Vista Additions

• Vista received a new look and several new core features not available in XP Professional. The OS uses the Windows Aero visual theme, adding animations, transparent menu bars and other aesthetic upgrades. It also includes a new search bar in the Start menu, a visual window selection tool for improved multitasking and improved tablet PC support.
  
  

Program Upgrades

• Vista and XP Professional come with many of the same core program components, though Vista has newer versions of software such as Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Photo Gallery, and Backup and Restore Center. Other shared programs include Notepad, Wordpad, Solitaire, Paint and Windows Contacts/Address Book.
  
  

Vista Editions

• Microsoft designed XP Professional for use in the workplace, and it contains many features that assist the business user, including file encryption, remote desktop access, Windows Server domain support and central management tools for network control. The Vista Home Basic and Home Premium versions lack equivalents for many of these workplace features. Microsoft offers the Vista Business and Vista Ultimate editions as successors to XP Professional, editions which include additional business-central applications such as Windows Fax and Scan, and Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore.
  
  

System Requirements

• Windows Vista has higher system requirements than XP Professional, and computers that run XP may require an upgrade to run Vista properly. XP Professional requires a processor running at 233 MHz, 64 MB of RAM memory and 1.5 gigabytes of space on the system's hard drive. Vista ups the requirements to a 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and 15 GB of space for installation.