Windows Vista 10 Weeks Later

Ten weeks ago I used my tech column to give my initial impressions of Microsoft's newest operating system for PCs, Windows Vista.

Since that time, I've been able to use the Home Premium edition almost exclusively. I'm still not impressed.

And I'm not alone.

Computer maker Dell has felt the backlash from its customers against the new operating system and has pledged to provide new PCs that ship with the antiquated yet stable Windows XP operating system for the time being, along with the option of Vista.

As of this writing, several of Dell's high-end computers including a $6,000 gaming machine continue to ship with Windows XP.

Why are so many people resisting this supposed upgrade?

Vista is expensive. There are several different iterations of the OS, starting with Home Basic and moving up through Home Premium Business, and of course Ultimate edition.

While Home Basic isn't that expensive, it really offers absolutely nothing over XP as the shiny new Aero interface is disabled. The price you will pay for a retail copy of Windows Vista Home Premium is $250, and it goes up exponentially from there.

User Account Control is possibly the most annoying feature of the new operating system. Essentially, this layer between you and your data tries to prevent you from executing things that could possibly be harmful to your system.

When you try and execute almost any file you've downloaded from the Internet, for example, the screen turns black and your computer becomes unusable. The only item on the screen is a dialog box asking you to approve the action you just initiated moments ago.

Once you click OK, the dialog box fades away and the darkened screen brightens.

Yes, you can turn this off - but instead of turning off the most redundant questions or even allowing the user to opt out of certain alerts, the system can only be entirely enabled or entirely disabled.

Possibly the biggest reason consumers and businesses are resisting the upgrade to Vista is because it is such a resource hog. Few current computers have the power to handle the Aero interface.

Most off-the-shelf computers can't handle the intense graphics, either.