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Which Operating System (OS) is right for you,
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7? If you are using something that predates Windows 2000,
you should seriously consider upgrading. However, your PC itself,
may be too far out of date to be worth the trouble and expense
of upgrading, it may be time for a new PC. Most PCs being sold
now come with Windows Vista installed.
Windows 98 is no longer being sold and is no longer the most widely used OS. If you are still using Windows 98 and aren't having any significant problems, then you can probably continue using it. As new products are released, they will be less and less likely to run well, or at all, with this now out of date OS.
Windows Me was an interim product released to fill the void between the release of Windows 98 and Windows XP. It was Microsoft's marketing tool to generate sales without heavily investing in a new product. It put a slightly different face on Windows 98 and added a few trivial features. It was not a worthwhile upgrade and in some cases resulted in problems functioning with software already in use.
Windows 2000 was the successor to the
Windows NT line. NT is a more sophisticated OS for large businesses
and business networks. Windows 2000 is a robust OS that blends
the niceties of Windows 98 with the complexity and strength
of Windows NT. It is an excellent OS; however it too is obsolete,
being replaced by Windows XP and now Windows Vista.
Windows XP, was released in October of
2001, and came in two common versions, Windows XP Home and
Windows XP Professional, for home use and business use respectively.
A third version called Media Center was available for use with
a PC that brings together traditional PC tasks with Home Entertainment
systems. It provided controls to enable the use of your PC
as a video recorder, DVD player, slideshow projector, game
controller and other features in conjunction with your TV and
home entertainment system.The XP iteration of Windows stood
for nearly six years until it was replaced by Windows Vista.
Windows Vista, was released
for home users in January 2007. It came in a whopping five versions;
Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate.
Most home users were happiest with Home Premium. Upgrading
to this platform was demanding of a PC, especially the
memory and the graphics adapter.
*Update: As of December 2008, some agencies
concluded that it did not provide an
adequate benefit for their organization to upgrade to Vista.
Some PC manufacturers have began offering more systems, not
less, with the older Windows XP. Furthermore, many Windows users found Vista to be unnecessarily difficult to use. A variety of software did not work well under Vista.
Windows 7 promises to do everything Vista promised, but without the headaches. All indications are that Microsoft just might pull that off this time. Security features that made Vista infuriating have been addressed in Windows 7. Access and navigation have also been improved. If the results bear out the promises, 7 may be worth making the jump from all earlier versions.
Windows 7 is expected to run with all hardware and software that ran under Vista. This means no waiting for manufacturers to update drivers and provide patches to get their product working with the new OS.
As a general rule of thumb, we prefer to purchase
a new PC with Windows 7 already installed to upgrading an existing
PC. The cost of new PCs make this an attractive option and
eliminates the risk of compatibility issues. Because new software often contains bugs and undiscovered security issues, we prefer to wait several months before considering the use of a new operating system.
For a comparison of features between the three
different versions of Windows 7, visit this comparison
chart.
What about other operating systems like Linux
or OS X? Linux is a wonderful OS and it is free. However, Linux
is not for the novice; it requires a higher level of PC knowledge
to be comfortable with its installation and use. Furthermore,
it doesn't support nearly as many software programs as does
Windows. OS X is for the Apple platform while this article
focuses only on the PC platform. |
