Not if, but when

I've steadfastly avoided even looking at the beta releases.  As may have been apparent from the time it took to get the system together in the first place, rebuilding the PC is something that I rather want to avoid if at all possible.  There's also the question of whether it brings any real benefit to the table as well.  On consideration, the balance of risk versus benefit didn't make it an attractive proposition at all.  However, I may not have the choice for all that much longer.

The subject of this diversion?  Vista Service Pack 1.  It's out, and all we have to ask is whether it was released too early, is it properly rehabilitated and ready to make a positive contribution to society, or will it bring it all crashing down.

Strangely, the jury is still out as far as I can tell - whilst there are reports of failed systems (mainly sounding as though they won't restart after the patches are applied), it's only natural for affected users to complain vociferously.  What I've been unable to find so far is a balanced review of whether SP1 is a) safe and b) worth the risk.

I may not have the choice for much longer anyway - sooner or later something is going to demand that I get the SP loaded - or maybe OneCare will go ahead and set it up behind my back: that would be a very bad move and earn someone a black mark, but there's no guarantee that it won't happen.

So all the organisations who were waiting until SP1 came out before taking the Vista plunge must still feel hesitant: are we all now going to wait for the patched service pack (remember NT SP4!)?  Long gone are the days when I would rush to get the very latest releases and drivers - been burnt too often to plunge into things too quickly.  However, there's enough pressure building up to maybe force me to go down this route: I only hope I can hold out long enough to get a large enough external drive to grab a full data backup before things go wrong.

Weather report

The British are said to have an obsession with the weather.  No-one seems particularly interested in the climate, but the daily weather is a dependable topic of conversation.  Occasionally, it may slip over to more general issues ('we don't get hot summers like we used to', or 'there was virtually no snow this winter'), but it's always in the context of what's going on outside today.

With that in mind, I've become aware that we're in the middle of a drought.  Never mind the depressing rain outside, there have been no new gadgets for a month or so.  This is obviously a critical climate warning, and is something that we should sit up and take notice of.  We don't need any scientific papers, think tank meetings, or UN conferences, but instead should insist on immediate decisive action.

Our team of experts have browsed the websites, read the blogs and researched the online catalogues of nearly every vendor on the Internet without reaching a conclusion.  Oh, there have been odd suggestions - get a USB disk drive, buy a new video camera, even (shock horror) download a new piece of software.  But there's a growing realisation that I don't really need anything new.

My colleague at work brought a new toy in today - a R/C helicopter simulator, complete with control and software to represent all sorts of different types of flying machines.  And yes, it looks interesting - but I didn't get that 'must have' feeling. 

We've had a series of new servers and similar technologies delivered at work for configuration recently, but these are just standard bits of kit now, no reason to get excited.  Even a new group of network routers hasn't got me interested.

Perhaps there's no hope: the climate has tipped over into a gadget-free zone, and we're going to drift slowly into a new Ice Age, characterised by long inert periods spent on the sofa watching TV.  Don't you think it's a bit cold for this time of year?