Windows Vista Pre-RC1 Review
Sledgehammer70
California Icrontian
I am far from being a hard-core Operating System "OS" expert, but I am an everyday guy running everyday tasks on today’s operating systems. Today I was able to take advantage of the free install available for Microsoft’s newly released Windows Vista Pre-RC1. I for one am very interested in all the new content and items that Windows Vista has touted, so to satisfy my curiosity, I downloaded the newest release and will give you my user based thoughts in a non techie fashion.
Initial Install:
As the Download finished I prepped my test machine for the install. I had to burn the downloaded file to a DVD and then run the installation on the new system. I was very surprised to find that the system booted first time from this disk and it went right to the installer. The program booted up with the option of overriding my current Vista BETA install, or to just install over my current installation. I didn’t feel like reformatting as I wanted to get the version installed ASAP. So I now have 2 versions of Vista installed on my HD. The install ran through its stuff in about 20 minutes, shut down and restarted on its own about 5 times before I finally go to the System performance test. About 8 minutes later I was greeted buy a screen asking me to create a user account. I filled in the proper info and skipped the Activation screen, which windows warned me like 10 times I might have to reinstall all over again if I didn’t register then. The system than finally booted into the new windows Vista and man, was it a Jaw dropping experience.
Playing Vista:
In the first 5 minutes of opening Vista I really had no idea where to start. There are about a million features within the OS and I just about got a headache trying to think of where to start. So I sucked it up and just started opening all the standard programs to see what caught my eye. Now for one the new interface is flat our awesome. Microsoft has really added a cool feature to their OS and it just shines. Also the new icons in the new OS are awesome. I found myself looking for more cool icons for a further 10 minutes then started to play with some of the cooler features, like Net Meeting and the new Windows Media Player, which all worked perfectly. I also set up my MSN Live account with no issues at all. I have to say, this build is much more stable and functional than the last Beta I messed with. I have yet to see this OS slow down or get bogged down by any of the tasks I have been running. I even got my copy of EA’s Battle for Middle Earth 2 to install on the OS. Now this game is made for XP so I was a bit surprised I was able to get it to run without a hitch on Vista.
I also noticed tons of new features that had been added to windows. When I saved my images, they automatically become thumbnails rather than a .jpg logo. Also if I have multiple programs open I can hover my mouse over the start bar on the individual tabs and see small previews of those pages; or I can just hit the “windows + Tab” buttons to see them all in the cool new 3D interface. Even better, Microsoft added a cool button on the lower left that throws things into the cool 3D layout. “Nice touch MS”. I also wanted to mention the fact that the start bar does not expand to 500 boxes. It now navigates within itself, so when you’re looking for programs you don’t have to pan across the screen. Other than that, the OS offers a nice layout and is pretty dang easy to use.
Looking Further:
I wanted to get into the IT site of the system a bit, as I work on PC’s for a living and wanted an understanding into the background and functionality of Windows Vista. Now understand that these things are not something I can just see and learn in a matter of 5 minutes. This was more of a quick look to see how hard it would be to find the everyday items I use to check performance and the tasks of the OS. Now the first thing I noticed was that the “Run” task button was missing off the start bar and the icons that used to sit next to those tasks were also missing. I don’t know about you, but I think I got used to the Icons over the names throughout the last few years. Back to the Run task button being gone. It looks like it is still within the Accessories tab or alternatively you can now type your windows command in the new search bar, which is nice. I can now see the convenience of having the search bar. I then also noticed that the icons for those task buttons were now at the top of the start menu. I’m not sure I’m too keen on that idea. I am sure Microsoft was thinking of saving space on the desktop, but that menu is only open for a few seconds, so adding the icons next to the name isn’t going to hurt anyone.
I than logged into our favorite: Control Panel. The CP within Windows Vista is very much the same. I instantly clicked on the classic view, as that is what I am accustomed to. I did notice a few new things, along with some items that were moved out of other functions; such as Device Manager, which now has it’s own icon. There where a few others, but the main point is, the functionality is still based on the same principle layout. I haven’t really looked much deeper than into items like the Task Manager, to see how it reports, or the management section of my Hard Drives, as it is just too fun to play with the other things. To sum it all up, the layout and the way Vista presents things is very sharp and comprehensive, enabling any user to look into the depths of their PC.
More Fun:
Also added is the widget section in Vista, which is easily ‘turned off”. A few of the features are pretty neat within this section and for the most part are frugally functional in this build, but I won’t comment too much on it, as I am not one who likes this feature. I guess you will just have to play with it and decide for yourself.
The windows interface is pretty cool and yes I know you Mac user have been enjoying something like it forever now, but us PC guys finally have something better… The interface is pretty much fully customizable color wise. You can even adjust the transparency levels to fit your needs. I even made a cool neon pink layout that my wife likes a lot now. But if you want to compare it to XP’s options… don’t as XP sucks.
Now I recently bought my new Sprint PPC-6700 Pocket PC and noticed windows Vista has a Sync program built in and this perked my mind a bit. So I pulled out my USB cable and plugged my phone in and bam it worked right off the bat… Now that’s what I like to see in features, 100% functionality right off the get go.
Microsoft has also added a few news games to the OS such as Ink Ball, Mahjong Titans, Purble Place & Chess. These may be lower class games, but I know what I will be doing for those 10-minute breaks at work. It is just good to know the MS is adding more features to new OS’s, even if these are 1 or 2 ghetto games, they still things we didn’t have before.
Conclusion:
Thus far I can’t really find a reason to knock Microsoft on their new Operating System. It runs smoothly, has a ton of cool new features and offers a cool new 3D interface. I have yet to run into hang-ups or bugs on the OS and feel everyone around the world will love it just as much as I do. I will just close in saying, “keep up the good work Microsoft” and I do agree it’s better to be late with a product than ship one that’s broken.
Here are a few images:
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21002&d=1156883919
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21001&d=1156883919
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21000&d=1156883657
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21005&d=1156884225
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21004&d=1156884225
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21003&d=1156884040
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21006&d=1156885499
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21007&d=1156885499
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21008&d=1156885876
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21009&d=1156885912
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21013&d=1156886765
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21010&d=1156886213
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21011&d=1156886465
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21012&d=1156886696
Initial Install:
As the Download finished I prepped my test machine for the install. I had to burn the downloaded file to a DVD and then run the installation on the new system. I was very surprised to find that the system booted first time from this disk and it went right to the installer. The program booted up with the option of overriding my current Vista BETA install, or to just install over my current installation. I didn’t feel like reformatting as I wanted to get the version installed ASAP. So I now have 2 versions of Vista installed on my HD. The install ran through its stuff in about 20 minutes, shut down and restarted on its own about 5 times before I finally go to the System performance test. About 8 minutes later I was greeted buy a screen asking me to create a user account. I filled in the proper info and skipped the Activation screen, which windows warned me like 10 times I might have to reinstall all over again if I didn’t register then. The system than finally booted into the new windows Vista and man, was it a Jaw dropping experience.
Playing Vista:
In the first 5 minutes of opening Vista I really had no idea where to start. There are about a million features within the OS and I just about got a headache trying to think of where to start. So I sucked it up and just started opening all the standard programs to see what caught my eye. Now for one the new interface is flat our awesome. Microsoft has really added a cool feature to their OS and it just shines. Also the new icons in the new OS are awesome. I found myself looking for more cool icons for a further 10 minutes then started to play with some of the cooler features, like Net Meeting and the new Windows Media Player, which all worked perfectly. I also set up my MSN Live account with no issues at all. I have to say, this build is much more stable and functional than the last Beta I messed with. I have yet to see this OS slow down or get bogged down by any of the tasks I have been running. I even got my copy of EA’s Battle for Middle Earth 2 to install on the OS. Now this game is made for XP so I was a bit surprised I was able to get it to run without a hitch on Vista.
I also noticed tons of new features that had been added to windows. When I saved my images, they automatically become thumbnails rather than a .jpg logo. Also if I have multiple programs open I can hover my mouse over the start bar on the individual tabs and see small previews of those pages; or I can just hit the “windows + Tab” buttons to see them all in the cool new 3D interface. Even better, Microsoft added a cool button on the lower left that throws things into the cool 3D layout. “Nice touch MS”. I also wanted to mention the fact that the start bar does not expand to 500 boxes. It now navigates within itself, so when you’re looking for programs you don’t have to pan across the screen. Other than that, the OS offers a nice layout and is pretty dang easy to use.
Looking Further:
I wanted to get into the IT site of the system a bit, as I work on PC’s for a living and wanted an understanding into the background and functionality of Windows Vista. Now understand that these things are not something I can just see and learn in a matter of 5 minutes. This was more of a quick look to see how hard it would be to find the everyday items I use to check performance and the tasks of the OS. Now the first thing I noticed was that the “Run” task button was missing off the start bar and the icons that used to sit next to those tasks were also missing. I don’t know about you, but I think I got used to the Icons over the names throughout the last few years. Back to the Run task button being gone. It looks like it is still within the Accessories tab or alternatively you can now type your windows command in the new search bar, which is nice. I can now see the convenience of having the search bar. I then also noticed that the icons for those task buttons were now at the top of the start menu. I’m not sure I’m too keen on that idea. I am sure Microsoft was thinking of saving space on the desktop, but that menu is only open for a few seconds, so adding the icons next to the name isn’t going to hurt anyone.
I than logged into our favorite: Control Panel. The CP within Windows Vista is very much the same. I instantly clicked on the classic view, as that is what I am accustomed to. I did notice a few new things, along with some items that were moved out of other functions; such as Device Manager, which now has it’s own icon. There where a few others, but the main point is, the functionality is still based on the same principle layout. I haven’t really looked much deeper than into items like the Task Manager, to see how it reports, or the management section of my Hard Drives, as it is just too fun to play with the other things. To sum it all up, the layout and the way Vista presents things is very sharp and comprehensive, enabling any user to look into the depths of their PC.
More Fun:
Also added is the widget section in Vista, which is easily ‘turned off”. A few of the features are pretty neat within this section and for the most part are frugally functional in this build, but I won’t comment too much on it, as I am not one who likes this feature. I guess you will just have to play with it and decide for yourself.
The windows interface is pretty cool and yes I know you Mac user have been enjoying something like it forever now, but us PC guys finally have something better… The interface is pretty much fully customizable color wise. You can even adjust the transparency levels to fit your needs. I even made a cool neon pink layout that my wife likes a lot now. But if you want to compare it to XP’s options… don’t as XP sucks.
Now I recently bought my new Sprint PPC-6700 Pocket PC and noticed windows Vista has a Sync program built in and this perked my mind a bit. So I pulled out my USB cable and plugged my phone in and bam it worked right off the bat… Now that’s what I like to see in features, 100% functionality right off the get go.
Microsoft has also added a few news games to the OS such as Ink Ball, Mahjong Titans, Purble Place & Chess. These may be lower class games, but I know what I will be doing for those 10-minute breaks at work. It is just good to know the MS is adding more features to new OS’s, even if these are 1 or 2 ghetto games, they still things we didn’t have before.
Conclusion:
Thus far I can’t really find a reason to knock Microsoft on their new Operating System. It runs smoothly, has a ton of cool new features and offers a cool new 3D interface. I have yet to run into hang-ups or bugs on the OS and feel everyone around the world will love it just as much as I do. I will just close in saying, “keep up the good work Microsoft” and I do agree it’s better to be late with a product than ship one that’s broken.
Here are a few images:
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21002&d=1156883919
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21001&d=1156883919
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21000&d=1156883657
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21005&d=1156884225
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21004&d=1156884225
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21003&d=1156884040
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21006&d=1156885499
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21007&d=1156885499
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21008&d=1156885876
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21009&d=1156885912
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21013&d=1156886765
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21010&d=1156886213
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21011&d=1156886465
http://www.short-media.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21012&d=1156886696
0
Comments
how well do you think it will run? can i turn on all the GUI with this hardware?
Windows setup has experienced an unexpected error. To install Windows restart installation. Error coed: 0x0. This occurs each time I try to install. The data seems to be there but incomplete or corrupt. Any ideas?
Thanx.
The OS is gorgeous, and the little features are really cool. I just went to a Microsoft luncheon where they previewed Vista and Office 2007, and all I can say is that Vista is going to be awesome for domain admins. Once that initial "where'd this go" gets out of the way, it's going to be really nice. The amount of control you have is fantastic.
Agreed! Vista is FTW and is well worth the wait.... just my 2 cents