I am running Vista for a number of reasons:

1) My main workstation needs 4GB - which means 64 bit - and I would take Vista64 over XP64 at any time.
2) XP was designed to run the latest generation of Windows userinterface when it was released... and that generation is from Windows 1.0 in 1985. While Microsoft did a lot to get WPF running on XP there are limitations - nothing drastic, but enough to make Vista come out as the best OS. I guess not many people realize this though, as most program still use the outdated Windows 1.0 GUI environment.
3) The start menu just works better - simply typing the name of whatever you want to start is so much easier than digging though deep menues. Yes, I know there are XP addons giving the same feature but I can't be bothered when I can get it out of the box.
4) I like having my programs run without administrative rights and easily switch to admin rights when needed. Yes, the implementation currently sucks (I don't mind the UAC dialog - actually I specifically want this one, but why do I first have to confirm that I want the UAC dialog).

Due to the high price of Vista, I would recommend people to think a bit before upgrading older computers, but buying a new computer with XP is just wierd - and actually I really hate people are doing it. It cost a fortune having more versions of an OS around. Software needs to be written to support it (and worst tested), hardware needs to have driver written and it needs to be tested. So people keeping XP alive buy still putting it on new computers are delaying the point where support for XP can be stopped - and hence they actually cost me money (and more buggy programs, as companies often choose to offset the price by lowering quality or drop features).

Windows Vista successor scheduled for a H2 2009 release? Why would I go to vista?

Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Admitted, XP is (still) broken, but not as much as Vista - so I'm sticking with XP for now. Vista is in my mind just a public beta test for Vienna, which has been expected due sometime in 2009. And yes, Vienna has been on the drawing board since 2002 or thereabouts. I think that Bill Gates just said "I want more money - we need a new OS now!", and then Microsoft just did a nightly build of Vienna and released that as Vista.

As far as updates for Windows goes, I'm still covered a few years ahead. While updates and support for XP Home was killed in 2006 IIRC, they will continue for XP Pro until 2011... That is, unless Vienna is so late that it isn't out yet, and peoples mind about Vista hasn't changed. If just 50% of the worlds computers still runs XP (and they very probably will), Microsoft would very probably continue support of XP Pro until at least two years after the release of Vienna, given that many companies refuses to upgrade their Windows until the release of SP1...

I run Vista as it came preinstalled and I do have XP I could install over the top of it, but I feel absolutely no need to. It runs everything I want it to run without problems and if I run into problems I can look to dual boot it with XP, without the need to reformat.

I've read a lot of reports about games running slower under Vista than XP, but with my setup the only games that I've noticed problematical slowdowns  on are Crysis (which bogs down SLI XP rigs of superior specs) or Blacksite Area 51 (which I played the 360 demo on and saw worse slow downs). So it does what I need it to do and performs as I expect.

The thing I really love is the search function in the start menu bar, makes life so much easier if you're less than organised like I am.

I waited to switch to XP till Service Pack 2 was released. Unless something else happens I may use this strategy for Vista.

Bobb

Quoting Caroline:

Quote:
I have had to do some work for a friend on her laptop that runs Vista and I found it to be cumbersome and couterintuitive. I will not be changing any time soon! I have to admit though, that I did not like XP when I first encountered that, so my gut reaction to Vista may well be the same. 

I had the same thoughts when starting to use Vista... Now I use Windows 2003 (similar UI as XP) at work and Vista at home, and there is no doubt in my mind that Vista is the better of the two - not revolutionary, but better.

Specifically the start menu and the address bar in the explorer are noticable improved.

Retailers will stop selling XP here in June, going to buy XP Pro (using Home ATM) before that, cause i just dont want to buy a better computer to run a prettier GUI.

Quoting Lithurge:

Quote:
The thing I really love is the search function in the start menu bar, makes life so much easier if you're less than organised like I am.

I always organize everything, my desktop:


No desktop icons, startmenu has the programs i need the most, and All Programs is cleaned to be nice and tidy The same is with the rest of the computer, everything has its place.