Brian Tinkler

My roommate (in a month) is using it everyday now and is loving it. AIM doesn't work on it yet, but GAIM does.

While not technically bad luck, I had quite a quirky experience installing this over the weekend. Check out my blog post for the details.

Besides, running the Vista betas now is still pulling teeth. Yeah, I know they are the checked builds, but the claims that Microsoft marketing is putting forth about it starting up and shutting down twice as fast as XP is rediculous. The fact marketing has resorted to "it looks prettier" and startup/shutdown times should mean that things aren't going well. Those who are holding out for Vista - at least wait for SP2 before getting on board. Fundamental changes are being made to the graphics and GUI engines - which means system stability is not likely to happen for at least 2 service packs.

Actually, the Vista Beta 1 is just as (if not more) stable than XP! :-)

I have been doing MSDN testing of Vista for quite some time now. Yes, initially it is very cool, however do not risk a laptop unless you have a spare hdd to pop into it first. It does not like many programs yet, and "you will" see a BSOD if you sneeze the wrong way. If you even attempt to install any type of virus protection you will get one as well, especially SAV10. Microsoft AntiSpy does work, and so does Office 2003 Ent. Skype does not, ITunes does, but intelligent updater does not. It is very Linux-y, but no where near as stable as my SuSE 10 laptop.
My advice is to wait until a more stable version is available. Regards... Bob