Whenever I get a new machine (at work, at home, anywhere) I'm always
astounded by the sheer amount of time it takes to get it up and running. I
don't mean just the basics, I mean a fully-functional platform that is set up
just the way I'm used to, right down to the folder display settings in Explorer
and the toolstrip I always like on the right side of the screen.
I mean, seriously, there's gotta be a better way to do this. The following
applications are just the basic things I need to be efficient:
- Windows XP Professional, drivers, settings
- Mozilla Firefox, extensions,
profile import
- Thunderbird, profile
import
- Maxthon
- Microsoft.NET 1.1 and 2.0
- Visual Studio 2003 and 2005
- ReSharper (one version
for each), import settings, resolve keyboard conflicts
- GhostDoc (one
version for each)
- Gaim, profile import
- FileZilla
- Latest JRE (java runtime environment)
- RssOwl, profile import
- Total Commander, plugins,
customization
- 7-zip
- Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org (Hebrew version)
- SourceGear Vault client
- CDBurnerXP Pro
And that's just to get me through the day. It doesn't include all the
multimedia and development tidbits, like:
I reckon the net installation and customization time is over 10 hours
(some installations can be done in parallel, some can be deferred to a later
time). That is a lot of time to spend on just setting up your machine.
The problem with using Ghost or some similar software is that I get a system
without all of my current data (profiles, files, documents etc.), and as for
virtual machines, they're simply not fast enough yet for constant use (at least
on my modest home desktop or laptop).