Back in February, I wrote in my email computert tips newsletter to subscribers only:

A subscriber wrote me this week to ask: “I am in need of a new computer for my business but unsure about Vista. What do you recommend?”There is an old saying that “these are the times that try men’s souls.” That’s a pretty good explanation of the choice between the brand-new operating system from Microsoft (at any point in time, not just now, with Vista) and buying a new computer with the older operating system.

Despite the extensive beta-testing, there seem to be a bunch of security and stability fixes that are released during the following two or three months.

With Vista, I’m not planning to upgrade any of my existing computers to Vista. In part, that is because I don’t plan to use Vista any time soon. But, it’s also because Vista requires more computing power.

If you are going to buy a new computer, you may find that Vista is your only choice, or that you have a harder time purchasing an XP computer than a Vista computer.

But, there are still some problems with program compatibility with Windows Vista.

One of those commonly-used programs that has problems with Windows is Intuit’s Quickbooks, or at least the versions before Quickbooks 2007. A lot of small businesses use Quickbooks to maintain their accounting records and even their payrolls.

But, earlier versions of Quickbooks have some compatibility problems with Windows Vista. According to ZDNet’s George Ou in his article QuickBooks Vista problems are six years in the making, it goes back to a decision by Intuit that it didn’t need to conform to some of Microsoft’s rules about writing to the Windows Registry. Quickbooks allowed third-party applications to communicate with Quickbooks via the Registry. This choice has bitten Quickbooks users.

With Windows XP, their choice meant that these things worked. But, with Vista, those programming techniques just don’t work. So, if you use Quickbooks, plan on updating to Quickbooks 2007 as part of your upgrade to Vista.

Otherwise, it’s really your choice. Vista needs more power and more memory for the same functionality, but it also has more functionality than XP and is more secure. Of course, this same increase in security makes file sharing, local networking and similar things a lot harder to set up and a lot more frustrating.

Unless I had a really good reason to buy a Vista computer now, I’d get a machine with XP with a free upgrade to Vista. Supposedly you can do this until March 31, at least as originally announced by Microsoft.”

Personally, I’d wait about 3 or 4 months before getting Vista. Although Vista had a long beta program and a lot of beta users, there are problems that don’t show up until the new OS hits the old hardware. I’d give Microsoft plenty of time for the inevitable security and stability patches.

Well, the 3 or 4 months have gone by. Microsoft has issued a bunch of patches for Vista — and still hasn’t released the rest of the Extras that are supposed to be coming for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. (There aren’t too many Extras, either — I don’t think it’s fair to count “language packs” for Vista as if they were Extras that are valuable to all the people who paid $200 extra for Windows Vista Ultimate Edition upgrade packages!

Is it time to think seriously about Vista? I think so. While most businesses will be buying Windows XP Professional as long as they can, consumer machines should be pretty up-to-date with recent Vista update packages. Of course, if they aren’t, most users with Vista machines will have DSL or Cable Internet connections, so they can get their updates quickly.

Finally, most software should be updated now to work with Vista.  Before you leap, though, check your software so you know if the updates to be Vista-compatible will be free or whether the manufacturer wants you to buy a new version.  Hardware will also be an issue, as some manufacturers have chosen not to release Vista drivers for older hardware, just as many did when XP was released.