Should I use Windows XP or Vista?

[Winston]

I have Windows Vista Starter edition which came with my new laptop. But should I keep it or switch to XP? What experiences have you all had with Vista? Is it stable by now? Does it have any advantages besides looking nifty, over XP?

I heard that a new one called Windows 7 is coming out too. Why do they keep changing to newer versions? I thought XP was the ultimate and apex, and that nothing beyond was needed.

[momopi]

I heard that a new one called Windows 7 is coming out too. Why do they keep changing to newer versions? I thought XP was the ultimate and apex, and that nothing beyond was needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_ ... f_releases

Microsoft provides extended support for their OS products for up to 10 years from date of release, which is pretty generous by industry standards. i.e. Apple only supports OS 10.4 and up, support for OS 10.3 released 5 years ago has already been terminated.

For Ubuntu Linux, even the long-term support version only supports desktop version for 3 years, and server version for 5 years.

[Grunt]

Windows 7 Beta will be out in the wild by the end of Q1 2009. Microsoft shows SOME signs of having learned their lesson. Tech pundits are already referring to Vista as "Windows Millennium 2". On the bright side, someone at M$ commented, off the record of course, that Windows 7 will be everything Vista isn't.

Anyhow, Vista, even with Service Pack 1 and mature drivers, is still slower then XP and has a higher hardware threshold. XP will also be supported till 2014. I just ordered an upgrade for my computer. From Opteron 185 2.6ghz dual core w/ 2GB RAM and GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB video card to a Phenom 9950 X4 w/ 4GB RAM and Radeon 4870 X2 2GB video card.

I didn't upgrade to Vista.

[wraith]

I use both. I usually use XP though, even though my laptop came with Vista.

I ran a dual boot on this laptop and I'm happy either way.