First Look at Windows Vista

Well, I am back to blogging after emerging from a vortex here at work over the past five months. Read more about it (and cats) in this post on my personal blog.

Recently, my skip-level manager asked every program manager (PM) in my group to install Windows Vista. I did, and I thought I would post some of my findings: good or bad.

I installed an interim build which means that I am at the mercy of whatever the state of things was the day the build was created. I felt like taking some chances.

First: The Upgrade

I was leaving for vacation on July 21st for Utah. I thought I would kick off the upgrade and see what happens. I started it up, got through the preliminary screens, and I left it run while I headed home. I wouldn't be back for a week, and I thought: whatever happens is fine with me because I'm going on vacation!

The only little hangup I had getting the upgrade to start was clearing away the required disk space on my C drive. I have so much stuff on there, most of it I don't even know if I will ever need. But, that is the problem really- I don't know what I may need so I tend to keep everything. I used to do this at home as well, but fortunately I am no longer a packrat, and I am trying to get rid of stuff at my house (I'm in eBay mode).

When I returned from vacation, the upgrade had succeeded, and EVERYTHING worked...basically. I still cannot install my bread-and-butter printer I use, and I'm not sure why.

That said, I was pleased to see that a) all of my files were still around- whew! and b) I could get some work done.

My Office 2003 installation worked without problems, and I was able to get caught up on things for my job.

Now, this does not mean that Vista did not have me a little perplexed about a few things. I'll mention those in my next post.

Rock Thought for the Day: Man, I have purchased so much music in the past few months. Where do I start? Well, as you all know, I have always been a big Johnny Cash devotee- even before Joaquin Phoenix was an embryo in 1974. I recently added the final Johnny Cash American Recordings CD to my collection: A hundred highways.

Johnny's voice is clearly pretty weak on some of the tracks, but it is still loaded with character. Particularly moving is the song "I came to believe". If any of you have fought addition or battled your demons and looked for a higher power, then you will be singing to this one as if you'd joined Johnny in a heavenly choir. I have fought a battle in my soul, and I have somehow always known that Johnny understands.

Rock On