My Windows Vista Experience

SirThom

SirThom

New Member
Hey guys,

I picked up Windows Vista Beta 1 yesterday and I just burned it to a DVD to see how it looks, and I must say that I am glad Microsoft is finally taking a step in the right direction.

(For those of you who have no idea what Vista is, it's the next version of Microsoft Windows. It was previously codenamed Longhorn.)

Here are some of my thoughts on the OS as a whole, in no particular order:



  • The entire OS seems to be done quite well, with very nice glassy, transparent windows. (Screen 1, below) All windows have a nice "woosh" effect when they appear, minimize, or close.
  • IE 7 is almost an exact take on Mozilla FireFox. Open a new tab? Middle click a link or Ctrl+T. Close a tab? Middle click a tab, or hit Ctrl+W. Switching tabs? Ctrl+Tab. IE 7 even has the equivalent of FireFox's "Extenstions" system, as well as a nice-looking XML feed reader (screen 2).
  • Paint now exports in uninflated JPGs, GIFs, and PNGs. I believe before you could export to JPG, but it was oversized.
  • Vista seems to take a really big chunk out of apple by employing Spotlight-esque search capabilities in nearly every Explorer and Control Panel window. While it's not as clean as Spotlight, it does seem to be a bit faster than what I've seen of Spotlight.
  • While it may just be a driver issue, I can't get my sound device to work in Vista.
  • The start menu is quite a bit different (screen 3). Instead of a new menu opening up when you hover over "Programs", it simply appears in the left pane of the start menu, and then you choose the app you want as a folder-tree system (screens 4 and 5). Clever, not sure if I like it yet, but clever!
  • FTP via IE 7 does not work yet.
    frown.gif
  • Inserting smileys into this post doesn't work either.
  • Vista drops the "My" prefix on everything. "My Computer" is "Computer", etc.
  • No more Documents and Settings folder! It's changed from "/Documents and Settings/User/etc.." to /Users/User/[Desktop/Pictures/Virtual Folders, etc.]"
Here are the screenshots:

<Images removed after confirmation with author.>

Anyway, if any of you want me to take a screen of something, let me know and I'll post it up!
smile.gif
 
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Using BitTorrent? Nope, it's what you do with BitTorrent that can be a legal issue.

This beta was distributed to a beta team plus thousands of MS Dev Network subscribers, also. So many people already have their hands on this as well.
 
BeLoVeD said:
so how much longer till it is released? any idea's??
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MS doesn't know about the release date yet.

There will be a fully public beta (Beta 2) by the end of the year, tho.
 
SirThom said:
Here are the screenshots [...]
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Hm, are you sure that posting these screenshots doesn't violate the beta user agreement? Last I heard, M$ was rather upset when beta testers posted screenies. Please double-check the user agreement as I'd like to keep our forums online and out of any legal complications.

Heh. ^^;;
 
Tek7 said:
Hm, are you sure that posting these screenshots doesn't violate the beta user agreement? Last I heard, M$ was rather upset when beta testers posted screenies. Please double-check the user agreement as I'd like to keep our forums online and out of any legal complications.

Heh. ^^;;
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Not sure if it's against the EULA or not (not sure where to find it). I've seen Vista screenshots plastered all over the internet, so I figured it was OK. =/

hescominsoon said:
however..there's some nasty surprises in vista:
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Ah, I've heard of that.

--

I should've refined my comment a bit more ("I must say that I am glad Microsoft is finally taking a step in the right direction."). What I meant to say was, I like what M$ is doing with Vista in terms of overall presentation and usability. I think they're ripping a few pages out of Apple's playbook here and there, but as an OS, Vista seems to do well at the moment.
 
hescominsoon said:
MS has been rippping pages out of MacOS since the beginning..:) The Gui was not MS's idea..:)
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Very true. Those who might not have picked that up (like me) would easily say that now, too. :P
 
How large is the program, Tom; and how much memory usage does it take up?
 
Bowser said:
How large is the program, Tom; and how much memory usage does it take up?
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The ISO is 2.4 GB, the full Vista installation is currently about 5 GB, unless you meant memory as in RAM. If so, then I'm not as sure. I'll check next time I go on and see how much RAM it eats up just sitting still. :P

B-man said:
and where would i beable to find this torrent ;o
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Link to torrent site deleted as it featured several illegal downloads.
 
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This is where I get to tick off ppl but more importantly, I hope I can educate them ... You are NOT allowed to being using this. This is for MSDN subscribers only and selected beta testers, so unless you got this from the msdn site via your universal msdn subscription, thru your gold partner status (for which I am) or thru MS's beta site, this is illegal. Just because the media is accessible does not grant anyone the right to install it. This is no different then any other piece of software you snag without the content of the author, the author is Microsoft.

This is the the single biggest peeve I have. Folks, just because you can install a program does not mean you should. Just because everyone else is doing it does not make it right. Software piracy costs my industry billions of dollars a year and let me put the fine point on it. This is stealing. Someone posted the .iso from the MSDN site, that person should have their rights revoked and be sued.

I became a MCSE back in 96 (Microsoft Certifed System Engineer) and the company I worked for, as been a Gold Partner for years. I have been an official beta tester (ID 311453) of MS goods as far back as Windows for Workgroups. Trust me here, I do know what I am talking about.

I won't even go into the whole morality issue here largely cause I think you get it by now ... I hope.
 
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Sorry Hawk, didn't see your post. I do see your point and I am against piracy. But I'm not sure I see how that downloading such a widely-available app, even a beta, of an unreleased product is piracy.
 
Are you saying then that because someone did something against the TOS, and now its in the wild that its ok to excuse the rest for pulling it down? SirThom, this is wrong, I have this beta, I have the product key, I have the TOS for it. I am telling you and everyone else that downloads this that if you are NOT one of MS beta testers, MSDN subscribers OR technet subscribers, then in fact this is stealing, no amount of soft pedalling it can make it right. I can understand that often most people would rather ask forgiveness then permission especially when it comes to something they want but please folks PLEASE this is not a grey issue. I am sorry for coming across very strongly in this but I have seen too many people lie to themselves about software they have installed on their boxes, making excusess why they have it but not really willing to look at whether they are doing the right thing. There is always grace but once you know its wrong, and you continue to sin (yes, it is a sin) then I fear what grieving of the Spirit must be taking place in the individual's life.
 
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