Outgoing PC Magazine editor Jim Louderback has caused quite a stir with his column slamming Vista . Me, I'm sticking with Microsoft's glitzy, though resource-hogging, operating system.

Louderback's criticism centers on what he sees as big problems with Vista's sleep mode and with the way it handles network connectivity. Here's his money quote:

"The upshot is that even after nine months, Vista just ain't cutting it. I definitely gave Microsoft too much of a free pass on this operating system: I expected it to get the kinks worked out more quickly. Boy, was I fooled! If Microsoft can't get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux."

Of course, the Slashdot crowd is in a tizzy. Some posters have even gone so far as to suggest that it's easy for Louderback to slam Microsoft now that he's moving on to a new Web 2.0 job. (He's leaving PC Magazine to become CEO of online video site Revision3.) Louderback replies on Slashdot (here), saying that he "didn't leave because I was sick of pandering to Windows , or any of those other suggestions. PCMag has always been, and will continue to be, independent. The editors there make the best decisions about products based on their voluminous knowledge and experience, not because of advertisers. Witness the strong Mac-based reviews recently, for example."

OK, so we'll stipulate that editors don't pull their punches. Still, it's interesting to note that the conversational imperative of the Web makes for more of these from-the-gut columns than we had in the old days of the monolithic media.

As for me, I respectfully disagree with Louderback. Here are five big reasons I'm sticking with Vista:

Read the rest of Alex's thoughts in the Wolfe's Den.

Alex Wolfe
awolfe@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com

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