Vista wouldn't run on your tester. It wouldn't install on a system with only 256mb of RAM. It also won't run on a sub 1 GHz Processor system, and you definitely wouldn't get the Aero effects. You're better off installing it on your desktop system via VMware. To me though, Vista betas are a waste of time. They offer little, and most of the good stuff stays in the internal and CTP builds, the betas leave out all the "nonperfect" stuff. A lot of stuff doesn't run on Beta 1 either. But unless you have MSDN or technet, you can't get it anyways, not a big deal, trust me, I have it in VMware. As for office, I've never had any trouble, and I personally prefer it to OpenOffice. Openoffice to me lacks some stuff, and just doesn't "feel" right to me. Then again, the price tag for office doesn't make me feel great either. But if you can get along without Office, I say good for you. I only would reccomend it for linux as an OK alternative for those worried about not having office.