New Vistas in User Experience

Being the humungous geek that I am, I had to install Windows Vista on my laptop. For those who don’t know, Vista is Microsoft’s new operating system, the successor to Windows XP. (The finished version is supposed to be released within the next couple of months. I am using one of the test versions.) After sampling it, I have to say that I am a big fan. Well to put it more accurately, I think I am in love. Vista is everything I ever wanted from an operating system and more. And it does it in style. Those of you who have been drooling over Apple’s Mac OSX because it looks pretty, can be jealous no longer. Vista has all that see-thru/cool effect stuff but does it in Windows style. Things are still where you expect them to be (for the most part), while there are oodles of really amazing features running in the background. But this isn’t about all the nifty features Vista carries. If you want to read about those, I can introduce you to a closer personal friend of mine (Hint: His name can rhyme with kugel (depending on how you pronounce it).) It’s just that every second of Vistage is a pleasure for me. The way it flows, the way it responds to my touch is a pleasure to behold. Every second is ecstasy. And that makes me sad. It makes me sad because I know that it’s going to wear off. The novelty is going to wane. And I am going to be left with an operating system that I take for granted. All the little features that I appreciate right now are going to be old hat. It’s all going to become routine. And I am going to be left with the same (albeit slightly prettier and more functional) Windows experience I had before.

*Sigh* Why can’t things stay new and fresh forever?

PS. If for some reason you are still stuck on the whole kugel thing, try making the “U” a little softer and longer.