I agree. I have been using Vista on my primary laptop since it was released and other than a wireless driver compatibility issue I haven't experienced any major issues. Wireless driver was updated a couple of months later and ever since it's been smooth sailing for me. To relate to my previous comment response to Sasa, it's marketing once again that makes a huge impact and gets people to sway to one said over the other.

I agree with you in the sense that many open source projects (Ubuntu to name one of my favorites) are very advanced, promising and great alternatives to Windows or OS X, but they fail in several areas.

First, installing most apps is not as friendly on Linux as it is on other mainstream operating systems and open source community needs to keep average users in mind if they want to increase presence, not those who develop and compile for their OS.

Second, and probably the most important is marketing, getting the word out. In the tech industry everyone knows of Ubuntu, SUSE and many other distros, but average user (your and my parents, cousins, siblings…) have no clue.

Finally, to your point about about network configuration options in Windows, I believe that they are getting better and Windows 7 does address some of your concerns.

I agree. I have been using Vista on my primary laptop since it was released and other than a wireless driver compatibility issue I haven't experienced any major issues. Wireless driver was updated a couple of months later and ever since it's been smooth sailing for me. To relate to my previous comment response to Sasa, it's marketing once again that makes a huge impact and gets people to sway to one said over the other.

I agree with you in the sense that many open source projects (Ubuntu to name one of my favorites) are very advanced, promising and great alternatives to Windows or OS X, but they fail in several areas.

First, installing most apps is not as friendly on Linux as it is on other mainstream operating systems and open source community needs to keep average users in mind if they want to increase presence, not those who develop and compile for their OS.

Second, and probably the most important is marketing, getting the word out. In the tech industry everyone knows of Ubuntu, SUSE and many other distros, but average user (your and my parents, cousins, siblings…) have no clue.

Finally, to your point about about network configuration options in Windows, I believe that they are getting better and Windows 7 does address some of your concerns.

Just tell me is there need to split all those settings on separate windows, options, pages etc. You can make something like “network settings” and do all there in tabs or anything similar.

So, i'm glad for other users that this is more stable and more secure then xp, but i will continue telling them to use open source operating systems.

The PR nightmare was really caused by early adopters installing the software on crappy systems and Apple Commercials. From a software stand point we've seen a few very specific programs not work. I think Active Directory has a fair amount to do with that tho.

Personally given a choice between supporting XP or Vista, I'd pick Vista based solely on the drivers and better plug&play. Throw spyware/malware into the mix and I'd think you'd be nuts to want the former.