We have been running our POS on Vista for over 2 years. I also use it at home and on my laptop. It's the best one yet! We have XP on the primary POS machine only because of the visualization system, which requires XP due to Canon's decision to no longer support the PowerShot models.
Vista improved and changed how some drivers interact, so vendors had to release new drivers to work with it. In some cases, software had to have some changes. They released it to developers 3 years ago (a year in advance) to give them time to prepare, but some never did. (Canon being one of them, for their PowerShot series).
Windows 7 is even nicer (I have it installed on a test machine, to beta test it for a POS vendor). It looks
a lot like Vista, but even better. It uses the same next generation drivers that Vista does, and will be a very easy transition. Wifi, the taskbar, power conservation, and performance are improved. In spite of being newer, it's faster than XP or Vista.
I'm also running the Vista SP2 beta, on my laptop. (beta testing it for POS system) It isnt coming out for a while, but seems extremely stable; as is the current Vista w/SP1.
Don't buy into the hype created by the very successful Apple commercials. The current version of windows is fine, as long as you have software designed to run on it.
Would I upgrade an old (xp) machine to Vista? NO. I would only suggest using Vista with a new machine that meets the system requirements. XP is stable and there's no valid reason to upgrade. When you get a new PC in the future, it will probably have Windows 7. The new PC free upgrade certificates (from Vista to Windows 7) will start being offered on June 1, until the official release (October-January).
Mike
