[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Roger - no, it isn't.

Like Ric, I'm more than happy with my Vista self-installation. As Ric did, I also tend to install systems myself on existing hardware that I have lying around. I've since updated to SP1 recently and all is still very stable. I've been running for nearly 2 years from Beta to now.

I personally think that it's way better than the loudest knockers want to let you know. One or two problems and they seem to want to emotionally and passionately condemn it for everyone, and often without really bothering to delve into it properly themselves - damn irresponsible if you ask me. ALL operating systems are compromises, and NONE work flawlessly across the board. I wouldn't touch XP for years because of the risks it posed to a mission-critical publishing workflow. Linux and Mac won the day for years in our camp.

It's worth some initial hassles - if you have any. Sure, the security model is different, but in my game (VERY expensive advertising between competing companies) we need tight security. I really don't mind being asked when I want to change, overwrite or update something - some consider the "inconvenience of it all" to be the devil. Come on. At least I haven't suffered from any virii - ever.

It's becoming truly plug and play for the newer hardware. Canon 350D? Plug it in - "Canon 350D installed" comes up ten seconds later. Same for my Nikons. Even my old Meade LPI was the same - I didn't have the original drivers on CD any more, which was a death sentence for the camera on XP, but on Vista it just said "installed" as soon as I plugged it in. Quite phenomenal.

It's so much better than XP in some regards, but I suspect we're going to get flamed for saying so. I use it day-in, day-out - professionally as an IT and development director within the publishing industry - and find it more than fine.