Dwight's list is not nearly long enough.
When I moved from an old Windows 2000 machine to a new one, I had a list of 39 action items. Most were about installing all my applications.
The typical process was 4-6 hours.
Now, of course, I use Migration Assistant and while the process takes 3 hours, I can be doing something else. With Windows, I had to babysit the entire process.

The list is not long enough. It's not particularly dramatic. It should be. There can't be a more humiliating experience than being condemned to use a Windoze box and this article doesn't convey it at all.

The things that pass for interesting...

- Download and install updates/patches. - Something I would recommend for every new computer regardless of OS, yes, even Mac OS X.

- Download antivirus software. (None comes with Windows.) - Something else I'd recommend for every new computer regardless of OS.

- Uninstall junkware. - Not a problem for me, no junkware on my Windows machine, but some bundled packages that allow users to get a better system for less money do come with a lot of crapware on it.

- Configure Internet Explorer. (The anti-phishing feature reduces performance.) - Configure your browser? Isn't that something you do with every new system? Not sure how you get your preferred settings on the new computer otherwise. Unless, of course, if the buyer was a previous Windows user, the file & settings transfer wizard will migrate all your IE settings that were brought forward in the new version, among many other settings.

- Install drivers. - typical of any new OS install for operating systems that are available without the purchase of specific hardware (yeah, drivers aren't a problem if you monopolize the hardware the OS runs on, except that even so Apple still releases driver updates for issues with their own drivers).

Add to the list: resign your life to a virus/antivirus "arms race". Unlike on Mac's.

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Guest wrote:
Configure your browser? Isn't that something you do with every new system?

Don't forget you still need enable the firewall on OS X (which is off by default for some weird reason!)

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Guest wrote:
The things that pass for interesting...

- Download and install updates/patches. - Something I would recommend for every new computer regardless of OS, yes, even Mac OS X.


Agreed

- Download antivirus software. (None comes with Windows.) - Something else I'd recommend for every new computer regardless of OS.

There are no active viruses for OS X or Linux. When there are active viruses, then I'd say install antivirus as a matter of course. Not now.


- Uninstall junkware. - Not a problem for me, no junkware on my Windows machine, but some bundled packages that allow users to get a better system for less money do come with a lot of crapware on it.

Agreed.


- Configure Internet Explorer. (The anti-phishing feature reduces performance.) - Configure your browser? Isn't that something you do with every new system?

No. Not with Safari. Not even with FireFox on Mac, other than telling FireFox where to get the old bookmarks... which is something it asks about the first time it runs.

> Not sure how you get your preferred settings on the new computer otherwise. Unless, of course, if the buyer was a previous Windows user, the file & settings transfer wizard will migrate all your IE settings that were brought forward in the new version, among many other settings.

- Install drivers. - typical of any new OS install for operating systems that are available without the purchase of specific hardware (yeah, drivers aren't a problem if you monopolize the hardware the OS runs on, except that even so Apple still releases driver updates for issues with their own drivers).

- Download and install updates/patches. - Something I would recommend for every new computer regardless of OS, yes, even Mac OS X.

Done automatically. Is this automatic in Vista on first install? I suspect so.

- Download antivirus software. (None comes with Windows.) - Something else I'd recommend for every new computer regardless of OS.

What virus definitions will be included in this software? Since the software will be defending against a program that doesn't yet exist, how will it work? Currently, the OS is patched (I wishfully state) with the latest security updates. What does an antivirus program give a Mac that the OS doesn't...at this point in time? I'm actually curious about this. If I spend any money on these programs, what guarantee do I have that they'll function at all when a virus does appear? Which antivirus software do I install, since I can't look at any index of how such software will perform, given that, for the nonce, they do nothing?

- Uninstall junkware. - Not a problem for me, no junkware on my Windows machine, but some bundled packages that allow users to get a better system for less money do come with a lot of crapware on it.

This isn't a Vista issue, this is a manufacturer issue. As you point out, this can be helpful for some consumers on a tight budget. With my Macs, and your apparently more upscale PC, this obviously wasn't an issue for us.

- Configure Internet Explorer. (The anti-phishing feature reduces performance.) - Configure your browser? Isn't that something you do with every new system? Not sure how you get your preferred settings on the new computer otherwise. Unless, of course, if the buyer was a previous Windows user, the file & settings transfer wizard will migrate all your IE settings that were brought forward in the new version, among many other settings.

Macs transfer settings, photos, music, etc. via Firewire. It can be done as an automated process. I prefer to do these things manually, because I like to play with the shiny new machine (not an attitude unique to Mac users). Either way, it's probably pretty much the same for PC and Mac users alike. Setting up Safari is simple, as I synch my bookmarks via .mac -- that's about all the setup I do for browsers.

- Install drivers. - typical of any new OS install for operating systems that are available without the purchase of specific hardware (yeah, drivers aren't a problem if you monopolize the hardware the OS runs on, except that even so Apple still releases driver updates for issues with their own drivers).

Installing drivers may be a separate issue for PC users, separate from OS updates, that is. For Mac users, the automatic software updates cover these. I've never spent time searching for or downloading a driver from a third party for my peripherals or video cards. I'm sure I could be adventurous and find something that required these...but printers, scanners, and external HD's have never required me to go out and find a driver. That is, of course, the reason to limit your hardware sets. It also makes writing your OS simpler. Apple has that option, Microsoft doesn't. Obviously, there are advantages and disadvantages to either choice.

The process of setting up a new computer is a bit more streamlined in OS X. But the differences are more in detail, and in a reduction in the number of sites which need be searched. In OS X, it's essentially one stop shopping for updates/drivers, then transferring needed programs and files. Mac users mainly lose the antivirus program download, possibly crapware removal, and the third party driver downloads. Setting up XP on my Macbook was actually pretty simple.

One other point, since we're on the subject of updates. My online gaming friends are sometimes interrupted by the updaters on their PCs (such language they then use, tut tut)...I'm never interrupted by the updater on my Macs. I'm assuming this is an XP thing. I should hope this behavior has changed in Vista.

It's their own fault for not specifying the way in which XP updates. It can download updates silently, all up in your face, or not at all, just like OS X. The updater on my Macbook does indeed get all up in my face by default. I had to go change it to update silently just like I have to on my PCs.

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xmattingly wrote:

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Guest wrote:
Configure your browser? Isn't that something you do with every new system?

Not with Safari. You may have to configure your network if Mac OS can't do it for you, but that's about it. If I remember right, Safari was able to fine my bookmarks and retrieved them for me. When I installed 10.4 on this machine, the OS was able to detect my broadband connection within a matter of minutes -- other than setting some preferences in my software, my computer was fully functioning and ready to go within a half hour.

You truly need 2GB of memory to run Vista (at least Business edition) correctly. Anything less and you waste your time and get very frustrated.

As a buyer of multiple machines for my company, it would have been nice if the computer sellers would have told me this, rather than hearing from angry exomployees whose brand new laptops running Vista worked like crap.