Vista RC1 Review

VISTA REVIEW PART 1

After a few weeks of using windows vista, I have come to understand that it's the most stable release I have ever beta tested.

All my software and hardware work.

My computers have never been faster!

With all the XP updates, security software, spyware scaners, suits, and bull; I'm suprised I didn't notice how slow my 3 month old system had gotten!

Vista has all that software and some built in, so nothing buggy from a third party throw it together really quick to market it, and hog all the ram. LOL RUN ON!

They have done some amazing things with this release! It can be simple or complex for those who like eather, I have it set to simple, no buttons and bull all over the place!

Aero is very nice, but I don't use it. I wish they had more themes for the basic theme, I don't really care for the purple blue color.

it's now less than a month before it's released to companies like dell, gateway, and others for distribution among new pcs. That will be coming out in spring 2007. The updated release of RC1 is fully ready for full time use.

I have yet to run into a problem.

I have how ever read many people who are using pirated versions; who are having trouble but scream and cry like they have a legit copy. Particulary a few people banned by microsoft for asking for support among cracked versions.

Now RC1, as many already know; is available for public download. But I warn you it will deactivate if you use- daemon tools, force glass cracks, modified system tweaks, and activation / deactivation cracks. After that microsoft renders the only vista key they give you useless. (Mind you they also have your information after you submited your application for download, Advice don't do it, they are tracking)

Microsoft debates but it has been said at a few MSDN meetings, that microsoft is giving free final release copies to those who fully complete the feedback and tests on the beta reporting side.

I have tested 4 previous release of vista, from the first beta of longhorn. The over head, CPU and RAM usage has been extreamly lowered from the pre release betas. RC1 is about 6x better then XP in it's current RC status.

In order to fully test the abilites of the security. I went to site I knew would install background sypware, hijack software, and adaware, only to find the sites fully unsucessful with the new HI end intergraded security! From full system halts, to system restores before startup. Warning that a AUTO script is found in the code of web sites, to many other great new ideas.

I had my douts, and nags about VISTA, dissliked the idea all the way up untill my recent testing of RC1, and was ready to switch to a macs in jan 2007.

My eyes have been opened! I don't think this is going to be a bad thing, the software better and faster, more stable, and I can live with it. WITH JOY!

This is part one of my review!

#418717

very interesting! it's nice to read a review where someone explains in detail why they like the product. i'll look forward to reading your next one. btw you might want to consider posting this over at Neowin.net also, i'm sure they would appreciate it.

#418720

What a load of crap.

#418721

All my software and hardware work.

Is there hardware or software that isn't suppossed to work?

Now RC1, as many already know; is available for public download. But I warn you it will deactivate if you use- daemon tools, ..(snip) .., modified system tweaks

Microsoft debates but it has been said at a few MSDN meetings, that microsoft is giving free final release copies to those who fully complete the feedback and tests on the beta reporting side.

RC1 is about 6x better then XP in it's current RC status.

#418727

What a load of crap.

Amen.

#418729

dude do us all a favour and switch to mac...

#418735

Is there hardware or software that isn't suppossed to work?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardascole

Microsoft debates but it has been said at a few MSDN meetings, that microsoft is giving free final release copies to those who fully complete the feedback and tests on the beta reporting side.

Thats kinda hard to believe. Maybe for MSDN-subscribers?

Microsoft's done this for a long time. I'm not an MSDN member and I beta-tested all their OS's since Win95. If you answered survey questions or posted bugs, they always gave you a free copy of the OS as a "thank you"

#418743

God Bless America...

#418751

What a load of crap.

wow, andreas. thx for your insightful rebuttal.

hardascole: i agree. i'm running rc1 on a test system at work and a test system at home. the only things i've run into so far is some weird masking issues with avedesk (not surprising, as the whole graphics subsystem is revised for vista) and this. there's quite a bit a naysaying out there regarding vista, and i just don't get it. on the flip side, i heard some folks saying that they really like the new networking center. that just can't be right. the new networking center sucks ass! big time! and you can add me to the group that hates the whole maximized black titlebar thing.

but as far as stability and compatibility, it's rock solid. with the software i use. so far...

#418752

i just installed vista rc1 yesterday on my iMac, and rid myself of it within the hour.

granted, the aero transparency was very good looking. other than that, however, i could have sworn i was using xp with a bunch of knock off first-party iLife apps, which everyone will just replace with their program of choice.

You have run into problems. Vista's compatability layer with xp programs is virually non-existent. I expected to be using rc1 for the next several months, but upon trying several of my pc games (far cry, quake 4) and having no success at all, i pinned it as unusable, which is what it is.

#418771

Vista's compatability layer with xp programs is virually non-existent. I expected to be using rc1 for the next several months, but upon trying several of my pc games (far cry, quake 4) and having no success at all, i pinned it as unusable, which is what it is.

Vista's compatibility layer exists and is just fine for normal program executtion.

Your games are not compatible with Vista's graphics subsystem, which is a complete re-write from XP's. So I would expect there to be issues with games as most are written to a very specific set of drivers. Quake uses OpenGL, which M$ has never truely supported. So you will have to rely on 3rd party drivers.

Check some of these sites out before you write off Vista and gaming.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/385/1/

http://www.neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=34586

#418805

Yeah display drivers are not finished so the likelyhood you will be able to game on it anytime soon is unlikely. I would suspect that RTM or shortly after ATi/nVidia will release more updated and hopefully fully supported drivers.

I had found something strange with nvidia's new display drivers. I had tried 2 games, Guildwars and Call of Juarez MP Demo. Guildwars did not run good at all, the game was full of artifacts. But strangly enough CoJ ran perfectly without any problems. It even ran a little better than it had on XP.

@hardascole: As for the blue tint, you do realise you can make it any color you want right? Or colorless even.:slant:

#418812

WTF !?!?!?! I agree with AndreasV.

#418843

All my games work perfectly fine..

-The Sims 2 + Expansions up to Glam

-The Sims 1 + Expansions up to Magic

-Diablo 2 + Lord Expansion

-Half life 2

-CivCity: Rome

-Comand

-Railroad Tycoon 2 & 3

-and bLA!

ALSO NOTE: PRE RC1 and RC1 are not the same...

#418852

1) Does it still relay on the registry? That same part that is the core of most of the ME, 2000, NT4 and XP problems?

2) Did they get rid of the bogus device context?

3) Did they fix copy/paste? (Linux fans will understand)

4) NTFS: hard/soft-linking and permissions no longer mess around with you?

5) You don't actualy still have to load up the whole phancy graphics mode to do just a couple of simple things at the console, right?

6) Did they fix the namespace? I mean the A's B's and C's. D's too for that matter. There's no more of that and the "/HarddiskWhatever//" thing, right?

7) Well I trust they have fixed the console. They could not have not fixed this piece of non-threading non-streaming jobless backgroundless standartless crap..?

8) Was there something about voice recognition? Proxy icons? Application progress bars on the taskbar? Application control from the taskbar? Quicksilver? No [sPACE] in "Program Files"? Nicer typography and font smoothing for non-LCD monitors? No more "activation/registration"? Fixed ctfmon.exe to work predictably? No more bloat from the early 90's in the system folder? Conformant/predictable software packaging/installation/management? Direct access to devices, like "dd -if /dev/hda1 -of /dev/hda2"? Work"spaces" not for the feature-list but for usability?

I can go on like this ALL WEEK LONG 24/7. And cracked vs legit thesis is bull and you know it if you've been a technician for a wile. They work in the exact same manner. The system is non-customizeable, that's all; if you tweak it it shall break, if you crack it it shall break; if you use it -- it shall break; if you don't -- it will, no matter.

I am sad now for there is nothing I can do (I insist, for I checked) to improve Windows Anything (CP/M and NT alike, no reason to believe they have outgrown themselves this time), and nothing I can do to stop people from immersing in it, using it to feed their lack of imagination, the abscense of creativity, and the inablity to use an electrical-typewriter/video-game-machine/simpleton-communication-device for anything other than bloating of a soft cushion of comfortable misconceptions around thair daily consumer/user routine.

Rant. Good night.

#418910

godDLL..... chil.... phew... I got tired reading of it....

Rant. Good Night

#418914

1) the registry is not bad at all. It's a lot better to have a shared settings repository with ACL's, permissions and abstracted away access than to have scatered INI files all over the place.

2) What's wrong with a device context? it's a nice abstraction for "lower level" things.

3) it ain't linux.

4) by design.

5) wasn't it always possible to boot into command line directly?

6) Still there in the Drives-namespace node - can't be changed because of backward compatibility and for NON-linux users it's nothing weird.

7) doubt it.

8) Again, Windows is not unix. If you want a unix-like OS, well, use one of the available unix/linux/freebsd systems.

#418963

Again, Windows is not unix. If you want a unix-like OS, well, use one of the available unix/linux/freebsd systems.

You say that like not being POSIX justifies the lack of usability. And I do use one "freeBSD-like" system, and there's a reason for that (partialy spilled out above).

Now, about the registry. Emagine, no, visualize a young mind, a future programmer/designer/manager digging into the depths of his system because of the will to change/adopt something to his needs (yes, that is the way it usualy begins taking hold of you), or just of plain curioucity. What does he get in Windows? THIS:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlNlsCodePage]
"1250"="c_1251.nls"
[HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelPowerCfgGlobalPowerPolicy]
"Policies"=hex:01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,10,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,
  00,00,00,10,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,03,00,
  00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,01,00,00,
  00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,04,00,00,c0,01,00,00,00,
  04,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,0a,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,01,00,01,00,01,
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,
  00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,
  00,12,00,00,00
  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}]
@="Computer"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}]
@="Network"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}]
@="Documents"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}]
@="BitBucket"

And POSIX-compliant OS'es? GNU tools. Make, awk, bc, human-readable configuration, _working_ permissions, etc.

[sigh]

#418977

If this "young programmer" would simply use the provided APIs and documentation things will be much more clear.

Just again, windows is not unix. It's the same as if you want to play basketball, but decide to play soccer with the addition that you may touch the ball with your hands and not with feet and start complaining about it that it's not allowed. Kinda silly.

#418982

I disagree. Try to give your little brother/son of 9yo WinAPI and see what he makes out of it. On the other hand AWK and MAKE...

And in continuation of the rant:

#418986

APIs shouldn't be aimed at 9 year olds but should be created for professionals. Software engineering is engineering, you don't make architects tools in such a way that they are suitable for 9 year olds also; it's about getting the job done.

#419016

I disagree. Try to give your little brother/son of 9yo WinAPI and see what he makes out of it. On the other hand AWK and MAKE...

I wouldn't use a piece of code written by your average 9 year old in the first place.

As to your comment about the Windows registry, what's wrong with it?

One stop shopping for settings. And any programmer worth his salt understands the HEX components.

I agree it is a bit redundant in places, but much better than searching through a bazillion different .ini files.

#419027

1). registry is good,

2). xp needs a good reformat, then install vista and compare its speed [its only fair, plus i still find it bloated and slow],

3). vista eats my flippin ram quicker then a shark with frickin laser beams on its head [although it REALLY tries to hide it, i had to search to find my page file usage, since task manager hides it by default],

4). what do you mean the ONLY serial they give you? i pressed the download link twice, i have 2 serials in my inbox as well as my beta2 one

5). what new security? the only antivirus i've found that works with it expires next month!

6). lol @ andreasV, nice 1st comment, although i do agree a bit with what you say.

#419056

Microsoft's done this for a long time. I'm not an MSDN member and I beta-tested all their OS's since Win95. If you answered survey questions or posted bugs, they always gave you a free copy of the OS as a "thank you"

Where can I find this page? Im currently testing RC1, and when searching for this on thier website, all I found was a small page that didn't even ask for any information from me, just a comment and what it pertained to.

Any additional information about this neat little tid bit would be great!

#419427

Where can I find this page? Im currently testing RC1, and when searching for this on thier website, all I found was a small page that didn't even ask for any information from me, just a comment and what it pertained to.

Any additional information about this neat little tid bit would be great!

You can only become an offcial beta tester during an enrollment period.

They are very short and the Longhorn/Vista selection for official beta testers ended 3 or 4 years ago.

#419436