It seems a bit coincidental that, almost exactly one year after receiving my laptop in room C-119 in Foster Manor at Keesler Air Force Base, that I would be in the process of receiving and installing Windows Vista's first Service Pack.

Yes, one year has passed since I began my computing experience with Windows Vista. It's interesting, really, because when I first became interested in computing, it was all about the geekery. Building your own, fast computer, and solving problems that occurred with it. I was personally motivated to keep tweaking my computer to keep it optimum just to show "those smug Mac zealots" that a Windows PC could be as easy and as fun to use as a Mac. Nowadays, I just get home from work and want to surf the internet and use my computer... and have it frigging work.

To my surprise, Vista did exactly that. Now, better than ever. About the only real issue that me and Vista have really had was with it's refusal to play nice with XP machines when playing Age of Empires II, and that ended up being more of a "me" problem than a Vista problem (damn no-CD hack!). Windows XP was showing it's age in more ways than one -- that is REALLY the only way I can fully explain it. Windows XP provides an acceptable way to use computers out of the box. Windows Vista provides a semi-revolutionary way to use computers out of the box.

I find myself trying more and more of the new features in Vista, distancing myself greatly from the approaches that I would've taken to accomplish the same tasks in XP. As I did in XP, I keep my Start Menu organized, but now more out of blatant OCD rather than from a perspective of increasing program finding. To fire up a program in Vista, I usually strike the Windows key and start typing. I don't know what I'd do without that search box.

Gadgets and I have a strange relationship. When Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) launched, I was undoubtedly one of the biggest "widget" naysayers out there. Yet, despite my utter revulsion to these "obviously useless and resource wasting" programs, I couldn't help but look on the cult of happy Mac users out there, sharing the latest new widget and loving it. To analogize this, I felt like The Grinch looking on to Whoville after I had just stolen all the Christmas trinkets. In light of this, I tried the Yahoo Widget Engine with a bunch of widgets -- and then I stopped using it when I saw something on the order of eight "YahooWidgetEngine.exe" processes totalling to something on the order of 90 or 100 MB of RAM. After this, I confirmed my belief that widgets, and anything like them, were useless.

Now I run with my Windows Sidebar to be ALWAYS on top of other windows. Yes, I've seen how Mac OS X does it's widgets. You have to push F12? How 2005. You have to PUSH A BUTTON to get gadgets? Pffft. On a less derogatory note, I'm simply amazed at the level of quality of some of the widgets out there over at Microsoft's Widget Gallery. I have this clock that shows me the time, is an alarm clock (multiple alarms, you can pick a music file, and it doesn't use an external player), can have a countdown, and can be stopwatch (Sphere Timer, it kicks ass, I highly recommend). I have the calendar gadget, so I can see the day of the week and the date at a glance. I have and use the sticky notes gadget. I have a processor and memory usage gadget. I have a Recycle Bin gadget which shows me what's in my Recycle Bin, and allows me to empty it. I have three instances of the default weather gadget running, which show me the current weather and temperature in Denver, Colorado; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Laramie, Wyoming. I have a gadget that tracks my packages from online orders. I have a gadget that monitors what gas station in my town has the lowest gas prices.

In spite of my former self, I have to say: Gadgets kick ass, and I'd argue that Vista's implementation of widget/gadget software is actually a REALLY well done one. The only improvement I can think of would be a hotkey to bring all gadgets forward, and I wouldn't be surprised if that actually showed up.

Searching in Vista... is probably the watershed feature. It changes the way you use your computer, and Vista's search is jaw-droppingly good. I keep my stuff organized, but I've never been so able to find exactly what I wanted, right when I wanted to. What people seem NOT to realize is that, this "instant search" craze isn't about being able to FIND things so much as it's about being able to get things IMMEDIATELY. I no longer have to navigate to a file I want to show someone, I simply type it into the Start Menu search bar, and click on it. Immediate access. Sometimes I navigate through my files and folders, which is silly -- because... I just don't need to anymore.

For all those times that I DO need to browse around, though... I've got it good. Windows Explorer in Vista... is such a dramatic improvement over Windows Explorer in every other version of Windows... that... it hurts. The "Links" feature, where YOU (the user) can set bookmarks to your most commonly accessed system locations, so as to expedite your computing experience. Badass feature right there, and it's about time a flavor of Windows finally got it. That put Windows on par with file navigation in other operating systems. Then there's the breadcrumbs address bar, which is icing on the cake. Who needs an "up one level" button when... you can simply click the next level up in the file path? Or navigate to another folder in the same level of the tree heirarchy as the one you're currently at, with two clicks? And then, when re-naming a file, Vista automatically only selects the filename -- NOT the extension. And then there's the finesse with which one can Sort and Group files. If that file has a variable, chances are you can Group/Sort files based on that variable. The preview pane, which is fast and tremendously powerful, can view multi-page documents, slideshows, pictures, play music, videos, etc.

Yeah. Pretty much kickass.

And then, Aero. Undoubtedly the most controversial feature of Vista, because apparently it "copied Mac OS X," or "consumed too much memory." First off, I will never, EVER understand the argument that "Aero copies Aqua." The two GUI's do not look, feel, or sound remotely similar. Seriously. The people who HONESTLY think this either have s**t-for-brains, or are petty enough to be angry at Microsoft for DARING to make Windows look nice. That's Mac territory, man -- NOT cool. Anyways -- Aero is REALLY a nice improvement, and offers a LOT of niceties to the Windows environment. Aero makes for a really capable, good-looking, intelligent, and really flexible interface. I think Microsoft could've done more with Aero, had a few more animations here and there (such as when cascading, stacking, and maximizing and restoring windows), but really -- Aero makes every window a 3D surface. This makes things interesting, and makes things like Switcher ( http://insentient.net/ ) possible in a Windows environment.

Digital media is another thing very easily managed in Vista, Photo Gallery is REALLY representative of this. It took me a good few hours to make a slideshow DVD for my sister's wedding. Now that's built-in to Vista, making photo slideshows and burning them to DVD's. Windows Media Player 11 is utterly fantastic, especially with the K-Lite Codec Pack 3.8.0, which enables me to play... er... ANYTHING from Windows Media Player. I've found VLC stumble on some files that Windows Media Player will play. I even downloaded the 1080P trailer for the upcoming Star Trek movie, it's in QuickTime format, and Windows Media Player 11 with K-Lite played it better than QuickTime did. It was pretty damn awesome.

I don't really know how to put it, other than that I've very much enjoyed my year of Vista. There are some pretty outstanding features and possibilities in Vista, with a LOT of new software API's and stuff from Microsoft that really promise to make the Windows computing experience a pretty fantastic one. It's not perfect, but it's a hell of an improvement.

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Although I do have one computer running Vista, my primary day-to-day computer still runs XP Pro, pretty much problem free. After months of using Vista side-by-side to XP Pro, my preference remains XP. Someone else may prefer Vista.

My primary XP system is heavily used for all my tasks* and yet easily runs for 20-30 days constantly powered-on. Re-boots are almost 100% caused by new software or hardware install requirements, and by the occassional software update that requires a re-boot to take effect. Microsoft Word is probably the most problematic program I use, and the Word process itself occassionally self-terminates after long periods (weeks) of constantly running...but it doesn't take down the whole system. I've started using two freeware alternatives, Open Office Writer and TomahawkPDF+ (free version). I still use Microsoft Word mostly because I haven't yet re-written all my macros, and I really don't like the way the Writer and Tomahawk handle page-ups and page-downs (Writer page-up/down has multi-line hysteresis, and that just bugs the hell out me. I wrote to the Open Office organization commenting on the problem and why it is a problem (especially for vision-impaired people), and their response was much less than polite. Tomahawk also exhibits this hysteresis, but not to the same degree. It's a page presentation problem that Microsoft's Word eliminates completely in the "normal" view mode.)

I still don't get why "gadgets" are considered such a big "Vista" thing, when I can add virtually the same functionality to XP. And, that still seems to be the case for most of the other functionality we find "added" in Vista. Freeware add-ons provide much of the same functionality to XP (with negligible performance impact) and you don't have to spend $150-$220 on a new OS to do it. (by the way, the only version of Vista I recommend is "Ultimate") Example: A_pickle said: I've been using TclockEX for years (I think since Win98 days), and it does this...in just about any customized date/time format, color, font, etc. I could possibly want. (Example: I have it set to show this "Thu20080320 0205A" in the system tray) It also has a pop-up calendar. And TclockEX is one of the most basic of such time/date programs.

As for the glowing statements in the OP about Vista's implementation of Explorer, I use freeware XYplorerFree on XP. http://www.xyplorer.com/free.php
It's an incredible leap above the standard XP Explorer as well, appearing to provide much of the functionality found in Vista's version. The search flexibility and speed, the rich feature content, presentation control, etc. Same capability in XYplorer.

More important to me, however, is that in standard Explorer you're limited to a search field of 255 characters total. You can search for multiple terms, but the total number of characters in the field can't exceed 255. In Xyplorer, that goes up to 1024 characters. I also like XYplorer's flexibility in presentation, including a choice of 3 sizes of thumbnails (72x54, 96x96, 128x96) directly selectable from the "view" menu (no registry manipulation required). And, the right-click options and features are rich.For example, with a right click I can send a wide variety of information about a given file to the clipboard, including a thumbnail. And, the "rename special" feature is very powerful, eliminating the need for some script-based renaming utilities.

And, that's the free version of XYplorer. The commercial version offers more.

I'm not saying XYplorer and Vista's Explorer implementation are identical, but it's definitely not hard to improve over the Windows Explorer versions Microsoft has included in the past few versions of Windows.


*Daily use: Word processing (30 documents simultaneously open is not unusual), internet browsing (Firefox where 30-40 simultaneous tabs is not unusual), multi-media work (viewing, editing, burning), finances, AV, multiple "gadgets", and more.


edit-add example of TclockEX output I have configured

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For the short time that I used Vista, I much prefered it to XP. XP now feels outdated and sluggish in comparison.

As of right now, Vista is still an early adopter system.
Most of the major glitches have been taken care off, but not all.
I still can't get some major devices working properly, though they do work OK with the 32 bit implementations.
Vista gives you more multi-media cross capability, but at what price?
If my printer doesn't work properly under Vista 64 (because of a downgrade), I'm not sure that it is the proper OS to run.
I'd hoped that SP1 would have allowed me to work around this by now, but when is SP1 going to be in final release?
Wasn't this supposed to be here by now?

Gerritt

BTW A_Pickle and John,
Good input. Both of you!
Gerritt

My whole computer is older than most of your guys', and it runs Vista x64 with no problems, and all of my hardware is supported out of the box (even my printer). I've been running Vista since Nov 05, and SP1 for the last few weeks, and couldn't be happier with it. There are a few UI things that bug me, but the pros far outweigh the cons for me.

I just love Vista, and I really cannot believe the number of folk who want to 'downgrade' to XP Pro. I think it is 'future shock' syndrome. They just haven't the brain capacity to want to learn a new system.
I loaded vista on the realease date last Feb 07, onto a second hard disk, and into my 2 yr old c. I swapped full time to using Vista and Office 2007 when the drivers to syncronise my Palm with Outlook 2007 became available in about July07.
Never looked back - have to remember to boot the old xp disk every now and then, just to get the Windows updates just in case. Only use the XP disk to access old files on it.
The bit I particularly like about Vita is the automatic backup. No third party stuff - all there. I backup on a schedule to a USB external hard drive. Able to customise the backup too.
And the UAC (User account control). Despite tales of others being annoyed with it - I keep it turned on - doesn't worry me (and I'm an IT pro). I think its a timely reminder to 'be careful'. Its also a good warning to elementary computer users not to go there unless they know what they are doing.

Jules said:

Excuse me but who are you? Your statement is condescending as hell, and full of
derogatory. If anyone does not want to do a transistional change over from XP to Vista,
then that's up to them. Business, etc are still using XP. So before you go on here
leaving patronising comments, think about what you're gonna say, instead of belittling
other users who have the brain capacity and choose to do what they decide.

Tam...

Jules said:

You also seem to forget that some applications are not yet compatible with Vista especially beta programs and shareware. For example, I take engineering classes which has a C programming component where we program in a shareware application called Dev-C++. The compiler it uses is not compatible with Windows Vista. Until I can find a compatible compiler that works on Vista, I will have to use Windows XP to be able to test and debug my programs. Like Tam said, watch what you say and how you say it. As a result, your post comes off as extremely ignorant and condescending.

Jules said:


I have to add my voice to those who consider your statements ignorant and condescending.

While I respect someone else's decision to prefer Vista, I find it exceedingly difficult to respect someone who makes unfounded, reckless, and denigrating comments about others and their decision(s) to use something else.

And, you caught me on a really bad day.


I'll try out your approach to constructive criticism...let's see...

"They just haven't the brain capacity to want to learn a new system."?
My professional qualifications and experiences with a wide variety of operating systems and programming languages are considerable. I graduated at the top of my engineering class, and my IQ is 140. Personally, I very much enjoy learning new technologies and have multiple utility patents...indicating some minimal degree of "brain capacity".

No third party stuff?
Perhaps you are too lazy or simply incapable of learning about, evaluating, and applying potentially superior programming technology that isn't supplied by Microsoft in a baby-spoon-fed manner.

(BTW, WinXP (Pro and Home) don't require "third party" software to perform backups as you appear to infer. XP included the officially sanctioned Microsoft "Backup Utility" program (that includes a wizard by the way for neophyte users). In XP Home you had to install it yourself from the installation media, but it was always there. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/302894)

You execute a customized automated (oooohhh) backup on a schedule to a USB drive?
That's child's play, and doesn't indicate any particular mastery of an OS. Such a backup is also the barest beginnings of a comprehensive backup protocol, and if you think that's all you need to protect your data then you don't know much about protecting client data, regardless of your "IT pro" status.

You need "a timely reminder to be careful"?
Glad you're not my "IT Pro".


edit to add-
Add info that XP does not require "third party" software to perform standard backups. It comes with a Microsoft-sanctioned backup utility, so it's not just a Vista thing.

Ouch! Got spanked.

OK So I didn't like Vista when I tried it way back when it was RC2 I believe was the last one. I decided that XP was fine, and I'd have to wait and see what happens when SP1 got released, and the exorbitant price's came down. So SP1 is out and Vista 32Bit Home Premium is under $100 at NewEgg. That price makes it a little easier to swallow as if I hate it I can give it to the kid or use it in my media center PC (if I ever build one). My scanner and printer both have Vista drivers available now.

Here's the deal. I'm not real crazy about dual booting. I wasn't real crazy about selective programs being blocked. So a couple questions (easy ones cause John is having a bad day). Does anyone know if Photoshop CS or Paint Shop Pro 8 can run in Vista? I really don't have the money to buy new graphics programs, and freeware is, well...freeware.

I run all my games off of MDS files on the hard drive. Does anyone know if Daemon can work in Vista (especially with YASU and SPTD for Crysis and some newer Securom games)?

What are some if any of the reported multitudes of issues still unresolved after SP1(I'm asking you guys who are using it, not what pro windows or pro Mac site reviewers say (I'm more and more considering site reviews worthless as compares with someone you know hopefully giving you an unbiased opinion, or should we now be calling it Vista Perfection SP1.

Paton, I'm using Adobe PhotoShop CS9 on my Vista64 and it's running sweet as hell.
Not used paintshop, but i can't see a problem with that either.

I can't say for Crysis, but Daemon Tools/SPTD works fine on my Vista x64. Not sure about CS, CS2 worked okay minus Aero.

CS9? Wow, that's amazing, since CS3 is the latest.

Oops! It's CS2 i have lol. I thought it was CS9. Oh well CS2 works sweet on Vista64!

Is Aero working for you with CS2? I remember when I used it Aero would vanish (from Photoshop, not from the rest of the system) when I clicked on the menubar.

Payton,
It is my understanding that CS3 is the only revision that is Vista Certified. A friend of mine had some major issues with some of the advanced functions while trying to run CS2. Additionally another Adobe product, Acrobat, only works properly if you have revision 10 installed. It is my understanding that Adobe is requiring a PAYED upgrade in order to work under Vista, and these are costing $100-200 apiece.
All,
I have an older high end Lexmark MFP laserjet printer (T620) with 1000 sheets, an automatic envelop feeder, automatic duplexing, a collator, automatic stapling, scan, copy and fax, with an internal HDD. I can print with it, and can duplex, but I have to enable or disable the stapling and collating from the printer panel, I have no access to the HDD, and I can't indicate the actual DRAM installed (128MB), etc, etc. I've had to use a driver from a newer lower end model that does not support most of the more advanced capabilities.
I have a semiretired system with XP, as well as a laptop that I am keeping XP on. But I also have a laptop with VISTA64 that I'm on the verge of downgrading to VISTA32 or XP due to the lack of IPSEC VPN capable clients under the 64 bit platform. VISTA SP1 is supposed to provide the handles for the IPSEC client to latch into the OS, but I've not seen one as of yet.
All of that said and done, I seem to recall the same issues when Windows 386,Windows 3.0,3.1,3.11, Windows 95 and yes even XP first came out. I've got two shelves full of old DOS Games and SW that I can no longer use, and that's just the ones that came on CD, a few years back I threw out all my software that was on 5.25 and 3.5 media.

Also, the arguement that the new OS is slower goes back to the original Windows environment as well. I had an old Z80 CP/M machine with dual 5.25 360K floppies, and a lab mate of mine had just shelled out about $8000 on a 386 Windows based machine. After whatching him operate it for a while, I told him that I saw no real gain in the GUI machine exept that it was easier for a novice to use. He disagreed. The challenge was from a cold start, type a single page document with formatting, italics, bold underline, etc, and print a finished document. I fired up CP/M, opened Wordstar and was printing my document....before he could get Word opened.
Now, the world and computers have gone way beyond singletasking with Wordstar, DBase, VersaCalc or 123, and checking mail with Pegasus, and so it is the VERSITILITY of computers, and what they permit to happen simultaniously (or nearly so) within the same workspace that has become universal. Apple enjoys a speed and efficiency advantage due to thier approach of keeping the HW variences to an absolute minimum. If you want to run 10.5 you have to run it on thier specified platform, thus keeping the cruft to a minimum. Microsoft is trying to run everything for everybody, and everybody is supporting Microsoft, so there is more cruft, and redundant coding and more layers of cross checks necessary to keep a hetrogenus environment working at all. Take a look at a US style democracy vs. a dictatorship and tell me which one is more efficient, but at the same time which one is more flexable? Yes I know that Microsoft is a monolith, but then so is the two party system here. Is Linux even more flexable? Yes. It is growing out of a semi-anarchy into a true democracy of the users. But even here, there must be some oversight, at least in corporate implementations, so as to keep the variables within a managable environment and even Linux having grown out of the environment that it has, is now suffering from cruft.
I've worked with just about every major OS out there including RSX11-M, SHAL-A, CP/M, AppleDOS, ProDOS, TandyOS, Commodore, AmigaDOS, Xenix, Unix (Sun, Netware, HP, BSD, AIX, Linux, ATT), NeXT, BEOS, MacOS, DRDOS, OS/2 (1.3,1.4,2,3,4), MSDOS (2.21 - 6.22), Windows (386-Vista), NT (3.1 Advanced Server - 2003) and STILL have never come across a version upgrade that DIDN'T CAUSE SOME COMPATIBILITY issues or slowdowns (with the possible exception of BEOS before it got bought and buried).

So Vista:
OK? - yes
Has issues? - yes
Terrible? - NO
Mature? - NO
Ready for takeup? - yes (primarily on new infrastructure, not as a upgrade as of yet)
Being shoved down our throats due to the short support cycle of XP - yes (though MS is extending the support for corporate environments)

Gerritt

Gerritt said:
So....you kept your 8" floppies then?

I liked your discussion on evolutionary OS and flexibility v. efficiency. Nicely summarized.

John,
I threw out the last of my 8" floppies around 1995.
They were the Elephant brand ("An Elephant Never Forgets").
The last machine that used them that I worked on was an IBM Terminal Manager out at NASA/KSC, though some of the TRSDOS systems were there until a couple of years earlier. For those of you counting, that was 15 years into the present era of the Space Shuttle (STS).
Before you ask, I finally tossed out all of my un-punched punch cards around the same time (about 10,000 cards). They were encodable with Holorith compression giving 12 bits per 8 (They were recyclable, and were).

Gerritt