GTA4 Launches This Tuesday

For those who may be living under a rock, Grand Theft Auto 4 is being released to Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 this Tuesday. 

GTA4’s launch will almost certainly result in lost productivity as people “call in sick” to check out Liberty City.  I’ll be picking it up at Gamestop between getting off work and going to school Tuesday evening so I’ll probably get in a few hours Wednesday night.

GTA4 has been getting stellar reviews with a solid rating of 10 out of 10 and after watching game play videos, it just solidifies the fact that if you play video games you must get this game.

Vista Ultimate Worth the Extra $?

Generally, Windows Vista Ultimate is not worth the extra $70 when comparing it to Home Basic and Home Premium.

Last Tuesday I attended Microsoft’s Heroes Happen Here which is their Visual Studio 2008, Windows Server 2008 & SQL Server 2008 launch event.  As advertised, I received a copy of each product (although each limited in some capacity) and as an added bonus they handed out a full version of Vista Ultimate.

Later that night I decided to upgrade my laptop from Home Premium to Ultimate.

For a while I wanted Ultimate because, as the product name suggests, it is the ultimate version of Windows with everything Windows Vista has to offer.  Although this is true, being primarily a home user I’ve found that the features available in Ultimate over Home Premium are, although interesting, of no use to me.

If you are a user of Home Premium, below are some of the additional features you will find in Ultimate:

• Bit Locker – Although this is a great feature, you need Trusted Platform Module (TPM) enabled in your PC’s BIOS to use it.  Bit Locker locks the partition Windows is installed on and only allows you to access it.  Attempts to access its contents via another OS or mounting it in another computer will be in vain.  A much needed feature in a business environment where laptops sometimes get “misplaced.”
  Status: No TPM support for my Dell E1505, no bit Locker.
• Remote Desktop Connection – Remotely connect to your Vista Ultimate machine.
  Status: I have no need to remotely access my laptop.
• Windows Fax and Scan – Manage your faxes and scanning in one application.
  Status: I do not fax and many free applications can acquire images from a scanner (I use Paint.NET).
• Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore – The “complete” difference between Home and Business / Ultimate backup and restoring is the ability to create a complete backup of your installation and restore it.  Home versions only backup files and directories.
  Status: I’ve always wanted to create a full system backup of my PC when I have everything “just right”.  That way I can always rollback to a solid setup instead of performing a reformat & reinstall of Windows and my applications.
• Vista Ultimate Extras – There has been some debate on the internets around inadequacy of Ultimate Extras as they are few and far between and generally not useful.  Microsoft touts Ultimate Extras as a program which releases additional features over time.  Current features include full-motion desktop wallpaper, Windows Hold’em, language packs and additional Bit Locker tools.
  Status: I’ll use one of the added sound schemes just to be different.

In summary, if you can get a good deal on Ultimate (free?) go for it, otherwise stick with Home Premium.

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This week I’ve been listening to:
The Ting Tings – Great DJ (Calvin Harris Remix)
MGMT – Time to Pretend
Flobots – Handlebars