Even as the hype machine turns to Windows 7, many businesses are still conflicted about whether to embrace Windows Vista. Well, I took the plunge a while ago, and here's what I learned.Over on bMighty, I've posted an extensive report from the Windows Vista trenches, but I wanted to share my important observations with the folks here at InformationWeek.

Bottom line, on a modern computer, the current versions of Windows Vista work perfectly well -- and it's a relative bargain. The widely reported incompatibilities are largely a thing of the past (at least for me they were), and you can find quite powerful Vista laptops for around $500, not much more than a puny netbook (at least I did). Performance is perfectly snappy, too, especially if you turn off Aero.

Plus, the usability differences with Windows XP are pretty much a wash. Some things are better, some things are worse, and it's just not all that difficult to switch back and forth. I often have my home Vista machine sitting right next to my office XP machine, and I have no problems using both at the same time (almost).

My advice: If you're thinking of upgrading your XP machines to Vista, don't bother. But if your company is buying new computers, it just doesn't make any sense to pay extra or jump through hoops to go back to Windows XP. That's just crazy talk. Besides, in my initial testing, upgrading to Windows 7 is a lot easier from Vista than it is from XP.

Get All The Details From bMighty.com: My View Of Vista -- Living With The Much-Maligned Operating System