The Cold Cut

It probably hasn't occurred to many people so far, but the age-old ritual that is going to the cinema is slowly going out of fashion... A few of us have questioned why we go to the cinema with other people when it is essentially a solitary experience (what with not wanting to talk etc.....). Also, with the rapidly advancing technology that most of us own in our TV room, you needn't leave the house to have a cinematic experience: who needs to sit with 200 other people when you can watch Lord Of The Rings on your 108 inch projector with Dolby 6.1 Surround Sound, all in the comfort of your Laz-E-Boy recliner? I have a feeling that people are starting to come around to the fact that the digital age is upon us; films can be downloaded in DVD quality from BitComet just as they are released, and then watched on Media Center PC's....

Its quite disconcerting that this is the case: I think going to the cinema is still a worthwhile way to spend your money, and despite what I have said, it will be some years before staying in can match the overall experience of seeing a film you have been waiting for (insert your preference here) months. My main gripe with the film industry is the price: going to the cinema nowadays can set you back 15 quid, which somewhat lessens the enjoyment you get out of it. This is probably down to the fact that big cinema's such as CineWorld are buying out all the smaller companies. Thats all very well, but lets be honest; when was the last time you saw an indie film being played at your local multiplex? It seems that this aspect is having a negative aspect on the smaller films that are made every year, and on our wallets.

Last week my dad ordered a brand new computer from Dell, complete with a 2.4 Ghz dual-core AMD processor, 4 GB of RAM, a 256 Mb Nvidia Geforce graphics card, a 320 GB hard drive, all in one printer and a 19" ultra sharp LCD screen. And to top it all off, we got a free version of Windows Vista Professional. Not bad for the £800 price tag, hey?

Well, the computer arrived yesterday morning, and we had it up and running by the evening. The shipping notes said that everything was installed and ready out of the box, yet as soon as we booted up the machine and plugged in the network cable, there was an instant message saying the PC had to be restarted, as updates were installed. I did so, as I thought 'this is the first startup, so thats okay'. But then as soon as we restarted the machine, more notifications popped up on the side of the screen. This has been the case every time the machine has been turned on, and internet forums say that this will happen for the next 6 months!

I have to say, I was a bit skeptical when my Dad asked me whether it was worth getting Vista. The only reason we got it was because it was free with the computer. On first impression, it alls seems really good: visually, it is leagues ahead of XP. The colours are more vivid, and Microsoft has obviously taken a leaf out of Apple's books- they have included gadgets on the sidebar, which are amazingly similar to 'widgets'. But the problems lie beneath the attractive surface. It seems as if Windows have rushed the operating system; there are compatibility issues with printers, speakers etc, and I have already mentioned the constant updates.

I know its fairly recent, but there shouldn't be this many issues this early on. Have many of you out there updated to Vista from XP, and if you have, what do you think?