Not Dead Yet...

'Tech' is a four letter word to most. Microsoft does nothing to make it easier to digest. In the past year or so they have released into the wild their new operating system for PC's, Windows Vista. This has been meet with much resistance, prompting many to demand that Windows XP be given a stay of execution.

While XP is not dead yet, understand that the end is near. I recently 'upgraded' a PC for someone from Vista to XP (MS calls that a downgrade, but that is a matter of opinion), only to find that new hardware is manufactured for Vista only, and not compatible with XP. This person was stuck between a rock and a hard place because her children's large collection of beloved games and educational software was not Vista compatible. We had to change the hardware on a brand new machine just to install XP.

Alas, the industry evolves. It was the same thing when XP was first announced (although I think the growing pains were eased by the fact that XP replaced arguably the worst operating system ever created called Windows ME). Since its introduction XP has become the most stable and prominent operating system out there, which explains why people are woe to move away from it.

All good things come to an end, and whether you believe MS is just pushing Vista to make money, or this is the next step in the evolution of computing, the fact is you can't stop it. Eventually at some point you will either have to buy new hardware or upgrade to Vista for some new software you need that does not work with XP (or, ***shudder***, switch to Mac or Linux).

In the mean time take heart in the fact that XP is still supported with updates and technicians through the year 2014. If you are contemplating buying a new PC though, your option to get XP on it is fast running out. Jan 2009 is the end of all retail sales for XP, and most places have already stopped selling any new hardware that is XP compatible.

If you are considering Vista, make sure it works with all of your software and peripherals (printers, scanners, cameras, etc. Assume anything manufactured before 2007 is not Vista ready). From what I understand, most of the kinks have been worked out of Vista and it should prove to be a good OS in the long run. Just make sure you have plenty of RAM and can live without your old software/hardware.

Remember, there are techies like me out there who enjoy this stuff because we can charge large amounts of money to fix it! Hey, diapers are expensive people!