Mossberg on Vista

The WSJ's venerable tech writer, Walter S. Mossberg, has reviewed the latest version of Windows. He doesn't harsh on it completely, but nothing he said made me feel any less disinclined to get it.

Here's the headline:

Vista: Worthy, Largely Unexciting

Here's the upshot:

There are some big downsides to this new version of Windows. To get the full benefits of Vista, especially the new look and user interface, which is called Aero, you will need a hefty new computer, or a hefty one that you purchased fairly recently. The vast majority of existing Windows PCs won't be able to use all of Vista's features without major hardware upgrades. They will be able to run only a stripped-down version, and even then may run very slowly.

In fact, in my tests, some elements of Vista could be maddeningly slow even on new, well-configured computers.

Some additional warnings, in case you haven't already heard them elsewhere:

… Vista isn't a breakthrough in ease of use … Nearly all of the major, visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple's operating system … despite Vista's claimed security improvements, you will still have to run, and keep updating, security programs … it will still force you to spend more time managing the computer than I believe people should have to devote … Even if you buy the Home Premium or Ultimate editions, Vista will revert to the Basic features if it detects that your machine is too wimpy to run the new user interface … I wouldn't even consider trying to upgrade a computer older than 18 months, and even some of them may be unsuitable candidates …

There are other reasons to be dubious about Vista, as I noted last month.

I am not usually one of the Web's most vociferous Microsoft bashers -- in fact, my aging Win2K machine is still my main computer -- but everything I have read about Vista over the past few months has only increased my irritation with that company. When this machine dies, I'll be running Ubuntu full time.