A strange surprise awaited me when I booted up my Vista PC this morning; something had apparently tripped Microsoft's infamous Windows Genuine Advantage either during the previous shutdown or startup. An alert window appeared on my login display demanding that unless I activate (actually re activate) my copy of Vista immediately, WGA would henceforth hold my PC hostage. In Lehman's terms Vista would operate in "reduced function mode" until reactivation would allow me back into full user-rights mode. Great way to start off a morning, especially since this workstation contains much of my work for paying clients!

What better way to spend an hour by speaking to a barely comprehensible Indian tech repeat a cryptic 200-digit Activation key back to me, than having to retype the whole sequence over again after misinterpreting his broken english. Remind me again what the advantage is to Windows Genuine Advantage, and who benefits? Certainly not I.

The really comical part to all of this is that Microsoft's product activation is designed to combat software piracy, but in the end it does more to lock out legitimate users like myself rather than pirates who easily find ways to circumvent the system. Thanks for killing an hour of my productivity, Microsoft.

Chris Pirillo is dumping Vista. The well known Windows enthusiast and long time blogger has had enough with the many numerous issues afflicting this new Windows release, and is “upgrading” to XP. He shares his experiences in a blog entry, outlining the reasons for his decision.

He writes…

Sorry, I… I gave Vista a real chance. I just can’t use it as my primary OS anymore. It’s NOT horrible at its core (by any stretch of the imagination). If all of your hardware and software are fully baked, you’re good to go - but that’s not the world I live in. I will continue to recommend Windows Vista for some users, mind you. I wish I could take the best parts of Vista and bring them back with me to XP. I’m still more than willing to help Microsoft improve Windows and get the message out to users, but I simply can’t sacrifice my own time and productivity without benefits in clear sight.

His experiences largely mirror my own, particularly his assessment of Vista’s state of being as an OS that feels like its still Beta code. That’s exactly what I have said as well. Microsoft released this product too soon. In stark contrast, Windows XP was so stable during beta stages of development that I was using it as my primary operating system back when it will still in Beta 2 stage. The quality was that good. Unfortunately Vista doesn’t share that same level of stability even in its final release.

I have encountered many numerous issues that have me pondering a similar switch. In my case I am a multi-platform user, booting between Mac and Windows, so when Vista drives me up the wall I simply use my right-brain (the Mac). But for someone using Vista as their sole platform, the situation can be untenable.  

The name Hamad Darwish may not be a household name, but if you are using Windows Vista chances are you're already familiar with his work. Microsoft commissioned this well known Flickr photographer to shoot high resolution imagery for inclusion in Vista as desktop wallpapers. So the background you're probably using now as your desktop is the work of Hamad.

Surprisingly a number of spectacular images he produced for Vista didn't make the cut, and were not included in the final release. Hamad is now making these previously unreleased images available for download on his personal website, which I encourage everyone to visit.

These desktops are stunning, especially the first selection below which is my personal favorite.

Download the entire wallpaper pack
It's like crack, for your computer screen. Enjoy!

Source: Windows Vista Blog