After finally getting Vista working on my desktop at about 11:30pm last night (it took 11 hours) the nightmare continued today. I would appear that although I purchased the upgrade version and still have XP on the hard drive (although I’m unable to access it) Vista now thinks that I should have a stand lone product key for validation, so essentially I’m unable to validate my totally 100% legal copy of Vista!

I did some digging and finally rang Microsoft this morning. After nearly 1 hour on the phone talking to 3 different people, I received this advice (copied directly from the email):

1. Restart Computer and Boot from Windows Vista DVD
2. Run Setup again, without entering the Product Key
3. Complete installation and boot into Windows Vista
4. While in Windows Vista, boot the Windows Vista DVD
5. Run Setup again and this time enter the product key
6. Complete the installation and you should be able to activate Windows Vista from here.

Yep, they’re telling me to reinstall Vista TWICE! Are they f*cking joking? I asked them to give me a key that works, they told me I’d have to buy it despite the fact that I’ve already purchased Vista and could provide them the Vista key and the original XP key. So I’ve got 29 days before Vista shuts down, I’ve had to reinstall all my software and drivers and now I have to do it all again twice! If I’m feeling brave I might try on the weekend but I tell you what at this point I’ve had enough of Microsoft, I’ve used Microsoft products since DOS god knows what and can still remember running Word for DOS, I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years on PCs and software and as far as Microsoft is concerned that don’t mean jack! Vista might be pretty, and admittedly it is fairly fast, but the whole Macs just work line is really driving me to the point that my next computer will be a Mac. The lost productivity and work time in dollar figures alone yesterday would have made for a nice deposit.

8:45pm as I write this. At 12:30pm today I inserted Vista into my computer for an upgrade. Still isn’t working, after the worlds longest install process it just hung on booting up, the little loading ticker scrolling over and over and over again. Just finally worked out a way to re-install it without losing the contents of my hard disk, although looks like programs will need to be reinstalled.

Microsoft: it’s just not good enough.

And yes, I ran the compliance tests. I’m compliant, 64bit AMD 3400+ with 2gb ram should be plenty good and that’s the result the program gave me.

I’m tempted to download Ubuntu and be done with Windows altogether, or even the hacked version of Mac OSX that is suppose to run on a normal PC

I bit the bullet today. As much as I was loving my 22″ monitor it was clear from comments in my earlier post and coverage elsewhere in the blogosphere that having more than one monitor provides an improved workspace.

So I thought I’d check out buying a second 22″ monitor. The first one had cost about $680 (AUD) in November 06 and at the time was a bargain, elsewhere they started at $900 and upwards. Walked into the same store (IVC Bunbury) and they now cost $430. Sold.

I’ve had the second monitor plugged in for about 2 hours as I write this, I’ve moved the Google Desktop Sidebar to the far right hand side on Monitor 2 so essentially Monitor 1 becomes Firefox with Twitbin for Twitter, Monitor 2 becomes Outlook, Photoshop, Word, Skype, Jaiku, Internet Explorer (when needed) and Google Desktop.

OMG. Being able to work in one screen whilst relevant info you need is open in another is BRILLIANT. I’d suggest that whilst writing one post I saved maybe 20 minutes. Not having to flick between windows and having your original copy open saves time.

You know I was reluctant. It seems like an extravagance. She who must be obeyed wasn’t keen on the idea but it was the monitor or Foxtel, and she hates the idea of having Pay TV give how little any of us actually watch TV, so the monitor won.

I’ll probably be able to give a better assessment in a couple of weeks, but I’m loving it and at this stage it’s highly recommended. All you need tech wise is a video card with 2 outputs (the second one is on a VGA connection, the original on DVI) and some cash. If you work online it will pay for itself over and over again in saved time.