Been using Vista, but I don't see much difference compared to XP?

Hi guys,

This isn't supposed to be a flamebait question. I like Vista, but now that I think of it, I can't say that it's better than a modified XP (theme hack) with some freeware apps. The total RAM usage in XP is very little when compared to Vista and its Aero theme and features.

The obvious and most dramatic change between Vista and XP to me is the theme/skin. Vista's theme is nice, but I can get some skins that I like better using a modified uxtheme.dll on Windows XP.

I don't find myself using the new features of Vista, save for the input field in the Start window. I don't even use the fancy windows manager (Windows flip?). On Windows XP, I used the RunFast program (think Launcher) and Locate32 (Desktop Search) with keyboard shortcuts.

Yeah, Windows Vista comes with those features "preloaded", but in hefty RAM proportions.

Anyway, I've been using Vista on my new desktop and while it is nice, it wouldn't be successful in converting me over to Vista had I been stuck with Windows XP.

So I've been test running Vista for about a month now. What features am I missing here that would change my mind? Might as well mention that I do not play games, so DX10 isn't needed... yet.

I have to admit, Vista isn't as problematic to me as it posed to others. Maybe because I'm a late adopter.

Thanks for reading!

 

Well... almost any feature they could include, someone has some program for XP that does it. Part of why I like Vista is there's a lot more stuff included, so that's about a dozen programs I need to download and keep updated... and the defaults settings throughout the OS are much more well-thought-out in Vista IMO.

But I agree that for most of the bigger features (Search, Aero, Sidebar... probably even UAC), something comparable can be added to XP with add-on programs.

Still... here are a bunch of Vista features that I wouldn't know how to get on XP:
- Improved audio mixer
- Metadata support for Explorer.
-- Edit an image or music file's metadata with right-click, Details tab.
-- Sort your Music folder by Album Name, then secondarily by Track Number.
- Improved thumbnails in Explorer, including folder thumbnails
- More power management options (advanced power settings)
- I/O prioritization -- so you can still use your computer fine while running Defrag
- More robust System Restore
- Improved file copy dialogs
- Jumbo icon support (do they have this for XP now?...)
- When a program or Windows component crashes, Vista goes to the net and checks if there's an updated version or a relevant kb article
- Improved speech recognition (comparable stuff is available for XP... but not for free)
- ASLR
- Fewer and less critical security vulnerabilities