James Bannan25 February 2007, 5:02 AM
Is your shiny Viiv system ready for Vista? Probably, but getting it there won't be a walk in the park. Vista drivers? Not tonight, dear, I have a headache.
Over the last couple of months I’ve been installing Vista on various platforms – some of them lumbering Frankenstein-esque machines of my own creation, while others are sleek and shiny systems with "Intel Viiv" and “Vista Ready” logos proudly emblazoned on the front.
However, I've been asking myself continually, what exactly does “Vista Ready” mean?
So far, it seems to mean that the system will run Windows Vista, but purely from the perspective of driver support – it has little or no bearing on user experience.
I've had disappointing experience when installing Vista Ultimate on an Optima Viiv Media Centre.
Unlike many manufacturers, Optima released proper Vista drivers for this system reasonably quickly after Vista's release, although being a Viiv system all of the drivers were pulled straight from Intel’s Download Centre (a distinct advantage of Viiv).
Impressively, even drivers which weren’t available from either the Optima or Intel site (like the Instant-On driver) were automatically picked up via Windows Update.
But the Viiv software itself was notoriously difficult to chase down. The download on both Optima’s and Intel’s sites was the Viiv 1.5 – 1.6 upgrade. In other words, you have to have Viiv 1.5 already installed to use 1.6 (which is the official Vista-supported version) and the full 1.5 version is only available to install on Windows XP MCE 2005.
Rather naively, I decided to try using the system with Vista without chasing down Viiv, seeing as how there was a global conspiracy to prevent me from installing it.
Well was THAT a mistake. Instant-On was more like Instant-Crash or Instant-Freeze. I basically had to use the system as a standalone device rather than an integrated HTPC – it was a painful, painful experience which sent me scurrying back to XP (and researching alternatives like MediaPortal and MythTV on the way).
I got in touch with Intel to find out why the whole Vista-Viiv experience had been such a drag, and what I or any other user could do to get around it. Their response was:
“Intel makes the full install of 1.6 available to PC OEMs to post on their websites as the majority of consumers go to their sites for product support. While our site only shows the upgrade version, a full install version is available from Intel Customer Service. To get access consumers need to call in and respond to a few questions to confirm that they have an IVT device. Customer Service then provides the consumer with the link to the full upgrade. “
This solution does rather feel like jumping through hoops in the hope someone will throw you the biscuit they took away from you in the first place.
Users are now at the mercy of manufacturers who, as a group, don’t seem to have managed Vista’s release all too well.
I know of quite a few manufacturers of “Vista Ready” systems who haven’t posted a link to a single Vista driver.
Still, if your OEM hasn’t posted the full Viiv install you can at least contact their support lines and ask them for it: “Intel said that they sent it to you, so where is it, huh?” or just go straight to the source and get it from Intel.
I still don’t understand why overall support for Vista is so patchy. Perhaps it has been so long since a major upgrade of Windows that OEMs are out of practise? "Vista drivers? Not tonight, dear, I have a headache."