Since last week, after installing Windows Vista on both my development machine and my laptop computer a lot of things have happened. Windows Vista survived a Webcast and a workshop at a customer’s side about .NET Performance. Despite the warning that Visual Studio 2005 might have some compatibility issues when running under Windows Vista, it seems to work properly. After disabling Windows Live OneCare, which I wanted to try as a virus scanner, I got good connectivity with my Windows Mobile Devices, using Sync. Center. Debugging applications turned out to be a pleasant experience, and both the Webcast and the workshop ran without any problems. Today I found another pleasant surprise. If you remember last week’s column, I had something to complain about. My Microsoft Bluetooth mouse and keyboard were not yet supported under Windows Vista. So for a whole week I had to use an alternative mouse and keyboard, both connected through a wire. Even though things were working I especially missed my keyboard. Well, today I found beta device drivers for both devices and after installing those, I am now writing this column using my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. After working with Windows Vista for a week I have found no real problems, it has a great, fresh look and feel and I feel happy about the OS. There are still a number of applications I need to test, but so far it feels that the decision to install Windows Vista on my two frequently used PC’s was a good one. Hopefully I will remain happy with that decision. Now it is time to concentrate on Windows Live. Read next week’s column to find out more about this exciting new Platform (is it even a Platform, a brand name, a new name for something that already existed or something completely different).

Maarten Struys