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Monday, January 29, 2007

Downloading Windows Vista

Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space:

As I'm typing this, my computer is downloading the new Windows Vista operating system, an upgrade from my Windows XP Media Center Edition.

It's costing me $159.00, and is expected to take fourteen hours to download - - - hmmm - - - that IS what the web site says, but my download is already half through.

Maybe that's because my cable TV connection is a lot faster than ordinary DSL.

I don't know just how fast my connection is, but I think it's about as fast as you can get.

I wonder if my cable TV provider is using fiber optics?

That would certainly enhance the speed.

And they DO make me pay a ton of money!

My combined bill for high definition cable TV and high speed Internet is HUGE!!!

It's, I think, around $167.00 a month.

Can you believe it?

That's way more than I can afford, so sooner or later, I'll have to figure out something.

So, I reckon you all will be wanting to know how this Windows Vista works, and whether you should upgrade your computers.

I ran the evaluation program to determine if there would be any problems on my computer, and there's a couple of minor software conflicts with programs I don't use anyway.

They specified Windows Messenger, HP Rhapsody, and J2SE Runtime (whatever that is - - - is it Java?).

I do hope my Java will still work, because I need that for crossword and codeword puzzles.

I never use the Windows Messenger, so that's no problem.

In fact, I don't know anybody who does use it.

I don't need HP Rhapsody at all.

I only use it to listen to Paula Cole sing "WHERE HAVE ALL THE COWBOYS GONE?".

I wonder why her song isn't available in some other format?

So, while I type this message, I'm listening to her song over and over, knowing I won't be able to in the future.

Earlier, the scan indicated a conflict with my RealTek sound card, but I downloaded some patches from their web site, and that resolved it.

RealTek really is a problem, though.

Nobody who has a RealTek sound card can use voice chat in an Internet chat room.

Why?

No one knows, and RealTek, a company in Taiwan, refuses to respond.

I can use voice when chatting one on one, using my YAHOO! Instant Messenger.

But, I can't use voice in a chat room or a conference.

Go figure.

Maybe later on, I'll take this computer to a shop and have a different sound card installed.

Almost anything is better than RealTek.

But, that's what came with my computer, so I reckon I'm stuck with it.

I just now found out my processor is a thirty-two bit, and not a sixty-four bit.

I don't know the difference, but I do know the sixty-four bit processor is supposed to be better.

I wish I'd known this stuff when I was shopping for my computer.

Yes, I'm gambling.

Maybe this new operating system will be just terrible.

Or maybe it'll be as wonderful as some folks say.

Flip a coin and roll the dice, six of one, and half a dozen of the other.

So, stay tuned for further developments in this continuing saga.

But I like having all the very latest high tech gizmos, even if I have no clue about what they are or what I'm supposed to do with them.

Ain't it fun?

If'n y'all never hear from me no more, it'll be due to the huge mushroom cloud over Washington, D.C. when Windows Vista caused my computer to explode.

Yeah, I'm STILL listening to Paula Cole, over and over!

Thank you.

John Robert "SAIGON" Mallernee, KB3KWS
Official Bard of Clan Henderson
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

NOTE: "My unpopular and controversial personal opinions are independent of my Scottish clan."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just as a wee tad of information off the top of the list of esoterica......

It does not make a whit of difference how fast your ADSL or CABLE connection, or eve T1 or T2 lets you download or upload.

The controlling factor of your speed is your 10/100 mbps internal computer connection speed, your LAN connector.

Beyond that, anything that Cable or Ma Bell or alternative promises is a moot point - it just aint gonna happen!

What will make a whit of difference, however, is this: if you are hooked into your ADSL/DSL connection thats a 1 on 1 speed control factor. You will always get that speed no matter how many people are using it at the same time, because you have an individual, independent phone line.

If you are on a CABLE connection you will find that your speed it not only limited by all other constraints, regardless of what your cable company says, but it is further limited by the fact that you are on a network and your local immediate speed on your own computer is wholly dependent upon how many others in your area are using their cable at the same time. In other words you don't always get the fastest speed available; quite often, perhaps well over half the time, you get significantly less that peak performance.

And the downside of the cable service is that you have one huge network with afixe IP address sitting there vulnerable to hackers at all times, just waiting for them to latch on to your independent node of the network (as opposed to an internat network within a corporate entity. Whereas if you are sitting on your independent telephone connection your are uniquely a single entity amongst several thousand other unique and single entities which have to be searched out one at a time and none of them have anh commonality. Unlike the cable network with independent nodes just sitting theri waiting to be plucked like a plump hen!

Just a couple of thoughts off a shabby cuff to start this morning. Best to all, Windy

Anonymous said...

PS: As to Windows Vista - the first thing you need to know about Vista is that even if your computer salesman says you have a "Vista-ready Computer" that may not necessarily be so.

There are three levels of Vista operation. Home, Business and Graphics/Gaming (or Professional or some such thing). For home you need: 1 GB RAM, Video w/128 MB Video RAM, at least 20 GB free HD space and a 64-bit CPU.
For Business you need 2 GB RAM, 128 MB Video RAM, and the rest.
For Graphics/Gaming you need 3 GB RAM, 256 MB Video RAM, and the rest.

My computers - I built them myself specifically to be Vista ready when it came out - qualify - barely - for Home use and we use them for our business, professional HD Graphics intensive work. WOW! What an eye opener when I ran that test on my systems and got the bad news.

Windy