Blog Entry

A month ago I got my hands on the RTM DVD of Windows Vista and took the plunge. I installed Vista Ultimate on my production IBM Thinkpad T42p; 80GB HDD, 2GB RAM. I integrated this copy of Vista into my home lab Active Directory environment.

Up front - I'm posting this for 'FYI' and general interest. I know that there are several components of the Novell portfolio (Client, ZENworks) that are not in beta yet. I am not looking for comments on these.

Written at: Draper, UT

Comparing 'like with like' - how does SLED 10 compare with Vista?

SLED 10 seems a lot more responsive and the desktop effects in SLED really grow on you. The non-privileged user on SLED 10 also gets to work pretty well too; obviously this is a native part of the security model. Vista is just so 'in your face' and intrusive. Microsoft haven't got that part right yet. I'm down to a handful of applications that require Windows; but I'm working on those.
So back to Vista: currently here is what I've got running, as well as a list of applications that are working for me:

• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Office 2007
• Firefox 2.0
• Novell GroupWise 7
• Open Office 2 Novell Edition
• Putty
• TextPad 4.7.3
• Adobe Creative Suite 2
• iTunes 7.0.2
• Microsoft Windows Live Writer
• Audacity
• WinISO 4.3
• WinZIP 9 SR1
• BulletProof FTP Client 2.59
• Symantec Anti Virus 10.2
• Freemind 0.8
• Nero 7 Ultra Edition
• Collanos Workplace 1.0.0.9
• Apple Airport Admin 4.2
• GLoSS
• GAIM 2 beta 5
• Skype 2.5

The only applications I'm having trouble with so far are

• Nortel Contivity VPN client
• VMware Workstation (Vista as host)

I found a couple of defects; Microsoft worked with me and got a fix for one:

• DHCP not receiving an OFFER packet - fix in KB article 928233
• Intermittent suspend/resume

The most annoying thing was the User Account Control - every action required confirmation. I'm a domain admin and local admin on the box; my own fault if I do something foolish. I turned off all of the UAC features within a few hours - just too in your face.
Next steps are to find the Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad tools for some of the key mappings; not essential. Also have another hack at the VPN client.

Usual disclaimer - some of the apps listed are not 'supported'. In fact I'm probably the only person testing Collanos Workplace on Vista ;)