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Windows Vista was the highly anticipated, long awaited operating system (OS) upgrade from Microsoft aimed at replacing Windows XP. Unfortunately, Windows Vista was not the upgrade many had hoped for. High system requirements, lack of functionality increase, and poor compatibility support are a few of the reasons why many prefer Windows XP. These, and additional reasons to downgrade from Vista to XP can be found below.

HIGH SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Out of the box, Windows Vista requires a much more powerful machine to run. 15GB minimum hard disk space, 1GB minimum RAM, 128mb graphics memory, and 1ghz minimum processor speed bring many home systems to their knees. Even for systems that exceed these requirements, much of the computers time is spent running the OS and not applications. This leads to sluggish performance. For all but high end systems, high system requirements are reason number one to downgrade from Vista to XP.

LACK OF NEW FEATURES

Upon installing Windows Vista, many found the features were not significantly different than that of Windows XP SP2. Windows Vista was in development for many years before being released, all the while Windows XP was being heavily fixed and upgraded. By the time Windows Vista was released, many of the security and other features were released in service packs which are easily downloadable over the Internet. Though some notable features (such as Aero, and BitLocker) are not available on Windows XP, these features are not core to the operating system and are not available on all versions of Windows Vista. With a lack of significant feature enhancements or new features to drive customer need, we find reason number two to downgrade to XP.

POOR COMPATIBILITY

Plain and simple, some popular applications and/or drivers do not work properly or exist at all on Windows Vista. For many, this makes it impossible to upgrade. An expensive printer without driver support is a simple reason (reason number three) why a downgrade from Vista to XP may be in order.

SERVICE PACK 3

The release of service pack 3 (SP3) for Windows XP, for many, came as a surprise.Due to the high demand customers placed upon Microsoft to keep Windows XP supported, Microsoft spent countless hours fixing bugs (over 1000) and adding features to make SP3 one of the most significant and useful service packs released to date. Those upgrading their Windows XP system to SP3 will experience, on average, a performance increase of 10%, will find better driver support, and will enjoy a much more stable operating system than either Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2. And thus, the existence and quality of Windows XP SP3 is the fourth and final reason to downgrade to Windows XP.

In conclusion, Windows Vista, though an elegant and highly functional operating system in its own right, is not the upgrade everyone was hoping for. For those who have issues with driver or application support, are not impressed with the new features, or cannot afford to be slowed by the high system requirements, a downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP may be the best solution to your problems.

Learn more about this author, Michael Mehlberg.
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