>from Harvey Normans (equivalent of Dixons or Currys at home – not worthy of a link). I called by on Tuesday durning my lunch break to check out an upgrade for my laptop, from Vista Basic to Vista Home Premium. I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask someone about the software, but when I tried to get the attention of a ‘sales assistant’ he simply smiled, shook his head and moved on. Dumbfounded I put the software back and left. I should have spoken with his manager to inform them I was a [potential] customer. The least he could have done was have the courtesy to say software was not his department but would find someone who could help me. I bought what I wanted from Myer’s on my way home from work having researched what I needed to know on-line (maybe they should provide portal points where customers can research products in-store and do away with ‘sales assistants’).

For those interested, whilst I’m sure the differences between Basic and Home Premium are diffirent, for all intense purposes, the biggest difference is the new Aero(tm) design of the interface (reminicent of Max OS if you ask me). Never mind. At least I’m out of the sandbox that was Basic and can now install a variety of software such as Virtual PC and VMWare Server (albeit the latter still warns that its software is meant to run on servers). The cost of the upgrade: $179. Worth it? Well, there should never be a Basic version to upgrade from, IMHO.