Catalyst Development

With the general consumer release of Vista right around the corner, you may be thinking about upgrading your development system. It’s not a difficult process, but there are some things that you need to be aware of, and planning ahead of time can save you from a lot of frustration.

Minimum System Requirements
The first thing to consider is the hardware that you’re currently using. Because developers tend to keep their systems relatively up-to-date, more than likely you’re in good shape. However, if your system is more than two years old, you’re going to want to check to make sure that it’s suitable for Vista. It’s recommended that you take a few minutes and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor which is a utility that will generate a compatibility report. Note that it only works with Windows XP, so if you’re using an older version of Windows then you’ll have to make the evaluation yourself.

Microsoft lists the minimum system requirements for Vista as a 1 GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, 40 GB of disk space and a DirectX 9 compatible video card with at least 128 MB of memory. However, keep in mind that is the minimum system requirements, and they really mean it. For a development system that’s actually usable, you’ll want at least a 2 GHz processor, 2 GB of memory, 120 GB of disk space (all of those development tools add up) and a DirectX 9 video card with at least 256 MB of memory. Keep in mind that the actual processor speed largely depends on the type; a system with the Core Duo is going to perform better than a P4 at a higher clock speed. You can also get by with a video card that has less memory, particularly if you don’t plan on running with the Aero Glass desktop. If you’re looking at multiple components to upgrade, then prioritize memory first. Vista is very aggressive with its memory use, so the more RAM it has and the faster it is, the better it will perform. I would point out that it is possible to install Vista on a lower-end system; however it’s not likely that you’ll be happy with the performance.

Windows Vista Version
If you’ve decided that your hardware is suitable for Vista, then you need to decide what version of the operating system you should upgrade to. Vista comes in several different versions, from Vista Home to Vista Ultimate. As a developer, you really just have two choices: Vista Business or Vista Ultimate. Vista Business is fairly close to Windows XP Professional in terms of the overall features. Vista Ultimate is basically a combination of the Business version and the Home Premium version which includes Windows Media Center. Vista Ultimate also includes the BitLocker disk encryption that’s in the Enterprise version. The bottom line is that Vista Ultimate is the best choice if your development system also doubles as your personal computer. If you’re only concerned about business features on a system at work, and aren’t interested in the built-in disk encryption, then Vista Business is all you’d really need.

Drivers and Development Tools
Now that you’ve decided on what version of Vista to install, you should take an inventory of your peripherals. In particular, you’re going to want to make sure that drivers are available for your video and audio adapters, as well as your printer. USB devices won’t be a problem in most cases, but multi-function printers may not have drivers available. If you’re not using integrated audio, you may also find that release drivers aren’t available for your audio card (the audio stack was changed significantly in Vista, and some vendors only have beta drivers available with partial functionality). You should also check for any BIOS updates, as well as any updates to the chipset that your system is using.

In most cases, the development tools that you use under Windows 2000 or Windows XP will work fine on Vista. However, there are some general issues to be aware of. The most significant is that Microsoft only officially supports Visual Studio 2005 on the platform. If you use Visual Studio 6.0 or Visual Studio .NET 2003, you can install them, but Microsoft will not provide any support for them on the platform. If upgrading to Visual Studio 2005 isn’t an option you’re not completely out of luck, but there will be some limitations. Most of those limitations revolve around one of two general areas, ActiveX and debugging. More specific information is available in our article Software Development on Windows Vista. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you’re currently using WinHelp for your help files, that format is no longer supported by Vista. Microsoft does plan on releasing a WinHelp viewer at some point, but you should make plans to migrate your help projects to HTML Help.

Upgrade or Clean Install
Finally, you have to make the decision as to whether you’re going to upgrade your system in-place, or perform a clean install. While an in-place upgrade is tempting, it’s not something that I’d recommend. Upgrading from an earlier version of Windows takes longer than a clean install, and it is much more likely that you’re going to encounter odd compatibility problems (or even system instability) when upgrading. Although re-installing all of the development tools and utilities is certainly no fun, it will pay off in the long run. Make sure you have a good backup of your source code and data, as well as any software that you’ve downloaded and/or purchased online. If you don’t have an external USB drive, now would be a good time to invest in one. It’ll make the re-installation process much easier in the long run, as well as provide the best way to backup your complete system. Once you’ve started the installation the process is largely automated, so there’s little for you to do but sit back and relax.