Be Connected - Electronics

My computer history has been entirely born out of necessity. I needed my computer to work well so that it could run the games that I wanted to play, and so I learned what I needed to do to keep it running. I didn’t major in engineering or computer science in college, nor did I ever spend too much time trying to build a computer from scratch. I don’t care if my computer is perfectly efficient, as long as it runs well, and doesn’t get in my way. I expect the same thing from an operating system, and that is why I feared the inevitable transition to Windows Vista. There are many people who are like me, who see Microsoft and their many ways of intruding on our lives before and who see Vista as just another way to make us use Internet Explorer and MSN. I didn’t want to upgrade to Vista, and I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to. When I finally realized (and lamented -I know… i caved) the fact that I could no longer play some of the best new games if I didn’t make the transition, I knew it was time to go to the local computer store and just give it a shot. Hey, you can always reformat and go back to XP right?

More after the jump:

Buying

The buying process for vista is kind of like buying a car. You can buy the model that looks nice, but doesn’t have AC (Vista Home Basic). You can get the model that will get you there, has all the features you’d like, and a reasonable price (Vista Home Premium). You can get the business car with GPS and other handy gadgets (Vista Business). Or you could get the sports car that can go 400 mph even though the speed limit is 65, has 40 gadgets you’ll never use, looks really cool, and is twice as expensive as the reasonable model (Vista Ultimate). The latter of these comes in a black box in order to make you look like you’re a “pro” when you go through the check out line, but beyond that is only useful for putting the box on your head and running around your house going, “vroom, vroom.” After laughing for about 30 minutes at the “signature edition” of Vista Ultimate (I don’t want Bill Gates’ signature unless its on a check), I decided to purchase Vista Home Premium and call it day.

Installing

I was really hoping for the installation to go horribly wrong. I wanted to be able to say things like “Vista broke my computer,” and “stupid Microsoft.” While there were some slight hitches in the overall installation processes (one of them not really being Vista’s fault, but more my own), it all went surprisingly well. I was upgrading from Windows XP Professional, which all the “cool” kids use, and I assumed that I would be able to upgrade to any version of Vista without any problem. The minute I dropped the CD into my drive I was informed that I was wrong. You can only upgrade to a version of vista that is “at the same, or higher level of ‘pro’ than what you have now.” If i wanted to do the clean “upgrade” feature, I would have to get the race car. I was actually somewhat excited, because I had found my first major hitch in the upgrade unexpired. Then Microsoft had to go and ruin my fun with an easy solution that fixed the problem. In order to install this new version of Windows I would have to reformat my machine. Those who are familiar with the reformat process know it means long hours of backing up every file on your computer only to forget that folder that had your resume and the 40 page paper you write sophomore year in college that you really wanted to save. To my surprise, this new version of Vista actually saves the files from your old installation in a file called “Windows.old,” and lets you go in afterwards and just pull them over to the new installation.

Once the installation was complete, it was time to take care of the driver situation. If your computer is new enough to run the games that require Vista to run, then you should have very little problems with drives on Vista. My only problem came in the form of a wireless network card. The card that I was using was about 2 years old, and the drivers had not been updated for it. In order to get a connection in my apartment, I needed a wireless card. This meant I had to go buy a new wireless card that had vista support. I can’t blame Microsoft for this one however, since it was Netgear who didn’t update the drivers. The bottom line on this issue is that it is always a good idea to check to see if your hardware has compatible drivers before you go buy a new operating system…Lesson learned.

The Vista Experience

After the installation process, the real fun begins. The first boot of this new operating system will make you check your computer for apple logos. This is a fact, and everyone knows it. The people who designed the UI and look and feel of Windows Vista were at best “inspired” by OSX. It really does feel like a mac. It takes a little while before you realize, “that’s a good thing.” OSX is has a fantastic design, and is probably the easiest to use and most complete operating system on the market. If it wasn’t for 70% of games being Windows only, I would have switched to a Mac long ago (sorry, but running windows on a Mac is not a solution). I just got the look and feel like I like from Macs, a bunch of new features (Windows Aero is awesome), and didn’t have to suffer the limitation that comes with being an Mac user. Everything that I have installed so far has run smoothly (World of Warcraft actually improved in performance substantially on my machine), and I have had no problems with installing or playing any games so far. After spending some time with Vista, all of my fears and worries have just about evaporated. I’m actually very glad I switched

The bottom line

So you know about what happened with me, but you want to know if Vista will work for you. Well, first you need to go use their upgrade advisor . If your machine isn’t “new,” you should probably just stick with XP until you’re ready to upgrade. If you’re buying a new machine soon, there is no reason to not get Vista pre-installed. It will run well, and it will be well worth it. If you’re a gamer: just switch already. The fact is, if you want to play a large portion of new (and very good) games you will have to have a Vista machine. If you continue to hold the grudge, and don’t at least give Vista a try then you’ll just have to suffer the consequence of watching everyone else play games that come out on the Games for Windows brand. If you are scared to try it, just remember that you can always reformat back to XP if things go wrong.

So relax, and go check it out.

Kris