Microsoft's Windows Vista

A lot of people have been asking about Windows Vista.  What is it?  Do I need it?  Here is my opinion, wait until you get your next computer to move to Windows Vista.

The marketing for Vista is Experience the Wow.  My experience was Wow is this painful.  I purchased my copy of the Bill Gates limited Windows Vista Ultimate at 11:57p.m. on January 29, 2007.  Best Buy wouldn't give it to me to walk out the door until after 12:00 a.m. on the 30th.  Along with my Vista purchase I also picked up a new 750GB SATA hard drive.  This has been my method for all previous versions of Windows, so if I have any problems it won't affect my working machine.  Being a good boy and having to work the next day I brought my purchases home and went to bed.  Trying to decide if I wanted to install after work or over the weekend when I would have more time.

I was bored and installed the new drive into my computer.  The outside says HP Pavilion m7334n, but the insides have been modified.  I purchased this machine a year ago as I was planning to build a new machine for Vista.  The machine is an AMD64x2 3800+ CPU with 2GB RAM a 400GB SATA boot drive and a 400GB IDE data drive with a Memorex DVD+-R Drive and a ATI X805XT video card, more than enough power to run Windows Vista.  After the new drive was installed I now have three hard drives, a 750GB drive for Vista, a 400GB drive for XP, and a 400GB drive for data.  I left all three drives connected to see if the issue of the Windows System drive being a letter other than C: had been addressed.  If it had, life would be good, if not I would have to reinstall, this is a learning experience.  I booted with the Windows Vista DVD, yes a DVD drive is required to install.  Everything was going fine until I entered my product key and was informed that I had to install from inside of Windows because this was an upgrade.  Previously Microsoft had you insert your install disk from your previous Operating System (OS) and it would verify it.  Since this was what I was looking to avoid in the first place, I wasn't happy.  Being that I didn't see any way around this I booted into my working Windows XP install and inserted the Windows Vista DVD.  Lucky me, my install locked up, but not before making my working Windows XP install useless.  I decided to call it a night.

The next morning I found that I couldn't boot from either the botched Vista install or the old Windows XP install.  I attempted to do a repair install on my XP drive.  The problem was that Windows XP couldn't find the previous install.  This left me no option but to reinstall Windows XP.  After installing Windows XP I successfully installed Windows Vista.  The problem was the System drive was F: instead of C:.  Well, I was expecting that, but it was time to go to work.

While at work I posted my experience to DSL Reports.  Unfortunately my experience wasn't unique.  However it seems that a work around has been found for having to install from inside of Windows, sort of.  Essentially you install Vista twice, once as a "trial version" by not entering the product key, then again once you have it installed you enter your product key.  The bad news for Microsoft is that this allows any one to do a complete install without having to own a qualifying upgrade product, saving them over $100 or costing Microsoft, depending on your point of view.

So, I came home in the evening and disconnected all of the drives except the new 750GB drive and booted from the Windows Vista CD.  I followed the work around instructions and successfully installed Windows Vista to my new 750GB SATA drive.  Little by little I have been adding things to my computer.  The problem I have been having is that previous software needed to be upgraded.  My Logitech G5 Gaming Mouse had Vista software release at the end of last year.  However, my Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard doesn't.  I was able to get the keyboard functioning partially by installing the last Windows XP software as an Administrator.  I think this is very poor on Logitech's part as both of these products are marketed to high end computer users they should have had software out no later than the day that Vista was released.  I also ran into issues with World of WarCraft not being able to install the updates unless it was run as an Administrator.  Right now I'm not having any major issues and am slowly loading software as I need it.

There is nothing so awesome or ground breaking in Windows Vista that warrants the average user going out now to get it.  Since I am in the business and am willing to put up with some of the issues of a new install, and to keep you better informed I upgraded.  Upgrading to Vista may require the purchase of updates to some of your software.  I purchased the upgrade for Roxio Media Creator and even though it is supposed to be Vista compatible I get a drive error on every boot.  My Dell 3100cn color laser printer was supported by Vista out of the box.  I haven't attempted to connect my scanner yet.

My advise at this time is to wait until you get a new computer that comes with Windows Vista.  Right now the hardware manufacturers are still writing drivers and it will be a while before an informed opinion can be make of its "improved security features".  If you recently purchased a computer and are entitled to the free, or low cost, Vista upgrade get the upgrade now but wait to install it until Vista is better supported.  If you feel you must have Vista now do not purchase the Home Basic version, it is the bargain basement version.  At a minimum get the Home Premium version which is similar in features to Windows Media Center.

Some new things with Windows Vista is that you can purchase it on line.  Additionally you can upgrade your version later without having to go to the store as all of the versions are included on the DVD.  I have not done either of these yet.