Last night, I installed the Orcas Beta 1 release. Aside from just a couple of issues, the whole process went quite smoothly. One of the issues I had already seen before involving finding the rmt9x.mst file and mounting ISOs. My other issue was with the install speed, but that is when I realized I had mounted the ISO from one drive just to install to another. As a result, I was completely missing out on some of the performance that my 10,000 RPM Raptor drive could provide. To rectify the issue, I mounted the ISO on the drive I was installing to and everything else was great after that.

I haven’t really coded in it yet, but the application itself sure seems snappier. I’m talking about toolbar menus and the general responsiveness, which is very nice. Has anyone else noticed an increase in speed for Orcas from 2005?