I’ve tried to put together a few points I observed and make a semi-review. Frankly, have not found the time to take Vista apart and examine every minute detail.
Installation is a breeze, with the only difference from XP being that you can enter the product key before installing Vista, so the installation goes on unattended. I tried a Vista Upgrade, and had a blue screen, so the only way for a bootable system was to format C:\ and clean install Vista. The installation was over soon, and Vista boots up faster than XP. Much.
The default Windows font has been changed to Segoe UI. This font is SEXY (SEV, I’m sure you’ll agree). But a problem is that this font is not uniformly used, and I had to apply a registry patch to correct that. (Thanks to SEV, through http://chris.pirillo.com) A startling feature was that the shutdown button puts the computer in sleep mode, and you have to click on a little arrow next to it on the start menu, and then the classic options are available. My Documents does not exist anymore as a folder in itself, with your username becoming your ‘My Documents’ folder, with subfolders having music, Videos, Documents etc etc.
The interface is a piece of cake after you get used to it. There have been quite a few changes, some very logical and some inexplicable. I cannot conclude if they have taken HCI principles into complete consideration before designing this.(HCI principles are crap anyway, as far as I care). Vista is quite Graphics intensive, and I have about 530mb of memory/7% processor usage as I type this on Windows Live Writer, with two windows of firefox 2, Windows media Player, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, windows updates and the usual background processes running. Driver compatibility seems to be an issue now, with most companies waiting for the final Vista Build before rolling out drivers. But, most of the stuff works with the Vista generic drivers, and I’m sure thats true for any ‘modern’ hardware.
The Aero interface (the screenshots I posted earlier) is not entirely compatible with current versions of all windows apps. I’ve had Nokia Music Manager and Picasa messing up, but Vista handles it, by changing the theme to something it calls the Windows Vista Basic theme, which essentially is something like the black/blue Longhorn themes that were available. Yahoo Messenger crashes all the time, when I shut it down, but Yahoo anyways is a SUPER buggy messenger. The User account control (UAC) feature is VERY irritating, and it makes me wonder when I read it was MUCH worse than what it is now. You have an option to turn it off, but a Windows Security alert keeps popping up saying UAC is off.
Icons can be resized to any size, and images and videos have a thumbnail, irrespective of icon size. The ‘3d’ interface is just eye candy, and frankly not entirely useful. There’s been a complete redesign of explorer, and as I said earlier, AND it might be one man’s meat, and anothers poison.
I’ve had quite a few people ask me about the error reporting screenshot. I know its scary, but most of it is due to current versions of apps not being entirely compatible, and also the fact that Vista reports the smallest of errors into the error reporting wizard. Besides, its not something to worry about, since I installed incompatible sound drivers and Vista had a tough time rejecting them. That’s the only reason for so many alerts.
My initial conclusions are pretty generic. Vista, right now is stable enough for anyone who’s a semi techie to use as a primary OS. It’ll take about a couple of days to adjust, but once thats done, its easy to fall in love with it. Having said that, my Office PC runs Windows XP HEAVILY HEAVILY customised to look like Vista, with the only noticeable difference being that My Windows do not fade shut when I close them. The point I’m making? Visually, Vista is essentially Windows XP on Steroids. IMO, the nitty-gritty is what differentiates it. There are thousands of little changes, some not plausible at first glance. I’m using my words VERY carefully here. Initial advice? Overall, worth an upgrade, if Rc1 users like me get a discount for using Windows Vista as the single, primary OS. Even as I write this, there’s talk of Vista build 5728 going public, which apparently is supposed to be better than RC1.
But wait, there is a part 2 to this Review, and thats my fave part of Vista. The Windows Vista media center. That’ll be next week, perhaps.
7 Comments until now
Thanks for the review. But I have a few issues here :
a. The reason most (read ‘genenral populace’) people use Windows is because its simple, hasn’t changed in usage, and does not need a course to use it. Now, these are exactly the reasons people run away from Linux (plus flavours). Now the point is this : (Quoting a big organisation in Europe) “If people have to ‘get_used’ to using Windows (vista), then its better to get used to something better like Linux or one of its user-friendly flavours.”
b. The Security thing on vista in a pain. I had seen a review on the same and it bugged me out. So, unless something has changed, majorly, I still will stay xp.
c. Which re-iterates the point a, for the not_so_general_populace. We all know that Windows is user-friendly and Dumb, while Linux is not so user-friendly and smart. So frankly, I would put my money on something smart if the dumb thing wants me to learn how to use it.
Now I know what u r thinking, drivers, application support, et al. Thats more or less the sole reason for windows to be alive among the techies.
Lotta things to talk about. Maybe we should have a confrence sometime.
A verdict of ‘XP on steroids’ doesn’t look good for the next big thing from Microsoft.
@Ashish - a. When I said used to Vista, it does not mean ‘Shit I need to learn this ‘. Its like getting used to the welcome screen, or clicking all programs in Windows XP. Changes are many, but they’re all very obvious. If they are not to some, then they simply are not worth sitting in front of a PC.
b. UAC can be turned off. That should not be reason to decide.
c. Yeah, we need to convo sometime.
@Satish - The Keyword was VISUALLY, Vista is WinXP on Sterioids. Having said that, No man in his right mind will spend $299 and a further $100 on hardware, to see his windows have a fancy 3d look.
Otherwise, Vista is VERY VERY good as an everyday OS.
a. The point ‘a’ was for the general populace, not for people who ‘choose’ a particular Operatiing System.
People who use a computer with no major computer know-how. Who kinda memorize the clicks. For them, it is whole new ball game. And there is a sizeable number of desk jobs who do this all the time…all around the world.
b. Whats the point then ? It becomes XP !!!
c. Yeah, we will talk, for sure.
And SEV, as it turns out, Vista is generating a lot of not_so_good news for Miscosoft. Unless it can pull of what XP managed to, when it was introduced, I dont see a ticker tape parade for Vista.
Lets go back.. was XP well receieved initially either ?
Yes…quite well infact. Mostly due to the enhancements in GUI and system capabilities.
Yes. I’ll second Ashish on that. WinXP was supposedly a path breaking OS in more ways than one.
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