How Vista screws dual-booting nirvana
The other day I found myself staring out the window next to my desk. It was around 6.30 in the evening, and the lights had just gone on over Hyde Park. — The whole scene was one of winter serenity, aided considerably by the window sill …
Context & Ripple Effects
In June 2006, hobbyists were guided through setting up XP and the Vista beta side by side on one machine, treating dual-boot as the safe way to evaluate Microsoft's next OS without giving up a working XP install. APC's report documents where that workaround fails: Vista disrupts previously smooth dual-boot configurations, breaking setups that the June walkthrough promised would coexist.
First-order effects
- Enthusiasts who followed the June dual-boot guidance face broken or degraded configurations, turning the recommended evaluation path into a repair job.
Second-order effects
- How-to publishers like Lifehacker have to revisit their dual-boot instructions, and cautious testers may shelve the Vista beta rather than risk their primary XP environment.
Third-order effects
- If each OS revision can quietly break multi-OS arrangements, dual-booting loses its role as the default safety net for trying new Windows versions, pushing evaluation toward separate machines or virtualization.
The trend: Operating system upgrades are becoming less tolerant of user-managed multi-OS setups, eroding dual-boot as the enthusiast's evaluation method.