MaxiMurdok's Blog-o-rama

OK, let’s get the groans outta the way. I am a MAC guy. OK there, I said it. Amazes me that there is still a separation, a rift between PC and MAC but for their part I believe Mac has revived that contempt by their ( awfully funny ) commercials with their pseudo-Gates lookin’ nerdo PC guy and the young hip feller. I’m more of a morph of both I’d say but find alot of connections between real life and those commercials. Anyway to be fair, I started my computing career in 1991 on an Amiga 2000 computer, second box was a ( shudders ) Packard Bell 50mhz PC. For my job at the time I used SGI’s ( Silicon Graphics ) Mac’s as well as NT’s so I would say - over the years I’ve had my fair share of different platforms and OS’s.

So - while I sit here writing this on a G4 Mac my PC is unloading, restarting, deleting and reinstalling software. One thing that surely hasn’t changed is how Microsoft and PC’s refer back to the Days of DOS and build their machines a little backwards. I’m NOT bashing a PC - I still prefer PC’s for some of my work, but it’s rare that I have to do a restart when installing things on my MAC - It happens, but certainly not as often as I have just in the two days of using/installing Vista.

The machine I have is a Frankenstien PC. Basically a DELL, which has its own issues. Remember when Dell’s were Swell? All my hardware checks out. Once Vista is done figuring out what the hell it wants to do in there, the machine will be an entertainment center and on occasion be used to test, build auto run CD’s and check web sites I’ve built. ( Because Windows EXPLODER sees the internet the way IT wants to and doesn’t for the most part conform to WC3 web standards - I always have to write CSS fixes,..yay! Not! ) So my expectation and requirements are low - but that doesn’t mean I don’t want a pleasant experience when installing and using this new “upgrade” that I just paid $250 American Dollars for. Oy!

Alright. I was running XP Pro. Other than your basic Office package installed, and Adobe Photoshop/Dreamweaver there wasn’t much on the machine. I started installing the 32 bit version of Vista ( a Microsoft Cert. Tech told me to avoid the 64 bit - yikes! ) around 2pm. By 8pm it was still installing. This isn’t an old PC either - 2.0 ghz, gig of ram.... so yeah,... I was thinking my machine locked up as the disclaimer on the packaging ( which in my humble opinion is where alot of the $250 price tag went ) said the “install may take several hours”. Er,...note to self. Microsoft time: Several Hours equals HALF A DAY!

I let it be. I looked online, and I wasn’t the only one who fell into the worm hole of time caused by this install. I actually went to bed, hoping that in the morning Ballmer-Claus ( Steve Ballmer Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation ) would surprise me and alas - HE DID! There was Vista, installed.

...not configured. So systematically it starts to go thru and kill my software. It hated Norton, it wasn’t compatible. I don’t blame Vista for that. Come on, Vista was supposed to be released what,... 3 years ago - it’s not like Microsoft surprised these software companies and released this under their noses. Granted, I can download patches and updates and this and that... so that’s basically what I have been doing for a DAY. Updating and deleting and reinstalling. I’d like to tell you all about my experience actually USING Vista, but I haven’t yet.

I have seen Internet Exploder ( explorer ) 7 and as a web design/development guy - it’s nice. I just wish they’d quit doing what AOL has tried to do over the years. Reformat and rewrite the internet to their specs. For those of you who don’t know... there is a web standard, and old Frontpage and the IE browser basically ignores these standards and also writes their own,...um,... stuff. So while on a Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc browsers a web page generally look the same when designed to W3C spec - it won’t look that way in IE usually. The thing that sucks, most computer users use IE - and you always have to dummy your site down, or write hacks to make it all work. BUT to the new 7 browser’s credit - it sure is pretty. Has tabs, and overall I like it. I won’t use it - but it’s nice. I went right back to using Firefox.
Other than that - I haven’t had a chance to do ANYTHING because all my time has been spent setting up the OS environment. I wanted to post this and let you all know. Bottom line is, it appears to be pretty swell and I am sure it will eventually work well. I am also sure it will be just like all previous versions of the Microsoft my day will start downloading updates, I’ll get infected, I’ll swear alot...so, nothing new. If you are considering Vista, and have an older machine,... I would just go ahead and buy a new box with Vista installed. If you thrive on your computer and you are a PC user - I would wait! Actually you have no choice...even if you buy it and install it, you have to wait! Or get a admin to install it. Best case, I would have another computer ready to work and go so you don’t have any down time - but not everyone can do that. I think overall this operating system will do well. I’m using Ultimate which was an upgrade and ran me $250. The Full Version is closer to $400! I don’t think most of you would need Ultimate. The Home Premium is what most should use. The regular Home Basic, looks pretty much like a waste. There is also a Business version. I say either Home Premium or Ultimate should be your choices. Kinda dopey to have all these different version, I’d like to think I know what I am doing and even I was baffled - standing there at CompUSA looking at boxes and saying “ Well this one has this and this and this, but this one has this and this and not that but it does have this which this doesn’t but that does yet it doesn’t have that or this! OY!!!” That’s not a good plan for consumers who still are a little overwhelmed. Again,... MAC OSX, there’s one and it does everything you need it to do. Bias? Yeah! I told ya that. ;-)

I have Vista now. I’ll work and design on my Mac mostly. And that’s pretty much that. I can only hope this gives you a little insight before you jump into the Vista world. I may update this if I ever actually get a chance to use my PC! ;-)

Thank you that is all. Over.
-maxi