What?!? I installed Vista? On a MacBook!

Yes, you read that title correctly. I installed the latest version of the Microsoft OS, Windows Vista, on my MacBook. I didn’t install it in a virtual machine using VMWare Fusion or Parallels, I actually used BootCamp and installed it directly on my MacBook in a separate partition. I did this for two reasons. Number one: I didn’t use VMWare Fusion or Parallels because my MacBook is one of the old ones that can only support up to 2 GB or RAM, so I would only be able to give my virtual machine around 1 GB and still have a responsive Mac. Windows Vista wouldn’t be a happy camper under 1 GB of RAM, especially since the reason I installed it is for reason number two. Number two: I realize at the end of the day, even though I love Apple and my Mac, the thing that brings home the paycheck is Microsoft development. We are getting into serious development at work now using .NET 3.5 and Silverlight 2.0. I need to have a machine at home that I can use to work on, and I’d rather not have to lug around a laptop back-and-forth to work every day.

Now, as for why I installed Windows Vista Ultimate, when Windows Vista hasn’t exactly received stellar reviews? I had a copy that I got for free for attending a Microsoft developer session a few weeks back, and didn’t feel like scouring the web to find a pirated version of Windows XP.

I don’t see myself booting into Windows very often, but it’s nice to have the option. This is actually the reason I waited until Apple switched over to the Intel platform, so I would have the option to install Windows. I’ve played around with Vista for a few minutes now, this is the first time I’ve really used it, and while I don’t think it’s as great as OS X, I do think it’s more pleasing on the eyes than Windows XP. It also seems to be running pretty responsively, which is good. We’ll see how it goes once I start doing development on it.
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