Windows Vista: migrate or not?

In January, Microsoft released Windows Vista, its latest operating system. Today, you'd have a hard time finding a new PC with Windows XP, although some are available. Should you migrate to Vista?

In general, the answer is “no,” according to Mike Neal, LabView product manager at National Instruments. Vista's security enhancements make installing software more difficult than ever by limiting access, even to administrators. Furthermore, Vista uses a process called “virtualization” (see figure) to maintain compatibility with older Windows versions while isolating those programs from parts of the operating system.

Virtualization helps protect various parts of the file system and registry while maintaining compatibility with legacy software.

Neal also says that you don't need the 64-bit version of Vista because the performance boost is minimal and it might require you to recompile your applications and drivers. Applications that require more than 4 Gbytes of memory, such as large computational programs or large databases, will benefit from 64 bits, but others won't.

You can read Neal's article at www.tmworld.com/vista_ni. You can also read "Challenges of Going Vista," an interview with Neal about Vista from Design News.