Vista Ready to Launch Event in Detroit
15 Feb 2007The Vista Ready to Launch tour came to Detroit this week. These “kick-off” events are a lot of fun and the break out sessions can be very informative. Mostly I go to reenergize my interest in computers. Fresh ideas make for fresh thinking and keep me from getting bored with the technology.
I’ve heard people around the office bad mouthing Vista. It’s interesting to note that none of them have actually used Vista. I’ve spent only a little time with Vista and while I’m not blown away, its a very good effort. After attending the conference in Detroit I’m even more impressed. Much of what has improved in Vista is under the covers which is why end-users are not all that excited. However, if you deploy, manage or run your business on Windows I think you’ll find much to like. For example, there is only one disk image for Vista. No more fumbling with different HAL’s. That’s huge.
My favorite feature is the Reliability Monitor. If you’re like me, you probably fix and maintain computers for your friends and family. Its real value comes from its ability to track and organize system events, such as software and driver installations, and display them in a format that allows you to identify correlations between failures and other system configuration events.
Two years ago, the Detroit .NET 2.0 launch occurred at the Renaissance Center and it really was too small for the event. This year’s event was held at Cobo Center, a much nicer and larger venue. The Ready to Launch conference is touring the country and is well worth the visit if it lands near you.