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The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Vista Released

Windows VistaThe big geek news this past week is the general consumer release of Windows Vista.

In the computing world this is of course a massive event. This is enhanced by the fact that it has been a long time in the making: it has been over five years since the release of Windows XP, making it the longest ever period between Windows releases. The APC writers regularly remind us that World War II was fought and won in less time (although if you count the time between releases, WWII was 1 year longer).

For a detailed and slightly technical run through of the features Vista, this ComputerWorld article is pretty good.

I'm not planning on getting it any time soon. Hardware manufacturers have been really slack in providing up-to-date drivers for Vista (they've had plenty of time to do so), and I don't think my computer at home will handle the significantly higher system requirements of the new operating system.

As I alluded to when I tried out the Beta 2 version last July, i'm going to wait a bit before getting Vista. Firstly, as most people probably will, i'll be getting it with a new computer. I'm aiming that for around September, as hopefully all the release bugs will be stamped out by then, but also I expect hardware prices to fall a bit as higher-spec computer parts become more mass-produced to cater for Vista's elevated system requirements.

Plus buying the software by itself is way too expensive, and in my opinion Vista's advancements over XP aren't worth that type of money. There really aren't any fantastic 'gotta-have' features in Vista comparing it to XP, unless you really like the visual aspect.

To another geeky subject, I have been watching a funny American reality show called Beauty and the Geek, where geeky guys are paired up with attractive women and then placed in situations and challenges which take them each out of their comfort zone. Channel 7 is showing the first season (aired over a year ago in the US) at 10:30 on Thursday nights, next week being the season finale. I hope they run with the next seasons as well.

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