Playing with Vista
I finally got my hands on a copy of Vista Beta and being the trusting soul that I am, I rushed right out to install it in a virtual machine.
I’ve got Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2004 and the trial version of VMWare Workstation 5. Installing in either one has it’s problems, but fortunately Google came to the rescue.
Eric Hammersley has outlined steps to get past the initial problem of the installer not liking the VMWare hard disk. I haven’t completed the OS install yet, but this did work for me to get the install running.
A co-worker pointed out this article on installing Vista Beta 1 in Virtual PC.
VPC has been running like garbage which is why I’m trying out VMWare. So far, not only does it run smoother, the interface itself is much nicer. I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting a license, presuming I can get the company to expense it, of course. :)
You won’t be sorry with VMware. If you do a large amount of dev or testing work check out their VMTN package before you buy into Workstation. It offers ALL of their software for a reasonable yearly rate. I bought into it right after they introducted it at TechEd. Of course I do almost everything in a VM including writing code. You can always keep a clean VM for dev but your workstation will always manage to get full of crap. :-)
I saw that but I couldn’t figure out why I’d need the extra applications. I generally only support Windows workstations so it seems like Workstation would be enough.
Jack,
If you ever do play with Vista, be sure to document all the bells, whistles, “services”, programs, etc. that can be eliminated and how to get around the things it will not want you to do. It’s sure to be an even bigger memory and resource hog than XP, so if I ever buy it, I’ll want the stripped down version.
Consider changing your “crankygeek” web site into a resource for those who will be pissed off at Vista from day 1. You don’t have much else to do, right?
BTW, meeting Difranco was cool.
:)
There’s a review of Beta 1 over at Paul Thurrott’s site if anyone is interested:
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_beta1_01.asp