Comments on: So let me get this straight.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:58:30 +0000

@Tomek – thanks for pointing that out — that is probably the right thing to have looked for when I purchased the machine, in hindsight. I think that from now on, I need to build an image at the time I purchase the machine, and put it away for a rainy day. No putting it off, no “later”.

As it turned out in reality, however, whatever Dell did to the operating system in the making of their recovery image was horrific. The machine took 15 minutes to boot, I’m not kidding. As such, my enthusiasm over using any image that didn’t involve an OS reinstall wasn’t very high. This time around, I’m going to keep an eye on fragmentation, back things up, and generally be a good sys-admin :) I’m happy though that I can at least start from a known good state, and not from a crippled position.

By: felix

felix — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:00:11 +0000

Hey Pamela, last time I saw you at DEC you still had a Mac. Considering switching again? :-)

By: Tomek

Tomek — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:15:52 +0000

@Pamela … I don’t know how about Dell but for example Fujitsu has an option to create install DVDs from partition which is installed when You are buying your laptop. So what You need in such case is bunch of DVD-RW and there is option to burn install media.

I’m not saying that theres is everything OK with this process. I remember days when install media was delivered with every notebook I was buying – I even don’t know why they have dropped this. I’m just pointing for solution I’ve used when I have to deal with such problem.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:58:42 +0000

@Paul:

I agree – Vista runs beautifully on a VM in my mac — not so much on actual hardware. Even if I could have restored the recovery image, I’m not sure I would — it literally took longer for the M1330 to boot than for my old Toshiba A10 with 512 mb memory and a 4-year-old cpu. The thing ran like a dog, and I’ve never ever been happy with it. I’m quite interested to see if abandoning the dell image will speed things up.

The problem is the GPS software — the stuff only runs on windows. Maybe with a machine with 4gb+ of ram, the maps would load in a VM reasonably. Next time… :)

By: Pamela

Pamela — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:53:53 +0000

@Tomek: I think I probably could go get a cheap(er) OEM cd from Dell. I wonder how long I would have to wait for it though? Why not charge $30 more and give me the CD when I purchase the computer? Or at *least* give me the option of buying the media at the time I buy the computer (at least, I don’t remember seeing that option, I’m sure I would have selected it had it been available to me).

I already paid for the OEM version, it just let me get moving immediately, and talk to support later. I think what I’ll do is order the OEM cd at the time I replace the hard drive, then I’ll have a license/media set I can give away to somebody else who has the same problem.

By: Don Molaro

Don Molaro — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:53:11 +0000

Blame the disk…

By: Tomek

Tomek — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:11:05 +0000

Hmmm … I don’t know how it works in Canada but if You have bought Vista as a pre-installed OS You can buy a DVD media from your hardware vendor for much less then OEM version. In Poland it costs about ~30 USD. So call your hardware help desk line and request media set from them.

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:25:37 +0000

KISS? No, they operate on a somewhat different principle: PMSMMS (Pay Me Some More Money, Stupid).

Quite a few companies are basing their business strategies on controlling their customers. That is, they try to fundamentally diminish the value of their products – though they do not perceive it as such. Why would I pay anything for a CD that I could not rip to MP3 format? Why would I pay for an operating system that I can’t transfer to a different computer?

You aren’t Microsoft’s customer here, and it shows. They cut a deal with the OEM, and the OEM doesn’t want you using the OS on another computer either.

I’m not going to buy Vista, or a machine equipped with it. I’m thinking seriously about a Mac. Either that or I’ll build my own Linux box. I’ve been developing for Windows since 1988, but this is just getting to be too much.

By: Paul C. Bryan

Paul C. Bryan — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:47:17 +0000

This is a sound reason to switch to an operating system that does not impose this permission-to-go-to-the-washroom-or-install-additional-RAM mentality. Run Windows in VMware, with a more liberal host operating system.