Okay, so the plan once I got RC1 download was as follows:
- Install Vista RC1 x32 on a new partition on my work laptop
- Install Vista RC1 x64 on a dedicated Vista partition on my Dual Opteron home machine
I haven't looked into doing my laptop yet (more on this later when I do it), but I did install Vista x64 for my dual operton machine. Initial thoughts from a quick play:
- Simple easy installation. Much easier for joe-user than XP
- The interface is simply beautiful. The usability is massively improved over XP. I especially liked the simpler shell integration as this is something I still personally use a lot (i.e. I prefer to type c:\ as opposed to opening up windows explorer)
- No Vista x64 drivers for any of my m-audio gear. I have the audiophile 24/96 sound card and an audiosport 4x4 midi box. It meant I couldn't do any multimedia testing - I really wanted to see how well certain multimedia software worked, but I'll guess I'll have to wait.
- Big speed improvements over Vista Beta 2. It seems to run much faster on my dual operton if not fly.
Couple of interesting notes, that Vista now longer uses boot.ini for multiboot. Instead it has a whole new mechanism which is slighty confusioning if you have a couple of other OS's already loaded on your machine. Some interesting links on how config and change the new boot configuration data can be found here and here