So as we fast approach 2008 I’m starting to consider my next PC upgrade which of course will probably mean I will finally move to Windows Vista. Now I’ve always found Vista difficult to describe in one word - is it evolutionary or is it revolutionary? Well it’s kinda a bit of both. Some features, such as 3D desktop, will be seen as revolutionary to some, but to others (ie the Penguin fans among you) will be evolutionary.

When considering Vista one of the first things you need to understand are the different editions - and this I think is something that Microsoft could have done better, especially given that for XP we have only two editions to consider; Home and Professional. With Vista the user is now met with 3 main choices, home, business and ultimate. Then to complicate matters even more these can be broken down further with Basic, Basic N, Premium and Enterprise. Let’s us keep things simple. In the end, most Windows users are going to want to choose between Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate.

So getting under the hood what does Vista offer me? Well of course it’s a whole new user interface which for some will be a blessing, but for others perhaps a little frustrating as it really does take a little time to get used to the new layout. One thing I’ve always complained about with Windows XP is the search functionality, especially in comparison to the Unix/Linux find command or the integrated search with MacOS. Well it certainly looks as though Mr Gates has paid attention as the built in search functionality on Vista now is much improved, making the ability to search across not only documents on your hard drive, but also any instant message chat, web page or podcast you may have used regarding your search criteria - pretty powerful.

If, like me, you are into your photography, then the built in Photo Gallery option is a joy to behold. One of its main features is when you tag a JPEG or TIFF photo with keywords in Windows Vista, those tags are stored directly in the file as metadata, which you can use to search, sort, and filter images in Photo Gallery. Don’t forget Vista now comes with a much improved speech recognition, one that when I tested, actually worked pretty well, even with minimal training.

Finally, and for some more of a gimmick than a useful feature, is 3D desktop. I’m not saying I would enable it by default, but it sure is nice to play with. I actually see this feature more at home on a tablet PC where you can have a touch screen. Think of it as similar to  cover flow on the iPod Touch.

For me who has got an XBox 360 and Zune, Vista is the natural upgrade path as it will fast become the central piece in my jigsaw of connected media around the home. Now I just need to spec a system powerful enough to run it