Boomtrends

Windows Vista - I’m going going, back back, to XP XP

You may wonder why there is no pretty picture of Windows Vista’s Aero graphics. (You may also wonder what happened to Boomtrends. Turns out I have a really demanding job and a somewhat demanding social life.) Back in November, I signed up for Microsoft’s “Powertogether” program, which encourages developers to adopt the latest out of Redmond. After watch 3 hours of videos about Windows Vista (and hours of hitting refresh on the website since it was bombarded by freeloaders like myself), I received confirmation that I qualified for my free copy of Windows Vista Business Edition.

In the months since, my home PC became unbearably slow so I decided to raid Fry’s and Newegg to build a new one. I picked out parts with my soon to arrive Vista CD in mind. About a month ago, it arrived! I installed it on my new system and I was excited as a geek with a new computer with a new bloated operating system! Then it froze.

Then it was pretty and awesome. It has built in speech recognition and I could IM without touching the keyboard. Then it froze, again. This bipolar behavior has been the norm since. Now I cannot blame all this just on Vista, since there is a very strong possibility that the issue relates to device drivers for my specific hardware. But give me a break! Microsoft has been working on this OS for 6 freaking years…couldn’t someone write drivers ahead of time?

So where is the screen shot? I couldn’t get the thing to run long enough with Vista get one for you. I’m done. I installed XP on my computer and starting now, it is for sale. Core2Duo e6400 2.13ghz, 2gb PC25400 Ram, Geforce 6200LE 128MB PCI-E Video card and all the other stuff that goes with it. Make me an offer. I’m getting a Macbook.

The Intermission…

It’s been a little over a month since you last heard from the Boomtrends crew and many people have asked what happened to us. Well…a lot has happened. Warren and I have both been in the process of career changes from the consulting business to the software services business. Warren joined a large software firm and I’ve joined a startup, both in the valley.

Between interviews, existing jobs, side projects and boomtrends (and some semblance of personal lives) we didn’t have much spare time. For 2007, Boomtrends is a top priority and we are looking for some help to ensure that happens. If you are interested in joining the team, email me ( rob at boomtrends.com ).

Look for a more robust site design, regular updates and continued coverage of cool technologies. Thanks for reading and now back to our regularly scheduled programming.