With the recent release of Windows Vista, the Blogosphere has been buzzing with opinions and reviews of Microsoft’s latest and much ballyhooed OS. So what are people saying about Vista? Here are some highlights:

CNET reviewed all four versions of Vista (a common complaint is that there are too many versions), and rated them all highly (7.0-7.8 out of 10), but their final conclusion on Vista was nothing to write home about:

The bottom line: Windows Vista is essentially warmed-over Windows XP. If you’re currently happy with Windows XP SP2, we see no compelling reason to upgrade. On the other hand, if you need a new computer right now, Windows Vista is stable enough for everyday use.

And taking a look at CNET’s review of Windows Vista Ultimate (which had the most user ratings of any version) you’ll find an average user rating of 5.6 out of 10: whoop-dee-doo.

The reviews of Vista were not all bad. Paul Thurrott, whose blog is aptly titled Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows, probably wrote the most in-depth review– a two month, eight-part epoch– and was resoundingly positive about Microsoft’s new OS. But even Thurrott admits buying Vista at retail may not be worthwhile:

If you purchased an XP-based PC in 2006, try to get another year out of it. I can think of virtually no Microsoft customers that shouldn’t consider Vista per se, though the cost of upgrading can certainly outweigh any potential benefits of doing so.

To wrap things up I’ll leave it to the World’s Most Popular Blog, Engadget, which put together a nice roundup of Vista reviews:

The overall verdict right now seems quite lacking in enthusiasm. Sure, it won’t bust up your box or anything, hardware support is mostly alright, and improvements to stability and eye candy are commendable, but Vista just doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of must-need features to make it a must-have for most users.

I’ve always wondered what five years and billions of dollars of R&D gets you.

Tags: Blog Analysis //