As some of my readers know, I’m a bit more closely tied to Microsoft than many of us. I’m an MSDN Regional Director. That means I am recognized as an influential person in Microsoft Developerland. But it’s not a paid position, and we are encouraged to speak our minds and be critical of Microsoft when criticism is warranted. It was with that spirit that I took to Windows Vista some 2.5 years ago. I began running beta versions on old machines and in Virtual PC images, and sometimes I was impressed, but most of the time it was laden with driver headaches and bugs and things that you’d expect from beta software.

Then a couple weeks ago I decided to take the plunge and install Vista on my somewhat new-ish Dell XPS Gen 2 laptop. Instead of upgrading, I bought a new hard drive for it and installed Vista Ultimate from scratch. No driver  issues. No bugs. Nothing to complain about. In fact, my laptop runs faster now than it did with XP. Perhaps that’s just because of the Windows Slowdown Factor we have come to expect. This is one of the things Vista claims to fix by moving more frequently used files closer to the front of the disk.

Anyway, there are lots of articles saying increased UX (User eXperience – the most obvious of Vista’s features) is not enough to move them to Vista. Some complain about the fact that they have to get new hardware, and don’t think it’s worth upgrading.

Yeah, I can understand that. Nobody likes to feel forced to go buy something new just to be able to write the same old word docs and surf the same old web, etc.  This was pretty much my attitude going into Windows Vista. I thought, “when I’m done installing, I’ll have no more utility than before, and I’ll have wasted a lot of time with the installation.”

Then I started using it.

Say what you want about Macs and even some Linux shells having this kind of sex appeal long before Vista, but I am a Windows user. That’s what I know. I’m not about to change platforms and start learning how to write mac code when I have the best software development tools under the sun in my back pocket. I was nominated to be a Regional Director because I love the tools, I use them, and I help others understand how to use them more effectively. I find this new User Experience simply wonderful.

If you think of the Aero UI system, which is what makes the Vista User Interface so sexy, as extra CPU cycles that don’t do anything REAL, then you’ve missed the point.

User Experience is everything. It makes the difference between doing your work because you HAVE to, and because you WANT to. These are just subtle things, the transparent window borders, the growing and shrinking of windows when they come in and out of focus, the glowing aura around selected buttons. These little things add up to removing the noise around simple tasks and adding a little delight to your day. You don’t even think about it, but after using Vista for 2 weeks, XP seems like Windows 3.1. Does anyone who remembers 3.1 want to go back to using it? Why not?

Now, I’ve not exactly been the golden boy of Vista when it comes to praise. In fact, I’ve poked a little fun at Microsoft here and there. I co-wrote and recorded with Ted Pattison the Windows Vista Song, and I’ve recently talked about the different versions of Vista on Mondays. The truth of it is, I like a good laugh. When I’m done laughing I open up my laptop and get to work.