Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition Full Version OEM for PC Review

I think with all the craze to make an operating system look nice, I believe that functionality is all the matters.  Don't get me wrong, Vista is astheically pleasing, very functional with the sidebar that you can add things like a schoolhouse clock or system monitors.  My objection to Vista is that it is a memory hog.  When purchasing a new computer or upgrading your current one, you need to have AT LEAST 1GB of memory in order for this operating system to be viable.  I've seen many computers that have Vista but with only 512MB of memory.  Of what I've observed that would be an absolute nightmare.  I am currently using Vista on a laptop w/ a dual core processor and 2GB of memory.  Without running ANY applications or software programs, Vista takes 1/2 of the available memory.

Vista does have a lot of features.  However, the features that Vista offers is spead amongst the available packages.  Vista Basic... you guessed it is very basic.  And Vista Ultimate has it all.  My biggest objection to Vista is that something as simple as a fax program is only available with Vista Ultimate, the most expensive package.  So I couldn't use the fax/modem on my computer until I upgraded to Ultimate, unless I had a dialup internet access program that I was using.  I don't think that manufacturers should waste time advertising that a computer has a fax modem and that they recommend Windows Vista if you must spend nearly $300 to get use of a fax program for Windows.

 Graphics are great.  Sometimes finding appropriate drivers for new or older equipment (like printers) can prove to be a challenge.  There is a feature "User Account Control" that limits access to run unwanted programs (like spyware), so the system is secure, however this feature can be annoying, and most users will likely disable it. And that defeats the purpose---totallly.

Overall, it has awesome potential, but on the "techy" side of things, I prefer XP.