The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Upgrade Advisor Beta for Windows Vista Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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President Dave Botherway and I have demonstrated Windows Vista (beta) at SIG meetings and each build looks better than the previous one. My demo to the Wyndham SIG was less than ideal because the group's PC was not compatible in two areas - the video card was not WDDM compliant and the sound card just wasn't recognised. Therefore, I am concerned for others who have not played with the Vista betas and who might not know that their hardware is less than ideal for it.
Upgrade Advisor
Microsoft is quite aware of the strict hardware requirements for getting a minimum level of usability from Vista, so the Upgrade Advisor has just been released in beta form. It is available from http://www.windowsvista.com/getready, which also contains information about the minimum specifications needed to run Vista. Since most of us don't know much about our PCs beyond the size of the RAM or hard disk, the Upgrade Advisor is a great diagnostic tool.
In Use
The program is supplied as a .msi file, which one double-clicks to install and run. The whole process is very quick, and begins with a system scan. While the scan is in progress, you can choose features that interest you, such as wireless networks, watching movies and so on. If you tick all the boxes, it tells you that the Ultimate Edition is what you need.
My own PC is about six months old and is WDDM compliant, so the only areas I need to consider are the non-existent TV tuner and a suitable television or high resolution monitor to get the full Media Centre experience.
The test concluded with the following messages:
"Windows Vista Ultimate appears to best meet your needs. Be sure to print or save this report before exiting the Upgrade Advisor.
If Upgrade Advisor recommended that you upgrade your computer hardware to take advantage of new Windows Vista features, be sure to take the Hardware Report to your computer retailer or local service center to find out more about how to upgrade your computer.
After upgrading to Windows Vista, you may want to refer to the Device and Software Status Report to address any devices that may need updates. Thank you for using the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor.
Please remember, Upgrade Advisor is currently a BETA release and contains functionality and features that have not been thoroughly tested and may contain errors. Please consider the information that Upgrade Advisor currently provides as preliminary and check the Upgrade Advisor website in October for the final version, which will also include additional functionality such as checking how your software applications will run with Windows Vista."
Conclusion
When this was written, I had not seen Vista Beta 2, so I am not making any conclusions about Vista but I like what I have seen so far. However, I know I will face some expensive issues *outside* the PC, namely the peripherals that are not compliant now and unlikely to become so. For example, Hewlett Packard will not issue new drivers for my little-used six-year-old laser printer and the three-year-old colour inkjet. On the other hand, I have not used any printer for six years, so it might be a good excuse to upgrade the laser printer.
If you are curious about Windows Vista, please download this free beta tool and do it again in October when the final version is released.
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Reprinted from the July 2006 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
