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Starting out with Vista Home Basic
It's seems to be generally accepted that Vista Home Premium is the 'sweet spot' for home users. I've used Ultimate but neither of the other home versions, so perhaps it's time to try out Basic and see how I get on.
The table of the back of the box is obviously intended to make me put it back on the shelf in favour of Home Premium. There are just two ticks out of a possible ten. They are better security and the new Instant Search, both features that I look for in any operating system (or at least when looking at alternatives in the form of Linux). So what am I missing?
Windows Aero. No 3D interface with transparent title bars for me. It looks pretty but never made me work any better when I had it. And I had no hesitation to turn it off when I though it was harming battery life (erroneously as it turned out - the graphics card was fine, it was the 512MB of RAM that was the problem)
Windows Mobility Center and Tablet PC support. Now this might prompt some fond nostalgia to Ultimate. I like using a graphics tablet and the handwriting recognition in Premium/Ultimate is very good.
Windows Meeting Space. Never used it so I can't comment
Windows Media Center. Not an issue for me on a notebook.
Windows Media Center on TVs with XBox 360. Again nothing I've ever used/needed.
Backup features. I do spend a lot of time trying to get people to backup so this is potentially a serious omission. I'll be checking to see how the excellent DriveImageXML works in Home Basic.
Business Networking and Remote Desktop. I do occasionally use remote desktop but then there are free alternatives such as VNC.
Bitlocker. I never got around to enabling Bitlocker when I had Ultimate, although as I use my notebook on the move I ought to do something to protect my files. Then again there are plenty of free ways of doing this.
So I don't think I really headed for any major disappointments. But I'll keep you posted.
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