PROFESSOR. SCHOLAR. AUTHOR.
Last Class Done

Last Class Done

Yesterday was my last actual set of class meetings. We’ve still got finals yet to go — so the grading is far from over — but at least the class-time is down. As usual, I really enjoyed the teaching and the students especially, but I’m glad for the break. Just wish it was longer!

The new computer is up and running, and I’m quite pleased with it so far. Fast and silent and small. That’s a good combination right there.

Vista has some interesting quirks, but I’m liking it overall. I installed Word 2003 so as not to fiddle with the horrid redesign of 2007. Most “old” programs are working like champs. In fact, the only really bad issues were with the installation of Vista itself, which locked-up in mid-install and wouldn’t let anything happen when it rebooted, instead giving me a blank, black screen of death. Quite strange. Via the internet, though, I came across some terrific guidelines on how to fix the problem by some kind geeks. I was able to solve the problems, therefore, but I must say that I’m disappointed that a clean install on a brand-new machine forced me to go into the BIOS to temporarily whack things to get into a DOS device manager to temporarily whack all the video drivers so that Windows could finish its install. Luckily I still know how to do these sorts of things given some rudimentary guidelines, but how many people can say the same? Not enough to warrant the existence of the errors, I suspect.

Microsoft’s help, naturally, was of no real help in solving what seems to be a common problem.

Anyway, the computer is working. I’m pleased. Now if I could just finish all the grading…

3 Comments

  1. C. E. Bollinger

    For reasons similar to yours, my spouse got Vista on his new computer. He encountered problems similar to those you describe. And Vista has locked him up several times since for no obvious reason.

    When he ordered a new computer for his mother, he went with Dell specifically because he could still get XP for it. He figures the odds of her being able to actually use the computer increase exponentially with a non-Vista OS.

    Microsoft — expletives just aren’t adequate…

  2. XP really was stable by the end of SP2, for sure. I’m hoping Vista will be similar.

    And now that I’ve got the kinks worked out, I’m really more pleased with it than I thought I would be. I’m running the 64-bit version, though I shouldn’t think that would really matter from a user-end standpoint.

    My biggest sorrow with Microsoft remains my fleeting experience with their Zune mp3 player. Microsoft controlled the operating system (XP), the manufacture of the player itself, and the Zune’s own software. NOTHING was not in Microsoft’s hands. Yet the hilarity of incompatibility nevertheless arose. Lordy!

    If I wasn’t in academia I swear I’d just get an Apple and be done with it.

  3. I also had the black screen of ________ when we were installing Vista on my computer. There seems to be a lot of funky quirks with that OS that drive me bonkers, so much in fact that it has caused dialog that would make a sailor blush.

    I hope Vista treats you much better than it has me.

    Good luck with the grading!

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