OK, a frank admission: I haven’t migrated to Vista. I’ve got my free premium upgrade on order (and a recent e-mail says that it’s going to ship sometime during or after next week) but I’m still working with Windows XP. I’ve made the shift to Office 2007, and I’m hoping that the Vista migration will cause my head to hurt less, but I’m beginning to think that’s wishful thinking.

For the last few days I’ve been watching my father-in-law make the leap to Vista. Before I go any farther, understand this: He’s no computer novice. He’s been working with computers since around the time I was born, got me interested (and trained) in computers, and has the sort of knowledge depth that most four- or five-letter certifications can only hint at. He’s done Vista the right way, buying a new super-honking, fire-breathing computer that came with the new OS already installed. All he has to do is move his applications and data files from the old softly-honking, steam-snorting computer to the new one. Piece of cake, right? Yeah.

Let me say now that if the process I’ve seen is the best that Microsoft could come up after laboring for several years, then Vista may be the last new operating system many of us will ever live to see. I’ve witnessed a level of frustration normally reserved for morally-upright 15-year olds, and still haven’t heard that most wonderful of statements, “Everything is moved over and working.” It’s enough to make me consider a Mac.

To be honest, if I had a bit more scratch right now I probably would consider a Mac. The truth is that the combined changes in Vista and Office 2007 are not dramatically more involved that the change to the Macintosh would be for most people. File incompatibilities have been minimized and there are some very nifty things I’ve seen run as widgets on Macs. Until then, though, I’ll wait for Vista. After what I’ve seen so far I’m not looking forward to it, but I am waiting.

Categories: General computing, Software