After reading 20 Things You Won’t Like About Windows Vista today , I ran Microsoft’s Windows Vista Advisor to see if my nearly-three-year-old PC would be ready for the forthcoming upgrade to Microsoft’s much ballyhooed—and belated—successor to its current operating system.

While the results are preliminary, since Vista’s features aren’t set in stone yet (PC-to-PC sychronization was removed today), it appears that if I want to take advantage of anything more than Vista Home Basic’s increased security (sorely needed to protect against viruses and spyware) and better searching, I will need to add a graphics adapter and pay additional for Vista Home Premium.

Most users will want the features in Vista Home Premium that such hardware supports—Windows Aero user interface, Media Center user interface, TV output, etc., not to mention the additional benefits of DVD Maker and scheduled user data backups— and will find that their existing systems and most basic new systems don’t have the appropriate hardware. Expect to pay more for your next computer or to upgrade your existing hardware (a new graphics adapter can be had for under $100) if you want to take advantage of Vista.

Then again, you have plenty of time to save up: Windows Vista is expected to be in stores by Christmas 2006, first quarter 2007 if you need it for business.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 9th, 2006 at 12:55 am and is filed under Windows Vista, Operating Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.