GearWERKZ TechBlog

In both the military and my current job, there has been a recurring trend in human capital resource management. That is that about the time that a new guy has learned their job and really become good at it, it is about time for us to rotate them to a new assignment. This keeps the good ones circulated around so we get quality workers on just about every assignment at one point or another. Of course, it also means that just as you become familiar and comfortable with something, it is frequently time for you to move on.

The same has been true of my gadget lust over the past nine years. One of the reasons that I have reduced the frequency of my hardware upgrades is that I have become more and more vested in a certain system configuration. As I have learned more about operating systems, and developed a more intricate operating environment with regards to my system configurations, my willingness to bear disruption in those setups has lessened. I would prefer to do a system setup once, and then have that system and I grow together as I learn more over an 18 - 24 month time period. Hence, I am less willing to see new hardware come into the 'WERKz as frequently, because I then have to spend two to three days getting the system or device setup the way that I want it.

Follow up:

And so, now, on the cusp of feeling completely comfortable with Windows Vista, it is about time to transition to Windows 7. This hit me the other day when I cast my gaze around the 'WERKz and realized that the instances of Vista had finally overtaken all of my other operating systems. Right now there are four machines out of six running Vista (one Win Vista Home Premium 64-bit, two Home Premium 32-bit, and one Business 32-bit). Add my girlfriend's machine which is running 32-bit Home Premium. I never thought that Vista would be the most populous OS in my home network.

It has taken me nearly two years to get so comfortable with Vista to the point that it has positively impacted my buying decisions. A few months ago, I had essentially decided to hold off on any new PC purchases until I could buy them with Windows 7 pre-installed. However, as the Gateway P-6860FX and MSI X340 have chugged along with nary a hitch, I turned the corner and allowed the investment in a new TabletPC and a new UMPC. Both of these devices were ones that I saw an actual need for that warranted not waiting until October/November. In the case of the TabletPC, it is my primary work laptop, and I was struggling on an antiquated Tablet built on 5 year old tech.

Since settling into my newest personal computing system cfg, I have decided that I am not jumping into Windows 7 immediately upon its release. Earlier this year, I felt like I was holding on by a thread and that I needed Windows 7's arrival to rescue me. But that is not the case. I guess, despite all my warnings of some hypocrisy behind a percentage of the public's criticism of Windows Vista, I was victim to it somewhat myself.

Right now, I do see my main tower running faster under Windows 7. It is significantly faster than WindowsXP. But my HP 2730p and MSI X340 show almost zero signs of being hampered by Windows Vista. Will going to Windows 7 make some things better? Probably. Will it be so much of a jump that it warrants blowing away my current configurations and starting over? Not this year.

The only machines I am going to migrate to Win7 off the bat are any machines for which I have a free upgrade coming, which I believe are the HP 2730p that I use for work, and the Fujitsu U820. Both of those machines will be migrated over the holiday break so that they are not down during working time. I'll then migrate the Main Tower when my RC licence runs out in March of 2010. Since the Win7 Family Pack licencing pricing looks good, I'll likely move the MSI X340 at the same time. But each of these transitions I hold now as nice-to-haves and not mandatory. If I need to slide them to the right to make budgetary room for a different upgrade, then I will.

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