If you download a pirate copy of Windows Vista you might not be able to use Aero graphics. But wait, there is more. If you don’t have enough video memory or RAM, you also won’t be able to run Aero, oh, and if you decided to purchase Windows Vista Home Basic, you won’t even have Aero.

But it’s not just pirates who will be blocked from Windows’ fanciest graphics. The Aero display also won’t be available to those who buy Windows Vista Basic, the low-end consumer version of the operating system. And even those with higher-end versions won’t be able to see the fancy graphics if they don’t have enough memory, lack sufficient graphics horsepower or have a graphics chip that doesn’t support a new Vista driver.

And so the point in upgrading to Vista is…? Seems like they have systematically dropped every key feature that interested me when they first announced their “next-generation” operating system, and it is looking more and more like the Windows 98SE to Windows ME upgrade (if you can call it that).

Until the first reviews come out of the full version, I say stick with Windows XP, and avoid Vista unless reviewers give it the go-ahead.