If I upgrade my current systems hardware yes.

512Mb of RAM is the bare minimum. The most basic sort of Vista avalible would chug along. For the higher end versions to work at a decent speed you'll need 1-2 gb. And that's without even running any games.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Windows Vista is aimed at IT professionals and company networks rather than the average home user isn't it?

Therefore, I'm unlikely ever to buy a home computer running it or ever purchase for use on a home computer!

You are wrong. Windows Vista is going to be XP's successor. According to Wikipedia it will be available in 8 (!) flavours:

• 1. Windows Vista Starter Edition
  2. Windows Vista Home Basic Edition
  3. Windows Vista Home N Edition (Europe only)
  4. Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
  5. Windows Vista Professional N Edition (Europe only)
  6. Windows Vista Professional Edition
  7. Windows Vista Small Business Edition
  8. Windows Vista Enterprise Edition
  9. Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
  10. Windows Vista Media Center Edition

This looks like ten versions, but the N versions are equal to the non-N ones except they won't have Media Player in them as the EU prohibited this.

I will not be getting it.

I see nothing in Vista that would interest me. Since the games will probably be made with support for XP well after Vista arrives (say another 6 years perhaps?), I will not buy it. I am in favour of small OSes. In fact my dream OS would be something like a modern version of TOS/GEM.
I mean, "3D" windows? How stupid is that? A "taskbar" (whatever it is going to be called) on the right side with widgets? There are several other programs that offer great such eh, programs. I use one, Objectdock from Stardock, and I have it on top of the screen.
Hardly a feature to upgrade windows for.
And I will have the PC to easily run Vista when it is released.

You don't base your choice of operating system on what desktop enhancing gimmicks it offers you.
You base it on stability, security, efficiency, memory management, ease of use, compatibility (especially backwards compatibility), connectivity, etc.

So wait until it's done before you judge it.


Vista is also built on the NT technology, and still uses NTFS since it is simply the most versatile and powerful file system available. Which means that any game made for XP will obviously work in Vista.
There cannot and will not be games that are made for Vista, but don't work just as well in XP.

The problem involving old games on XP is those that were designed for non-NT based OS's, like 95/98 or DOS.

And I wasn't refering to that, but to a potential compatibility issue between XP and Vista.

If XP can run ME/2000 stuff, Im quite sure Vista can run XP stuff.
Imagine what would happen if they didnt have backwards compatibility for at least the previous OS.

I think he was talking about whether Vista software will run on XP.