by Kuan Hur Tan

Created on: June 24, 2008

A Little Bit of History

I have been using Microsoft Vista almost a year now. My main reason of upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista is that I believe newer operating system should work better with computer hardware and thus, increasing overall system performance.

I did not perform any performance test on my system to compare the performance before and after upgrading. However, I do feel that my system runs smoother when using Microsoft Vista except there are some minor glitches.

I have heard bad comments on Windows Vista and a lot of users were suggesting to use Windows XP instead of Windows Vista. Initially, I was a bit worried but I believe that I should try on new system since it has been on the market for quite sometime. Honestly, I never regretted after the upgrade.

Why Upgrade?

Themes and Usability

First of all, I should say Windows XP is good, maybe better than Windows Vista. Some users say that XP is good because they are used to it and refused to take the risk or avoid the hassle of upgrading. However, I have to be honest that after looking at the XP theme for so many years, it looks boring to me.

You might say that there are Windows Blind and similar programs to completely modify the look of XP but these programs consumes memory and are not realistic. However, I prefer themes that come built-in even though there are not many selections. Hence, upgrading is my choice to have a fresh OS looks while testing out Vista.

SilverLight

Microsoft is quite clever in naming technology. SilverLight aims to light up the web by providing next generation of web experiences. I have installed it but yet to test it out. However, I believe that it works similar to Macromedia Flash and Shockwave on the web.

Burning CDs and DVDs

Windows Vista does not need third party software to burn CDs and DVDs. You can just drag and drop using Windows Explorer and burn the files using a writer.

Drivers

As I mentioned, Vista contains the most updated drivers and my system works better and faster in Vista compared to XP. The installation is faster because all my hardware drivers are detected. In XP, I had to install my sound card driver, graphic card driver, mouse driver and some USB devices drivers.

Directx 10.0 is installed together with Vista Service Pack 1 and to get it on XP; you will have to find some ways to extract it from Vista Service Pack 1. There are guides that you can find by searching the internet. By having Vista,
I do not have to think of ways to get newer drivers or packages

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