Published on September 17, 2006 By averjoe In Personal Computing
I just brought a copy of Window XP Home Edition Upgrade. It was a step I had refused to take because of the online validation needed and the limited use of each copy of the operating system to one machine at a time.

However, only using Windows 2000 was starting to put me too far behind the times, especially since Microsoft is preparing to release its new operating system named Vista next year.

Windows Vista reportedly will make handling documents and media files even easier than with XP. It will have even more built in drivers for various hardware.

Windows Vista is also supposed to be a more secure operating system. We can only hope that this is true, but preliminary reports are not good.

I guess exclusive Windows users can be happy in the knowledge that some severe security holes were discovered in Apple’s latest operating system (despite the fact of commercials pushing a more hip, and secure machine that can do more fun things) and Linux.

It does not seem like Vista is going to attract a lot of small, medium or big business customers since there doesn’t seem to be many improvements (besides improved security – at least that’s what Microsoft says) that would benefit the business owner or a computer network used for business.

Vista does seem like it could offer (if your computer has the proper hardware – lots of memory, Pentium 4 chip or equivalent, large hard drive and powerful video card) a lot of improvements to the home user with improved media handling capabilities and visual experience, but a large percentage of home owners will probably be satisfied with Windows XP and unwilling to upgrade hardware in order to enjoy the improved computing experience offered by Vista and touted by Microsoft.

Anyway, I thought with the coming release of Windows Vista the prices for Windows XP would drop and sure enough I spotted an exceptional offer for Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade.

Office Depot (a retail store) offered Windows XP Home Edition upgrade for $30.00 after a 70.00 dollar mail–in rebate (I hate these things but once in awhile a deal is offered that must be taken advantage of despite having to mail in a rebate. The key is to make sure you follow through by sending in the rebate).

The price of Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade had been holding at around $99.00 for months, but over the last couple of weeks I’ve started to see sale prices as low as $60.00 (Best Buy) to around $75.00 (Staples).

The thirty-dollar price I paid for Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade was what one would pay (if not downloaded from the Internet for free) for a flavor of the Linux operating system plus book (or manual), so Windows XP Home Edition Upgrade was a great bargain.

Will I upgrade to Vista when it comes out? I don’t know. I will have to thoroughly analyze the operating system and see if upgrading would be worth it.

In any event, I will not be rushing out to buy Vista. I should have determined if upgrading to Vista is worth it in six months to a year after its release.


Music listened to as I wrote this blog and did other things: “I Can Never Take The Place Of Your Man by Prince (love the whining in this song ), “Since You Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson (Clarkson has had a series of good songs since winning on the program “American Idol”), “American Pie” by Don Mclean, “Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)” by Michael Jackson (from “Michael Jackson – The Ultimate Collection” which is a set worth owning if you want to know why Michael Jackson is considered the king of pop music), “Stars And Strips Of Corruption” by the Dead Kennedys (a very fast and good political punk rock song), “Rock The Casbah” by The Clash, “Jump To It” by Aretha Franklin, “Take Me Home, Country Road by Ray Charles, “Aqua Boogie (a psycoalphdiscobetabioaquadoloop)” by Parliament, “Also Sprach Zarathustra (Fanfare)” by R. Strauss, “Light Cavalry (Overture)” by Suppe, and “Eine Nachmusik (1st movement)” by Mozart

All these songs are good (some are excellent) in my view.

Comments
on Sep 18, 2006
but a large percentage of home owners will probably be satisfied with Windows XP and unwilling to upgrade hardware in order to enjoy the improved computing experience offered by Vista and touted by Microsoft.


With the way things are going in the hardware area, many home users investing in new machines will be Vista ready by the time it becomes Gold. Mine is already Vista capable...running Vista RC1 at the moment and it performs really well on an AMD 3200+ CPU (soon to be a 4800+ duo core), 3 gigs of ram, Soundblaster Audigy 4 Pro soundcard and a XFX 7600GT 256 mb graphics card.....but even my wife's 2.66ghz Celeron & 515mb of Ram runs it, though a bit slower than mine. I think the hype that Vista's going to require high/top end hardware is overstated and more machines will be able to run it than many will expect.

Will I upgrade to Vista when it comes out? I don’t know. I will have to thoroughly analyze the operating system and see if upgrading would be worth it.


The Public release of Vista RC1 is available now if you want to look into it further, though RC1 is not necessarily how the final release will eventually ship, given the various tweaks and improvements that'll take place between now and early 07. However, it's a good place to begin!

You can get it from here....http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/default.mspx