Microsoft released the MSDN versions of Windows Vista, and Office 2007. Since I have (legitimate) access to the MSDN downloads, I downloaded both ISO files. Unfortunately, I don't have any spare hardware available for testing Windows Vista, so I decided to install it in a Virtual Machine. First I installed it in Parallels on my Mac Book Pro (see earlier post), but I needed something more portable for work, so I installed it in VMWare Workstation. The installation was a piece of cake, but the VMWare Tools seem to be as buggy as the Parallel tools. You install these tools to enhance the user performance (seamless mouse), and add drivers for network adapter, etc. Both virtualisation software packages fail to shutdown the Vista OS properly. Probably has something to do with the ACPI drivers included in the tools. Anyway, that will most likely be solved with an update for both pieces of software in the next weeks. For now, I've got a proper Virtual Machine running Windows Vista Ultimate with Office 2007 Professional. Let the evaluation begin. B.t.w. I just hate the shutdown button on Vista. There's no confirmation on if you actually want to shut the system down. The old XP interface was better, but perhaps it's behavior is configurable.

Microsoft released the RTM (Ready To Manufacture) of Windows Vista. This new operating system (which was delayed numerous times, and stripped of intended innovations like WinFS, and Windows PowerShell) is supposed to be the next best thing that could happen to you. Well, I have to see that for myself first. I played around with some beta's in the last couple of months, and I can't say that I'm impressed. But maybe, the RTM will surprise me. Today I stumbled onto a leaked RTM iso file on the Internet which holds all versions of Vista (both 32bit and 64bit versions). This means that I could test all versions of the OS. With no valid license key it's possible to evaluate Vista for 30 (or 60) days, so I will start to evaluate within the next couple of days, and see for myself if there's any need in upgrading my Windows XP Professional PC to Vista. I'll keep you posted on the evaluation. UPDATE: I installed Vista in Parallels on my Mac Book Pro. The installation took about 30 minutes, which surprised me a little. I choose the Ultimate Edition of Vista, which is supposed to be the most expensive version of Windows Vista. Within Parallels, you have the possibility of installing the Parallels tools. They enhance the user experience of the virtual machine, and install the appropriate drivers for video and the network adapter. After installing the tools Vista isn't able to shut the OS down properly. After selecting 'Shutdown', the virtual machine crashed. Same thing happened on earlier beta versions of Vista. This means that an Parallels update for this 'Vista' issue is imminent. Apart from that it seems to work fine. Perhaps, I should try VMWare as well as a testing environment. Too bad that VMWare doesn't work on my Mac Book Pro :( If all goes well, I'm able to get an official MSDN-key for Vista later next week. Let's see if this version will accept the key, so that I'm able to experiment a little longer than the initial 30 days.