Machine crash - a good thing?

27 November 2007 by Niels Hartvig
Two weeks ago my harddrive died in my primary machine, the macbook pro. So off to repair, couldn't be fixed, buy new harddrive, reinstall. Irritating and waste of time - or?

For the first time I didn't just do the usual re-install of all tools. For the first time I'm only installing as I really feel a need, I don't restore files I don't use. No crap, no nonsense - it's digital Feng Shui.

Here's what happend so far:
- Vista is still my primary work OS and I really like it
- Firefox is now my primary browser (should have done that ages ago)
- I haven't installed Outlook - I'm now using Gmail and Google Calender
- My current programs are: Vista, Firefox, IE, Office 2007 (sans Outlook), VS2005, VS2008, SQL Server Management Studio, Snag-It, Reflector, Live Writer, Camtasia, WinRar, Virtual CloneDrive, Messenger and Skype
- Hosted software: umbraco ;-), Gmail, Google Calender, E-conomic, Basecamp and Campfire

I'm surprised how good this work so far and I'm hoping to continue having as much as possible online and web based. That said, nothing beats writing a blog post in Live Writer or writing book chapters (ooops, did I really say that ;-)) in Word 2007.

As for the Mac part of the machine, it's filled up with Logic Studio 8 (YEAY), Software synths and 60gb of samples. Did I mention I love my new 250gb internal harddrive ;-)

10 comment(s) for “Machine crash - a good thing?”

  1. Ismail Mayat Says:
    27 November 2007I have new laptop just rebuilding im as per your idea going for minimalist approach but its soo tempting to fill it with all the goodies on the msdn pack!!
  2. Jesper Ordrup Says:
    28 November 2007Just bought a Macbook. I love it. I've taken the same approach - minimal install. OSX being the primary - with IWorks, Firefox, Remote Desktop, Parallels. And ... and Logic Pro (wow).

    My Vista is dedicated to Visual Studio.

    Bye bye Windows :-)
  3. Hans Says:
    28 November 2007You realize VS2008 has multi-targetting, and VS2005 therefore is a waste of bits?
  4. Hartvig Says:
    28 November 2007@Hans: VS2008 still upgrades the projects and as such it would be a requirement to umbraco contributors to upgrade their VS as well - so that's the primary reason :-O
  5. Jay Greasley Says:
    28 November 2007Do you favour Bootcamp over Parallels or VMWare ?
  6. Jesper Ordrup Says:
    29 November 2007OSX related ... can anyone recommend an xml editor (with intellisense if possible)?
  7. Simon Justesen Says:
    30 November 2007Jesper: I don't know if it is available for OSX, but XMLSpy is pretty cool :)
  8. Donald Mc'Kane Says:
    30 November 2007I'm surprised you vote for Vista, many people say it's a bummer. Anyway I've never tried it, so I won't insist. What I did try was Basecamp. It's all right for just one project, but if you try to manage like 10 projects it turns into a nightmare, really. My choice for collaboration and project management is now Wrike http://www.wrike.com/
  9. Hartvig Says:
    03 December 2007I have had nothing but great experiences with Vista, so I never got a clue on all the critism. A part from that it's very trendy to be hitting on MS and hyping on Apple ;-)

    Regarding Bootcamp over Virtualizations, I just really like the idea that I'm simply running a working machine with native drivers. Very old school and very conforting. And when I go home, I can boot up in OS X and not be reminded of work. It's like having two machines and I really like it.
  10. Hartvig Says:
    03 December 2007@Donald: Wow, Wrike looks really nice. I'll give it a try, thanks!

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