New Windows Vista OS? Yawn.

Some of you may be wondering about the new Windows operating system called Vista, due out in early 2007, and whether you'll want to get it. My reaction is a yawn.

It offers no real break-through changes to the current Windows XP. From everything I've read, it's not something you'll want to break the doors down to have. If you're the type who has to have all the latest bells and whistles on your PC, you might want it...otherwise stick with the tried and true XP.

True, Vista does offer advancements in visual and media related areas such as 3D views of folders and a transparent task bar.

It also offers several new ways to search for files on your PC, but is not in my opinion any better than XP's search feature.

Early reports from developers and ordinary users who have tested it found complaints of repeated crashes and an interface that too frequently forces users to click on warning boxes.

It also will require more memory, or RAM (minimum of 512MB) than most PCs now have.

For the "deluxe" version with 3D graphics it will need a minimum of 128MB of memory in video cards (device that runs your monitor) while most now have 64MB.

Microsoft offers a free test at its Vista Section that will anyalyze your PC and tell you what you'll need to run it.

Early estimates on the price range from $199 for a basic home version to $399 for the all-in-one Vista Ultimate.

Upgrading an existing XP system will be tricky and expensive. My advice is to stay with XP. Down the road when you buy a new PC it will already come installed on it, and hopefully they'll have the bugs worked out of it by then.