Vista 64 Review

Summary: Vista64 isn't quite ready for primetime, at least for primetime as a dev environment, but it's getting there.

Programs that don't work:

• Dragon: there's currently no 64 bit version of Dragon and no eta on when there will be... kinda a deal breaker for developing the Virtual Patient much at home.
• TortoiseCVS - Solution: using Eclipse CVS (it's not integrated with the file system, but it has a nice UI)
• Asus ProbeII - Solution: just hope my temperatures are ok
• Daemon tools - only UltraISO works for mounting ISO's so far, and it's commercial
• BlueSoleil - No WiiTools. The dongle actually seems to get recognized by the Vista Bluetooth stack, but the Vista stack doesn't keep a connection with the Wiimote, it'll just make the connection and then drop it.

Drivers that don't work:

• Webcams - there are currently 2 usb webcams in existence that work with vista64, they're both expensive, $100+, and both from Microsoft. Solution: supposedly, Unibrain has vista64 drivers for the Fire-i, will be trying them this week.
• Audio drivers - my microphone works, but it doesn't sound good, can't be sure that's completely the drivers. Also the front panel audio plugs don't work any more either (they were fine on XP).

Other comments:
The only 64 bit programs running on my system came direct from Vista during installation as well as, amazingly, Maya. Everything else is run using WOW64 (Windows-on-Windows 64-bit), basically an emulator. It would have been much more effective to give a 32-bit Vista which emulates 64-bit, as OS X does now. WOW64 works well enough for most programs, but I'm currently seeing a significant frame rate drop on the Virtual Patient (24fps, down from 45fps).

Positives:
Visual Studio loads and closes WAY faster, couple of seconds instead of up to 30 seconds. Maya has some slight performance improvements. Of course, I also happened to put an extra 2GB of ram in just before I installed Vista, so I may just be seeing those improvements. I think the load time improvements are mainly due to Vista pre-caching.
The search/filter features are great. Very easy to use, just start typing in an open folder and it starts filtering, it's not instant, but it's fast.
The gadgets bar is entertaining. Weather, a calculator, funny clocks, can change the desktop on a timer, and a quicklaunch (not really necessary if you remember the name of the program you want).

Wrapping Up:
Vista 64 is almost ready. Give it 6 months and everyone can use it for everything. On the other hand, if we didn't develop specifically for Windows, I'd probably switch to Ubuntu and use Eclipse for all my dev, it just makes me happier.