Today is the day when you can go to the store and buy your own copy of Windows Vista, the new operating system from Microsoft, against my wish I will probably get my copy too just to help you out in case you have questions but honestly, I don’t want to upgrade, at least not yet. When Windows XP came out, there were many security concerns because flaws were discovered that allowed hackers to attack your system.

It is the same story all over again, they release an operating system, people rush and install it, to find out that they are being used to find the bugs, errors and security flaws, then the first patch will be released and that’s when you upgrade…not a minute before that.

A few things to consider
Windows Vista is the new version in the family of operating systems, it was released last year to corporate users and today it gets released to the general public. The main question probably is: “Is Windows Vista for you?“. First you have to consider the following:

• New operating systems always have errors.
• Windows Vista is an expensive operating system. ($299 – $499)
• Not all computers will be able to handle the graphics for Vista.

and my favorite:

• If you really want to upgrade, I recommend you buy an OEM version of Windows Vista!

You don’t get a shiny box with the logo on it, the useless manuals and advertising inserts, but it is the real deal, a fully licensed copy of Windows Vista. So what is OEM?

OEM simply means that it is meant to be installed on one computer, if you sell that computer, your license should be included in the sale, once you install an OEM version of Windows it cannot be transfered to another computer.

You can find Windows Vista OEM version here

This is also available for Windows XP OEM version here

I could post specifications and graphics about systems, but there is an easier way to find out if your computer is fully ready for Windows Vista, this program checks your system specs and provides detailed results.

Click on the link:

C|net Vista Readiness Advisor or try MS Upgrade Advisor
Why do you need to check your system?
Windows Vista comes packed with new visual effects that are meant to make your experience a more enjoyable one, so if you are one of those people that think function is more important than form, then you don’t need to upgrade to Windows Vista.

Ok, back to the visual effects. Windows requires more system resources than Windows XP to display windows, images and the animated special effects, this means you need a good processor, a good amount of memory and a graphics accelerator card.

A graphics accelerator card?
All computers need a graphics card, but a graphics accelerator card is simply an extra processor to deal with the fancy visuals of a program, like 3D games or high-resolution video, Windows Vista does not necessarily require an expensive graphics card, but if you want to see the operating system in its complete form, you are going to need one installed.

If you decide it is time to upgrade to Windows Vista, you probably will notice that there is more than one version of Windows Vista:

• Home Basic
• Home Premium
• Business
• Ultimate

I will post more on this later, for now here is a link that explains what the four main versions are about.