Setting up Orcas

Orcas download very quickly for a 3GB file and my first challenge was to figure out why Nero was refusing to recognise the disk image. Yes, the download is a disc image of the DVD installer. After changing the file extension from .img to .iso, the burn was underway and finished in no time.

What did take forever was the installation process. No matter how many files Ruby and Rails install on your machine, it is no match when it comes to the multiple-hour long VS.NET 2008 Beta install process. I went out while waiting for it to finish and got back just as the clean up was happening. Then MSDN was added and it's now ready to test drive.

One thing that I was very happy with was that on first opening VS.NET 2008 Beta, I was offered the option to port my user settings from whatever VS I had installed (which was 2005 in my case). That meant that on startup, I had a familiar IDE to play with. Nice and encouraging.

It is a Beta release so I won't complain about the fact that MS has used the same installer as VS.NET 2005 with the same boring cycling images of MS-type people staring blankly out at you. They seem smug and make me want to use Rails.

Important Points

• The Orcas download is big but fast at just over 3GB;
  
• You have to burn it to a DVD so make sure you have a burner;
• If you don't have the latest version of Nero then change the extension to .iso;
• Go out shopping while running the Orcas install as it takes a while and you have to look at those annoying smirking MS peeps.