No, this post isn't meant to be an exhaustive review (or even a simple one)...there are tons of those already written up by folks who review software for a living.  This will just be a short blurb.

My first impression after installing the final release recently?  It's a huge improvement performance-wise over RC2, as to be expected.  Installation took just over 20 minutes (nice), then another 5 minutes adding optional Windows components and joining it to a domain (and this is all on a slow 5400 RPM drive).  Boot up time is around 20 seconds from a cold standstill, though I expect this to fade over time like it has in every other version of Windows.  XP takes almost an hour under identical configuration, and my boot time has slowed to a painful 90 seconds or so.

Biggest complaint?  It's the same as everyone else's: UAC is getting on my last nerve.  Even just deleting a shortcut from the desktop throws up 2 message boxes.  Yes, I know it can be turned off, but doesn't that defeat the purpose?  Also, some hardware companies (ahem, Creative Labs) are taking their sweet time getting decent drivers out for Vista.  Granted they still have almost 3 months before Vista hits retail shelves to get their act together, but at the very least some beta drivers would suffice for now.

Will I be upgrading?  Probably not anytime soon.  Well, at least not until I get a replacement laptop in as my daily workhorse...but the point is that I have a machine that "just works" and works quite well actually.  Developing on IIS7 would be nice, but fruitless since Vista Server won't be released until 2nd half of '07, and even then adoption rates probably won't take off for a year or so.  In a nutshell, I'll just wait to see how everything pans out for other folks before diving in.

That all being said, I do like Vista...as what it's meant to be: A consumer level release for Windows.  My XP Pro has served me well for 5+ years now, no reason why it can't continue to do so.

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