When I last left you, it was approximately mid-March and Vista still wasn't quite performing. So here's what's happened since then in my quest to implement Windows Vista Ultimate at home...

I ordered a replacement BIOS from Asus and installed it in the motherboard. The Asus online tech support experience was absolutely first-rate with this replacement. The machine booted immediately after the chip was installed.

With that hurdle overcome, I set out to resolve the networking problem. When I last tried, I could get maybe 60-100MB of a large file downloaded before Vista dropped the entire connection.

My computer happens to be connected to a hub that sits on my desk, which in turn connects to the router I had needed to replace earlier. Since the hub was purchased back when Windows 95 was the rage, I wondered if it might be at fault. I purchased a new 10/100/1000 switching hub at Staples and replaced my old hub with it. Sure enough, I could now download anything I wanted, no matter how large it was or how long it took. Problem solved!

At this point, Vista was functioning. All my hardware had working drivers, and it was all behaving like it was supposed to. I was happy at this point with Vista.

I began installing my software, only to run into a few compatibility issues...

First off, Ulead Video Studio 10 causes Vista to drop out of its Aero interface and back into classic Windows. Aside from that, it seems to work properly.

Nero 7.0 didn't work with Vista. I had to get an upgrade to 7.7.

VMWare Workstation, which I use to run Linux on my machine, needed to be upgraded to version 6.

Pretty much everything else did what it was supposed to do.

So, after all the work, was it a worthwhile project? In some ways, yes. I'm learning a moderate amount about Vista. I'm finding several things I like, and few that I don't. It has been completely stable, needing a reboot only to apply patches or install software. That's no surprise since the same hardware ran Windows XP Pro reliably too.

Would I recommend Vista to someone? Maybe. If you're buying a new system, you might as well get Vista. It's proving to have fewer security bugs than XP Pro and Mac OS X so far. It's reliable and stable. It looks nice. But if you have your hardware already, and you're running Windows XP or Windows 2000 and it's working for you, I can't say that I would recommend Vista. The interface is nice and flashy, but not worth $100-300. The security is better, but if you've configured Windows XP or 2000 correctly, you're probably just as safe. The Windows Sidebar is interesting, but only marginally more useful than the Dashboard in OS X is, and I rarely use that. On the other hand, if you do Windows tech support, you should probably invest in Vista soon because there are enough changes in the way things are laid out, in how you get to different things like the Device Manager, etc., that you may need some time to get familiar with. Then again, aside from things being located in different places, it's really not all THAT different.