It's About Time (for Nothing)

Well folks, it's here. Windows Vista will be released to corporate customers and OEM distributors today. As of this morning, Dell is still offering a free upgrade to Vista if claimed by March 31, 2007. I would begin looking for the pre-loaded Vista systems next week.

As one would expect, Microsoft finally decided on early 2007 to release Vista, but couldn't resist the temptation to get it on the street in some form for Christmas. Just like the PS3 craze, the Xbox 360 last year (plenty to go around this time), and the new Elmo that says your name. Of course, in this case Microsoft will have no shortage of Vista licenses for the OEM folks, and Dell can push out thousands of computers in a day, so don't get in a hurry.

I said more than a year ago that I'd start saving my money and order the first Vista system from Dell, but I have since changed my mind. I previewed the Release Candidate (RC1) on my home system and did not see an immediate benefit. Drivers for only one printer was included, and support for the cheap one (a DeskJet 825C) would never be seen. I'd just have to buy another one.

I couldn't move the Deskbar (Windows' answer to Google Desktop) to the other monitor. So there it was, stuck on the right side of the left monitor, smack in the middle of the entire display.

The current pricing scheme is going to cost too much for home builders. The answer to this, my friends, is Ubuntu.

And the proposed (final?) licensing scheme totally sucks. I haven't read it, but according to reports, I can buy a license off the shelf and install Vista on one machine. If I build another computer to replace the first one, I can install Vista on that second machine, so long as I remove it from the first. After that, I'm screwed. No more re-installations. That means if the motherboard takes a crap in the second machine, I have to buy Vista again.

I think I've decided to get a MacBook Pro, and keep my home-built XP/Ubuntu dual-booting desktop. If my customers want to know how to use something in Vista, I'm sure there's a good book about all that's new, and that doesn't cost nearly as much as a new computer. I'm not sure as to how many questions I might get anyway. With any luck the question of the year will be "How do I go about switching to Linux?"

Update: I was wrong about the OEM suppliers. Only the corporate edition is out today; all home users still have to wait until January 30. The Zune issue is probably still on the table.