One Month Later: My experiences with Windows Vista

Last week, the Bink.nu news poster "Spy" wrote about his experiences with Windows Vista.  I have been using the final version of Windows Vista since it was released on MSDN, and I have had a completely different experience then Spy.  The first thing I'd like to do, is share the specs of the systems that I use Windows Vista on.

On a clean install, both machines run very well.  All of my hardware is installed, and works perfectly - this is one of the major reasons why I have a good Vista experience.  On both machines, I have a similar software configuration:  Office 2007, Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, Codesmith Studio 4.0, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Windows Live Messenger, AIM 6.0, Skype, Napster, Audacity, and I even have Firefox installed.  Right now on my desktop, I have all of the following applications running: AIM, 2 Remote Desktop Connections, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Studio, CodeSmith Studio 4.0, Visual Studio 2005, 9 Notepads, 6 Internet Explorers (all with several tabs open), Word 2007, Outlook 2007, 3 Command Prompts, 11 Windows Live Messenger windows, Windows Media Player, and 2 explorer windows open.  My system is not slower with all these applications open, and all the applications are responding nicely.

My favorite part of Windows Vista (currently) is the new version of Media Center.  I have an XBOX360, and I use it as a Media Center Extender - it all has worked flawlessly for me.  There's no better feeling then coming home at night, and seeing all the newly recorded TV shows that are ready to watch!

The biggest problems I've had with Windows Vista are with software incompatibilities.  For example, the default installation of Napster freezes when I launch it.  With some compatibility settings enabled, Napster runs perfectly fine.  I run my systems with UAP turned on - as I feel this is something that I need to have enabled, if I'm going to support it on my friend's machines.  Skype, SQL Management Studio, and Visual Studio all require administrative privileges, so I have the "Run this program as an administrator" compatibility setting in each application's shortcut.

My current system uptime is 11 days, 14 hours - and this proves that Windows Vista is highly reliable for me.  I've not once experienced a system crash, in fact, Vista feels more reliable then XP at first.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with Windows Vista.  I don't think I would be happy using an XP machine anymore - I am too accustomed to the enhancements that Vista offers.