The UTD Mercury

As a computer science senior, I was very excited to find out I was entitled to a free copy of Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system (OS), through the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.

Although I'd heard of many issues of incompatibilities between Vista and software I use, as well as crashes during regular use, I shamelessly installed the software behemoth's prettiest OS to date.

I set up my installation of Vista on a portion of my hard drive separate from my Windows XP installation because I was afraid of running into problems getting schoolwork done or using entertainment software such as digital media and PC games.

So, now I have both XP and Vista on my machine, and I can always revert to XP if something doesn't work right in Vista.

But, you know what? I have really enjoyed using Vista. Now that it's been out and patched or updated for more than a month and a half, I haven't run into many of the initial problems reported.

I am also quite impressed with the Windows Aero glass-effect interface, which makes the edges of windows translucent. However, the effect takes up a fairly large amount of memory and processing power, and may not be reasonably used on computers with older hardware.

The Vista interface is quite simple and easy to use, although advanced users might find searching for administrative options in new places somewhat frustrating. The new integrated search mechanism is really handy and often saves time when looking for specific programs or files.

I haven't personally run into any incompatibilities between Vista and software I need for work and school, as well as for fun. Microsoft Office applications work just fine, and watching videos in Windows Media Player is easy and fun.

One really neat feature of Vista is the rolodex-type "alt + tab" interface. Of course, you can still switch between programs by holding down the "alt" and "tab" keys just like you can under Windows XP. If you'd prefer to see a 3-D representation of your programs, just hold down the "Windows" and "tab" keys.

This feature comes particularly in handy when you have several windows open, and you want to check what each one is doing without having to bring each to focus one-by-one.

I have been particularly impressed with how Vista changes from one program to another very quickly, although this would seem counter-intuitive due to how Vista has been marked as a system "resource hog." This means if your computer is fairly updated hardware-wise, you'll notice quick navigation between programs.

I really haven't had a chance to test the wireless capabilities of Vista since my home network is wired. But, Vista immediately detected and set up my Ethernet device, and I was surfing the net minutes after my first boot.

All-in-all, if you're willing to spend some time dealing with peripheral and hardware driver problems and incompatibilities, Vista is worth tinkering around with, especially since more and more users will be switching to Vista within the next few months.

But it is probably worth your while to wait for Microsoft to release a major update package - like a service pack - if you aren't very tech savvy or are afraid of losing information or functionality.

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