xp or vista?

I'm building a new computer and I don't know which to choose. I feel like the only 'advantage' of vista is it is more pretty. (I've got xp on my desktop and vista on my laptop). I use computers for basic internet stuff and playing games, including older games (which may not work on vista). Opinions? :)

Original Post by pgeorgian:

Original Post by apricotbunny:

You could try linux. I've heard good things there.

i've used linux.  i hate linux.

vista got a bad rap because when it came out, the hardware manufacturers loaded it onto every machine in the warehouse, regardless of whether or not it could run the OS. 

Vista got a bad rap because it was rushed out before it was properly supported by the hardware manufacturers and because the initial version didn't offer any compelling reasons to switch (and no, "it's prettier" isn't a compelling reason).  As for the hardware manufacturers installing it where it didn't belong, you can blame Intel and Microsoft for that.  Microsoft for pushing it and Intel for colluding with them to misrepresent machines as "Vista Capable". 

As for Linux, most people hate Linux because of one of the following reasons:

1.  It won't run Windows software except via an emulator.  I don't know why people expect Linux to be Windows compatible, but don't complain that OS X doesn't run Windows software.  Linux isn't Windows or a Windows clone any more than OS X is.

2.  People, unfairly in my opinion, expect Linux to act exactly like Windows and when it doesn't, they complain.  If I gave you a brand new Ferrari with a manual transmission and you had only ever driven a Ford Focus with an automatic transmission, there would be a learning curve and they wouldn't drive exactly the same, but that wouldn't mean that the Ferrari sucks because of the differences.  It would just mean that they are different.

It has been my personal experience that people who try Linux without pre conceived notions of how a computer is supposed to work have little trouble with it.  If you just want to browse the web, read e-mails, create simple word processing documents/spreadsheets/presentations, then Linux is very capable of doing all of these things and you can do them for free.  The catch is that you have to be willing to learn something new.  My wife, daughter, son, and non-English speaking nephew had no trouble learning how to use Linux (and none of them are technical geeks).  I just point out to them the equivalent program to use and they figure it out with little or no trouble.

If you are building a new computer (as opposed to buying one), then you can either pay for the OS, the office software, and most of the other software, or you can give Linux a try and get the OS, the office suite, and most of the other software for free.  You can even try it out on your existing Windows computer without installing it by downloading a live CD image and running it entirely from CD.  Just be prepared to read the instructions.  Learning to use Linux is like learning to ride a motorcycle for the first time.  You need to go slow and learn how things work to avoid problems.