First Impressions - Part 2

So - i need to add to the post regarding windows vista.

Thanks to the folks over on a great site, www.pronetworks.org, i was able to get Vista up and running. Ends up, there is a common installation bug with Vista Beta 1 that will have this sort of thing happen for some video cards. Started up in safe mode, installed the latest detonators from Nvidia, and she was good to go.

All in all, i guess im not that impressed with what ive seen. Im not saying its bad, but its not the "Next generation OS" that people had been promised from MS. I know that they keep paring off features so that is can come out in a timely manner, but it ends up that this is a prettier XP, with some new features. Not a total rebuild of the OS. Granted, this is still just Beta 1, but after messing with it for about an hour, I dont see anything that makes me go "wow" like ive done with each Mac OS release since 10.2.

The new interface is pretty, its alot more like OS X, the Aero glass theme is nice, and the window transparency is as well. The new backup program looks to be a nice feature, but as of right now, it doesnt let you do anything else besides backup to CD or DVD. Im a huge believer in network backups, and until it has a feature to backup to a share, i wont use it.

IE 7 = Firefox 1.0 Whoopidee doo. It has a search bar for MSN search, tabbed browsing, and some added security features. Ill keep using Safari and Firefox. Firefox was actually the first application i installed.

Unlike most people, i like the subtraction of the "my" prefix from everything. I think it gives it a more professional look. I also like the redefined explorer windows with the dropdown bars that let you instantly navigate to any folder on the machine. I think that navigation feature is a great addition, even if OS X has had it since panther.

The search technology isnt as inclusive as Spotlight is on Tiger, I dont think, and its somewhat archaeic right now. The options arent very user friendly, from my perspective. Dollars for Doughnuts, ill stick with google desktop search until this gets a little easier to configure.

While MS is still touting that Vista will have features that will require you to restart/shutdown your computer less, i dont see that. The times ive tried using the hibernate/sleep functions have crashed the machine. Beta, I know, I know, but ive never gotten sleep to work right on PC's, im hoping it gets it right with this iteration.

Networking wise, im finding that my 2 shared drives mounted on other machines will randomly unmount. Thats especially bad when im trying to watch divx rips of old seaQuest episodes on my mac. Not good at all. Ill have to figure out what that issue is.


Ill post some screens soon, but as of right now, its a prettier XP. Maybe with more testing, well see. Leave some Vista feedback in the comment section.