Emily says:

Congratulations! You make light of the install, but no matter how many times you’ve done it and how well you think it through, it’s still a royal pain in the ass!

Andrew says:

Yeah, and considering I did a lot of it at 1:00 a.m. it was pretty annoying. But I’ve done it enough at this point that I know how to prepare for it — which files to have easily accessible and such.

So it was a pain in the ass, but more of a “hit on the arm with a softball” as opposed to “hit in the head with a bat”… which is what it used to be like.

gnomic says:

IF only you used a mac…

Anonymous says:

Welcome back to the fold.

Leland says:

That last post was me, but some lady named Annie Nanoomus hijacked my post and put her name on it.

Andrew says:

I’m glad I didn’t go through the trouble of having my tattoo removed.

Thomas J says:

I recently purchased a new P.C. I already have several others that are showing signs of age, like me, that have win 98 which is fine for most common things..I also have a more recent P.C. with Win XP ..The main reason at the time was a need for one that would effectively function with Digital Photos & their programs….
After reading much about Vista, and the fact that many PC producers offer only PCs with Vista I decieded that if XP was going to continue to be my choice the time to act is now..Vista may be OK for many, but it is NOT the choice of many, including those who have tried it and reverted to XP..My present XP works well with all associated Hardware & Software..If you are sailing in smooth untroubled waters why venture out into the Rapids with its Rocks & whirlpools, Exciting it may be but such excitement I can do without..

Joe says:

Andrew, I’m thinking part of your problem was the upgrade. A friend of mine was littered with problems when he upgraded to Vista. After formating the drive and doing a clean, full Vista install his problems all but disappeared. For some reason, even if you follow the instructions of the upgrade advisor, the upgrade leaves remnants of XP that Vista does not like. I did a clean install of Ultimate over the weekend and luckily have not had any issues.

FWIW: Vista runs great on clean installs. Steer clear of the 64bit version though. A lot of hardware is not supported and finding/getting around digitally signed drivers is a nightmare.

Fred says:

Andrew,

Why you are unable to make the logical switch to Mac:

http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments_opinion/490/

Andrew says:

If you’d like to buy me a copy of Photoshop and Office — not to mention give me the $1,500 I’d need for the computer itself — I’d be happy to.

gnomic says:

I’ve decided to ditch Vista and bite the bullet, making the switch to Linux. MACs and I just don’t get along (sorry Macites, but I can crash a Mac in minutes ever time - just like WinDoze). Of course the PC I’m building (savings: $2K) will support Vista just in case - but I really hope to avoid it. That won’t run non-DRM protected media files was a deal killer. I’m not recoding my entire CD collection again.

That said, Don’t ever upgrade Windows - none of the upgrades have worked reliabily. Always start with a clean install as Joe suggested. And don’t run any Vista utilities (like Norton) forat least 6 months after the first service pack - unless you like the undocumented system data blender feature.

I miss OS/2.

Emily says:

If you were serious about switching platforms, I believe Adobe will allow you to trade pretty economically. Then there’s always the student version of Office for cheap. Then all you have to do is wait for the tooth fairy to bring you a shiny new Mac. Oh, wait, that’s the arm and leg fairy. Never mind.

Emily says:

@gnomic If you are capable of crashing a Mac in minutes, then I contend you are capable of _not_ doing so. Also, switching to Linux is not biting the bullet. Furthermore, my _nephew_ can crash Linux in minutes.

Clean installs are definitely the key.

This latest version of Windows seems to be purely to solidify Microsoft’s stranglehold with respect to DRM. According to the stats Andrew showed earlier, they don’t seem to be progressing very quickly. But, resistance is futile.

gnomic says:

Emily,

You would think.. but Macs frustrate the hell out of me. I’ve got nothing against them - they are great for people who don’t care how the PC works. I even like most of the graphics and video software much better than the stuff on the PC. If I could run MAC/OS on the PC platform for free, I’d probably do it over linux. I’m just not willing to bu a closed box and pay a premium for being able to use less hardware.

And I agree that Linux is a pain, but if I’m going to suffer, I’m going to skip paying for it.

Emily says:

Fair enough. I have to admit that daddy gave me a unique outlook on pc’s. I had a networked Mac in my bedroom when I was 6. I learned BASIC on a SWTPC box he assembled from a kit when I was 7. I inherited my brothers BigBoard CP/M machine when he got interested in the stack of surplus Next boxes hooked up to the ISDN line in the closet. That’s pc when it stood for personal computer and not some IBM clone, by the way. My dad’s buddies used to bring their assembly language reference cards when visiting, and you were considered a cooler host if you could provide one if they forgot theirs.

Anyway, my philosophy is use what ya brung.

Andrew says:

I hated — absolutely hated — OS 8 and OS 9. They were nightmares for me, in part because I couldn’t tinker with them the way I could with DOS and Windows. OSX might be different because it’s Unix based, but I haven’t spent more than a few hours with it.

I ran Ubuntu and Kubuntu (in fact, they’re still loaded on another machine), and they were by far the nicest Linux distros I’ve ever used. But they were both still *almost* as good as a commercial OS, but not quite. There were a few rough edges.

For me, the issue with both the Mac and K/Ubuntu is the missing software. On the Mac, that’s Photoshop (which I would have to purchase separately), and on Linux it’s Photoshop and Vegas (my video editor of choice). The GIMP just doesn’t hold a candle to Photoshop, even if using GIMPshop.

Then there’s the simple price of the Mac hardware. I can get a nice PC that will run everything swimmingly for $400. Heck, my two-year-old Gateway (2.8 GHz, single-core, 1.5GB RAM) does that. I’d have to spend a lot more for a comparable Mac.

Of course, Mac users will point out that a Lexus costs more than a Ford, and you get quality for your money. The question is, how badly do you need that extra quality if what you have does everything you need it to? Or, rather, how much is that extra quality worth? $50? Sure. $100? Sure. $1000? Probably not.

Emily says:

You can call Adobe sales and they will provide you with a form you can fill out and fax back to them. You have to swear blind that you will destroy your old copy of Photoshop and the only charge is for shipping of the new platform copy.

For $400, you can get a nice used Mac that will run Photoshop as well as your old Gateway.

Personally, I think you like fiddling with Windows too much to switch. On the other hand, you can get in as much trouble as you want from the command line in OS X. I stopped at Win2K and have been very happy, so in your place I’d probably just use XP until MS fixes Vista.

gnomic says:

My old Altair is in a museam somewhere. My first upgrade was from 10 blinking lights to a HEX display. I can’t remember if I had 1 or 2K of RAM.

And when I learned programming, it was before the “1″ All we had was the 0 and we were damn happy to have it. Real men coded in unary (in the snow, uphill) and didn’t use gotos because they hadn’t been invented yet either.

Anyone else remember when Unix was coded in C version 6? Ah, the good ol’ daze…

Emily says:

OK, you win! I did put the Altair 6800 out on the curb because none of the siblings wanted to store it either. Along with an ASR-33 Teletype.

Fred says:

Download free Boot Camp. Or pony up $79 for Parallels Desktop for Mac. Install Windows XP on your new Mac. Run your Windows Photoshop and anything else you desire. Upgrade apps at your own economic pace. Learn Mac OS X at your own pace. Begin telling others to get a MAc and stop wasting their time, too.

This isn’t difficult, folks:
Macs = Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows. All other PCs are limited (no Mac OS X, no iLife, no Safari, no Final Cut, etc.). Apple Macs run the world’s largest software library.

Chuck Staples says:

Andrew says:
I hated — absolutely hated — OS 8 and OS 9. They were nightmares for me, in part because I couldn’t tinker with them the way I could with DOS and Windows. OSX might be different because it’s Unix based, but I haven’t spent more than a few hours with it.
…
Then there’s the simple price of the Mac hardware. I can get a nice PC that will run everything swimmingly for $400. Heck, my two-year-old Gateway (2.8 GHz, single-core, 1.5GB RAM) does that. I’d have to spend a lot more for a comparable Mac.
———–

A suggestion would be to spend some real time with Mac OS X - you can tinker with UNIX yes? Well, OS X is UNIX with Apple’s flavor added. Stay simple, or use command line to your heart’s content. Besides, the command line for OS X is soooo much better than DOS. Gosh, Bill Joy uses OS X…

Now for price. Well, did you get your 2-yr old Gateway for $400? Or was that you could buy something called a PC for $400? Methinks the latter. And you can spend $400 on a Mac, too… Frankly, Macs are just as cost effective as PC when you at least attempt to compare hardware features.

If you like to tinker, great. But I think of tinkering as actually accomplishing and learning something other than fooling around with installs. One you do WITH the OS, the other TO it.

Chuck Staples says:

Another thing… How much time did you spend trying to install Vista? How much is your contract rate? Did the Vista install make you money for your clients (assuming you weren’t paid to write about your Vista instal)? Perhaps that Mac you’d have “to spend a lot more for” has already been paid for?… Assuming that Macs really are a lot more expensive.

lionemom says:

Chuck - you’re just plain wrong about price for PC versus Mac. I can go to a computer show, with reputable dealers, and build myself a NEW PC with the latest Intel or AMD processor, 200GB HD, 2GB or more of RAM, DVD-RW, latest video card and sound card for $400-500, paid and done. They even throw in cheapo speakers, keyboard and mouse for you. I already have a great LCD flat panel monitor (that can show TV picture in picture actually) and there I have my brand new PC with Windows installed, for a THIRD of what a new, state-of-the-art MAC would cost ANYWHERE.

And if I wanted to spend what a new Mac would cost, I could throw in a dual processor, big memory video card with dual monitor setup and a sound card that could give me true surround sound.

Joe says:

lionemom, thank you for clearing that up.

The least expensive Mactel 1.8Ghz C2D w/ 512ram, 160gb hd, low end video (really now) and decent sound(no speakers included) will still run hundreds of dollars more than building something better in a PC flavor.

If all your arguments are over it running Windows or OSX, well, I have a nice “PC” sitting here, E6400, 1gb ram, 250gb hard drive w/ a 7950GT vid card running OSX flawlessly that cost me probably $1000 less than the comparable Mac.

For the enthusiast that wants to run OSX, without paying the Apple hardware pricetag, building your own rig is far more cost effective. I can live without a clear keyboard, awkward mouse and snazzy case.

Oh, and I tossed 2 more harddrives. 1 loaded with XP and 1 loaded with Ubuntu. F8 at POST lets me pick what I want to run that day. :)