I did something fairly stupid: installed Windows Vista build 5270 on my laptop before leaving for Vegas this week. Yeah, I’m headed down here early this time around to keynote a conference on Monday. I should’ve followed my gut instinct and uninstalled this beta after trying it for a few minutes. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections weren’t working at all in my build of Vista, and I had to wait until Jake came to town before I was able to reinstall Windows XP. There was basic wireless access at my first hotel (Stardust), but there’s absolutely no access at my new hotel (Polo Towers). There’s a McDonald’s up the street where they charge for access by the hour, but even after installing Windows XP, I can’t get my machine to recognize the Wireless adapter (even after having downloaded the proper IBM Thinkpad drivers). I’m able to get connected via Ethernet right now, in a closed-door session with Microsoft - looking at newer builds of the Vista beta. Doesn’t do me any good right now, as I won’t be able to use it for another year - or get online to see more about it until I can get home and dig into my laptop problems.

By the way, if you’re coming to CES, I hope to run into you at some point. We’re broadcasting live from the Microsoft pavilion on both Thursday and Friday at 1pm - either tune in or swing by if you can! I’m probably going to be ranting and raving about all these hardware and software problems I seem to be having lately. The good news is: I probably won’t have much time to get online anyway. I’ll be in this Vista preview meeting until the Bill Gates keynote happens (and they’re simulcasting it into the same room, so I don’t have to go anywhere yet). Then, I’m off to a press party down the hall. Tomorrow, it’s off to CES - where I’ll be running around all morning with Sean Alexander from Microsoft (recording video for a few internal Microsoft developers), then broadcasting our show live, then heading off to another press junket. On Friday, the schedule is pretty much equal to Thursday’s. Saturday, I’m flying home. Woooooooooo, boy.

[tags]vista,gadgets,las vegas,ces,conference,technology,tech,gizmos,convention,consumer electronics,showcase,devices[/tags]