On the Grid

Well, on the grid (the grid will be explained a little later) for upgrades at CLC, specifically Desktop computers for faculty, staff, and administrators, some discussions will take place and probably some time-table of decisions about upgrade cycles will be published around May of 007.

What would we need today, in February? If you are buying a PC (or a G5 for that matter) and do not require a lot of specialized software requiring crazy video, sound, or printer drivers, then get Vista on that PC. For the rest of you - STICK WITH XPSP2. for your OS (or Mac OSX and XP under parallels)

Only Vista PRO will allow you to run in parallels - -which will seem faster than running in bootcamp (on the G5).

PC or Mac, get a minimum of 1GB of RAM - except NO excuses or compromises. If you are running a PC, AND you want the fancy Vista GUI (called "Glass") to run properly and NOT AS SLOW AS A WET DOG, you will NEED to INSIST on a graphics card with a MINIMUM of 256MB on-board ram ("on the graphics board?" YES. NOT the same RAM as on your mother board). That will set you back at least 400.00 US today.

That 1GB of required RAM is JUST FOR VISTA TO USE BY ITSELF WITH NOTHING ELSE RUNNING. Yes, you photo shoppers will need a machine minimum of 3GB of RAM, or go back to using the darkroom and sell your digital body on eBay.

One thing to keep in mind is the SELECTIVE (it was NEVER going to be GLOBAL) Copy Protection. This of Vista will NOT let you play ANY DVDs without going on line and authorizing them to play. You may also not be able to burn new DVDs when using Vista as your OS.