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Our Experience
We have implemented serveral new Vista systems, and software configurations. While Vista provides a ton of new features for users, it also has serveral setbacks. Our review of Vista is base on first hand administration and configurations. Our critique of Vista is based on the following criteria; speed, driver compatibility, security, networking, and easy of use.

Speed
Most of Vista users will also be previous Windows user. Therefore, we are using Window XP Professional as the benchmark by which to compare Vista.

Compare to XP, our over-all assessment of Vista is that it is very slow. Vista signigicantly slower then XP even with a more powerful hardware. We have XP installed on a Desktop (XP-PC) with the following spec:
512 mb of ram pc 2100
AMD 2100 (1.8gz) processor
80 GB hard drive

We have Vista installed on a desktop (Vista-PC) with the following spec:
2 GB dual core PC 4100
Intel dual core 2.2 GZ processor
260 GB hard drive

With the more powerful hardware install on the Vista-PC, Window Vista still operated slowly. For example in a perfect (no other application running) condition it took Vista about 5 seconds more time then XP to open a file. In an imperfect (various applicaitons running) condition, it took Vista up to 9 seconds more time than XP to open the same files.

Another major problem that makes Vista operating systems significantly slower than XP is "Sleep Mode". When idle Vista goes into sleep mode in an effort to conserve power. Unfortunately when Vista awake from sleep mode it was almost no-responsive when processing client request. In a lot of cases we have to reboot the entire systems.

Driver Compatibility
Vista is a new operating systems which is still in its infancy. Conequently there are fewer hardware and software driver that are compatible. We experienced problem with a Netgear RJ45 network card which was advertised on the product box as Vista Certified. When we installed the network card, it was not Vista plug and play. We had to basically use another network card. Even though a hardware might be Vista compatible, the product drivers might have to be downloaded from the manufacturer's website. Over time hardware vendors will produce more compatible out-of-the-box Vista drivers

Networking
Compare to XP networking, Vista offers much better networking features. However, we encountered some significant setback when it came to running client\server applications on Vista Machines. For example in one scenario we worked with three client/server applications, Peachtree, Timeslip, and Office Calendar Sharing. During our configuration of these applications on Vista network we experienced "system non-responsive" error, network disconnection, etc. For all three client/server applications it was impossible to deploy the the client part of the application via a Vista network. Peachtree 2008 server was installed on a Vista machine. After installation we could not deployed the client application via a Vista Nework even though we were connected to the Vista PC. Overall, while Vista offers much better network features than XP, Vista is not robust when it comes to the smooth and speedy operation of Vista client/server applications via network.

Security
Windows Vista is by far the most secure desktop operating system ever released by Microsoft. It offers builtin spyware, and malware features. However, there's no reliable virus scan protection. Vista also offers bit locker technology for protecting data on desktop hard drive as well as external portable hard drive. This technology can protect your data in cases where your computer or the portable drive get stolen. Despite all the new security features in Vista, their UAC (user account control) feature gets a bad reputation. The UAC ask the user every time a new process is about to be started on Vista. This feature can become annoying especially when the average user don't know what's really going on with the computer.