I’m planning to buy a PC (I do like Mac but I cannot afford to miss out on tons of softwares available for PC).

If I buy a PC now then I have one more confusion, should I buy a PC with Windows XP or a PC with Windows Vista. Yes, Windows XP is still available in the market. Check the screenshot below from Dell’s website (small business section).

Downside of waiting for Windows 7:
- Going as per Microsoft’s past records, it takes almost a year to get a stable version of any new OS. So wait period is now actually 1.5 years.
- May be few of the softwares/tools I use in my XP may not be compatible with Windows 7. Though Windows 7 has a solution for it (check out benefits section).
- Hardware compatibility issues: My HP printer which is just a year old may not have a compatible driver yet (which  I guess should have been taken care of in Windows 7).
- Too much of a waiting time right now (6-9 months) for first official release.

Potential benefits of waiting for Windows 7:
- The biggest surprise: Windows 7 comes with XP Mode, which will run XP applications in an XP compatibility box, but make them appear as if they are running directly in Windows 7 itself. So, the users the best of both worlds – the compatibility of XP and the shinier new Windows 7 interface.
- You won’t have to buy XP separately – Windows 7 EULA (end-user licence agreement) includes XP as well. In essence, you get two operating systems for the price of one [I need to verify this].
- Windows 7 has reduced the memory footprint
- Windows 7 really is more responsive (Vista had some issues with the graphics device interface)
- A slicker and better UI.

Some screen shots from Windows 7 RC:

Probably, I think I will buy a PC right now with upgraded hardware at the cheapest possible price (save some money for the OS upgrade). If the Windows 7 is really good enough then I might upgrade my OS in 2010. Definitely Windows 7 looks promising to me.

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