I feel dirty . . .

So I've been running WS2008 for a while now.  I've got a nice beefy machine that I do all my repro work on.  It's an Intel quad proc box with 4GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon x1950Pro.  I've got some nice LCDs and run multi-mon.  And I absolutely hate what we've done to the shell on WS2008 in its default configuration.  That said - I also hated the Vista shell (and Aero at first) until it grew on me and now I like it. :)  Anyhoo - so I gave the WS2008 stripped down look a go for a long time.  I mean - I know why we did it - it's a server SKU . . . adding pizzaz and features also adds attack surface and we want to be secure by default.  So I know I *should* be running my *server* SKU without the "Desktop Experience" feature (in WS2008 you get a stripped down OS after install and then you build-it up and customize it post-install by adding 'roles' and 'features').  The 'Desktop Experience' feature gets you things that you find in Vista like Windows Media Player, and the Vista desktop themes, and our photo application . . . and if you happen to have a nice video card that supports Aero, AND if you turn on the 'Themes' service - then you also get the 3D Aero interface which I've come to love.

So there - I said it - not only did I install QuickTime on my wife's PC last week (another blog post for another day, but at least they do ASLR, DEP and /GS now!) but I also officially increased the attack surface of my WS2008 box just for some eye candy (a better looking shell).

I feel dirty.