This year brings the long awaited release of Microsoft Vista. I know many of you received new computers or components with a coupon to upgrade. But wait before you run out and put down your money. Vista might not be the best choice for you. Vista is indeed a big step forward, but notice, I say step and not leap. It is the first next generation operating system designed to make full use of all the changes in technology over the last 10 years. Vista is also heading toward the future with some very cool new features. Vista is such a step forward, it can be compared to the release of the Windows 95 operating system.

Vista is termed as a Technology Break. This means the OS is a redesign, not just a re-build of the OS before it. Though much of it will seem familiar, many features are brand new. It also means that many of your existing components, or their drivers and software, will not be compatible with Vista. In reality, most current machines will not run Vista comfortably without a serious upgrade. This is because of the resources needed. This is especially true if your system does not have a separate graphics card. If your computer has less than a 2 Gig processor and 1 Gig of RAM; don't consider Vista. In fact, the cost of upgrading will be so high Microsoft expects deployment of Vista to take 2 to 3 years while the hardware catches up.

Starting in January, most new systems will have Vista installed. Research before you buy because Vista may not be the best choice for your situation. Now do not panic, XP is going to be around for a while. It will still be for sale at least another year. So the recommendation is, if your system is running happily on XP, there is no reason to upgrade yet.

The following lists the five versions of Vista:

1) For consumers: Vista Home Basic, $199.00 retail. No frills and will come pre-loaded on the commercial econo boxes like Dell.

2) Vista Home Premium, $239.00 retail. This version will be for mid-range to hi-end and media systems.

3) Vista Business, $299.00 retail, aimed at small business.

4) Vista Enterprise, this version will not be commercially available, and is meant only for large enterprise situations.

5) And finally, the Cadillac, Vista Ultimate,$399.00 retail (probably your best choice, if you can afford it). This version contains all the features of the above versions, plus a bundle of yet to be disclosed extras. This is for high end and business machines.

So there you go, more to come as we look into Vista. Bottom line, Vista is good, not great, there are still a lot of bugs. Wait until service pack 1 comes out before you buy, and let others work out the bugs.

As mentioned above, Vista will come in 5 flavors, but only 4 will be available to the public. The Enterprise edition will only be available to large corporations. Everyone will benefit from some of the fundamental improvements in Vista like the

security and search capabilities. But that is where the similarities end. There are 2 versions for the home market; Vista Home Basic ($99.95 retail) and Vista Home Premium ($239.00 retail). Basic is really the bottom of the line. This version is so limited in features that some say it is an intentional marketing ploy to force the OEM manufactures,(Dell, HP, etc.), to upgrade to Premium so that they can still offer some value to their computers. Who knows? But this version is very feature short.

Home Basic does not include much of the new graphic interface or graphic capabilities of the other versions, none of the extras or bonus bells and whistles. You are better off with XP if you just surf the Internet or just check e-mail. Also, if you look at the price of Vista compared to XP Home ($199.00), which has all the features, XP is the better deal.

Vista Home Premium is where many of the new features surface. There is a new user interface (UI) called Aero Glass which is a very cool glass like effect. There are also new floating windows, translucent windows, the 3D scrolling called Windows Flip and a few other graphic goodies. With Premium, you also get the new Media Player 11, Windows Calendar, the new Media Center, Photo Gallery, DVD authoring, sound recording, Windows Movie Maker all aimed at making Vista your multi-media center.

Speaking of media, one of Microsoft's goals for Vista is to re-introduce the PC as a gaming platform. To achieve this, Vista introduces several new special gaming features. These include the new Game Explorer, peer-to-peer gaming, game related meta-data support and high end graphic, shadowing and 3D capabilities. Now, there is another price to be paid for all this graphic wonder and that is system resources. You will need a very strong video card, a fast processor, and a whole lot of RAM. Most current machines will need serious graphic and memory upgrades to take advantage of Vista.

The retail price for Premium will be around $239.00. If you are running XP Home or XP Media Center and you do not need to be on the bleeding edge of technology, then just download IE 7 for the security up-grades and browsing features and keep XP. For those of you who want to have the latest operating system, be prepared to purchase the latest hardware upgrades.

Now for the Vista Business version. This new edition is where you can really see and take advantage of the many new features Vista offers. To take full advantage of these new features, you will need a pretty strong machine. This is especially true in the graphics department.

First, are the security improvements. On top of that, they have improved integration with other office technologies such as: phone, fax, wireless, and hand held devices. There are improved network capabilities, and new search and collaboration tools. The goal for Vista was to greatly improve the ways a business can search, create, store and share its data. There is a new file sharing wizard that allows you to assign access privileges to other users on the same computer.

One of my personal favorites is the collaboration tool, Windows Meeting Space. Meeting Space allows you to connect up to 10 people in the same workgroup. You can share desktops, applications, and files in a common work space, while allowing everyone to jointly edit those files. Another new feature is the way Vista will integrate with the new Windows Office 2007. Office 2007 is also brand new and has many new features a small to mid-sized business would appreciate.

As mentioned, there will be two business versions, Vista Business, $199 for the up-grade and $299 for the full version. You get all the new features except the new Media Center.

The second is Vista Enterprise which will not be available to us mere mortals and only available to larger organizations. Overall, if you are a small business and have security issues, Vista would be a good choice but pricey. You will have the cost of the OS plus the cost of the hardware up-grades and the cost of the learning curve. If you are starting out brand new, you may want to look into Vista. For the rest of us, if everything is running fine on XP then it wont hurt for you to wait awhile..