Collins’ Onovia

When I built my new computer back in April, I was psyched that I could get a 64bit OS, and have a shit ton of RAM installed on it. Immediately I ordered 4Gig, which was a huge upgrade from the 1Gig that I had in my Windows XP Pro machine. Right off the bat, I noticed that it was quite a task to hunt down 64bit drivers for my hardware.

As time went on I discovered that software like Google Desktop was not supported on a 64bit platform. Not only the fact that some software “isn’t supported”, but the task of making sure to hunt down the 64bit build of every program is a pain in the ass. Keeping track of two “Program Files” folders just makes that pain in my ass that much worse.

Some friends recommended that I drop back down to Windows XP. I think that I can admit that Vista has grown on me. I love the layout, the look, and the general feel of it. Vista has yet to give me any issues like many people have. I’m sticking with Vista, and have purchased a 32bit home premium copy. I know I’ll loose some of my RAM, but to loose the hastle that comes with a 64bit os with that is just fine.

This is my last planned reformat / partition for a long time, so I’ve also decided to go ahead and install a copy of Ubuntu right next to it. I’ve always wanted to take a real dive into a linux desktop. This should prove to be interesting!

Announced on July 22nd, 2005 Released on January 30, 200, Microsoft Vista’s “Aero” has most high end computers looking quite fancy. It’s quite the eye candy.

So, I wanted to install Vista on my computer. Here’s a brief description of this past Monday:

1. Backup needed files from C: to D:
2. Pop in Vista Ultimate
3. Install for 50 minutes, sometimes looking locked up
4. Get all Windows updates and drivers installed.
5. Find out that my video drivers are just plain shitty.
6. Spend 45 Minutes installing Windows XP
7. Spend 2+Hours running Windows Updates
8. Restore all software again.

In all, once the annoyances on Vista are disabled, Vista with Aero is hot.

Then, I see this video:

After watching that video I think to myself: “I spend all that money on Windows Vista Ultimate; A product in development for almost 2 years… and then something 100x better comes up from nowhere… free and opensource.”

In closing, I must say that Beryl takes the cake here. What do you think?