Windows 7 Professional

Greetings all, It’s the Angry Systems Administrator. As the subject says, I’m talking about Windows 7 Professional.

I have just purchased a copy for the Angry Webmaster. However, installing it is a major undertaking. He’s using Microsoft XP and there is no upgrade path worthy of the name to migrate him to Win 7.

I’m looking at 2-4 days to get his system reloaded with his applications and data. I am not looking forward to this. Because of financial concerns, we don’t have any extra computers sitting around he can use as a loaner. That means no updates to the blog or the main site. I’ll probably do this when he’s on vacation and I can have unfettered access to his development system.

Now I’ve used Win 7 and I like it. I will say I detest the user interface. I don’t find it better or easier to use. Still, I have an O’Reilly book and it’s quite helpful. Of course I got the 64-bit version. I’m quite happy to toss 32-bit operating systems on the ash heap of history.

One of the reasons we’re still using XP is that it’s stable and it works. I recall Vista and still shudder at the 21st century version if Microsoft ME. However, it’s time to move on. The new version of Internet Exploder, IE 9 doesn’t work on XP. Also, Microsoft is looking to end support of XP in the next couple of years. I still have a couple of Windows 2000 systems kicking around and I can’t patch them any longer.

Now the version I bought is the OEM ((Original Equipment Manufacturer)) version. It’s a hell of a lot cheaper, but there is no support from Microsoft if things go wrong. On the other hand, I’ve never called Microsoft for support on their software so for me OEM is a good deal.

I’ll be sure to notify all of our fans when I start the update process. Of course the first thing I’ll do is image the system. My preferred app for this is DriveImageXML. It’s a free app that works a lot like Norton Ghost. I’ve used it in the past and it’s been a lifesaver. I’ve even used it to image a server.

Well, time to go stand over the Angry Webmaster and see if he can take the hint.

Have a good one!

~The Angry Systems Administrator~