If you are considering getting the Vista computer operating system, DON'T.
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At least don't get it for a year or two. Nothing works correctly with it.
Nothing, that is, except Bill Gates' own stuff and a few vendors he apparently made deals with.
First of all, forget your Blackberry. It will not work properly. The calendar goes berserk. Fortunately, Vista does not destroy the link to your old computer so you will, at least in our experience, be able to go back to your old computer, but who wants to constantly operate two computers?
Unfortunately, if you want to run Photoshop, Word Perfect, Quattro Pro, and most everything else, you have to have two operating systems: the new and "improved" Vista and XP or Windows 2000 to do the real work.
Blue smoke and mirrors
The problem is that Gates is so paranoid about someone figuring out the blue smoke and mirrors upon which his fortune is built, that he will not share enough program information with other software operators to allow them to do their jobs. His solution? In the case of Photoshop he apparently made some sort of deal with Corel to install a trial version of Paint Shop Pro XI. It comes with Vista for a 30 day free trial. After that you have to send money to use it.
Paint Shop Pro XI stinks. Hopefully Photoshop is able to get on board before 30 days is up. If not, just do without a photo editing program until Photoshop CS4, or whatever arrives.
The dude didn't get to be the richest man in the world by being Mr. Nice Guy, or Mr. Generous. In the old days you could buy his expensive operating system and his expensive Microsoft Office suite when you bought your computer. Now you get a "free" 90-day trial version of Microsoft Office built into the computer. After 90 days you have to send him more money. I have been afraid to find out how much more.
Oh, yes, of course Microsoft Office 2007 files are not compatible with earlier versions. They appear to be labeled ".docx." To be fair, you can save your efforts in an older version (.doc), but "not all features will be saved." What does it leave out? Who knows, maybe it omits every third "e" or something. By the way, if you have ever used a PC for more than 13 seconds, you know not to even open Microsoft Works.
Other computers laugh
When you burn a CD and follow Vista's procedure to "allow it to be read by other computers" you are wasting your time and a perfectly good disk. Other PCs will laugh at it. All photos pop into some program called "Snapfire." It, too, does not seem to be compatible with anything else on the planet.
Ironically, Vista seems like a pretty good program. It has not crashed yet, which is unusual for the Seattle boy's fruit. Of course, it does occasionally want to open up in "Safe Mode," and I have spent some time on the phone to Microsoft in India or somewhere.
The new menus for Excel and Word seem to be better, though they take a little getting used to.
Excel is still nowhere near as good as Quattro was before Word Perfect ruined it. I believe it peaked in, maybe, Version Six or Seven; anyhow, it has been downhill since then. The latest version won't even stay up on Windows 2000. Of course, Microsoft probably has a lot to do with that.
Mac is better
Stay with XP or 2000 -- my kids say Macs are even better. Apple is better, but I have not yet found a good Mac spreadsheet. People say that Excel spreadsheets have seamless operation on both PC and Mac platforms. People are wrong. If you build a big, complicated spreadsheet with charts on it and share it with a Mac, parts of it will never be the same. The really bad thing is that you might not notice the damage right away.
Mac has been at a disadvantage all these years because so many more programs would run on PC. Vista has eradicated that advantage for at least a year or so. Outside of the limited Microsoft monopoly stable, we have not found a single program we use that works properly on Vista.
