my Vista review

[wonderings]

Well I will start my Vista Ultimate review today. I installed Vista yesterday evening. Installation went without a hitch. I was impressed that Vista was able to use my GeForce 7600 agp video card without me installing any drivers for it. I have heard some nasty things regarding video cards and Vista. I must say, this is the nicest looking version of Windows ever. When everything was up and running, updates installed, anti virus and all that wonderful stuff finished. I decided to get familiar with Vista. The first thing I thought was, where are all the cool effects ie where is aero? Everything was acting just like XP, except a little prettier to the eye. After a google search, I found I had to activate Aero. WOW Vista got even prettier. Aero runs great on my machine, everything runs fluid and smooth, though I was a bit disappointed that dreamscene had been held back. I have no tried any games on the machine, and probably wont, as I am not really a gamer, thats what my xbox/gamecube are for. I also noticed that Vista had a media centre built in. This opens up the possibilities for me with this computer. The reason I have installed Vista, was to make sure I was fluent in Windows newest operations system, but once I know my way around, it would probably sit unused. I have been wanting a computer to hook up to my stereo system for my music, this would serve as an excellent tool for that, also letting me have access to my photos as well. Media centre ran very well as well in my brief look at it. Somethings I dont like, when installing anything, a window comes from and centre, asking if its ok to do install this. Now I understand the need for this, its the same on OS X but... It seems in Vista, that this window jumps in-front of everything, and you cannot do anything till you click accept. On the mac end of it, that window pops up, but it will not interrupt what I am presently working on. For some this may not be a big deal, and well its not that big for me either, just annoying. The one thing I absolutely hate is.... no backgammon! That was my favorite thing in XP,  I love backgammon. Now I know I can download the game, or play it online, but it was nice and simple to play, just went to games and there it was. Speaking of the games, they have given them a fresh new look, well solitaire at least (I have not looked at the others yet). Crisp clean  colours, round edges, looks very nice for solitaire. In general the look of Vista is very fresh, clean and modern. I Would say I prefer the overall look to OS X, though to be fair, OS X has been out for a while and Vista is brand new, and I would say its not that much better visually the OS X. Another thing I did not like (its easier to remember those then what I do like, weird eh?) though had potential was that 3d visual of all windows open,
I cant remember what it is call.  Aero needs to be active for this to work, but as of right now I cant seem to find a key command to make this work. When I had seen this function online, I thought it was the revamped alt + tab, but I am wrong, alt tab works exactly the same, just with a small preview of what is open in that program. The 3d window switching is kinda neat,  pretty much like OS X's Expose. The windows, at least internet are live when switching in 3d between them. I did a test, loaded up a large website for the first time and quickly went through the 3d switching, the page loaded while in this mode. I have yet to try video to see if that works as well. I do prefer Expose in OS X still though, it seems more refined, and I can see everything open, live and not have to shuffle the cards to see what everything is. It will take a little time in using Vista to get used to the navigation, though similar to XP, it has some changed. I could put the start menu back to classic, but then how would I learn Vista? All in all I think this is a great update to Windows. I will use it more to become more familiar with it, and so I can give a more detailed review of what I think. This are just my initial thoughts after my first use of Vista. I still prefer OS X, I find OS X a much cleaner OS to navigate through, but this is a big step in mind for Microsoft. I will update later after I have used Vista more.


I guess  you will want to know my specs, forgot to put them up. I am a running a P4 2.8 ghz, 1 gig of ram, 512 mb GeForce 7600 agp video card. The motherboard is an intel board, not sure about model number or anything.

[Mark H]

Nice review. I am putting Vista Ultimate on my new computer once I get it built. I am still waiting on my case and power supply, which should be here the end of the week.

Mark H

[pat]

Nice review, I�ve been holding off with my thoughts until I see the final release. So far I can only comment on the beta and RC1 release. I should have a copy soon though.

[wonderings]

Well I am going to be using Vista exclusively for the next week or 2. I want to force myself to get used to the OS, though I am already missing my mac. Oh well. A few minor complaints, I really wish Windows implemented more key commands. Maybe they are their, but I cant find them. I like quick short cuts for things like new folders. Another thing, is the 3d switching is nice, you can even see games continue to play as you shuffle through the open windows. I think this would be much better if there was a key command like alt+tab for this. Right now I have to go click the button which is where the quick launch buttons are, then I have to use the keyboard to shuffle through the open windows. If I am using the keyboard already to switch through them, lets get rid of using the mouse, or at least make the option available to activate it by a keyboard shortcut. I am still impressed with the overall finish of Vista.