Another Vista review (after 6 months of usage)
Ok, I don’t exactly like Windows Vista. But I just spent 6 months using Vista as my primary OS at work… because everyone else was using XP, and someone had to make sure everything works on Vista as well. So it was me.
In summary, Vista is not that bad.
Once you get used to changes in Explorer, different skin and so on – it’s actually usable. I think they have made some real improvements in the underlying technology, too bad they managed to “compensate” for all of that by inconsistencies and lack of polish in user interface.
At this point it’s minor quirks in UI that annoy me, but apart from that, Vista is okay. Look:
Who implemented blending of icon overlays and do they still have a job? No sir, that shield icon is not properly blended here!
Who thought it’s a good idea to make the Burn icon bright red? In 6 months, I never used it. Why is it the brightest thing in the whole Explorer window?
Try going one folder up without resorting to this drop down menu. Utilities is the current folder here. And no, there’s no keyboard shortcut for “go up” either (there was in XP, which was perfect).
And of course, the awesome shutdown menu. The two buttons – never used them. What I always use is “Shut Down” from the menu. And let’s not even talk about all the choices in the menu (no, more choices is not always better).
So yeah. It’s not stellar, it has tons of small annoyances (and some large ones – try developing web plugins with UAC on…), but it’s usable. I might have gotten used to it by now, actually.
Actually there is shortcut for “go up” – Alt + Up Arrow.
@martinsm: whoa, I stand corrected. Thanks!
I still think Vista is inferior to XP in almost every practical way, which as an upgrade is shocking. Sure, once you get used to it, turn off the chronically retarded UAC etc it’s not *that* bad, but that’s still not good enough. Having an OS eat more of my system resources for no benefit and some significant annoyances make it a no sale for me. I have 2 copies just for testing purposes, but I resent every penny I spent on them, and actively choose not to use them unless I have to.
The only positive thing I can say for Vista is that it made me learn how to use a Mac.
@steve: I agree that Vista does not have significant advantages over XP. Just wanted to share that “Vista is usable after all” (which was a surprise for me; my initial impression was “I’m not touching that ever!”). Is it better than XP? No. Is it absolutely horrible? No.
I’ve been using Vista ever since June 2008 and it hasn’t really let me down yet. Yes, there are plenty of UI quirks, the biggest is Aero itself but for me that’s no biggie. While in XP I’ve had countless bluescreens, in Vista I’ve had one due to Intel’s shabby display drivers. As far as I’ve heard, Windows 7 is supposed to fix many of these things but I haven’t tried it yet since I have no spare machine at the moment.
The biggest advantage (in quasi-reply to steve) of Vista is DirectX 10, which is the sole reason I installed it in the first place. If XP x64 had DX10, I would still be using it.
I do have to say as a disclaimer that I get free stuff from MS with my MSDN subscription so maybe I’m biased?
try Vista 64bit for the real fun… it’s all the pain _plus_ lots of stuff just not working.