It became more apparent in the next few hours that I would probably have to keep my parallel installation of XP for a while. The list of programs that reported compatibility problems or simply wouldn't install started to grow.

First casualties were the support programs for my DVD/CD writer. PowerDVD 6 and Nero 6 do not play ball. Vista supports the playing of DVDs, so losing PowerDVD didn't matter. Alex Feinman has an ISO utility that works extremely well, so part of Nero wasn't missed. However, I do like Nero, and will have to consider buying a new version or wait for a Vista compatible OEM and get it with the purchase of a second DVD/CD writer (a cheap option).

I also had two programs, Stellarium and Celestia, neither of which were used much. Celestia still does work, but is uninspiring and allows one to map the location and movement of 'Deep Space Nine'. Too much. Stellarium installs but will not hold location, shows on my main display, while blanking out the second. Not good.

Stickies is a freebie 'Post-it' notes style program, and is presently at version 5.2b. The author is working on a Vista compatible version 6 which may be available before the end of the year. They are network friendly, and can be e-mailed too. Great for sending messages to other users on the network advising of router reboots et al.

My Halo game definitely will not run, but I think that Age of Empires 3 does, although I have yet to install it on the RTM production machine. CFS 3 is also an unknown as yet. To be honest, I am still struggling to get through all of the levels in 'Purble Place'  so not too worried about some of my other games.