Fire Walk With Me Through MS Vista
April 5th, 2007 at 10:23 pm by Preston Taylor HolmesI’m really not an early adopter. Unless you’re talking about some new, obscure off-brand vodka that is inexplicably cheap. (Val-U-Rite, perhaps?)
(This is a computer geek post filled with salty language, so feel free to skip it)
However, it’s been time to get a new desktop for the Holmes household for quite some time. Thanks to a little unanticipated vacation dough from the day job, I was able to splurge a bit. So I got me a new Dell (I wouldn’t buy any other Windows machine) with a 250 GB harddrive and 4 GB of RAM and Vista Ultimate.
I’m really not excited about Vista, but I’m going to have to deal with it sooner or later, so why not sooner? Worst case scenario is that it sucks ass and I can install Win XP Pro, which, after more than a half-a-decade on the market, is finally stable and reliable.
And don’t get me started on this Mac shit. If I wanted to talk about Macs, I’d have grown a pussy and changed my pen name to Penelope Tabitha Holmes. But I don’t, so I haven’t and I won’t.
Oh, I’m just messing with you Mac misfits. Don’t get all angry – I know how sensitive you are. For the record, I used to be a Mac guy before I started doing Windows-based application development quite some time ago, which caused me to jump ship. I’m nothing if not practical.
I’ve just powered up my new machine and the very first driver I try to install – for my Epson Perfection 2580 Scanner – is incompatible with Windows Vista. At least they were kind enough to tell me.
On the bright side, that’s the only snag I’ve hit so far. The free copy of Office 2007 Pro that I picked up in San Diego last month is working swimmingly, as is Photoshop 6.0, Quicken 07, Cute FTP Pro and a few other minor apps.
Consequently, I’m growing cautiously optimistic about the move. I’ve still yet to install IIS 6.0, MS SQL Server 05 and Visual Studio 2005, all of which I expect to be blood-curdling nightmares of horrific proportions.
I know you’re all very interested in how this goes, so I’ll be sure and update you frequently on how it goes. Or I may never speak of it again. I just don’t know.
NOTE TO ANONYMOUS DRIVEL: I just accidentally whacked two of your comments that got caught in the spam filter. SORRY! Please retype them verbatim and I’ll usher them through. – PTH
April 5th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
geez, you’re such a geek.
April 5th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Somehow Vista Ultimate magically worked for me – twice! (except for a printer that HP doesn’t support).
Good Luck!
April 6th, 2007 at 3:53 am
The main problem with Vista is, I’ve got a huge chunk of what I like to call ‘free software’, that other’s like to call ‘not free software’. From what I’ve read, Vista makes it stop working,or will soon. Therefore, XP ’till it stops working.
April 6th, 2007 at 6:23 am
Mac users are such fags. I hope it goes well.
April 6th, 2007 at 6:36 am
What, no linux? No Apache? No Perl? No PHP?
And you call yourself an application developer. VBasic just doesn’t get you that title anymore, even in a borg environment. Maybe C# does, but why bother… I mean, it’s still Windows.
C’mon, PTH. Get your hands dirty. Roll your own linux kernel… or at least get your favorite flavored distro and kick your addiction.
BTW, since you’re rolling in dough, why not go SCSI RAID? I imagine you’ll be keeping this box for a while, so get some reliable hardware. When you have to thrash it with a Louisville Slugger every time Vista disappoints, you’ll be glad that at least the drives still work.
April 6th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Drivel, everyone knows that only socialists use Linux. And I never said I was an application developer – I said that I got into application development. Nuance.
I see, Kevin. I’m ashamed of you. You probably download MP3s illegally as well. Miscreant.
You are so right, Penelope.
April 6th, 2007 at 11:00 am
I’ve been running Vista for a while now and I really like it. What’s really cool is you can access just about everything with the search feature. No more navigating through popup menus- you want word? Just type word. Want Quicken? Just type quicken.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
“What, no linux? No Apache? No Perl? No PHP?
And you call yourself an application developer…”
Ughh. It’s this kind of geek-speak that makes me wanna switch careers. I refuse to hire anyone like this.
This is the kind of guy that was probably beat up on the playground and tortured endlessly as a child but is now “fighting back” with his mighty nerd sword.
April 6th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Don’t beat up on Drivel too much, Tiny E. His heart’s in the right place, he’s just a programming language elitist.
April 6th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
IIS, SQL and VS 2005 won’t be an issue (at least they weren’t for me)
Did you try to do an XP compatible install on the scanner?
April 6th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
PTH,
Tagged as spam? Man, you run a tight ship. Thanks for the note though. I feared a conspiracy for a moment… thought maybe my reinforced, pixie dust coated, steel supported worldview was getting just a bit too close to the truth.
— original naughty bits to follow —
April 6th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
PTH,
Nuance? On a tech thread? This is black vs white, up vs down, he-man she-woman haters club vs John Edwards. We don’t need no stinkin’ nuance. We need binary.
Besides, it’s only socialists who use Linux and don’t pay for it. I’m a partially money-grubbing capitalist.
TinyElvis,
Hey, I’d refuse to do work for you, so I guess we can draw up an acceptable contract where we agree not to conduct business. Sounds like a match made in heaven. Shall I have my attorney call yours?
PS – It’s a joke, TE. It’s just surprising that you’re exposing a hidden hostility towards those who would “fight back” with their mighty nerd swords. Were you a bully/torturer (or did you cheer them on) to those who were considered the weaker strain on the playground prairie? Did a “nerd” beat you out of something when everyone grew up and the environment changed?
April 6th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Yes. You found me out. If your programming career doesn’t work out, the FBI could use a few good men like yourself.
April 6th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Good to know, TE. I’ll sort that helpful career suggestion into my main circular file ASAP and try to ward off those vindictive nerds as a professional courtesy.
April 10th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
IIS? IIS?
Why not just post your social security and pin numbers in the sidebar?
April 11th, 2007 at 6:53 am
Did we just witness a Clippy sighting?
PTH, you don’t even know the troubled path upon which you’re about to embark.
BTW, hi John. Tell the Mrs. “Hello” for me.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Don’t worry, Drivel. John comes by once a quarter to make sure we’re not stealing more than 10% of our material from him. So far we’re at about 7% for Q2.