Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 3rd Dec 2006 23:35 UTC
Windows After my previous short first impressions 'review' of Windows Vista Build 6000, the final build, I promised you a full review which would look a bit deeper into the system, focussing on less obvious matters than appearance alone. Since there are so many new features in Windows Vista, it is very easy to lose track of them. Hence, this review will follow (where possible) a much linked-to page on Wikipedia: Features new to Windows Vista.
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Good OS
by mcduck (3.48) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 00:34 UTC
mcduck
Member since:
2005-11-23
Fans: 1

Iv used Vista for some weeks now, and i have to say its a very good upgrade from XP.

Also; Very nice review. It's nice to see someone who actually properly reviews a OS, instead of booting it one time, and make a review in less than a day of testing.

Edited 2006-12-04 00:39

RE: Good OS
by Milo_Hoffman (2.96) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 19:06 UTC in reply to "Good OS"
Milo_Hoffman Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 0

>"upgrade"from XP.

Not shure that word means what you think it means.

Good Review
by eMagius (2.92) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 00:37 UTC
eMagius
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 1

Although a tad brief, Thom's given a nice overview (from a user's perspective). Good show!

Overrated OS
by computrius (3.16) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 00:41 UTC
computrius
Member since:
2006-03-26
Fans: 1

Final conclusion of the review: windows vista final is an improvement over windows vista beta. Real observant ;) I have vista final, and honestly, its not really all that great. In fact it seems like a step DOWN from xp to me. In the little time ive had it installed its taken to doing a blue screen of death on every boot (and no, its not my hardware). Its certainly not worth the almost $600 they want for ultimate. I'll stick with xp for now.

Edited 2006-12-04 00:42

RE: Overrated OS
by CPUGuy (2.4) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 00:59 UTC in reply to "Overrated OS"
CPUGuy Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 3

I guarentee you it is the hardware (even if it is the drivers that are causing it).

RE[2]: Overrated OS
by computrius (3.16) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:08 UTC in reply to "RE: Overrated OS"
computrius Member since:
2006-03-26
Fans: 1

no other os crashes at all but vista. Its not the hardware. (and drivers are software too, so if its the drivers, no.. its not the hardware)

RE[3]: Overrated OS
by jrronimo (2.44) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:14 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Overrated OS"
jrronimo Member since:
2006-02-28
Fans: 0

The only way I got Vista to BSoD was to install an older version of Symantec Anti-Virus that MS, Symantec and Vista all said would not be compatible and would not work.

What's the event log say? Is it a driver?

RE[2]: Overrated OS
by porcel (4.6) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:24 UTC in reply to "RE: Overrated OS"
porcel Member since:
2006-01-28
Fans: 2

Why should bad drivers bring down an entire OS? And wasn't this one of the much-touted improvements of Vista, the fact that the entired driver stack had been re-written from graphic to sound card drivers?

I honestly find it amusing the kinds of excuses some of you can come up for the lack of quality assurance and proper design principles in Microsoft products.

RE[3]: Overrated OS
by steve23063 (1.78) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:33 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Overrated OS"
steve23063 Member since:
2006-02-11
Fans: 0

Just give the hardware vendors some time to rewrite their drivers. I'm sure every piece of hardware will get tremendous support (just as they do now with windows xp) when the OS is actually released to consumers in January '07

RE[3]: Overrated OS
by WorknMan (3.64) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:36 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Overrated OS"
WorknMan Member since:
2005-11-13
Fans: 3

Why should bad drivers bring down an entire OS? And wasn't this one of the much-touted improvements of Vista, the fact that the entired driver stack had been re-written from graphic to sound card drivers?

So maybe it's not a graphic or sound card driver? Honestly, I don't know of any OS that can stand up to shitty drivers. Sure, the entire OS might not go down in all cases, but generally, it has some sort of unpleasent side effects. For example, if the entire screen goes blank and I have to kill the desktop envrioment, that's not a whole lot better than an OS crash, especially when it takes longer to boot back into the DE than it does to reboot the Windows OS.

And for those who are complaining about the price, the problem isn't that it's too expensive - the problem is you can't afford it ;)

RE[4]: Overrated OS
by tmack (2.84) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:45 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Overrated OS"
tmack Member since:
2006-04-11
Fans: 2

Technically, a Microkernel-based operating system should not crash if one server goes down.

However, "Technically" and what actually tends to happen aren't always the same thing.

If you're going to bash the new Windows, bash it. Don't gripe about little things that ALWAYS crop up on a new OS.

v RE[4]: Overrated OS
by steve23063 (1.78) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:55 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Overrated OS"
RE[4]: Overrated OS
by porcel (4.6) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 17:41 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Overrated OS"
porcel Member since:
2006-01-28
Fans: 2

So maybe it's not a graphic or sound card driver? Honestly, I don't know of any OS that can stand up to shitty drivers. Sure, the entire OS might not go down in all cases, but generally, it has some sort of unpleasent side effects. For example, if the entire screen goes blank and I have to kill the desktop envrioment, that's not a whole lot better than an OS crash, especially when it takes longer to boot back into the DE than it does to reboot the Windows OS.

Most operating systems do not crash because of poor drivers. A bad driver may mean loss of internet connectivity or no sound or no graphical server, but never a complete lock-up. Claiming that a hard crash where you may lose your data to a corrupted file system or due to unsaved work is in the same ballpark is a very large stretch.

Most people that use a Unix or Linux know that they can restart their session quicly by doing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace or that they can type startx at the screen to get back to a graphical environment. Both of these options take seconds.

If your driver is buggy, you can always turn to Vesa, which is good enough for everything except gaming, which means that you can have a stable operating system while you wait for a better driver.

Please stop making excuses for things that are inexcusable. An operating system should not crash in the XXI century.

RE[2]: Overrated OS
by flywheel (1.4) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 09:33 UTC in reply to "RE: Overrated OS"
flywheel Member since:
2005-12-28
Fans: 0

One of the main points with a client-server based OS is that no device driver should be able to pull down the OS.

It is a very typical reaction to blame everything on anything but Windows.

If it is an out-of-the-box driver as I suspect, then it also is certified. Should a certified driver behave this way ?

RE[2]: Overrated OS
by gonzalo (2.04) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 10:20 UTC in reply to "RE: Overrated OS"
gonzalo Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 0

You guarantee it? Only from the rather vague description "BSOD on every boot" you guarantee it's the hardware?

Let me just say... wao.

RE[3]: Overrated OS
by stestagg (2.8) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 16:59 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Overrated OS"
stestagg Member since:
2006-06-03
Fans: 2

It's a fairly safe bet (given that he's including drivers in this), but just not a very useful point.

Let's look at it: 90% Windows Vista Installs don't BSOD on boot. Lots of virtual-memory/SFC etc. protection is built in to prevent rogue software from screwing up the install. so it's likely to be one of:
1) faulty ram (hardware)
2) Dodgy driver (driver)
3) File Corruption (hdd = hardware)
4) Dodgy bios (hardware)
5) Hardware with bad Id (hardware)
6) Not enough ram and no pagefile (harware - kinda)

It's not very likely to be a core vista problem directly. It could be attributed to fault-intolerance though I guess.

RE[4]: Overrated OS
by SlackerJack (5.12) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 19:33 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Overrated OS"
SlackerJack Member since:
2005-11-12
Fans: 3

It's funny how people blame it on hardware or drivers, it can never be the OS right?

If for some reason Windows doesn't shut your computer down properly, most lightly a important system files will corrupt. This happened to me in Vista so you see same old problems. So what's this, OS or filesystem, no lets blame it on the HD since the OS is never to blame is it?

RE[2]: Overrated OS
by nobody (2.6) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:11 UTC in reply to "Overrated OS"
nobody Member since:
2006-06-02
Fans: 0

I concur with CPUGuy... almost certainly driver problems.

Additonally, keep the price of Ultimate in perspective.

Barring discounts, the most expensive version of XP (XP Professional) was only $299.00 (barring discounts). This product is analogous to Windows Vista Business which is also $299.00. Ultimate adds a whole slew of new features.

Seems like a fair price to me.

RE[3]: Overrated OS
by i3X171UM (4.48) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 17:19 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Overrated OS"
i3X171UM Member since:
2005-08-12
Fans: 4

I believe I'm going to end up with "Windows Vista Home Premium" with my upgrade plan. Whatever that means.

RE: Overrated OS
by tmack (2.84) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:16 UTC in reply to "Overrated OS"
tmack Member since:
2006-04-11
Fans: 2

I have an extreme distaste for Windows.

That said, this is a brand new Operating System and it is bound to have flaws that need to be fixed here and there. Given the extremely vast amount of 3rd party hardware out there, it is not unusual to have some flaky hardware cause problems.

Not that I'll ever know, I'm already free.

RE[2]: Overrated OS
by brewmastre (1.76) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 15:50 UTC in reply to "RE: Overrated OS"
brewmastre Member since:
2006-08-01
Fans: 2

Hey, you know what happens when I call the wrong driver on my system? I get a shell. After a quick 'sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf' I am back up and running in my sweet Gnome world. Know what happens when you use the wrong driver in Vista? BSOD!
j/k ;) I do think that Vista is a massive step forward and I hope that it truly is as stable and secure in the real world as it is on paper.
It is kinda strange though, that in this day & age we don't have more systems that can live through a bad driver and will ultimately result in a BSOD and/or a complete inability to boot the system.

RE[3]: Overrated OS
by PotajiTo (2.83) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 15:55 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Overrated OS"
PotajiTo Member since:
2006-10-23
Fans: 0

I dont know what he did, but in xp, when you have a bad driver (and maybe an BSOD(not very common) or a reboot loop(this is quite common)) you go into safe mode and just unistalld it.

RE[4]: Overrated OS
by trinitrotolueen (1.4) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 15:56 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Overrated OS"
trinitrotolueen Member since:
2006-10-03
Fans: 0

I dont know what he did, but in xp, when you have a bad driver (and maybe an BSOD(not very common) or a reboot loop(this is quite common)) you go into safe mode and just unistalld it.

Very convenient during online game play :-)

RE: Overrated OS
by Rayz (1.4) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 08:52 UTC in reply to "Overrated OS"
Rayz Member since:
2006-06-24
Fans: 1

Yep. Sounds like your hardware, or the installation is duff. Did you clean your machine down before installing Vista, or did you install it over XP?

On the subject
by Finchwizard (2.32) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 00:54 UTC
Finchwizard
Member since:
2006-02-01
Fans: 1

On the subject of Vista Ultimate, has anyone seen the price they are charging for it in Europe, or at least the Netherlands specifically?

Vista Ultimate will cost 549 EUR; which is 730.80 USD ... in comparison the US version is selling for 303.24 USD.

That's a heck of a lot for even the Ultimate Edition.

I'm not sure many people will buy Ultimate Edition, unless they really need the Tablet and Media Center things.

I still think Vista is a step forward, but will be a slow'ish uptake. At least for normal users.

RE: On the subject
by crazybob (2.92) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:42 UTC in reply to "On the subject"
crazybob Member since:
2006-11-25
Fans: 0

Price is my problem. I won't get Vista until I get a new computer and that's a couple of years down the road at least. I might have upgraded this computer but I can't justify the money.

v RE[2]: On the subject
by NotParker (-2) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:13 UTC in reply to "RE: On the subject"
RE[3]: On the subject
by tmack (2.84) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:23 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: On the subject"
tmack Member since:
2006-04-11
Fans: 2

For a dyed in the wool windows fanboi, you sure don't know your own products very well.

I don't think windows Vista Home is quite the same thing as windows Vista Ultimate e7e37 Hax0r Premium or whatever the hell the $600 windows is called..

RE[4]: On the subject
by 2fargone (3.32) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 10:38 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: On the subject"
2fargone Member since:
2006-02-20
Fans: 0

I'd like to see notparker put his money where his mouth is and buy that computer for bob. Or at the very least, he should be kind and give bob a Windows Vista Home Edition license if it's sooo cheap.

Edited 2006-12-04 10:46

RE[3]: On the subject
by snaker (2.6) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 17:04 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: On the subject"
snaker Member since:
2005-11-16
Fans: 0

Vista Premium 700.00
Office 2007 400.00
Watching some Jack_ss pay that much to MS
Priceless
Snaker is a happy Ubuntu user

RE[4]: On the subject
by NotParker (-2) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 17:40 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: On the subject"
NotParker Member since:
2006-06-01
Fans: 4

Vista Premium 700.00

I notice that the FOSS have some sort of bidding war to see who can raise the price of Vista well past its real price to try and make an irrelevant point.

Actualy pricing:

Full Version
•Vista Ultimate: $399
•Vista Business: $299
•Vista Home Premium: $239
•Vista Home Basic: $199

Upgrade
•Vista Ultimate: $259
•Vista Business: $199
•Vista Home Premium: $159
•Vista Home Basic: $99

RE[3]: On the subject
by archiesteel (3.68) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 19:58 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: On the subject"
archiesteel Member since:
2005-07-02
Fans: 23

Modded down as Spam/Advertisement.

v RE[4]: On the subject
by NotParker (-2) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 20:07 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: On the subject"
Huge list of features
by TBPrince (3) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 00:54 UTC
TBPrince
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 3

Read Vista features list: one cannot say it doesn't deliver new features. Just having a couple of the most important ones is worth the upgrade and will require other OSes to catch-up (given that there's no other OS able to globally catch-up).

Does this mean that every XP users should upgrade? Of course not! But those willing to do so (or people getting Vista by buying a new PC) will not be disappointed.

My opinion is pricing (and a general way of checking that your copy is legitimate, aka WGA) are meant to drive more bucks into MS pocket. In a few years, MS could face the problem of users not needing a base OS on their PCs, expecially if Internet costs will keep to drop. There could be a day (not so far in the future) when Windows on the client might not be so significative and I guess they now want to capitalize their 90%+ market share.

RE: Huge list of features
by tmack (2.84) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:13 UTC in reply to "Huge list of features"
tmack Member since:
2006-04-11
Fans: 2

Out of curiousity, what features require the other OS's to play catch up to Vista?

I was/am under the impression this release is about Microsoft catching up to the rest of the industry.

My experience...
by jrronimo (2.44) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:19 UTC
jrronimo
Member since:
2006-02-28
Fans: 0

I've been using Vista for quite a few builds now as my main OS. ATi has yet to release an OpenGL driver for it, but that's the /only/ complaint I have. It's a really nice OS for me and I really like the look and feel. I like the way some menus have been re-thought.

I'm even running in 'Standard User' mode, with constant prompts for the Administrator password... There are a few quirks to it, but it works far better than it did when they first implemented it.

My only 'complaint', I guess, is that for as much emphasis as they put on the User Account Control, by default the first user created is an administrator and the 'Administrator' account is disabled. Maybe that's only a feature for 'Ultimate', but even then, I like Vista.

I like it
by ronaldst (1.68) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 01:22 UTC
ronaldst
Member since:
2005-06-29
Fans: 4

I've been using RC2 as my main OS for a while now. And I love the new Explorer windows. The File Path text box are very useful. And they finally fixed the Task Panel (more useful now) I also like how they kinda merged the Run option and Search option into 1 text box. Need calc? Calc + ENTER key. Need info? Type it's name and voilŕ. More useful than Spotlight on OSX.

Down side is the WMP is still shit. Seriously, it needs to be FIXED like the Finder needs work. It's got usability issues that it would make Job's head spin!

And adding a new Tab in IE7 is too painfully slow. Still can't put drop down links of RSS like in FF. Which was very nice feature. Haven't found how to deleted the Search Box's history. Flid3D is completely useless (more like a demo).

PS: Oh and WMP11 is crap. How the hell did this app get thru Q&A.

Vista may have a lot of new features ...
by gregk (2.2) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 02:22 UTC
gregk
Member since:
2006-03-13
Fans: 0

but there are two reasons I won't buy it:

1) I just can't agree to the license (I don't know how any sane person could), and

2) it's waaayyy too expensive.

My apologies to all the fanboys who can overlook that stuff.

ronaldst Member since:
2005-06-29
Fans: 4

Wow.

Suddently if something is deemed "too expensive" then the people who buy that something are labeled fanboys. lol

I was sooo wondering when the Waaahhhgon was gonna arrive.

gregk Member since:
2006-03-13
Fans: 0

I wasn't calling everybody that will buy it a fanboy, just the ones that will pay anything to get it.

tomcat Member since:
2006-01-06
Fans: 7

Truth hurts, huh?

unoengborg Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 0

1) Microsoft are entitled to use whatever license they want. After all its their software.

My problem is how they enforce their licensing in Vista and XP. Activation and WGA makes you dependent on Microsoft even after money have changed hands. This means that the customer ends up in a hostage situation.

What if Microsoft are no longer there for you to get a new activation key when you have replaced a faulty mother board not that I find it very likely that MS should go out of business, but it could happen.

After all who expected the fall of Soviet Union even in the late 1980s, who expected Great Britain to be at war with Argentina over the Falklands. Speaking international conflicts, there may be situations where you may be prohibited from getting a new keys due to such conflicts. At least non US governments should consider these kind of things. The world is not as safe as it used to be.

It may also be a problem for future digital archeology, i.e. how to restore and use data from since long abandoned platforms. If you talk to a Microsoft salesperson he will probably assure you that Microsoft will provide keys forever, but can we be sure that really happens. As far as I know there is nothing EUALA that grants the user the right to that kind of service. Even if they will provide such services, it be free or will you have to sign up for some extended software support agreement (assuming you originally payed for the OS). Paying a little extra money for some to get some old file you really need may be acceptable for a company, but what about a public library or sombody having genealogy as a hobby. This may lead to losses of cultural values in the long run.

Even if you can live with the minimal risk of being cut of from Microsoft, the new volume activation schemes in Vista will increase the software management costs in business.


2) Yes, I agree, it sounds a bit expensive. This will put very high pressure on hardware prices. People will expect to pay the same amount of money or less for a computer that they do today.

This may force small and medium sized hardware vendors out of business. Fewer hardware companies will mean less competition and higher prices.

There is of course the chance that hardware vendors that find Vista too expensive will ship their boxes with some alternative OS such as Linux, but the problem is that Linux will not run the programs people are used to and this will limit their market.

tmack Member since:
2006-04-11
Fans: 2

"What if Microsoft are no longer there for you to get a new activation key when you have replaced a faulty mother board not that I find it very likely that MS should go out of business, but it could happen. "

Or worse yet, what if Windows decides that it doesn't like the look of your mp3 collection... and locks up your data until your pay restitution to the RIAA.

eMagius Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 1

what if Windows decides that it doesn't like the look of your mp3 collection... and locks up your data until your pay restitution to the RIAA.

What if space aliens come down and eat our brains? Our precious brains!

We can all make up entirely inane "what if?" scenarios with no basis in reality; it's sad that this is all the closed-source/Vista/Microsoft-bashers have to offer. It's sadder that such scenarios are being modded up while the voices of reason are being modded down.

But that's what OSNews is all about these days.

shapeshifter Member since:
2006-09-19
Fans: 0

Both cases are possible.
You shouldn't simply discount them as inane just because you feel safe right now.
Like the other poster said, nobody ever imagined the fall of the Soviet Union or Britain going to war with Argentina.
But the fact is that anything can happen at some point in time.
So hold your fingers crossed that it doesn't happen at the point in YOUR LIFETIME.
But don't warry, your "precious brain" will be one of the last ones being munched on ;)

unoengborg Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 0

I agree, it is highly unlikely that RIAA and Microsoft will turn against their customers, that would not be good for business in the long run.

However, situations where you got locked out from your data due to DRM is not that unlikely. E.g. the DRM security system would be a fun target for black hats.

DRM systems are constructed to make unauthorized use impossible. It will probably be quite hard to break them in a way that allows you to get to the data, without paying for it. However, they are most likely not designed to be safe against tampering, if all you want to achieve is denial of service, leaving the field open for malware writers distributing their software as viruses or trojans.

eMagius Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 1

My apologies to all the fanboys who can overlook that stuff.

Yeah, it's the fanboys who don't have problems with a license or with getting Vista pre-installed. Jeez.

gregk Member since:
2006-03-13
Fans: 0

Most people don't have problems with the eula because they don't read it and have no idea whats in it. Imagine their surprise when they find out they can no longer play their music or watch a movie because someone else decided they wanted to be paid again for it.

The fanboys know what's in it yet are willing to use it anyway, despite the limitations it places on the ability to use their own computers.

Hmm...
by hobgoblin (2.44) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 02:31 UTC
hobgoblin
Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 0

Not even half a page before we get a car based example...

Browser: SonyEricssonZ710i/R1EF Browser/NetFront/3.3 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1

not impressed
by gfx1 (1.36) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 02:42 UTC
gfx1
Member since:
2006-01-20
Fans: 0

I tried the RTM vista, it looks nicer but on day two I turned off all the animations. They are more annoying than the macosx ones.
It just doesn't feel snappy, I'll stay with XP for the time being...

All I want is a faster Windows, where search works
(can find a file on the internet quicker with google than on my harddisk) and that doesn't slow down over time...

RE: not impressed
by CPUGuy (2.4) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 04:18 UTC in reply to "not impressed"
CPUGuy Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 3

What animiations? There aren't any animations that are actually new to Vista.

RE[2]: not impressed
by Xaero_Vincent (3.32) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 04:36 UTC in reply to "RE: not impressed"
Xaero_Vincent Member since:
2006-08-18
Fans: 2

Just the new flip 3D task switcher and moving light flare in the Control Panel backdrop.

Nothing spectacular.

RE: not impressed
by dylansmrjones (2.6) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 06:13 UTC in reply to "not impressed"
dylansmrjones Member since:
2005-10-02
Fans: 21

Actually WinXP has fast desktop search too. Turn on the Indexing Service in Windows.

And in the search box: Use the freetext search field, and when searching for general terms put an ! in front of the term, like !hotbaby or if you search for files @filename mkv to search for all matroska videofiles. It's not as fancy or as easy as the Vista experience, but at least it's fast. You can create more complex queries of course, but these will do in most cases.

Apply to all folders
by Mathew_123456 (3.5) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:09 UTC
Mathew_123456
Member since:
2006-05-31
Fans: 0

Basically, I want an option which will allow me to set the icon size/detail level system-wide, after which I can tune individual folder's settings. And lo and behold, it's there: click the 'organize' button on the toolbar, click 'folder and search options', go to the 'view' tab, and click 'apply to all folders', which will make every folder look like the one currently open. Good.

Excuse me if I'm wrong, I thought this feature was already under windows xp, Tools->Folder Options->view (tab)->Apply to all folders????

Is Vista very different from this behaviour? (I haven't actually used Vista as of yet)

RE: Apply to all folders
by n4cer (2.6) on Tue 5th Dec 2006 09:31 UTC in reply to "Apply to all folders"
n4cer Member since:
2005-07-06
Fans: 5

You can do this in Vista, but you must do it for each folder type (Documents, Pictures and Video, etc.). This is because you may want different views depending on the type of data (e.g., details for files, large thumbnails for pictures, etc.).

IIRC, you can apply the same settings accross all folder types at the same time by going to your %userprofile% folder (the folder with your name), modify this folder to your preference, right-click in an empty space in the folder, choose "Customise this folder", choose the "All Items" template and click the checkbox to apply the template to all subfolders.

What?
by ma_d (2.8) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:31 UTC
ma_d
Member since:
2005-06-29
Fans: 5

It can't keep Aero running when one application running is incompatible? X11 apps are slow on OS X, but you don't get kicked back to OS 9 because of them...

Maybe the author meant that those apps run in Aero basic, I hope. Because I'd be surprised if there were many users in the next 5 years who don't end up with one non-aero compliant program....

RE: What?
by miscz (3.52) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 14:33 UTC in reply to "What?"
miscz Member since:
2005-07-17
Fans: 0

Yes, it's switching back to Aero basic. I wonder why more work didn't go into resolving this problem at Microsoft, now it's the problem of other software companies and they will have to do the work.

Vista
by Xaero_Vincent (3.32) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:47 UTC
Xaero_Vincent
Member since:
2006-08-18
Fans: 2

I've tried Vista Beta 2 and thought it was OK. The GUI is cleaner than XP's and Aero has compositing effects that are interesting.

However, I frankly do not see much of a need for Vista when I can visit KDE-look.org and download a nice Vista theme pack and virtually have the same experience.

Besides, 2007 is really going to be a huge year for GNU/Linux. Its when KDE 4, Gnome 2.20, Linux 2.6.20, (L)GPL v3, etc. will be released.

RE: Vista
by tmack (2.84) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 03:49 UTC in reply to "Vista"
tmack Member since:
2006-04-11
Fans: 2

Every 6 months is a huge year for Linux.

RE[2]: Vista
by Xaero_Vincent (3.32) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 04:14 UTC in reply to "RE: Vista"
Xaero_Vincent Member since:
2006-08-18
Fans: 2

2007 is especially big. We will get to see how Microsoft's newest OS shapes thier competitors offerings.

Edited 2006-12-04 04:15

Bring out your gadgets
by helio9000 (1.96) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 04:09 UTC
helio9000
Member since:
2006-05-24
Fans: 0

> the Microsoft implementation does lack a bring to front shortcut key or button.

No it is there: Windows Key + Spacebar.

What's really maddening is that pressing it again doesn't send them to the back! wtf?

>I feel compelled to touch on the originality issue often being referred to on the net.

I'm glad someone brought this up. A bunch of the stuff the MS is accused of stealing was in builds back in 2003 before I ever saw it anywhere else. However, even then it wasn't like no one had ever thought of these things before. Very little that exists in OSs today wasn't in a GUI theory books 15 years ago. Frankly I think some of the people writing those books would be disappointed in how little progress we have rally made.

I use every OS I can get my hands on and have seen a lot of cross pollination over the years. All the major OSs use the same, fairly limiting IMHO, metaphor so I don't understand why this surprises anyone. To me it just sucks that no one has really blown the box open. At this point innovation seems more or less limited to implementation more than anything else.

Also just because FUD of any sort is bothersome - Vista Ultimate is $399 (still pricey!) but not $600. Such typical FUD. The upgrade price is $2 hundie something.

The upgrade price for the home premium version which most people will use is $159. Not much more than what I paid to upgrade to Tiger (no family pack though - that's an awesome deal) and it is much bigger leap from XP than Panther to Tiger was.

As tmack points out though, nobody beats Linux freeness.

Edited 2006-12-04 04:10

Hate Hate Hate the wikipedia entry
by cyclops (2.28) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 04:36 UTC
cyclops
Member since:
2006-03-12
Fans: 3

See my other posts if you don't believe how much...you will have to browse at -5 mind. I'll try to explain why.

The reasons why I don't like it.
1) Its not clearly divided up from Home to Premium.
2) It includes applications available for XP, yet labels them Vista rather than just stating differences between them.
3) It obscures important features with trivial changes.

Puh-lease
by Snooks (1.24) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 05:19 UTC
Snooks
Member since:
2006-01-10
Fans: 0

Stability wise XP is as good as OS X? You have got to be kidding me.

This was a very superficial review with no new information. How about telling us if Vista has better multi-tasking than XP, especially with dual core procs? XP has nothing like the Unix based OS' ability to mutlitask no matter how much hardware you throw at it.

RE: Puh-lease
by Eugenia (Staff) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 05:32 UTC in reply to "Puh-lease"
Eugenia Member since:
2005-06-28
Fans: 15

For me it is.

RE: Puh-lease
by Rayz (1.4) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 09:25 UTC in reply to "Puh-lease"
Rayz Member since:
2006-06-24
Fans: 1

For me XP is a lot more stable than MacOSX. I've yet to have a single crash with my XP installation, whilst OSX occasionally hangs or refuses to wake up from sleep.

RE: Puh-lease
by flywheel (1.4) on Mon 4th Dec 2006 10:00 UTC in reply to "Puh-lease"
flywheel Member since:
2005-12-28
Fans: 0

You're quite right about the schedular - many operating systems features a better schedular.

But most of the problems that you mentions, I suspect is based on single threaded applications. Multithreading is not widely used in Windows a