Ok, I've had quite a few people ask me lately about the new Microsoft Vista. So I'll just give my thoughts publicly here.

First, a little background...I haven't used Windows on a system that I own or use for four years now. My primary desktop is Gnome and my primary operating system is Linux. Now so I don't sound like I know nothing about Windows, I have written and continue to write software that works on Windows. I also fix Windows for friends all too frequently, so am very familiar with it.

If you'd like to get a little insight to my views, you can visit the Free Software Foundation site to stop the spread of Vista at http://badvista.fsf.org.

Here are a few reasons to NOT use Vista:

1. It will most likely require you to purchase new hardware. The UK Green Party and many other groups have voiced legitimate concerns about the environmental impact of people throwing away their own computers because they will not support Vista. View Article.

2. Windows is notoriously buggy for at least a year after release. It is very incomplete at the time of this writing and missing many drivers.

3. There is absolutely no improvements you will ever notice over Windows XP. Or Windows 2000 in my opinion.

4. Linux desktop distributions are free as in freedom and free as in beer. The learning curve is just as big of a step from XP to Vista as it would be from XP to Linux.

Please email me, or post a comment if you have any questions.

Wendall