In fact, it was the best week for laptops in many a week, retailers said, with sales having been slow in recent months because buyers were apparently waiting to purchase Vista-equipped machines - and given the opportunity last week, they apparently lapped them up.
But what about until then? Are non-Vista users set to be relegated to a no-man's land of growing alienation from the mother MS ship? Are we now to be considered the bastard step-child, the family black sheep, the prodigal son? Is this the way a democracy is supposed to work - that only those prepared to invest in a majorly expensive new PC are to be privileged to experience the new useful features built into Vista?
In a capitalist democracy, the answer would be - sure! That's why they have first-class on airplanes - and why they make the people sitting in the cheap seats parade through the rarefied environment of the better section before flight attendants herd us towards our cramped space. How do they manage to make people pay double or triple for the same transportation they can get in coach? By giving the top payers better service and conditions - and pointing out to them that, but for the grace of their credit card, there go they.
But just like there are discount deals that can give you a good flying experience for the same price as the cheap seats, there are ways to get the goodness of Vista without having to upgrade your operating system, as well as your computer purchasing budget. There are a number of free tools - some offered by Microsoft itself, believe it or not - that duplicate or provide an otherwise reasonable facsimile of key Vista functions, useable as is on your current XP system.
However, those negative comments could have been referring to the beta versions, and its official release last month may have eliminated those problems.