Windows Vista Woes
The word is out. Windows Vista is not the solution to anyone’s prayers, especially not mine.
As some of you know, I’m getting ready to return to the UK for a much needed vacation and to embark on a personal quest to walk the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall. 
For this trip I’m going to be away from home about three weeks, so I’ve been looking at ways to keep in touch with friends and family here at home. E-mail is convenient and far cheaper than long distance phone calls, and since I am also taking my camera it would be nice to be able to view my pictures clearly without waiting until I get home. The logical solution to these issues was that I would take my laptop with me. That seemingly simple solution is proving to be far more complicated than ever I anticipated.
For a normal business traveler the prospect of taking one’s laptop is hardly problematic. This trip, however, is not for business and is hardly what most people would call normal. Long story short, I’ve been planning and plotting and figuring out ways that I can carry all of my digital gadgetry with me for the entire 84 miles of the Roman ruin known as Hadrian’s Wall. Problem thus boils down to a simple matter of weight. If I’m going to be able to average ten miles on foot per day for over a week I need to be able to travel fairly light. Easier said than done.
My tentative list of gadgets and gizmos runs as follows:
- Cell phone
- PDA
- GPS (? Still haven’t decided on that one.)
- Digital SLR camera
- Zoom lenses ranging from 12-24mm to 24-120mm.
(Sorry, no 300mm. I’m on a budget, you know!) - Laptop computer
- Rechargeable batteries
- Rechargeable battery charger
- International power converter
- Chargers, cables, and adapters for all gadgets listed above.
All these gadgets and doodads are in addition to clothing appropriate not only for walking, but with additional changes of clothing for dining in the evenings, plus makeup, toiletries, etc. I’ve already started going over packing lists and references on how to pack light, so much so that I feel like I could give Santa Claus a run for his money.
At this point you’re probably wondering how this ties into Windows Vista. It’s simple, really. Being the obsessive-compulsive planner that I am, and having gone over the list of gadgets and gizmos in my head, on paper, and in various digital formats, I realized that if I could take my standard laptop (a Hewlett Packard dv5000 with a 15 inch diagonal screen) and somehow shrink it down to about two-thirds its size, I could shave off a couple of pounds of extra weight that I otherwise would be packing over hill and dale through the wilds of England.
Nice plan. Sounded good, too. But as Murphy (and Helmuth von Moltke the Elder) will gladly tell you, no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.
The plan, as it was, was to acquire a new and smaller laptop so that I could check e-mail and archive my photographs while on the road. Office Depot has done well by me for previous technology purchases, so I dropped by one afternoon and waltzed down their computer aisle to see what they had that might do the trick. 
Sure enough, I spotted another Hewlett Packard laptop computer, a tx1000 with a 12 inch screen, a 120 gigabyte hard drive, and a bunch of other bells and whistles that looked like they’d be fun to play with. The only drawback is that this sweet little machine came preloaded with Windows Vista. There was no option available to get this model with any other operating system.
Enter the Ãœuber geek with years of experience formatting and reformatting hard drives, rebuilding computer systems for work and for fun in much the same way that hot rod racers rebuild car engines, always striving for the best and most powerful ride that they can achieve. Based on my previous experiences in maintaining my various computers, I assumed that I could simply get a clean copy of the Windows XP operating system and perform a clean install on my newly acquired hardware.
Boy, was I wrong!
The brainiacs at Microsoft have outdone themselves with Windows Vista. Yes, it is a very pretty operating system. The user interface flows smoothly from one window to another, offers to make your coffee and wipe your nose and do a slew of other things you had no idea needed doing. The preloaded games are fun, and I had far less difficulty accessing my local area network than I typically have after doing a computer rebuild, but these are superficial and in meaningless when you consider that for me a computer is a tool. Unlike the average newbie user, I care far less about the cosmetics of an operating system than I do about its functionality. And there’s the rub.
There’s something about Windows Vista such that if a computer comes preloaded with that operating system, it absolutely will not cooperate with any other operating system installers. I’ve talked to technical support of Microsoft. I’ve talked to technical support of Hewlett Packard. Microsoft has done something with Windows Vista that operates at a very low level, deep in the recesses of the computer’s firmware, that makes any preloaded or converted computer unwilling to revert to anything else.
Bottom line: my pipe dream of doing a clean install of Windows XP is not completely outside the realm of possibility, but both sets of technical support technicians were very clear in stating that achieving that dream would be a literal bear.
Okay. Time for Plan B. So I sat and I simmered and I contemplated the possibility of moving out of my comfort zone and giving the Windows Vista a try. Here’s where the fun really began.
In order to “upgrade” to Windows Vista, I will need to also upgrade nearly every application, program, or device driver that I use in my consulting business. If I’m lucky and Adobe decides to be generous and let me upgrade from CS2 to CS3, I’ll only be out of pocket about $600. If I’m unlucky that figure jumps to something more like $1,600. Then there’s the Microsoft office suite. My main computer uses office 2003. Again, if I upgrade I might be able to save some cash, but more likely am going to be stuck with the full purchase price. Call it another $500, just to be on the safe side.
Then there’s the fact that none of the software I use to synchronize my computer with my PDA is guaranteed to work with Windows Vista.
I haven’t even gotten started on accounting software, FTP clients, e-mail programs, firewall and antivirus software…
Like I said, for me a computer is a tool. I’m not a gamer. I’m a professional. I do spend hours staring at a computer screen, but unlike some other people I know I do not live to code. I code to live. It’s my job, not my life. BIG difference!
The upshot is that if I choose to keep this very nice laptop, which is really a very nicely designed little machine, I will have to make the move to Windows Vista. If I do that I need to spend another two or three times the value of the laptop in order to upgrade all of the software I need in order to run my business. I’m guesstimating the total value of this upgrade would be at least $5,000, maybe more.
Maybe Bill Gates has that kind of money. I certainly do not.
Oh well. Back to the drawing board.
B.
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More reference books about Hadrian and his Wall for inquiring minds:
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