-- Posted by llamafarmer at 2:33 am on April 8, 2006 So my developer edition of Vista came today. I have now uninstalled XP, and I've got Beta 2 (Build 5308) running. First impressions are all I can give at this stage, because I've only had it running for half an hour! On first glance...everything seems a lot cleaner than XP - the interface is very professionally done, and the graphic designers have done a great job here. Finally, the text is using anti-aliasing without something you need to download from Microsoft. But all of this has paid its price...the high amount of graphics means that my (rather old) computer sometimes has troubles loading up menus. For example, it takes a couple of seconds for the highlight colour to appear when you are scrolling over a menu. But it's not really too much to handle. Windows Explorer has adopted a new look as well, as has the start button. Many others have stated that Vista borrows Mac OS X interface in some areas...although this is sometimes true (folder icons), I don't think it's anything worth worrying hugely about. Of course, design is a personal preference, but I actually prefer the OS X interface to Vista, although the gap has been closed hugely since XP. The start menu has had a revamp in terms of functionality. When you click "All Programs" there is no popup sidebar that appears, it's all in a scrolling textarea. This is much better imo since it maximizes the screen "room". The start menu: My major gripe about Vista is that it is a heck of a lot slower than XP. It takes about 10 seconds to load up Control Panel, which is asking a bit too much for a simple interface program. Some programs stop responding when you load them up, especially if they are big (such as Photoshop). However, this is only the beta version, so I'd imagine Microsoft will cater for the low performance computers as much as the high ones. (the one I'm running is P4 2.4Ghz, 512MB Ram) The control panel: All my programs work pretty much, except ActiveSync, which has an update anyway. So no compatability issues here. This is all I have to say thus far. Needless to say that I haven't explored all of Vista's features, by far as yet. I'll post back when I've had more time on it. Half an hour is all I've had so far! There are still some irritating bugs that...irritate me, some of which are carried through from XP.   PS. Sorry if this has already been posted! (Edited by llamafarmer at 10:37 am on April 8, 2006) -- Posted by doors at 2:36 am on April 8, 2006 when i was watching a online tv program they were saying the best performance tehy got was with a AMD Athlon 64 bitprocessor u should try it with that. -- Posted by llamafarmer at 2:38 am on April 8, 2006 I'd love to...but sadly I'm skint! -- Posted by TiMmMeE at 2:41 am on April 8, 2006 It looks pretty nice, but it's a shame the specs are so high and it runs so slow on 512 MB RAM.  I guess times change. -- Posted by Jay JWLH at 2:45 am on April 8, 2006 In a magazine I read a while back, I read that it did require a lot of power. 2GB RAM in fact as part of it. I did expect it to require a powerful computer, but I also heard that they would come out in... say was it four different flavours. Now that you think about it, where does the Web 2.0 thing come into it, as well as the internet/desktop intergration thing? -- Posted by llamafarmer at 2:49 am on April 8, 2006 The new loading bar effect (awesome imo): The new menu (cool as well): Windows Explorer: -- Posted by osmoticdespair at 2:50 am on April 8, 2006 its kinda pretty but what about form follows function?? -- Posted by Born2die at 2:50 am on April 8, 2006 I want that black start button -- Posted by TiMmMeE at 2:54 am on April 8, 2006 Hey, does that  build have the kinda-OS X impersonating Window-flipper thing?  I forget what it's called but supposedly you can flip through all your open windows with the scroll wheel. -- Posted by Jay JWLH at 2:54 am on April 8, 2006 It is like an entire new theme. I believe it was the deisign jump the OS needed, but where is the detail it needed within the programming? Is it more compatable with programs then XP was? Networking work even better? Overall a better ease of use? -- Posted by Jay JWLH at 2:59 am on April 8, 2006 I also heard about transperency stuff. Can you open a folder/file in a folder behind a current window? -- Posted by llamafarmer at 3:03 am on April 8, 2006 [QUOTE]Hey, does that  build have the kinda-OS X impersonating Window-flipper thing?  I forget what it's called but supposedly you can flip through all your open windows with the scroll wheel. An Expose kind of function? I think the closest I have got to that was Alt+Esc, and it's kind of like Expose, but not as good imo...it just cycles through the programs in the order they are listed on the startbar. Not much more useful than Alt+Tab to be honest. [QUOTE]It is like an entire new theme. I believe it was the deisign jump the OS needed, but where is the detail it needed within the programming? Is it more compatable with programs then XP was? Networking work even better? Overall a better ease of use? As I say, only had it an hour now...so I haven't been in detail with it. I'm fully trying it out today, so I'll get back to you on this. -- Posted by pleaseremove at 3:07 am on April 8, 2006 Quote: from TiMmMeE at 10:54 am on April 8, 2006 Hey, does that  build have the kinda-OS X impersonating Window-flipper thing?  I forget what it's called but supposedly you can flip through all your open windows with the scroll wheel. No, they removed it from that build. As to why it runs so slow, it seems you didn't read MS's release saying that you should be testing the betas on 2gig of RAM minimum..... I think they also said you should be running dual core. I have yet to try the last release, i think i shall wait until i get into Uni to do so, I'm not in the mood for doing it on my machine. -- Posted by TiMmMeE at 3:08 am on April 8, 2006 Quote: from llamafarmer at 12:03 pm on April 8, 2006 [QUOTE]Hey, does that  build have the kinda-OS X impersonating Window-flipper thing?  I forget what it's called but supposedly you can flip through all your open windows with the scroll wheel. An Expose kind of function? I think the closest I have got to that was Alt+Esc, and it's kind of like Expose, Hm, yeah, that's too bad.  Expose is definitely my favorite feature of OS X and the one that I miss the most when I am using Windows.   -- Posted by llamafarmer at 3:08 am on April 8, 2006 Quote: from Jay JWLH at 10:59 am on April 8, 2006 I also heard about transperency stuff. Can you open a folder/file in a folder behind a current window? Looked all around the Control Panel for this setting, the internet and the help files, and I couldn't find anything on it! I'm sure it's there, but I just haven't discovered it yet! -- Posted by llamafarmer at 3:09 am on April 8, 2006 Quote: from pleaseremove at 11:07 am on April 8, 2006 Quote: from TiMmMeE at 10:54 am on April 8, 2006 Hey, does that  build have the kinda-OS X impersonating Window-flipper thing?  I forget what it's called but supposedly you can flip through all your open windows with the scroll wheel. No, they removed it from that build. As to why it runs so slow, it seems you didn't read MS's release saying that you should be testing the betas on 2gig of RAM minimum..... I think they also said you should be running dual core. I have yet to try the last release, i think i shall wait until i get into Uni to do so, I'm not in the mood for doing it on my machine. Oh, no I read it fine. My Windows computer just isn't that great. -- Posted by bighead1991 at 3:18 am on April 8, 2006 Won't the transparency settings be in the Display Settings. You know, Right click on desktop, properties, In there somewhere. I really have got to get my hands on this latest issue, got all the others ling around on dvds on the desk . . . -- Posted by Jay JWLH at 3:19 am on April 8, 2006 Quote: from llamafarmer at 12:08 am on April 9, 2006 Quote: from Jay JWLH at 10:59 am on April 8, 2006 I also heard about transperency stuff. Can you open a folder/file in a folder behind a current window? Looked all around the Control Panel for this setting, the internet and the help files, and I couldn't find anything on it! I'm sure it's there, but I just haven't discovered it yet! OMG, that should have been a feature they should have been proud of, and not even you can figure it out. MS did bad in that area. -- Posted by llamafarmer at 3:36 am on April 8, 2006 Display settings are called "Appearance and Personalization" In this Build. Already looked there, and nothing... -- Posted by insertnamehere at 4:05 am on April 8, 2006 Looks good, surprisingly for windows. Have you found anything with copyright software yet? Just asking as that is a lot of people's concern. I expect they'll fix the whole slowness thing. -- Posted by llamafarmer at 5:49 am on April 8, 2006 Couple of errors with this build...you can't print anything (lol), and iTunes won't install. Otherwise ok so far. I'm guessing these will be fixed... -- Posted by bighead1991 at 6:31 am on April 8, 2006 Quote: from llamafarmer at 1:49 pm on April 8, 2006 Couple of errors with this build...you can't print anything (lol), and iTunes won't install. Otherwise ok so far. I'm guessing these will be fixed... The drivers probably haven't been made yet. All of the companies will make them ready for the final release of Windows Vista (not BETA) -- Posted by ghostly denial at 10:58 am on April 12, 2006 looking good :D -- Posted by espresso8097 at 5:14 pm on April 15, 2006 Is it just me, or does Vista have an OSX esque look to it? -- Posted by llamafarmer at 5:24 pm on April 15, 2006 Quote: from espresso8097 at 1:14 am on April 16, 2006 Is it just me, or does Vista have an OSX esque look to it? It does, sort of...OSX still looks better imo. Apple are arguably the best when it comes to design. I uninstalled Vista...a few things didn't work that I needed. I know they will be fixed. But first impressions are Ok, except at times the Control Panel can overcomplicate itself. It's looking promising. -- Posted by bighead1991 at 6:29 pm on April 15, 2006 Quote: from llamafarmer at 1:24 am on April 16, 2006 Quote: from espresso8097 at 1:14 am on April 16, 2006 Is it just me, or does Vista have an OSX esque look to it? It does, sort of...OSX still looks better imo. Apple are arguably the best when it comes to design. I uninstalled Vista...a few things didn't work that I needed. I know they will be fixed. But first impressions are Ok, except at times the Control Panel can overcomplicate itself. It's looking promising. You should of just kept it on a different partition. You should of seen Vista a year ago . . . . -- Posted by spiked2005 at 7:31 pm on April 16, 2006 I have vista too, and after fixing the java script myself I realized it is wonderful.  Also I have a 2 gig dual processer which makes it run real smooth, but ya know.  Its great.