@Jim: Ultimately, there is only one Vista edition: The Ultimate Edition. :) The others lack features and sooner or later everybody will buy the unlock key for the Vista UE. So if you consider buying, start with the complete thing.
Regarding the accessories: It's got a nice chess game now... Most of the other apps try to be Apple iApps- and iLife-look-alikes, but, as always with the Microsoft clones, are just cheap and weak rip-offs in comparison, but sold at a much higher price than the originals.
Vista has huge compatibility problems at the moment, even with MS applications. But that's normal for any Windows upgrade, and the next round of service packs will resolve that.
The most annoying feature is this UAC thing that Apple used in their latest "Get a mac" ad. Vista --really-- works like Apple portraits it in that ad.
Vista is a lot of "change for change's sake", but -nothing- in it is really NEW or "wow".
But the best thing is that for the retail price of Vista Ultimate Edition (~550 Euros), you can get a new Mac Mini with OS X and iLife... (Sorry, could not resist.)
In summary, and to be fair, except for the UAC, Vista does not feel bad. It's still a Windows, but the final release is not as bad as I thought it would be when I first saw the betas and release candidates. It even installs almost without any problems on an iMac. (At least it runs nice on mine.)
After playing with it for two days, I no longer use it, though. I think my history of 20+ years with Microsoft products is finally coming to an end. Compared to OS X, Windows is just a bloated piece of ugly, mediocre software, and my only remaining use for it is as a game launcher.
Why did I buy Vista, then? Because in my everyday life I work as a system administrator for a UN agency, and even though we're still a Windows (XP/2003) shop, I wanted to stay up-to-date and have sufficient time to get to know the beast if necessity arises.
But my long-term plans for the future neither involve Windows nor staying an employee for the rest of my life. But until I get there, I just have to put up with it. The love for MS products, that I once -really- had, is completely gone and I think that MS is a falling star - falling very, very slowly, but nevertheless surely. For me, OS X now represents what computing should be like, and therefor I finally decided to take a serious approach towards Cocoa and Objective-C, its native language.
Anyway, this no longer has anything to do with the topic.
Gotta go.
Regarding the accessories: It's got a nice chess game now... Most of the other apps try to be Apple iApps- and iLife-look-alikes, but, as always with the Microsoft clones, are just cheap and weak rip-offs in comparison, but sold at a much higher price than the originals.
Vista has huge compatibility problems at the moment, even with MS applications. But that's normal for any Windows upgrade, and the next round of service packs will resolve that.
The most annoying feature is this UAC thing that Apple used in their latest "Get a mac" ad. Vista --really-- works like Apple portraits it in that ad.
Vista is a lot of "change for change's sake", but -nothing- in it is really NEW or "wow".
But the best thing is that for the retail price of Vista Ultimate Edition (~550 Euros), you can get a new Mac Mini with OS X and iLife... (Sorry, could not resist.)
In summary, and to be fair, except for the UAC, Vista does not feel bad. It's still a Windows, but the final release is not as bad as I thought it would be when I first saw the betas and release candidates. It even installs almost without any problems on an iMac. (At least it runs nice on mine.)
After playing with it for two days, I no longer use it, though. I think my history of 20+ years with Microsoft products is finally coming to an end. Compared to OS X, Windows is just a bloated piece of ugly, mediocre software, and my only remaining use for it is as a game launcher.
Why did I buy Vista, then? Because in my everyday life I work as a system administrator for a UN agency, and even though we're still a Windows (XP/2003) shop, I wanted to stay up-to-date and have sufficient time to get to know the beast if necessity arises.
But my long-term plans for the future neither involve Windows nor staying an employee for the rest of my life. But until I get there, I just have to put up with it. The love for MS products, that I once -really- had, is completely gone and I think that MS is a falling star - falling very, very slowly, but nevertheless surely. For me, OS X now represents what computing should be like, and therefor I finally decided to take a serious approach towards Cocoa and Objective-C, its native language.
Anyway, this no longer has anything to do with the topic.
Gotta go.