Firstly, a little background.
For the last 5+ years I’ve used Windows XP, never been bothered to try Vista (especially after it mostly received negative feedback). But I have never felt the need to upgrade; even now, I didn’t particularly feel the need to upgrade to Windows 7 RC, but I actually wanted to after reading so much positive feedback. See what word of mouth can do?
Looking a bit deeper, these are my tech specs:
- Intel Core 2 CPU 1.86ghz
- Memory/RAM: 2.0GB
- GeForce 8600 GT
As you can see, my specs are fairly dated. And when I got the original parts 2-3 years ago it was an affordable machine.
The installation was extremely smooth and it took very little time to install (considerably less time than Windows XP would take to install).
Windows 7 automatically installed drivers for and configured most of my hardware, such as onboard network, etc. Nvidia drivers showed up in the Windows updates section, so I installed them.
Problems encountered so far:
- Was completely unable to detect/install my ancient soundcard (Sound Blaster Live, or something of the sort), so I reverted to onboard audio.
- Diablo 2 didn’t work at first, but give it a while and it starts working (phew!)
- Extremely annoying “glitch”: when saving files from Photoshop to the desktop it will often give me a permissions error, I just have to keep trying and it eventually works… (most likely fixable but I am a little dim)
So far I’ve been able to install every essential program that I was using on Windows XP and haven’t had (m)any problems. My list of essential programs:
- Filezilla
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Opera
- Photoshop + Illustrator
- uTorrent
- Digsby + MSN Live
- Winamp
- NOD32
- Spybot S&D (I wouldn’t completely recommend it though)
- VLC Media Player (although the WMP that comes with 7 is very nice and works just fine)
- Steam
- iTunes (I’m not completely sure if iTunes was quite this dodgy with XP)
There is probably more to the list, but that’s enough for now.
Overall, my first impressions were very good. It’s particularly easy to use for me because it’s still very similar to XP (just a lot shinier, aesthetically and functionality-wise).
If it is affordable at release I will most likely be buying the Home Premium version.
Lastly, I’ve never been a fan of this aero style (and you can still use a 2000-esque theme), but it is really growing on me. I’ve just always wondered what does the glass effect, the drop shadows, the blurs, etc. add to the functionality? That’s the main thing I look for I guess, and this new “superbar” thingy is really, really nice.
Another thing I guess I should have mentioned: Windows 7 is extremely fast. So far it seems faster than XP. With XP I would have to reinstall Windows every 6 or so months to keep it running smoothly, so hopefully the same doesn’t happen to 7.
I felt a certain need to publish something, and something that my be remotely useful to someone. So here is a list of Firefox extensions that I find somewhat necessary for living.
Mozilla’s extensive collection of addons is the main reason why I haven’t been able to swap over to Google’s Chrome browser.
Starting with the basics. Every intermediate web user (or everyone that is registered at digg.com) already uses this plugin, and for good reason. The web seems a lot prettier with this plugin enabled. I myself am a web publisher, but rely very little on ads, so if I were relying on revenue from ads I may feel a bit differently about this.
For now, I’m a supporter.
I don’t use this for the accurate traffic rankings. I just use this in hopes that it might influence my ranking even just a little bit 
I’ve only just installed this one, but looking forward to using it. So far it seems to work quite well.
A necessity to my survival. It has never failed me either.
I keep this hidden, so I’m not sure why I actually have it installed.
I haven’t used this one yet, but once I start coding I know it’s going to be helpful.
This one is great because it works for Google Apps accounts as well!
I keep this one hidden, so I’m not sure if it’s doing me any good.
Since I found this addon I haven’t been able to let go of it. I even make some of my own.
I needed a note-taking addon for Firefox, so I found this one. I’m not completely convinced of it’s note-taking abilities, so I’m still looking.
As a wannabe designer-of-sorts I find this addon a necessity. Absolutely brilliant plugin that has never failed me.
I use this to show Google PageRank and Compete Rank discreetly in the bottom corner of Firefox. This plugin hasn’t failed me yet.
A necessity for a Twitter addict that happens to be a Firefox user. Love this plugin, although it could do with some extra features (retweeting for example). To be quite honest, the whole thing could do with a facelift to keep up with other applications, but it does work considerably well.
Vi.sualize.us is a great site for image bookmarking that I’ve been using for a while (not enough as of recent however). Are you into photo bookmarking? Then vi.sualize.us is a good choice.
Again, I don’t use this plugin yet but I have it installed anyway. Hopefully when I get into coding websites I will be able to put this addon to good use.
And that seems to be all for now.
It’s considered common practice now that hyperlinks on websites should be underlined.
Well, not all links need to be underlined, just the ones that are amongst paragraph text, as they need to stand out for a user to find them. I found a problem exactly like this while reading this article from Gawker. My brother said “click that link” while pointing at some paragraph text. And I’m thinking, all the text is the same color, and there are no underlines, “where’s the damn link?”
The links and paragraph text weren’t actually the same color, just quite similar, so it’s hard to see the link unless you’re reading the whole article.
I would also assume now that because of the search engine giants users have associated this bright blue with hyperlinks as well.
/rant
A little while ago now I discovered a neat little site: DearIE6, and I used it to say goodbye to Internet Explorer.
Very cool idea. And to be quite honest, I don’t use IE. My friend that does my coding work checks on occasion (I hope) if the code works in IE, so that’s good enough for me 
Glad that most of the visitors to my sites are sensible enough to use a better alternative <3
Here are a few of my favorite commercials from YouTube:
Any recommendations? 
“Sorry, but you can’t view this because you’re not from the U.S.”
Published by Eli on Feb 19th, 2009. Filed under Ramblings.Ohhh how this hurts! It should just say “Sorry, but you cannot view this because you’re from a country outside of the real world.”
This will always happen when you (outside of the US) try to view a video on Hulu, so just search YouTube for an alternative video.
I keep getting the urge to publish something up here, but I keep getting turned off. I feel the need to redesign my Blog, something much more minimal and more focused on the content. Something like Gridalicious (sort of).
Anyway, I’ll leave you with a video:
So I got into the Certificate IV in Multimedia at TAFE. I’ll be updating my Twitter more than my Blog, but hopefully soon enough I’ll turn my Blog into more of a social thing, so it gets updates from Delicious, Flickr, Twitter, etc.
Cheerio!
Oh and also, I got an iPhone! Sorry about not writing about it, but I did post on my Twitter.
It’s plagued me for a few days now since I heard that the word was meant to be pronounced as “line uks” rather than “linniks”. I’ve always pronounced it as linniks, and apparently that’s OK, according to this article over at Suse Root.
A good read, however, the accompanying video doesn’t actually work. I got what I needed from the article though!
I’ve noticed a lot of these “Made on a Mac” notices at the bottom of websites, but no “Made on a PC” notices. I’m gonna change this though. Once I get around to it (not likely) I’m gonna add some notices to my sites, just for kicks
On another note, I’ve been very lazy lately. If you’re actually interested in reading my Blog, you should follow me on Twitter to get more frequent updates
Notice the large, middle-aged, nerdy-looking guy on the left? That’s not what I look like. And I’m a PC.