I don't see why everyone hates Vista. I like it. Unless you are trying to run it on a POS system, you shouldn't have an issue with its memory usage, etc.
Well, I like Vista (I'm a mac though) as much as the next person. However your comment is unfair. A majority of people still have old computers with 512MB of ram. The fact they can't run Vista smoothly is slightly sad.
I also use Vista since its lauching and really enjoy it. To me, it's a very simple and friendly system, with dynamical and visual positive effects.
I hated Vista so badly (on a brand new box w/ 4 gig, fast processor, dual monitors, etc.) that I finally learned Ubuntu. Seriously. Haven't booted Windows in months and months.
It's great for the average user. However, I'm not the average user. I need virtual desktops, and I can't use MSVDM with Vista (so I'm stuck with a bad alternative), I need to do heavy file transfer, Vista is slow at doing that, I run a private game server for christ sakes.. Vista can't handle it. I need to upload and download and host lots of crap... XP just does it so much smoother and faster. Before I moved to Australia from England, I had an average spec PC, and I could honestly report I haven't had an error that is XP's fault, in months. Now, In australia, For a few more months I'm stuck with a Laptop running Vista.. and I can honestly report I get atleast one error per day. I know how to patch up and secure a OS but I'm worried and angry about Microsoft stopping WinXP updates.. I think December this year? Maybe it already happened, like I said I dunno cos I now have a laptop with Vista -_-.. anyway, I hope to god somebody makes 'unofficial windows xp updates', because XP is the only OS currently suitable for me and I don't want it to be insecure!
My first computer used win95..it not too good. Then I moved to win98, its good. After that winME, didn't like it too much. Upgraded to winXP and I'm lovin' it! Then off to Vista Home Premium, kinda like it but not enough RAM to experience everything. Today, upgraded to Vista Ultimate 64 and my ram to 8GB and I'm loving everything about Vista!
But if you got a PC with only 512MB of RAM, you wouldn't probably want Vista on it. Like you wouldn't even try to install XP on a Windows NT 3.1 capable PC ;-) You can't expect an operating system made for the next 10 years to run on the past 5 years hardware. How many PC's today are sold with single core processors and 256/512 MB RAM? I'd love to see standard pc rigs sold with less than one 1GB... I don't think that's possible anymore. Technology's changing. OS's has to change too.
No. Windows XP does everything I need, even if I had the most powerful computer in the world. Just because hardware is getting better, doesn't mean you need a new OS, until hardware is so advanced that XP can't run on it anymore (not happened yet). Windows was doing good until they added 14gb of crap and called it Vista.
I've been using XP for nearly 6 years now and don't see any reason to upgrade to Vista yet. As long the software that I use can run without any problem, I will stick with XP.
I hate vista, it's slow and less reliable than xp. It uses far too many resources to just run itself. I had to install Linux on my home pc because Vista was so awful.
I was thinking that same thing when I saw the ttle on this htread before I clicked it... why does everyone hate vista so much. I love it. I do agree it is a resource hog though and do wish they offered a "slimmer" version but I have it on a new computer that it was pre-installed on so i think that is the real difference. I think if you just try to upgrade from XP on an old computer with small memory then your experience will not be as good.
I'm still on XP, and I'm real happy with it. I see no reason for installing Vista. Maybe someday, when I buy a better computer.