GregHowley.com

Windows Vista

April 2, 2008 -

I just got a new machine at work. And it's got Windows Vista as the OS. I'd heard a lot of complaints about Windows Vista. So many, in fact, that I'd begun to worry that Vista would be another Windows ME. But using Vista, I'm finding, isn't as bad as I'd feared. It's actually got a number of fairly nice features.

My Vista DesktopNow granted, even with all these features I'd probably buy a new machine with XP installed if it weren't for DirectX10, a Vista-only feature used in computer gaming. To me, that's the OS's primary selling point. The big trade-off to DirectX10 is the fact that Vista itself is such a memory hog. You'd think that Microsoft would come up with a way to allow certain programs to activate some kind of solo mode, whereby all background processing tasks are paused and all non-OS-critical memory is temporarily released so that a single program can run at maximum efficiency. Oh well, maybe in their next OS. Honestly, if I wasn't a PC gamer I'd buy a mac or a Linux box.

But on the up-side of Vista, I'm finding that the aero theme is very pretty - translucent title bars are nice. It's also nice to see previews of images inside a folder in that folder's icon. But my favorite thing has got to be Windows Gadgets. Yes, I know they've been shamelessly pilfered from Mac's OS - as shameless as Microsoft JScript. But I still like them. I've got a nice little calendar on my desktop, as well as a weather readout and scrolling RSS reader. The GMail checker I've got has to be my favorite - no more need to pop up a browser every so often to see if I've got email. I've also got a post-it type gadget to write myself notes.

The new Windows Explorer is really going to take some getting used to. It does some things nicely, but navigating folders can be a real pain. I suppose that once you get used to it, the new GUI might be nice, but I'm having trouble adjusting. Also, user documents have been relocated from C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\My Documents to C:\Users\UserName\Documents.

The most annoying thing about Vista is the damned UAC. It pops up anytime you do anything and asks for permission to do it. It very quickly gets annoying.

But I'm learning to cope. Time will tell whether Vista is a flop OS, but for the time being, I'm okay with it.

Comments on Windows Vista
 
Comment Wed, April 2 - 11:19 AM by Frank
If you want to retain your sanity, disable the UAC immediately! I promise I won't tell Reuben that you did it.
 
Comment Wed, April 2 - 3:42 PM by tagger
"DirectX10 [ . . . ] To me, that's the OS's primary selling point" you say? Now that's sad. Just goes to show that there's money to be made writing code to waste clock ticks.

As for the UAC, have a look at: http://www.tweak-uac.com/

Rots o' Ruck!
 
Comment Wed, April 2 - 7:25 PM by pmd
On a new machine, Vista isn't horrible. A lot of the complaints I've heard had something to do with upgrades from XP, older hardware, or older software. Still, XP is pretty much just as good.

As far as Vista's version of Windows Explorer. I've been using it since June 2007 and **I STILL HATE IT**.

 
Comment Wed, April 2 - 7:53 PM by tagger
I bought a new machine, complete with Vista Ultimate. In general, I think it ESS-YOU-EX. That machine is now running XP SP3 v3264 and works just fine.

I'm willing to give Vista another try--after SP2.
 
Comment Wed, April 16 - 11:07 PM by Sandy Cress
Hey if you go to the Control Panel, then User Accounts, you can turn off User Account Control and it will quit asking before it does everything. I found that to be very annoying myself... Hope it helps.