I’ve been an Ubuntu Linux user since the Breezy Badger days of Ubuntu and ever since that day I installed Ubuntu Linux, I never looked back into using Microsoft Windows or any its variants. Ubuntu then evolved to quite capable alternative to MS Windows. However, the latest incarnation of Microsoft’s operating system - Windows Vista is the main contender in the operating system arena. Many believe that Windows Vista is a poor predecessor for Windows XP and that Linux and its derivatives are the best upgrade for Windows XP.

I personally have little experience in using Windows Vista apart from providing troubleshooting tech support in the office laptops and desktops. And old buddy of mine decided to provide me a license of Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 since he didnt want to use it. With a license copy in my possession, I figured I’d take Windows Vista on a drive for the next couple of weeks and see if it really what people say about it.

Installation itself is pretty straight forward. The Setup program ask a few quesions which will help it configure the operating system according to your need and requirements. One thing I liked about Windows Vista is that it supports SATA based hard drives out of the box. This has been a show stopper problem for Windows XP which require you to install the SATA drivers from a floppy disk (so imagine your desktop or laptop does not have a floppy drive). Also unlike the previous versions of Windows wherein the is a text-based portion and a graphical portion of the installer, Windows Vista’s Installer is purely graphical so from partitioning to selection of options, everything is graphical. This is a nice plus for usability in my book. Overall, the installation is very intuitive and straight forward although it took me around an hour to from start to finish. Most of the time spent waiting for the installer to finish copying and setting the system.

Windows Vista Ultimate - First Impressions