Vista: The Outlook
You may have heard that Windows Vista has finally hit the shelves. So should you run out and get it? Well, first I’ll say that I like Vista and I think Microsoft got a lot of features right, especially for the average home/family user which I’ve already blogged about. But before you upgrade you computer you might want to ask a few questions.
Will my old software work on Vista? Maybe. It would be best to Google it and go ot that software maker’s website to see if they have any updates for Vista. Vista has some features to help old software, but anything that is part of a hardware driver will need to be updated.
Will my hardware be supported? Maybe. Again you’d have to check the manufacturer for a new driver. Your old driver definitely won’t work due to changes in Vista. Most hardware vendors will be producing Vista drivers but they may take a little while and may have bugs. But for most hardware that is less than a year old it shouldn’t be a problem.
Can my computer run Vista? If you have to ask then I probably wouldn’t recommend it. Most likely it would be a better idea to just get a new computer when you are ready rather than upgrade your old one. There could be cases where you were going to pay for software that is included in Vista that would make it worth it to upgrade, like parental controls for family.
If you are still curious, you can download and install an upgrade advisor program from Microsoft’s site which will evaluate your PC, including software, hardware, and peripherals. It will also help you choose the version that you want. That’s right there are multiple versions with different features. You can find the comparison here. Most likely you’d want to go with Vista Home Premium. The only feature it doesn’t have that I would want is Remote Desktop server which is what allows me to use my desktop PC from my laptop here in my recliner in the living room. But there is free software that can do that, too.
So the big question now is when? Well, it is kind of ironic that I just purchased all the components to build my own PC last night, including a copy of Windows. So what did I get… I went with Windows XP Media Center Edition. It comes with a coupon that I can redeem for a copy of Vista as did new PC’s which were sold since last November. I’m planning on using XP for at least another 6 months and letting someone else get all the bugs worked out and then switching to Vista. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Perfect Love
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 is one of the most famous and one of my personal favorite scripture passages. JR and I chose it for one of the readings at our wedding and it has always been special to me. It was today’s second reading and because I love it so, I wanted to share it with our dear readers.
"If I speak in angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
What a beautiful description of perfect love - who would not want to be loved in such a way? How comforting to know that each of is loved perfectly by our Creator. Reflecting on this, it is humbling to review our own lives and acknowledge the failure to exhibit this perfect love. It is easy to state the obvious, that we are imperfect beings who will never be capable of perfection, but how different would or world be if we were all trying a little harder to love perfectly and if we shared that (not quite) perfect love indiscriminately? I believe this is one of those cases where a little could go a long, long way . . .
A Little Something Special
For those of you who like to plan ahead, we wanted to let you know that 210 days from today we expect to announce a little something special - the name of our new baby! Yep! Olivia is going to be a big sister around August 15, 2007. That makes us 10 weeks pregnant (and for those doing the math, that makes the kids 20 months apart). We’ve had two chances to see the new baby on camera already. Once on Dec. 15th to verify s/he was in the right place and again on Jan. 5th to see the heartbeat! It was such a relief to pass those two milestones and we thank God for the opportunity to experience the joy of pregnancy again. I’ve been feeling pretty good, although I’ve had to stock up on Saltines & 7-Up this time around and add an every-other-day nap to my schedule. We plan to find out if Olivia’s getting a little brother or sister when the time comes (at 20 weeks – in late March), so we’ll let you know that and keep you updated on any other developments.
For your reading pleasure, here’s a little more on Baby’s development – there’s always so much to report on in these early weeks:
"Though she’s barely the size of a kumquat – just an inch or so long, crown to bottom – and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, she has completed the most critical portion of her development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in her body grow and mature rapidly. During the next three weeks, your baby’s length will more than double to nearly 3 inches. Each day, more minute details – including tiny fingernails, toenails, and peach-fuzz hair – start to appear on her body."
Livy’s Latest
It’s been awhile since we updated Olivia’s fans on her latest accomplishments, so here goes. She’s a walker now! She started taking a few steps just after her birthday and while we were in Nebraska, she really took off. It is now her chosen method of mobility, and she shows no signs of slowing down. With great delight, she has learned that walking upright frees her hands to unroll reams of toilet paper, knock glasses off coffee tables, and empty our bedside drawers. And just to prove she has been listening to her mother, she’ll say "no, no, no" all the while! Yesterday she did her most destructive thing yet. She chewed on the side rail of the crib and left about a dozen little teeth scratches! Even though she’s developed a few bad toddler habits – including whining and throwing little fits, she’s still very charming and this is all a part of growing up and learning how the world works, right?
She is still best buddies with Red and says "dog" and pets her really sweetly. She also started giving hugs by laying her head on the person (or dog) who needs one. She doesn’t really do kisses yet, but the hugs are pretty cute. If you ask Olivia what the dog says, she’ll say "ff" for woof, and we’re working on "Meow." She’s not very interested in her signs lately, though she recognizes what she sees. She’s gotten good at Peek-a-Boo and will cover her face (except for her eyes) when she’s hiding. Aunt Lisa started that over the webcam – pretty cool what she can understand using all that technology. She can also point to eyes and noses when asked, but doesn’t really seem to understand possession yet (her nose as opposed to Daddy’s). Right now she’s pushing the button on one of her many musical Christmas toys and "dancing" while it plays (she throws her hands up in the air and twists at the waist)! She’s really growing up quickly in the last couple months and fancies herself quite the big girl!
Vista: Photos and Video
It’s been a while but I’ll try to finish up my series of reviews on Windows Vista. Here’s a look at it’s new features for pictures and video.
Pictures:
Vista includes Windows Photo Gallery which is for photo organizing and editing. The first feature that I noticed is that it has a picture importer which pops up when you plug in your camera or insert your memory card. I liked it and it had more options than most usually do such as options of how to name the folders. Once you have your photos on the computer the organizer makes it easy to find what you are looking for by showing you thumbnails sorted by date. You can also add tags and ratings to the photos. Actually the importer gives you the option to add tags when they are imported which makes it easy to import and tag you pictures from an event. Once you’ve found the picture you are looking for you can click the "Fix" button to go to a simple editor to do things like remove red eye, crop, and make adjustments. It will even do automatic adjustments if you want which are pretty good for most situations. Overall it is a lot like Google’s Picasa. I’d also say it has some of the same limitations as Picasa. For example both only allow one level of tags so you can’t have sub-tags like Website->November, and it isn’t easy to add a tag to multiple pictures at once. So power users will probably prefer with something like Adobe Photoshop Elements.
Video:
Vista includes everything you need to create and burn movies to DVDs, assuming you have a DVD burner. Yes, your Vista PC will not only be able to burn but also play DVDs with no additional software which was required in XP. Vista has an updated version of Windows Movie Maker which makes it easy for you to edit your video. It’s easy to use and lets you deal with video, audio, and still pictures all together. After you’ve made your movie and you want to burn it to a DVD, simply fire up Windows DVD Maker. That will walk you through adding your videos and making your DVD menus and chapters. It had an impressive number of templates. When you are done just burn away. I was pretty impressed with what was built in and it will be more than sufficient for most home users. If you are a power user and want more options you still have the option to pay for third party software.
These new features of Vista were included with the basic home user in mind and will allow them to manage, edit, and share their photos and videos with friends and family. As with everything, if you want more functionality you can always pay for third party software with more bells and whistles but most people won’t have to do that.
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