A semester with Windows Vista

(Reposted from old blog)

Sounds like a form of punishment doesn’t it? Having to use Windows Vista for an entire semester! From August to December!

We’ll see.

As a long time user of solely FOSS (Free Open Source Software) like Linux, I have been out of touch with the Windows world. When I applied for a job as a computer tech to help pay for my new ThinkPad, I realized I was outdated when they asked about my Vista experience. My reply was “I’ve seen the box for it on the shelves…is it really that different?”

Furthermore reviews online seemed to either praise it as the next ‘sliced bread’ or damn it to eternal fury in hell, nothing was ever substantiated by real evidence though. I found the ‘in-depth’ reviews to be bland simulations of typical use, and for the most part, unfair. So I’ve decided to write a series of Blog posts forming a single article on using Windows Vista for a semester at school, in a “typical use” scenario, no simulations, I’ll be writing about my life as a student using Windows Vista to get through my day to day activities. I think this is the only fair test, since people looking for problems will find them, and blissful ignorance will hide those problems, the only way to see how Vista would fair in a real life scenario, is to use it in a real life scenario. So here are the rules:

• I’ll be using the factory install of Windows Vista Business that came with my ThinkPad T61. I can’t dual boot or switch OSes at any time (No WinXP or Linux) on this computer, unless it is absolutely required to prevent risking my grades.
• I’m not banned from using other operating systems, so for my Xen research and programming I’ll probably be using COSI systems, plus the XP based computer labs in school as I need to.
• I’ll be using the reasonable equivalents of FOSS, so Office 2007 in place of OpenOffice, Trillian in place of Pidgin, Outlook 2007 in place of Thunderbird. I’m still using Firefox as IE7 is a security risk, and since this is my school computer it would be unreasonable to risk its stability for the sake of a blog article.
• I can’t use any unreasonably technical tweaks or hacks to make my experience easier, this is from the viewpoint of a typical student with typical abilities.
• I’m going to stick with the basic “default” style set up with Aero on for now, I may change that later should it prove reasonable.
• I’m also using the full suite of ThinkVantage utilities that came with my computer, including Access Connections, Client Security Solutions and the Biometrics

That should just about do it, hopefully this will be an interesting read for FOSS advocates as well as the general user, I plan to comment on things from my FOSS perspective throughout the course of the article. I’ll post the first installment soon, explaining my setup in greater detail.