Thursday, March 17, 2005
Changing Lanes
I hate changing operating systems. Or, at least I hate changing versions of Windows - I don't remember much pain from changing my MacOS version and I haven't been playing with Linux long enough to know what that's like. But I know what changing Windows is like. And I hate it. Lots.
I've been needing to change from XP to Server 2k3 for a little bit now, so this week I finally bit the bullet. As it turns out, there ins't an upgrade option for XP to 2k3, so I had the choice of either installing 2k3 along with XP, or formatting my disk* and starting again. I've tried the first option before, and the result is less than useful - all the files stay around, but the applications aren't actually installed. Plus, you end up with two Windows directories and a whole world of hurt. So I went for the format option.
The actualy process of installing Windows doesn't upset me to much - set it running, answer some questions (remember to delete the English (US) language completely and set English (Australian) as the default) and do something else. The part I find really soul crushing is trying to recreate your personal virtual world.
Think about it - you get a new computer. As you use it over the course of weeks and months, you install applications as you need them (or find them), you find some awesome background pictures, get your address book and mail rules all happening nicely, and generally make your computer yours. Trying to think what to save before you format a disk, and then trying to get everything back to how it used to be is next to impossible.
It's one of those things where you know you're going to forget something, and you know that in a couple of weeks you go "oh, I've got just the thing... Wait, I DID have just the thing". And then you've got to deal with all the things that don't work as well now. Take my keyboard for example - previously, I could pause my music with just a touch of a button. Now, I actually have to bring iTunes to the surface before the media controls work. Sure, not a big deal, but annoying.
I know that I'll get comfortable with my new world soon enough. But the transistion still makes me sad.
I've been needing to change from XP to Server 2k3 for a little bit now, so this week I finally bit the bullet. As it turns out, there ins't an upgrade option for XP to 2k3, so I had the choice of either installing 2k3 along with XP, or formatting my disk* and starting again. I've tried the first option before, and the result is less than useful - all the files stay around, but the applications aren't actually installed. Plus, you end up with two Windows directories and a whole world of hurt. So I went for the format option.
The actualy process of installing Windows doesn't upset me to much - set it running, answer some questions (remember to delete the English (US) language completely and set English (Australian) as the default) and do something else. The part I find really soul crushing is trying to recreate your personal virtual world.
Think about it - you get a new computer. As you use it over the course of weeks and months, you install applications as you need them (or find them), you find some awesome background pictures, get your address book and mail rules all happening nicely, and generally make your computer yours. Trying to think what to save before you format a disk, and then trying to get everything back to how it used to be is next to impossible.
It's one of those things where you know you're going to forget something, and you know that in a couple of weeks you go "oh, I've got just the thing... Wait, I DID have just the thing". And then you've got to deal with all the things that don't work as well now. Take my keyboard for example - previously, I could pause my music with just a touch of a button. Now, I actually have to bring iTunes to the surface before the media controls work. Sure, not a big deal, but annoying.
I know that I'll get comfortable with my new world soon enough. But the transistion still makes me sad.
# posted by Simon Dugard @ 10:20 am 
