29 Oct 2006

Enter Windows Vista RC 1

I finally decided to download and test the upcoming Windows Vista OS that Microsoft's been promising for more than a year.

Last month I was able to download the RC 1 version; RC 2 had been removed from Microsoft's servers. I've been given a license number that may be used on 10 computers. And unfortunately, the license expires on 1st July 2007... And once the software is installed, I have 14 days to activate it, else some things won't run...

There's an excellent review of the new features of Windows Vista at Wikipedia.org. Here's my personal addition though...

The good

  • There's a lot of transparency effects on menu bars
  • There's some nice fading animation when minimising and maximising windows
  • The gadgets seem OK
  • Nice Flip3d
  • New Internet Explorer has tabs
  • New 'cooler' font
  • Here's my desktop:

  • I also like the snipping tool that's good to take part of the desktop's screenshot.

The bad

  • Flip3d is not new; it's a package that exists since a long ago in Linux distro and used in Mac OS X Tiger
  • Gadgets also is an idea from Mac OS X
  • Tabing was introduced by Mozilla Firefox
  • Though the Windows sound setup plays 5.1 surround sound, Windows Media Player 11 does not do so. It plays tracks in 2.0 only!
  • My Wanadoo USB ZTE modem drivers are not compatible, so I can't connect to the Internet (more precisely it's the PPPoA WAN adapter that doesn't work)
  • The new font resembles more like the one used in Mac OS X

Enjoy Vista while it's free! But don't spend on it!

Or more: test it to see why you shouldn't buy the final version!! Use a Linux distro...

1 comment:

SanJ Wijeratne said...

I think Vista Drivers for ZTE ZXDSL 852 is out now. If you still have problems, here I have uploaded the Vista Driver I have with me. Just give it a try, It might work for you as it did for me ;-)