Shortsighted Nostalgia for XP

True, Windows Vista shares many of XP's faults. It can become as ungovernable as XP -- which is another way of saying that most of the things people hate about Vista happen in XP, too.

And that, in turn, helps explain why Apple is selling so many Macs.

But at least Vista needs less tinkering and reinforcement out of the box than XP. For all the people who never touch default settings, that matters more than how an expert might fine-tune XP.

In some aspects, the worst part of the transition to Vista is over. This software has seen numerous bug fixes, including a Service Pack in March that curbed its widely hated anti-piracy defenses. Most third-party developers who hadn't updated their software for Vista have fixed their products by now. (If they haven't, they probably never will. Presumably, those dead-enders are uninterested in any new sales to the customers they've ditched in this way.)

One unpleasant aspect of Vista, however, lingers on: its ravenous appetite for memory and processor cycles. Most new desktops and laptops can sate it, but not ultracheap, ultralight laptops such as Asus's $300-and-up Eee PC.

That has led Microsoft to stretch its own rules about XP's expiration date to allow manufacturers to load XP on these low-end machines through June 30, 2010 -- with the bizarre condition that such computers not include screens bigger than 10.2 inches or hard drives larger than 80 gigabytes. (When's the last time a software developer decreed maximum hardware requirements?)

But the builders of these little laptops don't have to choose between obsolete or sluggish Microsoft software. Faced with those unappealing options, many of them are instead loading the more efficient, free and open-source Linux operating system, which happens to perform many everyday tasks just as well as Windows does.

If you're unhappy about Vista, don't get sucked in by the misguided nostalgia for XP. Root for the success of non-Windows computers. Or buy one yourself. Nothing attracts a company's attention like taking your business elsewhere.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com. Read more athttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/