Estaban
22nd June 2006, 11:03 AM
Hello and good (morning/afternoon/evening/night) to all.
Recently I've downloaded Windows Vista off Microsoft's website, and thought it might be fun to share for all those interested in this particulair OS. Remember that it's still in development, and items can turn out differently in the final version.
1. The installation.
The installation was not hard at all, I've tried Longhorn (codename for Vista) before and it was rubbish. Not with beta2, I've read story's about people having trouble installing Vista and that they couldn't get into their bios or whatever. I personally think this is because of faulty hardware. Anyway, the setup exists of 2 basic steps. Step 1: Enter your (legit) serial number. Since I got the serialnumber off Microsoft, this was not a problem. The beta2 serial I use can be used up to 10 pc's at the same time. Since you must activate, like we've seen with Windows XP it will be checked. Step 2: Choose were to install, you will get a graphical installer wich tells you what you can do. Similair to fdisk under DOS, but with a graphical interface. After this step, click next and your off to go. It took my notebook (AMD64 3000+ with 512MB ram and 80gb disk) like half an hour to finish up.
2. The interface.
Very blackish, I like that; because it's so much nicer to look at (and I mean that in a performance way). If I look at the blue 'bliss' interface for hours, I feel like my eyes are bleeding. With the blackish interface of Vista, that problem is not there. After all, darker colors are better to look at; that's why most of the high contrast are dark tinted.
3. Feeling.
Changes have been made to the Windows Explorer, everything is set-up so that you can find the thing you are searching for; at any time. This is thanks to the builtin searchfunction, similair to the one you can find at any new macintosh. The icons are improved, I like that it's all vector-based now. To me, this is great because I wear lenses and no glasses anymore. But when I remove my lenses I can't see everything so clear, because of the large icons and text and whatever it's easier to navigate around even without my lenses. Ofcourse this can be non-practical at time's, but hey it beats the XP look. I personally think the vista icon's are looking a little better than Mac os X's one's. But that's ofcourse a personal opinion, so sue me ;). If you got a legit serial number, you can choose to get a free Office 2007 Beta2 copy; again, blackish :)
4. Downside.
The Interface is based on 3D now, and DirectX 10; this is great but not for most of the videocard's builtin computers at this time of writing. Most of them are built to handle 2D interface's and interactions smoothly thus 3D mode's are like Microsoft likes to call it 'non-supported'. The result of this is that you cannot for example enable the 'glassy' look of the aero interface. Glassy, in this case, means transparancy (alpha-blending) and blurring of the background wich resolves into more focussing on the item you are looking at. For example a Word document, your attention is drawn less to the Interface and more to the actual work. Though that's all nice, people will nontheless customize and tweak their interfaces to make it look and interact just the way they like it; and I'm no exclusion. Ofcourse there are people out there, and you might be one of them, who can think of more things that suck about Vista. That's really not my problem, I can do my programming work on a 286; so for ME it doesn't really matter in what kind of enviroment i'm currently at.
5. Stealing.
I can post you a load of posts at other website's in wich users complain about that Microsoft (again) stole the idea's from Macintosh. It's a COMMON fact by now, everyone wants to make their product work; and therefor you need to give people something familiair. We've seen it with Apple, inventing all kind of (cool) new stuff wich never came out great. So why is Apple (like some website's like to call it:) ressurected from the dead computer company's? The Ipod, it's nothing too inventive, just a simple userfriendly mp3/ogg player. So why are the Ipods so populair? Simple, it's something we are already familiair with; with on top some cool extra's like color, a fancy interface. Most people really don't care about new 'world changing' products, so you can imagine it's kind of hard to make a new product that nobody has, and that people are wanting to buy it. The same thing for Microsoft and Vista, it's the same interface with alot of (cool) addons and stuff you saw on the Macintosh. Who cares, it works for people. I've seen so many boys and girls installing the Mac OSX skin onto their XP computers with Stardock software. Why? It's what people want, so Microsoft now has done a similair thing; but just slight better thus people will think it's nice and buy it. Apple must not complain about people using OSX skins on XP computers, you can see it as a compliment; we are too cheap to buy us a real one but we like it anyway. Conclusion: It's better to 'steal' something, and making it more shiny than the source instead of creating something nobody will ever buy. You see it everywere, not only in 'computerland', open your eyes and look around. It's in your local supermarket, your clothing, the stuff you drink eat and do! It's all related. So please, stop complaining about stolen stuff. (reference to the ever lasting Mac vs Windows, vs Linux vs Unix conversations, it's tiring.)
6. The 'future', or maybe even tomorrow.
People will buy Vista, and complain about that their hardware is too slow. Eventually the hardware will be upgraded and people complain about other stuff, it's human. Macintoshes are booting XP already, as for Linux. What do I see in a computer of the future? Quad booting; all mayor operating systems into one computer; every one's happy. You can choose for Unix, Linux, Windows and Mac; full compatability for everyone, share a drive or partial drive with the other OS's and just BE. I've ran Mac OSX on my Intel, I've ran Linux on my motorola; it's all great software. As long as something works for you, you should use it. It would also be nice if programs will be OS-compatible. Eg. you can use Windows applications under Mac and vica versa; this is already possible, but I ment that in a non-simulated way. Recently I've ran some gnome program from one of my Ubuntu-based servers on my Windows XP laptop; it was slow but it's a start!
For a screenshot of my Vista Beta2 desktop, click here:
http://www.deviantart.com/view/35133227/
This review is purely based on my own thoughts and experiences, leave a reply and discuss this thread :).
Recently I've downloaded Windows Vista off Microsoft's website, and thought it might be fun to share for all those interested in this particulair OS. Remember that it's still in development, and items can turn out differently in the final version.
1. The installation.
The installation was not hard at all, I've tried Longhorn (codename for Vista) before and it was rubbish. Not with beta2, I've read story's about people having trouble installing Vista and that they couldn't get into their bios or whatever. I personally think this is because of faulty hardware. Anyway, the setup exists of 2 basic steps. Step 1: Enter your (legit) serial number. Since I got the serialnumber off Microsoft, this was not a problem. The beta2 serial I use can be used up to 10 pc's at the same time. Since you must activate, like we've seen with Windows XP it will be checked. Step 2: Choose were to install, you will get a graphical installer wich tells you what you can do. Similair to fdisk under DOS, but with a graphical interface. After this step, click next and your off to go. It took my notebook (AMD64 3000+ with 512MB ram and 80gb disk) like half an hour to finish up.
2. The interface.
Very blackish, I like that; because it's so much nicer to look at (and I mean that in a performance way). If I look at the blue 'bliss' interface for hours, I feel like my eyes are bleeding. With the blackish interface of Vista, that problem is not there. After all, darker colors are better to look at; that's why most of the high contrast are dark tinted.
3. Feeling.
Changes have been made to the Windows Explorer, everything is set-up so that you can find the thing you are searching for; at any time. This is thanks to the builtin searchfunction, similair to the one you can find at any new macintosh. The icons are improved, I like that it's all vector-based now. To me, this is great because I wear lenses and no glasses anymore. But when I remove my lenses I can't see everything so clear, because of the large icons and text and whatever it's easier to navigate around even without my lenses. Ofcourse this can be non-practical at time's, but hey it beats the XP look. I personally think the vista icon's are looking a little better than Mac os X's one's. But that's ofcourse a personal opinion, so sue me ;). If you got a legit serial number, you can choose to get a free Office 2007 Beta2 copy; again, blackish :)
4. Downside.
The Interface is based on 3D now, and DirectX 10; this is great but not for most of the videocard's builtin computers at this time of writing. Most of them are built to handle 2D interface's and interactions smoothly thus 3D mode's are like Microsoft likes to call it 'non-supported'. The result of this is that you cannot for example enable the 'glassy' look of the aero interface. Glassy, in this case, means transparancy (alpha-blending) and blurring of the background wich resolves into more focussing on the item you are looking at. For example a Word document, your attention is drawn less to the Interface and more to the actual work. Though that's all nice, people will nontheless customize and tweak their interfaces to make it look and interact just the way they like it; and I'm no exclusion. Ofcourse there are people out there, and you might be one of them, who can think of more things that suck about Vista. That's really not my problem, I can do my programming work on a 286; so for ME it doesn't really matter in what kind of enviroment i'm currently at.
5. Stealing.
I can post you a load of posts at other website's in wich users complain about that Microsoft (again) stole the idea's from Macintosh. It's a COMMON fact by now, everyone wants to make their product work; and therefor you need to give people something familiair. We've seen it with Apple, inventing all kind of (cool) new stuff wich never came out great. So why is Apple (like some website's like to call it:) ressurected from the dead computer company's? The Ipod, it's nothing too inventive, just a simple userfriendly mp3/ogg player. So why are the Ipods so populair? Simple, it's something we are already familiair with; with on top some cool extra's like color, a fancy interface. Most people really don't care about new 'world changing' products, so you can imagine it's kind of hard to make a new product that nobody has, and that people are wanting to buy it. The same thing for Microsoft and Vista, it's the same interface with alot of (cool) addons and stuff you saw on the Macintosh. Who cares, it works for people. I've seen so many boys and girls installing the Mac OSX skin onto their XP computers with Stardock software. Why? It's what people want, so Microsoft now has done a similair thing; but just slight better thus people will think it's nice and buy it. Apple must not complain about people using OSX skins on XP computers, you can see it as a compliment; we are too cheap to buy us a real one but we like it anyway. Conclusion: It's better to 'steal' something, and making it more shiny than the source instead of creating something nobody will ever buy. You see it everywere, not only in 'computerland', open your eyes and look around. It's in your local supermarket, your clothing, the stuff you drink eat and do! It's all related. So please, stop complaining about stolen stuff. (reference to the ever lasting Mac vs Windows, vs Linux vs Unix conversations, it's tiring.)
6. The 'future', or maybe even tomorrow.
People will buy Vista, and complain about that their hardware is too slow. Eventually the hardware will be upgraded and people complain about other stuff, it's human. Macintoshes are booting XP already, as for Linux. What do I see in a computer of the future? Quad booting; all mayor operating systems into one computer; every one's happy. You can choose for Unix, Linux, Windows and Mac; full compatability for everyone, share a drive or partial drive with the other OS's and just BE. I've ran Mac OSX on my Intel, I've ran Linux on my motorola; it's all great software. As long as something works for you, you should use it. It would also be nice if programs will be OS-compatible. Eg. you can use Windows applications under Mac and vica versa; this is already possible, but I ment that in a non-simulated way. Recently I've ran some gnome program from one of my Ubuntu-based servers on my Windows XP laptop; it was slow but it's a start!
For a screenshot of my Vista Beta2 desktop, click here:
http://www.deviantart.com/view/35133227/
This review is purely based on my own thoughts and experiences, leave a reply and discuss this thread :).