I recently converted my Vista workstation to Windows 2008, for it being the obvious choice for a web developer. At the time, my machine was purchased from a consumer electronics store with Vista Home Premium preinstalled. Since I’m the only PC in an all-mac shop, they don’t have too many Windows-based workstations lying around.
Thanks to Microsoft’s Dreamspark program, any college student (or one who still can access their college email) can obtain several pieces of Microsoft development software. I’ve made my rounds, certainly, but was giddy when I noticed Windows 2008 Server was added to the list (I’m already runnning my copy of Windows 2003 Server R2 on my home server). I couldn’t wait to try it out.
The install was a breeze. I both partitioned (using GParted) and installed the OS in less than an hour along side my Vista installation. It didn’t recognize my NIC but obtaining the driver was a matter of downloading it onto the other OS and copying it over. The subsequent updates installed quick however and after enabling the Desktop Experience and Windows Search, I was able to actually USE the OS.
Let me say I was impressed. Like many others who have done this workstation conversion, it definatly is snappier. My memory footprint was about 1/3 less than Vista and everything just seemed to load quickly. Even with a couple VM sessions running in addition to other application installations, it was still snappy. It was amazing, considering that it shares the same code-base as Vista SP1.
Not only was the nice boost in speed welcomed, but I get to use some of the other features that, well, should be part of any Vista installation, such as Remote Desktop, better password management, and group policy management, just to name a few.
Overall, it’s a nice solid OS and I am very pleased. I would recommend this to anyone who can get their hands on a copy. I’m even able to play my games on it.
