XP to Windows 7 upgrade: Not smooth

Well, to be fair, frying XP and installing Windows 7 was incredibly easy and problem-free. Getting all of my files and data back up and running again... that was NOT.

All the apps that I use regularly (Thunderbird, iTunes (yuck), TweetDeck, etc.) all installed just fine, but what they DIDN'T like was the fact that default location of "My documents" is different in XP and Win7. Like a good little user, I had kept anything I would be upset about losing in My Documents, but my diligence didn't pay off this time.

Most apps didn't find their data automatically in the new My Documents path, and had to be explained where their data was. When it could be explained... Thunderbird 3.0 apparently refuses to even look outside of its own default email folder (as I discovered after a terror-filled 15 minutes of thinking that it was refusing to show me my email altogether). And iTunes still refuses to acknowledge the existence of my dozens of purchased Audible audiobooks (yes, I re-authorized Audible within iTunes -still no luck). I also lost hours of work that I had invested tagging faces in pictures in Picasa. My pics and videos are still there, but the face data is gone (yes, I used the Picasa backup/restore tool, which is supposed to grab the face data as well).

So now, some of my important files are outside of My Documents, which I hate, because I have to remember to include them anytime I do a backup. I've lost hours of work in Picasa, and I still can't see my Audible audiobooks in iTunes. This is where I'm at after 2 days of work and troubleshooting. And 20+ years of Windows experience. I suspect that all of this has to do with the new Documents folder structure in Win7.

So who do I shake my fist at? That's the most frustrating part of all. Microsoft didn't really fail me, and neither did the app developers (with the possible exception of Mozilla/Thunderbird). The ecosystem failed me.

Damn ecosystem.

I do like the Windows 7 interface though. Very nice.

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