Anyone who has ever purchased a new computer knows that 25% of the battle is the new hardware.  The other 75% (plus) is the software.  And dang it, it takes forever to install.

Especially when you need to install databases, application servers, web servers and other bits of software.  Here’s a partial list of what I needed to install (and download, first, then configure):

  • IIS 7.5 — lots of issues with the installation and making it work with ColdFusion 9
  • ColdFusion 9
  • SQL Server 2008 R2 — initially installed just 2008, not the R2.  Microsoft, why in the world do you still have 2008 available for download? My previous system had R2 but I first installed 2008, so when I tried to re-attach the database I got no love.  So, then had to find and download R2 and upgrade.
  • PHP 5.2
  • MySQL 5
  • MySQL Workbench  — first ended up with the OSS version which didn’t look anything like the Workbench tool I needed.
  • Chrome
  • Firefox
  • IE9
  • Safari
  • iTunes — then had to transfer everything.  And I’m still working on that
  • filezilla — dumped my old FTP client (WS-FTP)
  • Thunderbird — dumped my old email client (Eudora, which I have used since 1995– very sad)
  • The Adobe Web Premium Suite
  • Microsoft Office 2010

So, just a few bits o’software.  And most needed configuration. Oh, and had to crank out code for clients.  Lots of fun!

I know there are supposed to be tools to help you move to a new computer, but my loadout would never have worked with something like that. Too much configuration.

Maybe next time I get a new system I’ll pay someone to do it.