14 DAY TRIAL // Warning! Microsoft authored its very own Windows Vista vs. Windows XP comparison. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and that is why I included a .PNG image of the Redmond company's Vista vs. XP toward the bottom of this article. And just forget about the thousand words or so, the comparison comes complete with Microsoft's commentary. The Redmond company's approach is delicious to say the least, and it should make for a fine read. But let's get down to business, shall we?
Wow No. 1! The first topic of differentiation between the two operating systems is, of course, security. Windows Vista was repeatedly applauded as the most secure operating system to date. And until now I bet that you had no idea why. No, it's not the User Account Control, the Kernel Patch Protection or the mandatory driver signing. It's all because of Windows Defender. "Windows Defender protects your computer against the latest generation of threats, such as worms and spyware," Microsoft reveals about Vista while in XP "Windows File Protection prevents you or your applications from accidentally changing the core operating system files. This helps protect your system proactively and automatically."
Therefore, Vista offers enhanced protection. Wow! Now as far as I know, Windows Defender is also available on Windows XP. But hey, who am I to go against Microsoft?
Wow No. 2! Vista brings to the table "improved performance [meaning] quicker startup, shut down and resume as well as faster application and file loading." Of course that XP is nothing compared to Vista, as the previous version of the Windows operating system only improves on the performance of Windows 98(!!!)... Right... The truth is that Vista does deliver "improved performance and increased reliability," especially after the two Compatibility, Performance and Reliability Packs from August designed to resolve compatibility, performance and reliability issues... Hugh?
Wow No. 3! The Sidebar! "Windows Sidebar is a future technology that connects your desktop with powerful yet easy to use "gadgets"-mini-applications that help you to be more productive in your daily life at work, at home, or on the go," Microsoft reveals. And as far as the company is concerned, this feature is unavailable in XP. Well... I'm pretty sure that Google Desktop has some features common to the Windows Sidebar, but again, Microsoft has to know better...
Wow No. 4! UI! Meaning the graphical user interface, or Windows Aero. "The Windows Vista Aero user interface provides enhanced visual feedback which enables greater productivity and richer experiences on your PC," Microsoft stated, adding that "Aero is a significant leap in Windows UI development." Let me get this straight. Transparent window borders are a leap in UI development? Hmm... I wonder what they'll think of next? Maybe moving the minimize/maximize and close buttons from the top right hand side to the top left hand side. Now such an initiative would be beyond a leap, it will be a revolution in UI design!
Wow No. 5! RAM. With Vista, you will be able to "harness the power of up to 16GB of RAM." I don't know what kind of distribution of Linux the Microsoft employee who authored the RAM bit was running, but Vista can go as far as 128 GB of RAM. Although... 16...128, no big difference there, I can see how one could have gotten the two confused...
Wow No. 6! Safe Sleep & Quick Resume. "Combines the speed of Standby mode and the data protection and low power consumption of Hibernate," Microsoft touted. I thought that the point was to fix once and for all the Shut down and boot processes of Windows XP, but no... Microsoft dodged that and instead introduced Sleep mode. That's the Redmond company for you... betting on the winning horse.
Wow No. 7! Internet Explorer... "Internet Explorer 7 helps users easily get to where they want to be more quickly and makes common web activities more efficient and automated," in Vista while all that Windows XP has to offer is Internet Explorer 6... I stopped a minute to scratch my head... I actually think that the author of this superb comparison was running Mac OS X.
Wow No. 8! With Vista you will be able to pirate better via the "double the number of peer connections across networks to 10 (Premium)" while Windows XP only supported "5 Peer connections across networks." That's just good news right there!
