I will use WXP (for stability) until Vista SP1. It's fun to use new toys.

I don't have x64. How is its stability?

Heard MS released RC1 for Vista today.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060905/sftu070.html?.v=67

i used to have a contact who was a bona fide ms beta tester, who would let me use his log-in to download the latest beta/rc. i loved playing with the latest build.

I have a 64-bit processor.  It is rock solid running 32-bit applications.  On a 64-bit operating system, stability is fine, but support is the issue.  MOST drivers now have 64 bit versions, but some don't.  Also, some programs don't come in 64-bit yet.  Since I use Linux, I can usually get around that by compiling the program myself.

Unfortunatly, I can't recommend 64-bit to the average user yet, but it won't be much longer before it becomes mainstream.  Vista will help that along considerable, as it is designed from the ground up with 64-bit in mind.

Every time I do the same thing.  I say "I'm not going to use that until it’s been around."  The consensus here.  It is the *smart* thing to do.

But I then every time I end up killing myself to get stuff working before its even been released.

I posted this poll, and then an hour later I noticed in my latest package from MS I had BOTH an x86 version of Vista and what was marked an x64 version.  Of course I installed it on my dual opteron system relpacing what was a Beta Windows 64.

Very sweet!  Most impressed.  I was a die hard NT 4.0 user before XP (I actually had a wokstation with a posted run time that exceeded 3 months - try to do that with a system today).  I hated 95/98 sooo much i wouldn't even use 2000 cuz it*looked* like 98.  Of course that was silly, but the difference between NT 4.0 and XP is comparable to the difference I saw with x64 Vista.  It has a lot of pretty cool features.  It is almost like a mac user and a freakazoid tweaker (most of use would qualify) got a hold of the designer.  It is clean.

What surprised/impressed me:
- immediately recognized SATA RAID drives - install was a breeze (as I have been installing NT OS on raid drives for 5 years now – this was a first)
- clean install with all questions asked up front (instead of intermittently during the process) I have created slipstreamed OS disks just to avoid the *need* to observe XP copy files in case it asks a question during install.  I always thought that was moronic.
- it has a super nice user interface – the revamp of the aesthetic is very pleasing
- Windows had a driver for my Quadro FX4000
- the security *appears* to be raised, with regular warnings reminiscent of zonealarm (this became a nuisance - I hope there is a way to turn this off)

What was an aggravation:
-I couldn’t find drivers for my DiNovo bluetooth keyboard, the Audigy2 ZS Sound card, or my second video card, a Radeon 9200SE (pci).  No one seems interested in providing vista drivers as of yet.
-the security warnings became excessive

I can tell you though, once the drivers become prevalent - this is a NICE os.  No doubt I will switch to it.