I’ve finally had the opportunity to sit down with a computer running Windows Vista and a pile of CD-ROMs to see whether all/any of the software we use with our learners runs happily under Microsoft’s latest operating system.

We are about to remove our faithful but tired HP PCs from the self-access room and replace them with new Dells loaded with Vista. However, the obvious question was: could we set up these computers with the same software so that the change-over would have a minimum impact for users.

So far, the answer has been “yes” to everything.

The following is a list of the programs we have become used to having at our finger tips and often integrate into our lessons. This is not an exhaustive list of all the available software on the market but represents the choices made by the staff of one busy business English language centre.

Our typical set-up includes:

The only thing I had to do to ensure everything installed and ran smoothly was to up-date to the very latest version of Flash Player.

Has anyone had any successes or failures with running their favourite CD-ROMs on a computer with Windows Vista?

New Vistas – the great compatibility question
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