20 Things You Won't Like About Windows Vista
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 2nd Jun 2006 19:51 UTC, submitted by Tyr.
Windows Computerworld's Scot Finnie details 20 things you won't like in Windows Vista, with a visual tour to prove it. He says that MS has favored security over end-user productivity, making the user feel like a rat caught in a maze with all the protect-you-from-yourself password-entry and 'Continue' boxes required by the User Account Controls feature. "Business and home users will be nonplussed by the blizzard of protect-you-from-yourself password-entry and 'Continue' boxes required by the User Account Controls feature, for example." Update: Apparantly, Vista Beta 2 sucks up battery juice much faster than XP does.
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RE: Qualms with the article
by n4cer on Fri 2nd Jun 2006 22:30 UTC in reply to "Qualms with the article"
n4cer
Member since:
2005-07-06

18. User Account Controls $#^%!~!!! -- 80% of this is praise for the features. The other 20% is complaining about Vista being overly cautious and asking you things every step of the way. With the quick-to-dismiss-dialog-boxes nature of the typical Windows user, this is what it has to come down to to keep Windows users safe from themselves.

MS is still working on reducing the number instances in which a prompt is required. As said by the OP, for someone who has tested for so long, you'd think they would know better than to make claims about beta software as if they will remain the same in the final product. For more info on UAC changes planned for Vista RC1, check this post:
http://blogs.msdn.com/uac/archive/2006/06/01/613098.aspx

17. Two words: Secure Desktop -- See above. Making the dialog modal is pretty much the only way to guarantee that a click-happy Windows user will give it some attention.

The dialog is modal because it appears on a totally seperate desktop than the one you were working on. The background shown is just a static screenshot of the normal work desktop. This is a security enhancement as other applications can't access this desktop and can't access the UAC prompt to programmatically confirm the prompt.

16. No way to access the Administrator account in Vista Beta 2 -- Two words: Beta 2. A few more words, from the author himself: "Presumably because Microsoft wants to force the issue and require beta testers to work within the constraints of User Access Controls."

The author needs to test more and jump to false conclusions less. The administrator account is accessible in Vista Beta 2 (just as in previous builds). Your default account has administrator rights, but Vista runs most apps as standard user even in this case for greater security. There are several ways to run apps with full admin rights. You can right-click on most items and choose Run as administrator. You can mark executables to run as admin via the compatibility tab in the exe's properties. You can start cmd or PowerShell as admin using the above method and anything run from that prompt will run as admin. You can also login with the default Administrator account by going to Safe Mode or possibly just entering the credentials for it in normal mode. There are likely other ways as well, however you shouldn't need to run as admin in most cases.

Edited 2006-06-02 22:31

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