I am really excited about everything from DirectX10 to the accurate copy timer and the sweet GUI. After reading a lot of reviews in magazine about Vista, it really looks promising.
I will upgrade after three years when all softwares start giving compatibility for Vista as well. I stuck with Windows 98 till around late 2005 as well. IT
I've used the beta and well I find it is basically XP with a lick of new paint. There really isn't anything worth upgrading too, apart from DirectX 10... when it comes...
There is so much more Vista offers over XP. A few things I am going to list is my years of experience of using Longhorn/Vista since the days of build 4074. Majorly Improved Security in Windows Vista and IE7 Major new Developer stuff like Windows Presentation Foundation Richer UI Faster Install times
I have tested Vista and my son has been testing Vista on a brand new, built for Vista machine. Once you get past the visual appeal, Vista seems to have more annoying features than beneficial changes. The biggest annoyance is the new security model. The number of times you have to give permission to perform tasks is dizzying, especially when setting up a new machine and needing to install lots of software. At least, Linux lets you log in as root and do all the set up crap before dropping back to being an ordinary user. You can make all the security related arguments that you want to me. You will not win me over. If I wanted to be totally secure, I would lock myself in a room 160 feet under ground with 10 to the power of n redundant power/sercurity/environmental systems none of which would be connected to the internet and/or another human being and I would live in absolute isolation from all other human beings, never venturing onto any system to which other people can connect. Vista reminds me of the movie V -- if you create enough fear in people, they will give over any amount of freedom to be protected. I do not want that much protection.
the prompts you are speaking of are part of the built in defender system. YOu can disable the prompts (I found them quite annoying as well)
I've played with numerous vista releases too, and have never seen much point other than DX10 for me to upgrade. Majorly Improved Security in Windows Vista and IE7 -- I don't use IE, and the improved security feature (the defender system) was so annoying I turned it off. A well kept XP is probably nigh-on as secure (admin account passworded, etc). Major new Developer stuff like Windows Presentation Foundation -- Of no use to me, nor most of the public. Richer UI -- Aka a lick of paint, which so far has vista running at snails pace compared to XP Faster Install times -- But longer boot times I do like the new install process, but my WinLite version of XP installs pretty quick too! (and automatic). It's a shame Microsoft didn't use Vista to push something truely pioneering, like 64bit computing as standard, or WinFS.
I probably wouldn't worry about getting Vista until it's out for a little while. You never know what little holes and vulenerabilities will be found, you can be sure when it's first released that every little script kiddie wannabe will be trying to hack it.