Now if you haven’t yet heard the news, Microsoft’s new operating system Windows Vista has been launched a day ago amidst much fanfare. Ofcourse, thanks to my busy schedule and a really bad ISP, TechnoBeta did not witness a post about it.

If some of you have already bought the new OS, or are planning to buy the new OS, then I have to tell you people to take a minute and read the following reasons why you should not be buying Microsoft’s latest Windows yet.

1. Vista is expensive
Vista is not exactly what you call cheap, unless ofcourse, you have lots of spare cash lying about. The cheapest way for users to get a legal copy of Vista is to buy the upgrade version of Home Basic, which is $99. But for that, you will need the original licensed copy of Windows XP and you don’t want the cheapest version with no frills do you? Vista Home Premium ($239 for the full and $159 for the upgrade version) is roughly equivalent to Windows XP Home. It’s for the people who use the PC for basic tasks such as internet surfing.

The full version of Windows Vista Ultimate costs $399. If you already have a genuine Windows XP disc, then the upgrade version of Vista Ultimate would cost you $259!

2. Security concerns
It has been recently reported that there exists a vulnerability in the Speech Recognition feature of Windows Vista which could allow an attacker to take over. Also, Microsoft’s Windows Defender program failed to block 84% of malware - including 15 of the most common pieces of malicious code. Infact, Microsoft is already planning its first service pack and seeking input from users on what to include.

3. Vista is not ready
Vista probably won’t be truly ready for prime time until that first service pack version, possibly later this year. The hardware and software companies that make compatible products for Vista aren’t all ready for the new OS. Many of those companies are scrambling to complete Vista drivers and updates. Most importantly, not all video and sound card companies are ready.

4. New Hardware needed
You’ll need to spend more money on upgrading your current system to run Vista. Thats the price of Vista + hardware upgrades = lots of $$. Vista’s features such as ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive require special hybrid or flash drives. Aero looks awesome, but only if your graphics card supports Pixel Shader 2.0. You can record high-definition cable TV, but only with a tuner card designed to take advantage of that Vista feature. You can enjoy DirectX 10 games, but only with a compatible video card.

Microsoft says the minimum requirements are 512mb of RAM, but we should know better than to run it on anything less than 1GB of RAM; 2GB is recommended by most. And if you want to really enjoy the Aero eye candy, you would need a 20-inch or larger flat-panel LCD display.

On the portable front, all that performance and interface demands a heavy resistance. By default, Vista puts the emphasis on performance over battery life. So unless your well versed with the new operating system, you’ll need to spend some time making tweaks to the power management. Unwanted? I think so too.

5. Vista is time-consuming
But buying Vista now, and installing it on old hardware, adds additional, time-consuming tasks — possibly an additional day or two. Why? Chances are, you’ll have to hunt down, install and troubleshoot new drivers for your old peripherals and system components.

Completely upgrading an operating system takes time. You’ll want to perform a complete backup first and check it, then expect the upgrade itself to take a couple of hours. After you’re up and running in Vista, you’ll spend time configuring everything and making sure your applications are working as they should.

You may have heard about Windows Easy Transfer, which moves files and settings from XP to Vista. But don’t get too excited about this. It works only after you’ve re-installed all your applications; it doesn’t actually move installed applications, just settings and data.

6. Why upgrade in the first place?
Why upgrade in the first place when there already exists a solid, easy to use and feature filled operating system called Windows XP. XP has seen the light of so many years, and it will continue to be supported for many more. Microsoft has committed to at least seven more years of XP support, and Service Pack 3 is planned to be released for next year.

7. Gaming
If your a gamer, you really don’t want Vista for gaming. There are already many games that do not work well with Vista, and then there’s the hardware requirement. When the operating system itself takes up huge amounts of processing power and RAM, thinking about the requirement for games makes one wonder whether Vista’s worth it.

If you are a potential buyer, then I suggest you wait for a few more months if not a whole year before you invest in the new operating system.

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