The Windows Vista Experience: WTF Error?

Came to work. Connected up the machine and turned it on as usual. Waited for it to boot and do all the whatever it is it does after you log in.

No network.

Went "WTF?". Checked the cable. No problem there. Asked coworkers if they had net connections. No problem there.

Considered Windows Problem Solution #1, when a little speech balloon popped up at the bottom of the screen. "Hey, I'm installing a driver for new hardware!" it said, slightly paraphrased. Went "WTF?" again. Asked for details. Was told it was installing a driver for my spiffy new builtin network card. When it was done, the network started working.

So either someone broke into the office during the weekend and replaced the on-board network hardware in my laptop, or Windows is insane.

Whicih option do you consider more likely?

The Windows Vista Experience: Blue Screen of Death!

Today we had a power outage at the office. A big one, almost 65000 people were without power for about an hour, according to the newspapers. A problem with a 200kV line, apparently.

Anyway, I was eating lunch when the power went. I didn't exactly hurry back to my desk, and when I eventually got there the laptop had quite sensibly gone to sleep. I brought it up to see if we had network connectivity, found that we didn't and put it back to sleep with the choice so named in the "Start" menu.

After the power returned, I woke the laptop again. I showed the Vista locked-desktop screen for a fraction of a second, blacked out for several seconds and then there was the infamous blue screen full of white text. It took two reboots and almost 20 minutes fo get it to a state where I could get back to work.

Compared to the hundreds (possibly thousands) of times I've done the sleep/wake cycle on my iBook, not even being able to do it twice in a row is really fucking sad.