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Windows Vista beta 2: A user review (Updated)
I just got my MSDN subscription mail 3 days ago, & downloaded Windows Vista beta 2, with my legal key there. I m already using office 2007 beta 2, & despite being beta I m in love with it
Today I got a spare HD from a friend, so I installed Vista beta 2 on it, for this I did not go for a dual boot setup, which might cause problems when removing vista, instead I installed vista on the 20 GB HD, while my original 80 GB HD was not connected, so now I have to go the bios in case I need to switch to the other OS, it’s tedious but safe, since I m using it for 3 days only as I have to leave for Delhi
Now, back to the review
Who says Vista takes a lot of time to install, well...at least here, it installed in 45 Minutes flat, from booting from the DVD to the desktop, it took 1 hr, I downloaded the beta WDDM drivers for my FX5900XT graphics card already, but even with the bundled graphics drivers, Aero Glass was enabled by default, which looks really good, but I disabled it, cos I don’t like it. Don’t find it productive
Vista is a big change from XP, from the whole UI, clean Segoe UI font style to natural & shadowed windows, everything is amazing & simple, I haven’t had a lot of time to tweak or check, as I have decided to do it, once I return from Delhi, in the mean time, my friend will dissect vista here for me. Those who have seen animated UI on Linux or Mac, have something to be envy of, Vista does all that & better in a very good way
My system is a Pentium 4 3.06 GHz with Hyperthreading, 1 GB RAM, & Geforce FX 5900XT graphics card with 128 MB RAM, it gets rating of 4 in system properties , by default it took 8 GB installation, which I was able to decrease, by deleting the hibernation file, & reducing the page file to 512 MB instead of default 1.5 GB, since I m not using pro applications, 512 MB page file with 1 GB RAM is enough, however one thing, vista is slow, many things take more than usual time to start, like Windows Photo gallery.
Since the UI is now managed by Desktop Windows Manager (dwm.exe), in case of some problem, it will simply restart without affecting any work here. Alt+tab is slow, about 1 second slow.
By default the Classic Menu is off, but u can enable it, & the bottom preview panel is just crap for me, although it gives useful info, about the file, but who uses it. The start menu sux, please MS, bring back the old Windows XP like menu based start menu
I M able to run some application directly from my windows XP partition, no need to install here, such as Winamp, snag-it etc. DirectX 10 is included with Vista beta 2, but 3D Max doesn’t even start, Photoshop starts fine but without aero, instead it uses aero express. Right now, with Word 2K7, Photoshop, & Snag-it open, my system has 440 MB free memory
Nero 7 doesn’t work, Nero 6.6 does.
Windows Mail is simple, but I prefer outlook 2007 instead.
WMP11 is much like WMP11 XP, just with transparency.
IE 7 is IE 7+, a slightly enhanced version of IE 7 for Windows
Zone Alarm pro, gives a BSOD, & since there is no virus for Vista, yet, I did not install any NAV 2005/KAV 6
Windows Sidebar was taking a lot of RAM, I disabled it, will use it again once I return. However Yahoo widget engine worked
when searching it takes a lot of time, if u haven’t indexed the system. The virtual folder feature is quite good & came handy for me
User Account protection is good, but annoying, I disabled it for good. There is no way, as of now to disable DEP, as there is no boot.ini
Media centre application worked fine, I was able to play content, but not my TV in Media centre
Speaking of my TV, 90% of all the old application work fine in Vista, even when it is Beta 2, & all of my Windows XP SP2 drivers installed fine, even my PCTV Stereo with PCTV Vision application, printer etc, however my Audigy LS didn't worked, so I had to use my onboard audio
I have taken a few screenshots so far here goes
Alt+ tab
*img185.imageshack.us/img185/5999/alttab6ug.th.jpg
My Computer
*img331.imageshack.us/img331/6696/comput2vk.th.jpg
A conversation in confrence
*img331.imageshack.us/img331/4908/fullview0pf.th.jpg
This is how photoshop looks, the black color is PNG Transparency, which doesn't work
*img331.imageshack.us/img331/795/photoshop2tj.th.jpg
The new save dialog, seems also refined
Word 2007 beta 2 in Windows Vista, with a save dialog
I just got my MSDN subscription mail 3 days ago, & downloaded Windows Vista beta 2, with my legal key there. I m already using office 2007 beta 2, & despite being beta I m in love with it
Today I got a spare HD from a friend, so I installed Vista beta 2 on it, for this I did not go for a dual boot setup, which might cause problems when removing vista, instead I installed vista on the 20 GB HD, while my original 80 GB HD was not connected, so now I have to go the bios in case I need to switch to the other OS, it’s tedious but safe, since I m using it for 3 days only as I have to leave for Delhi
Now, back to the review
Who says Vista takes a lot of time to install, well...at least here, it installed in 45 Minutes flat, from booting from the DVD to the desktop, it took 1 hr, I downloaded the beta WDDM drivers for my FX5900XT graphics card already, but even with the bundled graphics drivers, Aero Glass was enabled by default, which looks really good, but I disabled it, cos I don’t like it. Don’t find it productive
Vista is a big change from XP, from the whole UI, clean Segoe UI font style to natural & shadowed windows, everything is amazing & simple, I haven’t had a lot of time to tweak or check, as I have decided to do it, once I return from Delhi, in the mean time, my friend will dissect vista here for me. Those who have seen animated UI on Linux or Mac, have something to be envy of, Vista does all that & better in a very good way
My system is a Pentium 4 3.06 GHz with Hyperthreading, 1 GB RAM, & Geforce FX 5900XT graphics card with 128 MB RAM, it gets rating of 4 in system properties , by default it took 8 GB installation, which I was able to decrease, by deleting the hibernation file, & reducing the page file to 512 MB instead of default 1.5 GB, since I m not using pro applications, 512 MB page file with 1 GB RAM is enough, however one thing, vista is slow, many things take more than usual time to start, like Windows Photo gallery.
Since the UI is now managed by Desktop Windows Manager (dwm.exe), in case of some problem, it will simply restart without affecting any work here. Alt+tab is slow, about 1 second slow.
By default the Classic Menu is off, but u can enable it, & the bottom preview panel is just crap for me, although it gives useful info, about the file, but who uses it. The start menu sux, please MS, bring back the old Windows XP like menu based start menu
I M able to run some application directly from my windows XP partition, no need to install here, such as Winamp, snag-it etc. DirectX 10 is included with Vista beta 2, but 3D Max doesn’t even start, Photoshop starts fine but without aero, instead it uses aero express. Right now, with Word 2K7, Photoshop, & Snag-it open, my system has 440 MB free memory
Nero 7 doesn’t work, Nero 6.6 does.
Windows Mail is simple, but I prefer outlook 2007 instead.
WMP11 is much like WMP11 XP, just with transparency.
IE 7 is IE 7+, a slightly enhanced version of IE 7 for Windows
Zone Alarm pro, gives a BSOD, & since there is no virus for Vista, yet, I did not install any NAV 2005/KAV 6
Windows Sidebar was taking a lot of RAM, I disabled it, will use it again once I return. However Yahoo widget engine worked
when searching it takes a lot of time, if u haven’t indexed the system. The virtual folder feature is quite good & came handy for me
User Account protection is good, but annoying, I disabled it for good. There is no way, as of now to disable DEP, as there is no boot.ini
Media centre application worked fine, I was able to play content, but not my TV in Media centre
Speaking of my TV, 90% of all the old application work fine in Vista, even when it is Beta 2, & all of my Windows XP SP2 drivers installed fine, even my PCTV Stereo with PCTV Vision application, printer etc, however my Audigy LS didn't worked, so I had to use my onboard audio
I have taken a few screenshots so far here goes
Alt+ tab
*img185.imageshack.us/img185/5999/alttab6ug.th.jpg
My Computer
*img331.imageshack.us/img331/6696/comput2vk.th.jpg
A conversation in confrence
*img331.imageshack.us/img331/4908/fullview0pf.th.jpg
This is how photoshop looks, the black color is PNG Transparency, which doesn't work
*img331.imageshack.us/img331/795/photoshop2tj.th.jpg
The new save dialog, seems also refined
Word 2007 beta 2 in Windows Vista, with a save dialog
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