I have been thinking about upgrading my Franken-PC for the past weeks now. I still run on a single core P4 2.6 Ghz with 512 RAM and a GeForce FX 5200 GPU. Sure, it’s quite adequate for surfing the web and playing some games but it will not be enough for Windows Vista.

It took MS several years to come out with another OS. Let’s see, 95 to 98 to ME to 2000 to XP all took roughly an average of two years to release. When finally, XP had a semblance of pseudo-stability with SP2, it was then when the buzz with the “new” OS came about.

I first encountered Vista as project name Longhorn screensaver installed in one of our company’s test machines. A quick googling here and there led me to MS’s website announcing the latest developments of the new post-XP OS.

It promises more streamlined, efficient and stable Windows.

Stable. Ahem.

I have always made it a rule not to shift OSes until the “new” OS somehow stabilized. I never tried using ME or 2000, making the jump from trying out 98SE to XPSP2.

Windows has identified which PCs will be ready for Windows Vista.

To quote, here are the minimum and “premium” specs:

A Windows Vista Capable PC includes at least:

* A modern processor (at least 800MHz).
* 512 MB of system memory.
* A graphics processor that is DirectX 9 capable.


A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:

* 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
* 1 GB of system memory.
* Support for DirectX 9 graphics with a WDDM driver, 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)2, Pixel Shader 2.0 and 32 bits per pixel.
* 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
* DVD-ROM Drive.
* Audio output capability.
* Internet access capability.

Yes, my Franken-PC will not be enough for Windows Vista. In any case, so does my pocket. Jumping to Vista will definitely entail both hardware and software investments. For now, cheers Linux and OpenOffice!

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