My "experiment" of running Vista x64 on my relatively new MacBook Pro 17" 2.4ghz Core 2 Duo is over. The operating system adds little value except in the form of eye-candy. As a "function over form" kind of guy, I couldn't stomach the sluggishness of the Vista interface (and I had Aero turned off.)
I reverted back to Windows XP Pro and it feels so snappy - it feels like a brand new machine! Now I know XP is a relatively "old" OS and the same was said of XP's sluggishness 5 years ago. The problem is Vista doesn't seem to offer much beyond what XP offers (at least for my day-to-day work.)
I should add that I recently upgraded to OS X Leopard on the Mac partition. Let's just say that Leopard didn't wow me either. After downloading the Leopard image from Apple's Developer Connection site, the day of the retail release (MSDN Subscription is so much better in this regard.) I finally booted Leopard up for the first time at 5am. The verdict? 4 hours of downloading, 30 minutes of installing...and what difference do I see? A shiny, reflective Dock. For the Mac uninitiated, the Dock is Apple's version of QuickStart taskbar toolbar.
The Final Verdict: Microsoft & Apple need to stop adding fluff & start innovating.
