After waiting for what is like eons, Microsoft's next OS, Windows Vista is finally here!
YAY!
Well not the retail OS, that won't be here until next year (hopefully).
Microsoft Windows Vista previous code name LongHorn was only
available to developers, and IT experts. Now they want a new
group to test it out. This special group is extremely important
because if this group don't see a point to upgrade to Vista, then Vista will become
a major failure. This special group is "us", us as in the consumer.
Since now there is a pubilc beta version available and they want "us"
the consumer to test it out and provide feedback about what we want to improve
on the new OS and our thoughts. I've told myself why not test it out and see how it runs.
And this is what I've think about it.
Microsoft Windows Vista's installation has finally thought about when it's the right time
for user interaction during the installation stages. Previous Windows installations will
require a great amount of user input at different times and this can
delay the installation process because if Windows needs your user input and you ignore it, then
the installation will stay right there, until you provide the info it needs. Even if it has decided to start growing
flowers, vines, and moss. As for Windows Vista, the user interaction starts
at the very beginning of the installation process, way before Windows starts to install into your PC.
Once Vista finishes installing, then it askes you for the rest of the info it needs. This reduces the amount
of time the user needs to interact with their PC, during the Windows installation.
Previous version of Windows e.g. Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP will require user
to press the "F6" key for installing additional drivers, if the one needed is
not included with the Windows installation disc. User who has their system setup in RAID
or have earlier adoptions of the SATA hard drives with non-Intel chipsets motherboards*, will know that during this part
of the installation, it's always a dead end, if you don't have a floppy drive because it only looks for
drivers in
a floppy disk. And since most PCs don't use floppy drives these days, Windows Vista has came up with
a new ways to let user with complex hard drive setups use different methods of installing additional drivers.
Windows Vista's additional driver installation options now includes more options such
as flash drives. Also there is no more "F6" to press for installing additional drivers.
Users get to experience the ease of installation on Windows Vista with their simple to read hard drive
setups and easier to manange interface. In Vista, the hard disk's info is displayed in a simplified but
very detail method. Vista's way of displaying the hard disk goes as follows: Name, Total size, Free space, and
type.
made a typo in the imgae, too lazy to rehost a new one, so deal with it!
Note: Disk_R where "R" represents numbers 1 and above
Partition_N where "N" represents numbers 1 and above
Windows Vista displaying of the hard disk goes like so...
By looking at the sample image above...
Disk_R-this is the actually physical hard drive that is inside your computer.
If you have more than 1 physical hard drive in your system, then Vista will
display it as.
Disk_1, Disk_2, Disk_3, and so on...
Partiton_N is the parition you the user creates on that particular physical hard disk.
If a user has created 2 parition with a single physical hard drive, then Vista will display it as
Disk1 Partition1
Disk1 Partition2.
To make it easier to understand, it like a "birthday cake"
The "birthday cake" is the physical "hard drive"
The pieces you cut on the "birthday cake" will be the "partitions"
As you can see Vista's way of displaying the hard disk inside a system is definitely easier to read and manage.
Each hard drive get's its own name and as well as the parition is associates with. This helps user get a better
reading of how many hard drive it has and it also let's the user have a better control
as to which parition they want to install the OS into.
Vista's formatting system if not like that of it's previous OSes, In Windows 2000 or XP, you get to
choose between FAT32 or NTFS and after that you have the option of formatting in "normal mode"
or "quick mode". Vista's formatted file system during the OS installation is only NTFS and no
normal or quick mode formats options either. Therefore users won't have to worry too much as to
whether they made a mistake during their installation.
When users are done choosing the hard disk they want to install, users may move on and do
other works until their Vista is finish installing into their systems. During installing part of the installation, Vista
will not ask for any type of user input until the whole installation is finish.
Once Windows Vista has completed its installation, it will restart and immediatly display the mini-setup,
similar to Windows XP's but with a lot more control. In Windows XP's mini-setup, user are required to answer a
few setup questions follow by typing in their username. Once that is done, they are introduced with that beautiful and
yet ugly "Bliss" background and the login picture is random. Therefore if a user don't like the
background and their login picture, they will have to change it later on.
In Vista's mini-setup, users are given the option to choose the login picture and the backgroud
they like right from the start, way before Vista's loads.
When the Vista's mini-setup is done, users with WDDM supported graphic cards and WDDM drivers installed will
immediately get to see the effects of Aero. Aero is a new type of interface that is different that all it's
previous Windows operating systems. In a Aero enviroment users can enjoy their Windows with animation, cleaniness,
transprancies, and other effects that will please the user with a Windows Vista OS.
One person in another forum mentioned: "Windows Vista's animation is extremely dramatic, it's soo
daramatic, it seems Microsoft has hired a bunch of artist." Well I can't say no to that because Windows
Vista's animation is extremly dramatic, it's sooo daramatic that if you take Windows XP
and compare it side by side, it will make Windows XP look extremely dull and
boring!
Now I'll be talking about some of the interesting features found in Windows Vista.
Performance rating and tools
Windows Vista comes with a really useful utility called: Performance rating and tools.
This utility scans your entire system and provide the user with a overall score and individual scores
on the components you have. It also give the user a general idea as to how well their computer is able to run Windows
Vista. The performance rating utility scans the for your processor, ram, primary
hard drive, graphic card, and how well you can card is able to handle games which they
called it "Gaming graphics". Also the performace rating tool will get update as newer and
faster components become available.
This is a bit of the performance tool rates a system.
-If a user's system does not have a Aero supported graphic card, then no
matter how high-end their other components are, they will get
a overall score of 1.
-A low-end Aero supported graphic card will get at least a 2.
-As of now the performance rating tool has the following rating: 1 being the lowest
and 5 being the highest.
System Slowdown detector
One unique feature about the Performance rating tool is, it also has
the ability to detect system slowdown. In a pervious Windows system, users would have
to find that problem which take hours, but with this handy detection utlitiy Windows will tell
you which file or driver is causing the problem. Although it tells you what is causing the system
slow-down, but the downside is it will not fix it for you.
Windows Calender
Windows Calender is another unique feature in Windows Vista that is really useful. Whether you
just want to set a simple appoinment let's say "Job interview today at 2pm". You can also set reminders,
and even share your appoinments with others. Another feature about Windows Calender is the ability to
setup tasks. This lets you have the ability to input your task and let windows Calender reminder you
according to the time you set.
Icon Viewer
Previous Winodows operating systems, users are limited to the following
choices: thumbnails, icons, details, tiles, and list. when viewing their icons, but
in Windows Vista, users can have more control as to how they want their icons to be viewed
by adjusting the "slider".
Security! Security! Security!
One feature which I found it quite helpful is Windows Vista's "UAC".
UAC stands for "User Account Control" and what this feature does is it asks
the user's permission before executing a file or a command. The 50% useful side to UAC is sometimes people make
mistakes (including me), like by clicking to fast on execution file. When UAC is enabled
it sets a "block point" before the execution file is deployed. This help the user stop the file
from executing especially if it's a malicious program or some unwanted application.
Some users will find it annoying because it ask for permission on everything that you
do including deleting a simple shortcut!
Parental Controls
Windows Vista is one handy utility that I believe parents will enjoy the most out
of Windows Vista as for the kids well maybe not.
Windows Vista's parental control lets parents set limits on as to what their
child is allowed to do on the computer. Parents gets a handful of useful options
such as setting up time limits, programs allowed to be use, games allowed to be played according
to the game ratings (ESRB), web contents filtering, and to top it all off
it even has a activity report so that parents can have a summary as to what their child is doing.
One thing about using parental control is users with administrative accounts needs to have their
accounts password protected!
Overall
As of right now Windows Vista is still in its beta 2 stages and I have to say I'm really impressed
with what Windows Vista has to offer, although there are still some minor glitches (some applications do not work), but
so far there are no crashes or BSODs yet (and I hope it stays that way), and when the final version of Windows Vista
does come out, will I get it? Yes, but I hope their
final version will be impoved since there are still some flaws in this build.
Now for some misc. info
-I want to tryout Window Vista on my system too!
Microsoft Windows Vista beta 2 is already available at
their Windows Vista site.
Click on the link below to access it.
M$ Windows Vista Beta 2
-Will my computer be able to run Windows Vista?
It all depends on how your computer hardware is configured.
You may download and run the Windows Vista upgrade advisor beta,
and see if your system meets the requirements to run Windows Vista.
Click on the link below
Windows Vista
upgrade advisor
-What edition of Windows Vista do we get to try out?
Windows Vista Ultimate edition
-It asked me for a product key, where do I get it?
You may request for a product key, if you have a Windows Live account.
If you don't have, you may use your hotmail account to request
a product key.
-What languages and verision are available ?
Right now there are 3 lanuages of Windows Vista beta 2
*English x86 and x64
*Japanese x86 and x64
*German x86 and x64
-What is x86 and x64?
x86 is 32bit
x64 is 64bit
-How do I get Windows Vista Beta 2?
You may have 2 options to get Windows Vista Beta2
One option is by downloading. You will do need a high speed connection
and a download manager. The other way is by ordering.
-How large are the files?
x86 aprox: 3.8gb
x64 aprox: 4gb and above
Note: This is the English language of the OS.
For other languages of the OS sizes may vary.
-What applications do not work?
Here is a list of programs that does not work on Windows Vista beta 2
click here
Important!
If you are interested in Installing Windows Vista, make sure you have backup your important files.
or have a blank partition on your HD. I'm not responsible if you loose your datas or if
you have system crashes.
And here is a clip of flip-3D
Update: Microsoft's Windows Vista Beta program for consumers is now closed.
A revision update was created after the public release and that is only available to
subscribers.
The revision contains lots of major improvements and it also installs faster (based on other internet
sources).
Requirements for a "Windows Vista Capable" PC (source from M$'s Vista site)
-A processor at least 800MHz
-512MB
-A graphic card with Direct X 9 support
Note: While 512 is able to run, but at least upgrade it to 1GB for better performance
Requirements for a "Windows Vista Premium" PC (source from M$'s Vista site)
-A processor at least of 1GHz either x86 and/or EMT64 or AMD64*
-1GB of ram
-Graphic cards that needs to support the Aero interface
-Graphic cards must have at least 128mb of ram
-At least a 40gb HD with 15gb free space
-A DVD drive
-Audio
and a available internect connection
Note: IF you have a system with the best configuration and your graphic card
does not support the WDDM or LDDM graphic drivers, then you will not get Aero Glass.
If you have a system that somehow meets the "Vista Capable" requiremenst and
your graphic card supports the WDDM or LDDM drivers, then Aero Glass should be available
*x86 is mostly available on all processors.
EMT64 is only available on selected Intel processors
AMD64 is only available on selected AMD processors
