Install Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web on Windows Vista

When I attempted to install Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web on my Windows Vista using Microsoft Web Platform 4.0, I got this message:

A little surprise, I had no issue in install Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 on Windows 7 or Windows 8.  According to http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/eng/products/compatibility, the minimum operating system can use to install Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 is Windows 7.

I have no intention to spend more money in upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7. There is no business value in upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7 on three years old laptop. Thus, stay with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for now.

New Laptop

As I mentioned last month, my four years old laptop overworked. Its screen could not display more than one minutes. I must use an external monitor to see. It was my first laptop to fail. My other eight years old Toshiba laptop worked great with email, DOS applications, Windows-based applications, documents, spreadsheets, but not with media web-based applications or games. In the past, I upgraded my computer only when it was too slow and I need a fast CPU and big hard drive to work more efficiency.

At first, I thought I'm going to get a laptop with no operating system or with Ubuntu. I will install Ubuntu 10.04 by myself. Since last year, when I went back to GNU/Linux, I love to use Ubuntu. I used Ubuntu Desktop on daily basic. I also working with many Microsoft applications every day, everywhere. So, it's practical to get a laptop with Genuine Windows® 7, partition its hard drive into two. One for Microsoft Windows® 7. One for Ubuntu 10.04.

My first task: applied all Windows updates on my new laptop. Next, replaced the trial-ware anti-virus software with Microsoft Security Essentials. After installed Microsoft Security Essentials, I installed or updated to the latest version of essential applications:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader. 
• Adobe Flash Player. 
• Mozilla Firefox. Mozilla Firefox is my primary default browser. To me, it must more secure and faster than Microsoft Internet Explorer. It's better to have two browsers on your computer.
• OpenOffice.org, a free open productivity suite. My new laptop has preloaded Microsoft Office Starter 2010. I don't use them since it could not open my password protected documents. With OpenOffice.org, I can open any Microsoft or OpenOffice.org documents, spreadsheets, presentations.

In addition to these essential applications above, as a developer, I needed these stuffs to work:

• Notepad++, a free source editor.
• Visual Web Developer® 2010 Express. 
• Visual C# 2008 Express Edition. 
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express.
• Android SDK.
• Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers. 

That all for my Windows 7 partition. I will write about my Ubuntu next time.

Overwork

My four years old laptop overworks as its owner. It works more than 12 hours a day. As you see in the picture below, I'm using Oracle VM VirtualBox to run Windows Vista and Windows 7 inside Ubuntu 10.04. Since late 2009, I used GNU/Linux on daily basic. Using virtual PC help me to evaluate a new system, here is Windows 7, test and support my Windows and Web applications running in Windows Vista, while I'm working with new Android project in Ubuntu without reboot to Window partition or remote access to other computers.