am often given used parts or boxes which I gig up for students, the elderly, or as MAME arcade machines, and 98 is far enough behind the curve that it is fine for a new/used system. XP is so rabid about "tinkering" that if you change too much of your system, it demands your original software Key (which I have), but even the idea of Bill's people keeping THAT much of an eye on my personal computer just makes me uneasy and annoyed. I'm supposed to buy seperate copies of XP for every machine in my house after I have legitimately paid for XP? I can carry a paperback book I bought from room-to-room of my home and don't need to buy five copies of it. Pthpppppppt!
Vista? Just a chance to sell me the same car I already own, but slap tail fins and fuzzy dice on it and tell me it's a new car. I've heard nothing but trouble about it, and at the moment, any machine I am likely to build, either from scraps or from new parts for speed, seems to still run 98 just fine. Vista? Don't make me laugh.
I love it! I am used to it now and make it work for me like no other op system that I have used. And........it is very secure.
No thanks, Mr. Gates. You can keep it.
I guess I should really go in and delete the Windows partition and give the space to SuSE.
I have been a Window person until this year. My next one will be a MAC.