Trial And Mostly Error

Hmm.
I'm trying out the whole Google Doc & Spreadsheets thing (how Web 2.0 of me), as I have not yet gotten Office installed on the computer.
I did, however, manage to get Vista installed successfully.
Eventually.
For the first attempt I went with the Upgrade option, which is great in some ways (you keep your existing applications and data), but not really optimal for performance (a fresh install on an empty drive is ideal).
However, with Vista you actually have to have a version of Windows installed in order to be able to use the upgrade (with previous versions you could just put in a CD to prove that you have a version of Windows).
Anyway, during the information gathering period, the installer came back and said that there were three programs that I had to remove entirely before it could proceed.
Okay. I can understand that there might be compatibility problems with older programs that migh preven them from working in the new OS, but having to actually remove them? Well, whatever; I would be replacing those programs anyway.
Once that was done it came back and gave me a list of programs that might not work, but that they weren't deal-breakers like the other three, so I was cleared for takeoff.
The upgrade was underway and said it could take several hours (yikes), so I wandered off to the living room to fire up the Tablet PC to keep myself entertained.
Some time later I checked in on the progress and it seemed to be moving along smoothly.
A while later it said, "Please wait a moment while Windows prepares to launch for the first time." Okey dokey.
Next time I looked it appeared to be finishing up the install, saying, "Your upgrade has been successful." However, I was puzzled by the fact that it said it was rolling back to my previous version of Windows. WTF?
Wait a second, it said, "Your upgrade has not been successful."
Again, WTF?
Once it finished and I was back into XP, I went online to figure out what happened.I couldn't figure out what happened because, as I'd forgotten, people are useless.
Here are the typical results I got in my search:

Message board post: Vista said my upgrade was not successful, but didn't give any sort of error feedback.
Message board response: Buy a Mac.

Because, you know, that helps.
Hey Internet, you suck!
Anyway, I decided to try the other install option, which is to simply install it on the same drive as the existing version of Windows without upgrading.
Same thing.
During one of the restarts, though, I noticed that before Windows launched my computer was reporting a keyboard failure, as apparently it didn't recognize that my wireless keyboard was connected until Windows actually started.
It was a longshot, but could that have something to do with it?
Further, digging into old message board posts about the various beta releases, I found that the installer didn't seem to like being run from certain DVD ROM drives.
So, I plugged in an old keyboard, put the DVD in the other drive, and held my breath.
I exhaled once I saw it get past a point it had never gotten to before.
Suddenly, after 4 hours and 3 attempts, I had Vista!
Not sure what the X Factor was that made it work, whether it was the different drive, the other keyboard, or just some flaky bit of serendipity.
Once it started up it immediately began downloading updates (no surprises there), and then it began installing them. It got through the first 12 just fine, then the whole system crashed on lucky number 13.
Not a very promising start.
However, it became clear that the problem was that it had misidentified my wireless adapter and had attempted to download and install the wrong driver.
I couldn't find a working Vista driver for my wireless adapter (at the tim I was connected to the router via Ethernet, by the way, to make sure that I had an Internet connection should Vista not be able to use my wireless adapter), which is a few years old from a no-name brand.
I swapped Hugin's wireless adapter with Munin's, as Munin had a newer Netgear adapter, and Vista was able to find a suitable driver.
Next problem was sound, or rather, the lack of it.
There appeared to be a problem with the driver for my soundcard, so I spent (read: wasted) a good hour trying to find and install a new driver.
Then I noticed that the soundcard driver was already installed and Windows said it was working perfectly.
I then noticed that the little message in the notification area wasn't telling me that I didn't have a soundcard installed, like I thought, but that there were no speakers plugged in.
See, back when I upgraded my RAM, I had to disconnect everything, then reconnect it. Dell has these little pictograms next to the audio jacks that are utterly meaningless, so it's sort of by trial and error that you determine which one is for the speakers, which one is for the mic, and which one is the line out.
When I'd hooked everything back up then, I got sound, so I figured I'd gotten the right jack, and I ignored the little message that came up from "Sound Manager" saying that there was something plugged into the pink jack, and what did I want to do about that? I just told it to use them as rear speakers, which was one of the options, and thought that it was just some odd quirk.
Anyway, turns out that I had the speakers plugged into the line out jack, which was why Vista, without the benefit of Sound Manager, was unable to pump sound through them.
By that time it was pretty late in the day, and nearly time for my Tuesday night TV viewing. I managed to get Photoshop installed before setting my ass on the couch.
When I did the "cleanish" install, it didn't overwrite what was on the drive, it simply moved it into a folder called Windows.old. So all of my applications and data are still there, I just can't actually run most of the applications.
I hadn't been too worried about losing anything, as I'd backed up my data, but I forgot about my custom shapes, brushes, styles, and patterns in Photoshop, which all appeared lost, until I noticed the old Photoshop folder.
However, none of those things actually appeared to be saved there, as copying over the old folders has not made them reappear. Ah well.
Anyway, I'm still busily acquainting myself with Vista and getting it to where I need it to be, so I guess I'll get back to it.
Oh, and if you're wondering, overall, I like Vista so far. Not sure about the interface changes they made to Media Center, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.