Windows Vista and Office 2007 RTM Experience
It's 3am in the morning, and yes, I'm finally be able to run Windows Vista RTM in my production machine. :D (notice the big grin in my face) Vista's been running for nearly an hour, and no problem yet has arise. But before jumping too fast, I'll take one step at a time:
- Installation. One big problem arise when installing. Since this is a "unofficial" build. The DVD cannot be run under Windows, that means you need to boot from it to be able to install Windows Vista. Running setup from Windows will crash when copying files. Getting past thorough that problem, installation is a bit slow (or maybe it's just me waiting eagerly). But I've clocked the installation to be 30 minutes plus a little with 3 reboots. That's a bit slower than previous RC builds. Attendance is not required after the first few dialogs (license-related). Installation ends with setup requesting personal data such as username, password, computer name, date and time, etc.
- Vista first look is different (I mean from previous RC builds). Microsoft put up a new default wallpaper (which is cooler than the panoramic one from RCs), several new icons (notably the Windows Media Player icon which sucks), and Aero is automatically enabled (I have a decent video card). Search performance is also greatly improved; searching start menu is instant, while searching files are a lot faster.
- Windows Experience Index hasn't changed from previous builds. Still stuck at 2.0 with my video card being the lowest. I guess it's time to upgrade!
- Audio driver problems from previous build has magically disappered! Yes, I still need to connect to Windows Update to get it, but no problem in this first hour. Unlike the audio driver, all other drivers are already included out of the box. Aero works, bluetooth works, ethernet works, and everything else just works!
But what is Windows Vista without her companion Office 2007? So I've also installed Office 2007 Professional.
- Installing Office 2007 took quite a lot of CPU and Hard Drive resource. I recommend you do nothing when installing Office, since things are just going to be slow like bike. (Ignore this warning if you're using a computer with Windows Experience Index > 3.0)
- First application I fired up was Outlook (definitely my communication center!). When installed in Windows Vista RC1, Outlook complains about outdated Windows Desktop Search component to be used in Instant Search. As expected, this doesn't happen in Windows Vista RTM. Searching is toe-to-toe with the built-in Windows search, i.e. both are performing well and helpful.
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote works perfect as well. I haven't tried Groove since this is a non-networked computer.
Up next is Visual Studio with .NET Framework 3.0 experience (I seemed to have lost the DVD) and other Windows Vista components (like Movie Maker, DVD Maker, Media Center, etc.)
For Redmond geeks: congratulations on the RTM! This is one nice release. I'll buy one when it's available... Start saving now! :D