Vista is Fantastic

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I’m having a long, great Thanksgiving vacation here at my parents house and before I left I installed Vista on the laptop I use for all of my development and take with me everywhere. After a few days of putting it through semi-rigorous testing, I have to say, I’m still amazed at how good it is.

I had been using the betas and RC versions before, but seeing it all come together (without the blue screens) has been awesome. I know there are some driver issues still outstanding, but on my Dell laptop I haven’t had any issues.

Performance is top notch (I have a Vista experience rating of 4.0 and I’m running a Intel Pentium M 2.13 GHz processor with 2 Gigs of Ram). It’s stable, and it looks beautiful. As an operating system “experience” it’s heads and tales over anything that Microsoft has had before.

I think Vista is going to be a huge boon for Rich Internet Applications because it sets a new bar for what kind of experiences to expect. The transitions and the subtle UI improvements make a huge difference and I can’t wait to see web developers implement it.

Big hats off to Microsoft.

[tags]Microsoft, Rich Internet Applications, Windows Vista, Vista[/tags]

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  • http://demirkapi.net/avblog/ OÄŸuz Demirkapı

    I have also tried with my Pentium D 840 2 GB machine but I am not very happy with it because of driver problems.

    First problem was S-ATA drivers for my Asus board. Than Nvidia problems until finding a working beta. It was slower than my old XP MCE 2005 and not too much extra features that I would really use.

    I also tried IIS 7 but there was no chance to install CF as default. You need to create your ISAPI settings self to get it work but there seems still some other problems with .NET 3 components.

    I mean I will try it when we have CF 8 again and than decide it. :)

    Of course question is what you need. Do I really need Vista for my work or home? I can easily say now, NO.

  • TJ Downes

    Great Ryan, I am glad to hear you like it.

    There are driver issues, and I would encourage anyone who is considering running a release candidate as a full-time desktop to consider this. I have had to give up a number of devices for the time being, including my camera. Overall, I have enjoyed my Vista experience.

    Dreamweaver users: There are issues with hanging on Vista. I do not experience this with any other app except Dreamweaver (running 8.0.2).

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    OÄŸuz, I’m going to go through the same SATA issues when I install Vista on my “fun” machine at home. I’ve been running RC1 on it for a while and have had some not-insignificant driver issues. You should blog about your Vista issues with IIS7 and CF – I think that would be really interesting.

    TJ, you’re absolutely right. If you’re going to make the jump, you have to be ready to deal with driver issues or roll back. I lucked out on this laptop but it may not work for my gaming box.

  • http://demirkapi.net/avblog/ OÄŸuz Demirkapı

    I will blog CF issues when I have some time. :)

    BTW, I have Vista Ultimate Edition build 6000 which is RTM.

  • Joe Delaney

    “Vista is Fantastic”

    Compared to what? DOS? NT? Root canal?

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  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    Joe, compared to any other operating system Microsoft has come out with. And from a UI standpoint, it’s fantastic compared to almost anything out there right now.

  • jlr

    I guess you have never used OS X.

  • http://yukonbiz.com/ Geof Harries

    As a long-time Mac user who occasionally has to dabble in Windows for browser testing, I am looking forward to getting my hands on Vista – if for nothing else than a simple user experience comparison.

    Next to OS X, Windows’ UX up until now has been, uh, lackluster (to be polite). It’d be awesome if Microsoft could turn its reputation around with this release.

    Why? Really, it’s always nice seeing a fresh perspective on interaction design approaches, no matter the producer.

  • http://www.techfeed.net/blog/ Jacob Munson

    “I think Vista is going to be a huge boon for Rich Internet Applications because it sets a new bar for what kind of experiences to expect.” I know that Microsoft tells everybody that Vista adoption rates will be better than any other OS release, but if you look at the independent surveys, adoption will be slow. I do think Vista offers a LOT of good improvements, but I’m not holding my breath yet. I don’t think we’ll see a majority Vista user base for another 2 years, at the earliest.

  • http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com Ryan Stewart

    jlr, I’ve used OS X, and I think Vista is on par. It’s a very different experience, but they’re both good. I think Geof has the right attitude – this is a fresh take on UI design. That’s a good thing no matter what you think of Microsoft.

    Jacob, you’re right the independent surveys haven’t been kind to Vista adoption rates. I hope they’re wrong, but I think 2 years is a pretty good estimate.

  • http://www.techfeed.net/blog/ Jacob Munson

    Ryan,

    I don’t think the survey’s were being unkind, just reporting the facts. I work for a company with ~2000 employees, and we just barely deployed WinXP this year. It’s not about technology, it’s about money and integration. Large companies just can’t afford to be aggressive with upgrades.

    Same goes for the average consumer. They won’t go out and buy Vista, they’ll get it with a new computer when their old one stops working.

  • TJ Downes

    The problem with that assumption is that large companies make up a very small portion of users in the world. Individuals and small business far outnumber the number of desktops in large companies.

  • http://www.techfeed.net/blog/ Jacob Munson

    TJ,

    That’s why I mentioned the average consumer as well. Did you miss that part?

  • TJ Downes

    I did actually, thanks for pointing that out.

    I tend to stick with Ryan on the consumer end, within 2 years I feel a fair majority will be using Vista. I don’t recall too many people I know waiting more than 2 years to upgrade to XP.

    All that being said, I have a client who is just now upgrading to XP, however, they did license with Software Assurance to ensure they will be able to upgrade when the time comes and are purchasing new PCs with Vista in mind.

  • Bah humbug

    for heaven’s sake why? just for bloated eye candy (look at the hardware spec to make the thing run?)

    what specific problems will vista solve for me? give me 15 ways to turn the compunter off?
    http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/11/21.html

    I’m not a luddite, but change for change sake just doesn’t cut it. I’ve turned off half the rubbish in XP so it’s more like Win2000. what ever happened to
    YAGNI?

    Vista? no thanx.

  • TJ Downes

    Seems to be a common reaction for those who have yet to try or research the OS. It’s a lot more than eye candy, there’s a ton of new useful features that make computing in general easier and more efficient. But I’ll let you do the research.

  • Void

    Real problem is that everyone who “talks good” about vista say the same thing: “it’s not about the eyecandy, it’s better bla bla”… ok. Please make a list of things which makes vista better than, say, xp .
    Because some people (me included) may not be smart enough to find/see them

  • TJ Downes

    just as you might say with your favorite OS: RTFM. Sorry, but I do get tired of hearing people talk smack. it’s pretty basic: you can either contribute to the conversation by providing valuable information or questions to a topic or you can be a troll.

  • http://techfeed.net/blog/ Jacob Munson

    Because it seemed like I was bashing, even though I said I thought Vista had a lot of useful stuff in it, I’ll make a list.

    1. Drivers are automatically versioned, so “DLL Hell” should go away
    2. Drivers run in user mode, so if your video card crashes your OS still runs fine (no more BSODs from hardware problems)
    3. There is a real difference between admin and user. By default, new accounts will be users instead of admins, and software finally will be able to run without the user being an admin

    I’ll follow that list by acknowledging that most of this has been a standard in the Unix world for decades, but I’m glad to see it finally coming to Windows. Personally I could care less about the eye candy crap, but I’m glad to see Windows finally growing up to be a mature OS that should make life a LOT easier admins.

  • TJ Downes

    I cant disagree with you there, but on the flip side, Unix and Linux have been devoid of usability for the average user for many years and still have a very long way to go.

    That being said, OS X is a good middle ground. But then again, that’s only been recently as well.

    Maybe it’s the case that OSs in general are catching up in the areas they have been weak in and now we will start to see some real competition in OS platforms. And I think you have MS to thank for that ;)

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  • http://na peto

    sooooo much bad media about windows vista it makes me sick… If I have 1000 work computers with xp pro Ill keep everything xp pro and upgrade at the right time when the new hardware is needed and use all vista business for our domain or ultimate for those execs that have to have everything! For home use Vista is great and has huge advantages! I cant believe nobody mentioned it yet but THE INDEXING!!! Indexing of “Offline Files” via a protocol handler for the CSC (Client-Side Cache), meaning windows vista caches the hard drive index for instant searching and locating of applications through super fast memory instead of actually looking at the mechanical drive like XP did!! So programs are launched instantly(granted you turn user acount control off, that is annoying for me but great for limiting kids) and searching for files is instant(just like OSX) becouse vista already knows the location of it… but horay for microsoft for implimenting this!!! Unfortunatly this backs up all those haters out there crying about how much hardware you need to run vista and bloat ware bla bla bla. You do need dual core and 1 gig at least, but who cares at this point when you can get core 2 dou an 2 gig for like $500, stop complaining the software finally cought up with the hardware!!! haha. An if you need more how about the ability to connect to wireless projectors or the more advanced user rights or the intigration of media player to photogallery to movie maker to dvd maker just like ilife does. How bout tabbed browsing(sure you can get this in xp now too but new browser comes standard in vista with no downloads) I love the fact you can open all your usual websites and save them all as your home page so there all open upon launching IE. I downloaded a divx movie that was free of course, heh and dumped it into windows dvd maker, burned it to dvd and watched it on my dvd player on my tv…so much for DRM! I access streaming music from my laptop in media player on my xbox360 and my PS3 playing on my plasma through my suround sound over wifi all the time! I dont know what people are talking about saying the DRM in vista is too much?? media player has sharing now and is a UPNP server/client. Not saying theres not better software out there but is itunes a upnp server?? eh no its not sorry mac people. Driver issues are there but very few at this point, infact the only issues Ive run into is with networking printers that werent made as network printers like home based retail inkjets. You cant blame microsoft for that either, thats the manufacturers fault for not fully supporting there product. Im sure there will be flames on this post but all im saying is for home use Vista is great and the media is flaming vista without looking at its good points shame on them. I think there just mad cuz they have to pay $400 for MS Office and this is pay back! haha