There is no genyingVista is Microsoft's most complete and feature¬packed version of
Windows to date. Things have corpe.a long way over the year-i, lro.t no matter
how long you've been using Windows - and Vista, in particular - it's almost certain that there will still be something new to learn.

To". some, this is a bonus, with all the hidden extras available only serving to prove that you're getting your. money's worth when you buy a copy of Windows. On the other hand, Microsoft is often criticised for confusing users by cramming far too much in and for forcing consumers to carry the cost of all the 'bloatware' or unnecessary software included in Vista. After all, you're effectively paying for features that gobble up valuable system resources - features you might not even use.



There's certainly an argument to be had over whether a one size-tits-all policy is really the best way to approach something like an operating system. Surely it would be better to create a simple system that people can then add (or remove) features to as they see fit? This is something Microsoft has, in fact, gone some way towards addressing with its approach to Vista. Unlike XP and previous Windows releases, Microsoft opted for a multi-tiered strategy for Vista, with several different versions each aimed at a particular user base with specifically tailored features. In this way, a Vista Business user isn't paying for media features he or she won't need, for example, while home users won't find their PCs weighed down by business-related tools and utilities that are completely useless to them.

This time around, Microsoft even produced a fully strippeddown edition of Vista - Windows Vista Home Basic, which comes without many of the big features (such as Media Center and the' Aero interface) and fewer hidden ones: See page 14 for a more indepth comparison of the various versions of Vista.