Sunny Man’s Blog

June 22nd 2006

(1) Windows Vista Beta 2 Thoughts

Life, Misc., Technology

I’ve been using the Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 as my main and only OS on my desktop computer for just under two weeks now and felt it was now time to share my thoughts.

Installation

I took no notice of other people’s advice not to upgrade my current Windows XP installation to vista because I didn’t have enough space to create a new partition for Vista nor did I want to erase all my precious data for a fresh install. So, unlike my linux install on my laptop, I backed up all my documents and application data onto a few DVDs and I started the install. The upgrade process took around 5 hours for me - maybe because of the large amount of space my Windows XP partition occupied. After the update process had restarted my computer numerous times it was time to boot up Microsoft Windows Vista - oh, the err… joy.

Windows Vista

I’m not going to pummel you with even more screenshots of Microsoft’s newest operating system as you’ve probably seen them all before. My desktop loaded without any problems and after downloading and installing official nVidia Vista drivers for my graphics card I was working on my normal resolution of 1440×900 - instead of a stretched 800×600. Logging into Windows Vista, if you have accounts on your PC is actually a nice experience.The new start menu, in my opinion makes it a lot easier to browse programs, and for me it certainly makes it a lot faster. The actual desktop Windows Vista reminds me of Linux. When you hover over a shortcut on the desktop, the background is filled with a creamish colour; Ubuntu 5.06 with GNOME is what it reminds me of - the same effect can be found there I believe. I do actually like this. One thing that annoyed me in Windows XP, although a minor feature was that the day of the week was not displayed when you hovered over the time, only the date was shown. In Windows Vista, the format now shows the name of the day, as well as the date which I think is a positive improvement. Of course, Vista isn’t worth getting without it’s best selling point (apparently): Aero.

User Interfaces

Because the Beta 2 includes all the features of Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, the ‘new’ graphical user interface called ‘Aero’ is included. Aero is the new theme that provides eye candy for the user with windows having transparant fogged borders. To some this feature is banal, to others superflous and to me, just something that looks nice. After having Aero on for just under two weeks I have grown used to having the feature. Although it’s pretty useless, it looks nice and, for some reason, makes using the operating system seem smooth and you actually want to move windows just to see the effect. You can turn off the Aero effects and choose a static colour of your choice which is also a nice customization option. Overall a very nice UI to use especially with native applications such as Internet Explorer 7+ and Windows Meda Player 11 that don’t seem to fit with the user interface of XP.

Upgrade Woes

The upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista only included a few nags. One, which is probably standard practise, but still annoying, is to uninstall any anti-virus programs and firewalls. I did this because Vista did not like AVG or my Sunbelt/Kerio Personal Firewall so I uninstalled them and replaced them with Vista-friendly alternatives (one of which is included with the Beta 2 - Windows Defender). Around 95% of the programs I had installed via Windows XP worked straight off with Windows Vista, which I’m quite surprised about. Some of the programs that don’t work properly with Vista are SmartFTP and some applications that use OpenGL to display graphics. In SmartFTP you’re not able to browse folders for some reason. This isn’t a major problem as I switched to FileZilla instead which has worked just as well. The applications that use OpenGL work on the second time they’re run, but the first them they just stop responding. Just a niggle, nothing serious.

Beta Conclusions

This has been a very simple and undetailed review of my thoughts but I believe it shows you the basics of the new operating system. Here’s my sum up of the advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

• Increased productivity
• Better GUI and effects
• Increased security (suposedly)
• Windows/Office Update built-in
• Clearer control panel and properties
• Ability to use USB devices as RAM

Disadvantages

• Occasional display issues
• Increased CPU activity
• Increased memory usage
• Eye candy is superfluous
• Increased disk space usage
• Made by Microsoft