Here is our summary of the Windows-LINUX comparison:

Operating Systems Comparison

You do not need the Brown-Gibson model to tell you which is the better choice! For now (and for the next few years too), your best choice of Operating System for your Home PC is Microsoft's Windows. Do read on to understand which suits you best - the older (and cheaper, where available) Windows XP or the latest Windows Vista!

We at WellOiledPC however believe that LINUX will get better for Home users too. Windows needs competition, so that users like you and me can get the best product at the lowest price. At the moment, LINUX seems to be best-placed, to emerge as competition to Windows, although there are others such as BeOS - with a market share even smaller than LINUX - in the horizon...

What are Drivers?

Drivers are small programs that tell your Computer what is getting attached to it. Whenever you buy a computer-compatible electronic gadget (be it a digital still camera or movie camera, a sophisticated Mobile Phone, an Inkjet Printer or Multi-function Device, a Thumb (or Pen) Drive, a Modem for connecting to the Internet, whatever...), the package contains a CD, with the Driver on it. Usually, Adobe PDF files of the Installation Guide and the Instruction Manual of the gadget are also on the CD.

So for example, for your Digital Camera to be correctly identified and usable on your Computer, its driver has to be installed on your Computer's Hard Disk. The installation procedure for most gadgets/ peripherals/ add-ons are so user-friendly that all you usually need to do is click your mouse a few times and there, your lovely new gadget/ peripheral/ add-on would be fully set up to work with your Computer!

Vista was initially conceptualized as something that would be completely different from its predecessor, Windows XP. However, its development ran terribly late and Microsoft were forced to leave out many of the originally mooted features and functionalities in Vista. As a result, the shipping version of Vista, now available in the market, is not radically different from the earlier XP editions. In fact, when Vista was first demonstrated, the reaction of industry pundits was - "Is that all?" Early shipment figures of Vista were simply not satisfactory, in comparison with the early shipment figures of earlier Windows versions (possibly excluding Windows Millennium, which died the quickest death of all!)

Vista also ran into early difficulties with respect to security and drivers and therefore, Microsoft decided to continue support for Windows XP until July 2008. Gradually, new systems - Desktops and Notebooks - began to see a larger share of Vista, vis-à-vis XP. Today, with Microsoft having discontinued Windows XP (Home, Media Center as well as Professional editions of XP), new Computers ship with one of the Vista Editions alone. However, a huge number of older systems are still on Windows XP - join the WellOiledPC Forum and cast your vote on whether you are continuing to use XP, have changed over to Vista or were always using Vista, if you are a new user.

Many of our readers probably know that the latest avatar of Windows, Windows Vista, comes in many editions. Some of our readers are likely to have asked for Windows Vista and, in turn, been asked, “Which edition?” by the vendor. Well, Windows Vista comes in as many as 6 different editions, not counting 2 Europe-specific editions. Never before have so many editions of any software been made available!

Since Vista was released in January 2007, Microsoft has sold more than 100 million licenses and its adoption has underpinned strong earnings results at the company in recent quarters. However, most consumers have opted to buy Vista preloaded on a new PC. Packaged versions of Windows Vista sold at stores and on the Web for less than 10% of all licenses of the dominant Windows operating system, which sits on more than 90% of the world's PCs. Clearly, the Vista story has not been a fairy-tale so far...

So what could be the reason for so many versions? Well, Microsoft’s own stated goal for this massive product edition differentiation is that this will provide a "clear value proposition" to all customer segments and take XP-era innovations, such as the Media Center and Tablet PC functionality, to the mainstream. Microsoft is also positioning Vista to transition the Windows line from 32-bit OS to the 64-bit platform. Thus, almost all Vista editions are offered in both x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) versions, with these versions shipping in the same box. So when you purchase, say, Vista Ultimate, the version that gets installed depends on your PC: an x64-based PC will install the x64 version of Vista, while x86 PCs will install the 32-bit version. Microsoft expects to transition its client product lines completely to x64 after the release of Windows Vista. Old-timers will remember the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit Windows - maybe even the the transition from text-based DOS to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) Windows! Its time for the next computing leap!

Or is it? While computing leaps and massive product differentiation are good long-range plans – specially with LINUX looming in the competition horizon – what it clearly spells is doubts, confusion and indecision, in the minds of the user. Both single Home PC owners as well as IT Heads of a large organization running thousands of PCs have reported being 'lost' in the number of Vista versions!

Here is what we have to say on the subject: in time, two - maybe three versions of Vista will die out naturally, leaving users a manageable number of version choices. Some of our readers will remember the short and painless death Windows ME had, when XP was released in quick succession. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume the above, specially where a few of the current Vista editions are actually underpowered, in comparison with Windows XP! These are the editions which, we predict, will naturally die! Read on to find your answer to this question!

Windows Vista Categories

The basic fact is that there are actually just two categories of Windows Vista editions and these closely map to the two XP editions we are so familiar with. The broad Vista categories are the Home and the Business category, dove-tailing with the XP Home and XP Professional editions, respectively. The “Vista Home” category comprises of Vista Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate editions.

The “Vista Business” category comprises of the Vista Business and Vista Enterprise editions.

Windows Vista Editions

Here is Microsoft's marketing message for each Vista edition:

Windows Vista Editions Prices

With the release of Service Pack 1 for Vista, Microsoft has announced substantial reductions in the price of all versions of Vista. After the price cut, following are the prices of the Vista editions:

• Windows Vista Ultimate – US$319/-, Upgrade Price (from XP/ other Vista editions) – US$219/-

• Vista Home Premium – US$129/-

Remember, the higher editions of Vista (and these are the ones that ought to be considered too, as explained above) require a lot more in terms of Memory (RAM) and Hard Disk capacity. For example, it is recommended that you have 2 GB (preferably 3 GB) of RAM to run Windows Vista Ultimate smoothly, while you can run Windows XP very comfortably with 1 GB RAM! Therefore, the Total Cost of Ownership of Vista is a lot more than the cost of the software alone: factor in 2 GB more RAM, perhaps a larger Hard Disk etc., and you would need a nice little sum of money indeed!

If you are planning to upgrade to Vista on your Notebook, you need to be even more careful: you need to find out authentic answers to the following questions even before you contemplate upgrading to Vista:

1. Does your Notebook support additional RAM? Most Notebooks have only 1 extra slot for RAM

2. Can its Hard Disk be upgraded? Most Notebook can, but there are strings attached, as pointed out right below

3. Will your Notebook's Power Supply be able to support the larger Hard Disk and the extra RAM?

The best course of action is to approach your Notebook manufacturer for authentic answers to these questions. We have seen Notebooks failing within 3 months of a RAM or Hard Disk upgrade, because the Power Supply wasn't up to it! And when this happens, your Notebook's Motherboard needs to be changed - and a Motherboard change costs almost half as much as a new Notebook itself!

So back to the original question – Which Operating System for you? Here are our technical recommendations, ignoring the cost aspects:

Back to LINUX

Windows 7 is what Microsoft is developing, at the moment. Currently, it is in Beta testing and was downloadable from the Microsoft Website until some months ago. Microsoft have, for the first time ever, released a Public Beta of any product. It is interesting to delve into what lead to this decision as well as the thinking that went into their naming the product with an Edition Number!

Microsoft believes that the low sales of Windows Vista is due to a 'Perception Problem' and that Vista is a sound, stable and secure product. The unprecedented public release of their next Windows Edition, Windows 7, is therefore a step towards improving 'Public Perception' about the Edition right at the beginning, for Microsoft knows as much as anyone else, that public perceptions take ages to change!

Microsoft began naming Windows with a numbering scheme: you had Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1 and then Windows 3.11. This was discarded after Edition 3.11 and the year of release was chosen. Thus you had Windows 98 and then Windows 2000. Once again, the naming convention was changed - it was 1999 and the 'Millennium Bug' was hotter than your favorite Hollywood diva! Microsoft too succumbed to the temptation and named their next edition Windows Millennium. However, Windows Millennium Edition (ME) turned out to be their worst-ever release and was quickly replaced by Windows XP. XP continued to slowly build up market and mind share, but in the process, began to look old - Apple continued with their snazzy OS Improvements, bringing out sleeker and still sleeker Operating Systems. The LINUX space was buzzing with activity as well, with a number of LINUX operating systems and a number of neat-looking LINUX Desktops making an entry.

Meanwhile Microsoft was finding it increasingly difficult to deliver newer editions of Operating Systems as per their initial promises. Windows Vista was released nearly 2 years after the first-announced release date. When it was finally released, it did not sport many of the first-promised features as well. Public perception set in, that Vista was a 'curtailed edition', leading to very slow adoption rates. Even with Microsoft stopping support for Windows XP (thus egging the public on to adopt Windows Vista), sales in the replacement market did not improve significantly. Sales in the Original Equipment Market (OEM) naturally rose to 100% Vista, for copies of Windows XP were no longer available for Computer manufacturers to bundle with their new Notebooks or Desktops! It is against this backdrop, that Microsoft have one back to their earliest naming convention: Windows 7 would have been the seventh release candidate, if Microsoft had continued the same naming scheme, as long as you do not count the failed edition, Windows ME!

For those members and visitors who downloaded this 'Public Beta' version of Windows 7, do note that you need to get yourself the Product Key from Microsoft's Website, to use it for more than 30 days. The key is free and may still be downloaded - so if you had to re-format your Hard Disk for any reason, but have kept the DVD of Windows 7, you will not be stranded!

The Public Beta of Microsoft Windows 7 will work till June 30, 2009, after which Microsoft will presumably have a newer version for download - it is highly unlikely that the commercial version of Windows 7 will be released by June 30, 2009! The Public Beta has now been taken off the Microsoft website, so if you did not download it (and its Product Key), you need to wait till July 1, 2009, or until the commercial version is released, to get a copy of it!

We DO NOT recommend that you install Windows 7 (or for that matter, any 'Beta' candidates) onto your Production Computers. Sure, if you have a fast-enough Computer with a large, high-RPM Hard Disk and oodles of RAM sitting idle, go ahead and install the Beta. Better still, create a partition and install Windows 7 onto it - that way, you do not lose any data

Here are a few screenshots of Windows 7 Beta (Build 7000). Note that we have not installed any programs under it, which is why the Desktop is bare, like Mother Hubbard's Cupboard...

NO. It is NEVER a good idea to tinker with your Operating System installation! In this case, you would only be compounding the situation, since Windows 7 is a Beta release! We therefore strongly discourage you from upgrading to the Beta release of Windows 7, at this point of time!

If you are desperate to try out Windows 7 like us, here are the 7 steps that you MUST take:

1. Back up every single byte of your data onto DVDs/ CDs/ Flash Drives, etc.

2. Keep all your Driver and Peripherals CDs handy.

3. Keep all your Program CDs handy.

4. If you do not have a Partition on your Hard Disk, create a second Partition with about 30 GB space. To create a partition without having to format your Hard Disk, you will need commercial software such as Partition Manager (cost: US$ 39.95, purchase from http://www.paragon-software.com/home/pm-personal/) or Norton PartitionMagic (cost: US$ 69.95, Click Here for SHOPPING CART LINK) or the freeware Easeus Partition Master (download from http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm)

5. Install Windows 7 to the Partition that DOES NOT have your earlier version of Windows (Windows XP or Windows Vista). If you install Windows 7 onto the same partition, it will over-write your earlier Windows and thus could prove to be a major headache for you!

6. Once Windows 7 installs, reboot and install all your Drivers and Peripherals - be warned that not all of them may work with Windows 7!

7. Next, install all your programs - once again, not all of them may work under Windows 7! If a program works fine under Windows 7, it will be able to access its own data - check whether all programs work by opening a file created by each of the installed programs!

If you're lucky, all your programs will work fine and all your peripherals and add-ons will work fine too! We do hope you are lucky!

If you have ever upgraded Windows from an earlier version to a newer one – or re-installed Windows without a change of version, you will know that re-installing Windows is easily the easier part. The tough, time-consuming parts are (a) Updating Windows (b) Re-installing all your favorite programs (c) copying back all your data, if you have also formatted your Hard Disk, to re-install Windows. By data, we mean the following kinds of data:

1. Your Office suite data - Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, etc.

2. Your Music files – .mp3, .wma, etc

3. Your Photographs collection - .jpg files, usually

4. Your Address Book – the one you have painstakingly collected over the years and contains addresses, e-Mail IDs, Telephone numbers, etc., of your friends, colleagues and acquaintances

5. Your old mail – you never know when you may need to refer to that mail you sent 6 months ago!!

The fact is that while re-installing Windows itself takes less than 45 minutes, updating Windows could take up as much as a few hours, re-installing all your favorite programs could take a few days and copying back all your data could take as much as another day! Yet, at the end of the entire exercise, you may still find that you do not have back-ups of some of your favorite programs or some of your music or some of your photographs… These are lost forever…

The reason why you need to re-install all your programs is that a fresh install of Windows over-writes your Registry files and your Registry is where information about all your installed programs is maintained!

It would be a whole lot easier if you could simply re-install Vista without having to do all the other tasks, isn’t it? Well, the upgrade from XP to Vista can be made without having to re-install your programs as well, under certain conditions. The Table below contains your Current OS along the Rows and your OS Upgrade path along the Columns. Each Cell describes whether it is possible to upgrade – without a re-install of your existing programs – for the given pair of Current OS-OS Upgrade path. The Red Cells requires a fresh install of all your programs and should therefore be avoided, if you dislike re-installing programs as much as we do! On the other hand, the Green Cells let you upgrade to the specified OS without requiring all programs to be loaded all over again!

Legend:

Here is a features break down of each edition of Windows Vista, briefly discussed earlier on:

Legend: