So at my job, my team has asked me to conduct our development chats inside World of Warcraft. I also need to test new beta software on Windows Vista. So I fired up my Dell PowerEdge 2800 that’s been just sitting under my desk, in the way of my feet, and installed Vista on Friday.

So I was installing Vista over an existing Ubuntu Linux install, and I must say, I had an easier time installing Ubuntu (v5.10, Breezy Badger, at the time) than I did Vista. Vista told me it could only install in the FAT drive partition that Ubuntu had created to install its OS. At 250Mb, nowhere near enough space to install Vista! I went to reformat both that and the main ext3 partition, and was given a fun Microsoft error, when I hadn’t even started yet! I then deleted the existing partitions, then formatted them. Having done a number of OS upgrades, I was OK with the process, and deleted, then formatted, then installed the OS. I think, though, for the average Windows user, that the process would be confusing. Ubuntu was definitely a better install, if memory serves correctly.Anyhoo- so after installing, it became pretty obvious that to run an OS as gaudy as Windows I needed a better video card. The “standard VGA” card that came with the server is pretty pitiful. So after going to CNET, where I’ve gone to research every electronics purchase for the last decade, I came up with the GeForce 8800 GTS. Behold its awesomeness:

I didn’t want to spend an extra $150 on the GTX model, although it did look super cool. Now I can’t wait for Amazon to get it to me, so I can register for a new WoW account and act like I’ve always used it.