Apr 23
Apr 23
The list of features to add to your Vista installation includes video wallpaper, making Flip 3-D work more like the Mac’s, tuning Firefox’s user interface, managing security, and where to get a hold of nifty Sidebar Gadgets.
Having had several months to put the new operating system through its paces, you’ve gone beyond the novice user’s infatuation with the glitzy new Aero interface. And you’re probably inured to the annoying User Account Controls.
Now, it’s time to kick it up a notch and add some slightly more sophisticated options to your Vista palette. Accordingly, here are some tips to tune your Vista installation. We’ve got hints on using video wallpaper, making Vista’s Flip 3-D function work more like the Mac’s, tuning Firefox’s user interface so that it more closely resembles Internet Explorer, and where to get a hold of nifty Sidebar Gadgets. Plus, how to turn off the UACs (and why you should think twice about that).
DreamScenes are full-motion video wallpapers, which can replace the plain, fixed backgrounds used traditionally.
My experience with DreamScene proved that some work well, while others can be decidedly funky. Even on a dual-core system — I’m running a 3.2-GHz, Intel Pentium D 940 — DreamScene sucks up a lot of processing power. One other caveat: my sense is that DreamScene doesn’t appear to work and play all that well with any security programs you’re likely to have on your machine.
Of course, the big software existential question surrounding DreamScene remains: What is the point? These things don’t do anything. They just look cool, which only reinforces the rap on Vista that it’s an operating system whose raison d’etre is its eye candy. Setting that aside–because, again, these backgrounds are nothing if not pleasing distractions–here’s how they work:
Currently, DreamScene is only intended for owners of Vista Ultimate — at around US$250, the most expensive of the five SKUs of the operating system. As with many of the Vista command sequences, accessing DreamScene requires an idiosyncratic combination of the intuitive and the idiotic. Here’s the sequence: Go to Windows Ultimate Extras from your Start menu. That’ll take you to Windows Update With Windows Vista Extras, which is the regular Windows Update dialog box.
The second title therein will alert you that “There are Windows Ultimate Extras available for download.” Sensible so far, but when you click through to view available extras, you have to scroll through a list of pending security updates, foreign language packs, and other OS detritus before you get to your objective. In my case, Windows Dreamscene Preview from earlier this year, and the more recently released Dreamscene Content Pack, which added some videos (the preview only had one).
The 51.3-Mbyte Content Pack adds four DreamScene motion wallpapers to the basic animation, which came with the Preview release. (That “basic” offering is a listlessly meandering variant on the classic green-hue Windows background, featuring what looks like a bunch of wispy rays of sunlight beating down on a large net of the kind they keep beneath circus trapeze artists.)
The beefier “Pack” included — these are my names, not Microsoft’s — dandelions in pollen season, rainfall at dusk, babbling brook, and (my favourite) “Burning Down the House” (golden fire).
Source:http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=50353&src=site-marq
Apr 19
BUYING a new computer is a lot like buying or renting a new home. First you have to pick it out and pay for it, and then you have to move your stuff. And as if PC moving day weren’t hard enough, most people now faced with this task have to migrate from an older version of Windows to the new Windows Vista, which typically stores user files in different folders from previous versions.
Fortunately, there are a number of tools to copy folders and files from one machine to another. The Windows Easy File Transfer program that comes with Vista can help migrate program settings while Laplink’s PCMover can migrate settings and try to move your software.
Before settling on a moving tool, consider how you want to set up your new PC. One strategy is simply to copy your data files from one machine to another and reconfigure everything from scratch. That might mean losing all your browser bookmarks and desktop icons and having to re-enter your e-mail settings, but it also means you get a fresh start with your new machine.
When it comes to moving software, simply copying program files from one Windows machine to another rarely works because most programs have to be properly installed before they will run. With the exception of PC Mover, none of the products I tested even try to move programs, but they will move your pictures, documents, music and other data, and in some cases your program settings.
For software, the most reliable plan is to install your programs from their original CDs or DVDs or by downloading them from the Internet. If your programs (like recent versions of Microsoft Office) require activation before they work, you can try reactivating them over the Internet, but the program vendor’s antipiracy policies might prevent that. In most cases you’ll get a phone number to call so you can explain that you’re taking an old machine out of service and moving the software to a new one.
Although most of the tools’ creators say they “move� files, what they are really doing is copying them, leaving the original machine as it was. Unless you plan to keep the original machine in your possession, you should be certain to use software that permanently deletes files before you give it away, sell it or recycle it.
One way to get files to the new machine is to connect the two machines by a wired or wireless local area network and use built-in Windows tools to copy files. You can also back up the old machine to an external hard drive, CDs or DVDs and restore them to the new machine — or you can create an ad hoc network of sorts by connecting the two machines with a cable designed specifically to move files.
One advantage to using an external drive to move files from one machine to another is that you’ll have a backup of your data when you’re done and can continue to use that drive to back up data from the new machine. Also, the machines don’t have to be in the same location — handy if you’re setting up the new PC in a different room from the old one.
For $210 you can buy a 500-gigabyte Maxtor Personal Storage external U.S.B. drive that comes with backup-and-restore software. Other options include a 160-gigabyte U.S.B. drive from SimpleTech ($100). These drives have software that can back up data from your old machine and restore it to your new one — or, to make things simple, you can use Windows Explorer to copy your data directories to the external drive and from the drive to your new PC.
Seagate’s new line of FreeAgent U.S.B. 2.0 drives it calls “data movers,� starting at $110 for an 80-gigabyte version, allow you not only to move data between machines, but also to run programs from one computer on another without having to copy programs, data or configuration files between them.
If you have a wired or wireless Ethernet network, you can use the network to copy files from one machine to the other. Networking two or more Vista machines is pretty easy, and while it is possible to network a Vista machine to one running Windows XP or an earlier operating system, getting it to work properly with XP can be tricky. If you do use a network, you have to give the two operating systems permission to share the appropriate folders, then drag the folders from one machine to the other.
Vista comes with a data and settings migration program called Windows Easy Transfer that you can use with a cable, a network, CDs, DVDs or an external drive to transfer files and settings between Windows XP and Vista (or files only from Windows 2000). When you run the program you get a message telling you that it can be used to transfer “user accounts, folders and files, program settings, Internet settings and favorites and e-mail settings, contacts and messages,� but that’s not entirely correct.
Although it works with some third-party programs, don’t count on it to copy settings from all non-Microsoft browsers, e-mail programs or other software or to find documents that aren’t where Windows expects them to be. It didn’t copy settings from the latest version of Firefox, and it was necessary to use an advanced configuration to have it copy documents stored in the directories I set up myself. On the plus side, it will automatically copy documents stored in XP’s default folders to the appropriate folders on Vista.
Machines with earlier operating systems don’t come with Windows Easy Transfer, but when you run the program on your Vista machine it will create the necessary software for you to copy to a removable drive for installation on your XP or Windows 2000 machine.
If you’re not using removable media or a local area network, you’ll need a cable to connect the machines. Microsoft recommends the Easy Transfer Cable for Windows Vista from Belkin ($40), which comes with a CD-ROM with software for your older machine along with an eight-foot U.S.B. cable with some electronics to speed the transfer. As with all transfer strategies, how long it takes depends on the number and size of your files as well as any software or disk activity running that can slow the process. It can easily take an hour or longer.
Laplink’s PCMover software ($60 with a cable or $50 for download version) works with Windows versions going back to Windows 95. In addition to moving files and settings, it also moves your software. As with the Microsoft product, you can use it with a network, external media or a cable.
After installing the software on both machines and connecting the cables, it took about three hours to migrate software, data and settings from my XP machine to a new Vista PC. While the software did move all my program files, not all of the programs worked right away.
Microsoft Office, for example, required me to insert the original CD-ROM to validate that it was a legitimate copy. A program I use to connect to a virtual private network moved over nicely, but the necessary configuration didn’t work on the new machine. By the time I finished getting everything working, it might have been just as easy to reinstall my programs.
When it comes to copying data, I found the Tornado to be the simplest and fastest approach because it was extremely easy to install. The $60 transfer device consists of an oval box (approximately 4 1/2 by 3 by 1 inch) with a retractable U.S.B. cable on each end. The Tornado doesn’t even come with a CD; the software it needs to transfer files is stored on its own flash memory and is automatically installed on both computers as soon as they are connected to it.
While setup and installation are automatic, you do have to select the folders you wish to copy, so you will need to know where your old machine stores its data files and where Vista expects them to be. A list of frequently asked questions on the company’s Web site documents all that.
As with any other move, it will take some time before you feel comfortable, so never try to configure a new PC or upgrade an old one just before a deadline. No matter how much thought you put into the process, there will always be some application you forgot to copy over, or a file you’ll need to hunt for. Kind of like that set of towels from your old home that you still haven’t unearthed.
Apr 19
In a rare bit of good news for Microsoft on the search front, web metrics firm comScore reported that for the month of March, Microsoft’s search engines saw their first market share increase in nearly a year. Microsoft’s search market share jumped 0.4 percentage points from February to March, giving it 10.9 percent of the total market.One month does not a trend make, but the increase is good news for the software giant. More importantly, it may show that increasing adoption of Vista and Internet Explorer 7 are helping Microsoft’s search efforts. comScore senior vice president James Lamberti told Ars that his company is seeing increased traffic to Live.com.
“Growth from Live.com is outpacing Microsoft’s overall search traffic growth,” Lamberti told us. “Live is the integration point for Vista, and it looks like Live.com is beginning to have an impact.”
Whether Microsoft’s March increase is a blip or the start of a trend is something we won’t know for a few more months. However, Lamberti does believe Microsoft’s bleakest days in the search market may be a thing of the past. “I think we’re comfortable with the notion that Microsoft has bottomed out,” he said. If traffic to Live.com continues to grow, it will mean that Microsoft’s strategy of making Live.com the default search engine in IE7 and a focal point for Vista will be paying off, and we should see continued growth as Vista adoption grows.
The last year has been challenging for Microsoft’s search efforts. When we looked at search engine trends a few weeks ago, we noted that the company had been seeing its market share slip away, while Google’s steadily increased and Yahoo’s remained more or less stagnant.
Speaking of Microsoft’s competition, comScore reported yet another month of gains for Google. Its market share saw a modest, 0.2 percentage point increase during March, bringing it to 48.3 percent. comScore’s news for Yahoo was not as good, as it was the only one of the top five search engines to see a decrease in market share last month. Yahoo’s share of search traffic dropped to 27.5 percent from 28.1 percent, its lowest level in over a year.
Apr 19
Windows Vista, Microsoft Office for US$3 as part of push for Unlimited Potential
microsoft Vista No Comments »Microsoft’s new plan to increase technology adoption in developing countries is to partner with governments and offer a software bundle for mere US$3.
Through the Partners in Learning program, Microsoft have announced the Microsoft Student Innovation Suite, a software package for governments purchasing and giving Windows-based PCs to primary and secondary students for their personal use at home and for schoolwork. The education suite includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office, and Windows Live Mail desktop.
The announcement is part of a package Microsoft Corp. unveiled to help close the digital divide by creating new products and programs that will help bring social and economic opportunity to the estimated five billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology.
Through the expansion of Microsoft Unlimited Potential, the company is renewing and accelerating its commitment to use technology, training and partnerships to transform education, foster local innovation, and enable jobs and opportunities to sustain a continuous cycle of social and economic growth for everyone.
Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft says the expansion of Unlimited Potential will focus on three areas: education, innovation, and jobs and economic opportunity.
“Computers and connectivity are still too expensive for private ownership by the poor, and applications as well as information resources that are appropriate to this group have been slow to emerge, in part because the poor themselves have not been involved in creating them,� said C.K. Prahalad, author and professor at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. “In order to help create the applications and start the business dynamo that unleashes their potential, the people at the bottom of the pyramid need to have reliable, affordable access to technology and to learn computing skills.�
The company also announced plans to extend its resource commitment to Microsoft Innovation Centers over the next two years and anticipates opening and supporting 200 centers in an additional 25 countries by 2009. The current network of 110 centers serves 100 communities in 60 nations by providing local software communities with a comprehensive set of programs and services to expand work-force skills, create jobs, strengthen innovation and improve competitiveness. In partnership with local governments, educational institutions and businesses, Microsoft’s resource investments provide software development assistance, business skills training, employment training, employment programs for students, and market incubation for the local startup community.
Microsoft also announced an alliance with the Asian Development Bank to work together to enhance the competitiveness and sustainable economic development of the Asia-Pacific region by supporting and building technological and innovation capacity; promoting the development of applied research and entrepreneurship; and improving the efficiency, transparency and accountability of public administration at the national and local levels. Additional areas of cooperation include improving the use of technology in the teaching and learning process; providing jobs and opportunities, with the aim of reducing the digital divide between and within countries; and improving systems and standards of trade and economic cooperation across the Asia-Pacific region.
Also announced were five new Partnerships for Technology Access (PTAs) programs in Argentina, Botswana, Chile, China and Egypt. Each PTA program combines the know-how and resources of governments, technology companies, banks and nongovernmental organizations to help increase access to PCs and use technology to build economic and social opportunity within developing economies and other underserved parts of the world. These five new programs are a just a few of the 50 new PTA programs now in various stages worldwide.
Source:http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?ContentId=7134
Apr 09
Whether from greed, lust, gluttony, envy or pride, you know you want the new Windows operating system in the worst way.
Knowing your slothful ways and fearing your wrath (there, I think I’ve gotten all seven deadly sins out of the way), I installed Windows Vista Business on a brand new Dell computer to see how it works. (I believe my response was primarily due to these virtues: kindness and charity.)
Like I said, I’m here as your surrogate sufferer.
To be fair to Microsoft and to you, I tested Vista for an entire month in real-world conditions (my office) and tried very hard to make it work (look, more virtues: patience and diligence.)
I can’t say being a so-called “early adopter” was easy or painless. I can say it was enlightening.
Here is the diary of an early-adopter/martyr.
Virtues of a good operating system are reliability, performance, security, usability, low hardware requirements and compatibility.
I give Microsoft reasonably high marks - at least for the first four.
I found the Vista business edition I tested to be extremely stable for a new release. We probably should expect reliability from an operating system now in its 20th year, although early versions of Windows forever labeled it as unreliable.
I honestly can say I experienced only one lockup during my one-month test and one minor annoyance: a periodically disappearing DVD drive.
Performance was good, too. I found Vista would boot and perform noticeably faster on everyday tasks than its predecessor Windows XP Professional running on the same hardware, especially when multitasking on the 2.4-gigahertz Intel core duo processor Dell Optiplex 745 with 2 gigabytes of system memory.
Security has been a knock on Windows XP. Vista sports a total security makeover from Internet Explorer 7.0’s fraud protections to the built-in Windows defender anti-spyware program.
Time will tell how effective these security enhancements really are, but I like Microsoft’s holistic approach. For example, the new user-account control allows regular users to change common settings (such as time or installing updates) without giving them full administrative rights. The limited-user account was so restrictive in XP that many corporate information technology departments routinely made everybody an administrator to cut down on user requests.
I also like the look and feel of Vista. This is a tough assignment for engineers. Users resist change. But any marketing executive will tell you new software has to look different or people won’t buy it. Vista not only looks sleek, it has slick new desktop tools. I love the Windows search tool. It’s incredibly fast, simple and powerful.
Hardware requirements are definitely a concern for anyone looking to upgrade to Vista. They are so high that unless you bought a Vista-compatible machine in the past few months, I wouldn’t upgrade.
For Vista Business, Microsoft recommends 1 gigabyte of system memory, a 1-ghz processor, a 40-gig drive and 128 megabytes of video that supports Directx 9 graphics. I doubled all the requirements on my test machine, a practice I recommend for all potential Vista viewers.
So far, my Vista experience looks good.
Wait. Evaluating my last operating system virtue - compatibility - was a deal killer. Virtually none of my everyday tools worked with Vista, whether software (remote access, antivirus, accounting, or virtual private network) or hardware (scanner, multifunction printer, PDA, or Web cam). Since none of my stuff was old (Quickbooks 2006 and a 3-month-old Xerox scanner, for example), I was surprised Vista didn’t like them.
Really, out of my dozen top hardware and software applications, only one worked - Microsoft Office 2003 - and even that was finicky.
In fairness, Microsoft can’t control when software and hardware vendors join the Vista parade. Many eventually will release free Vista updates. Others, such as Quickbooks, see a sales opportunity: They will force users to buy newer versions.
But without better compatibility, Vista, for now, is unusable.
I do think Vista is a good product. But like any new major software version, early is not a good time to buy it.
After a month’s trial, my suffering was complete. I put Windows XP Professional back on my shiny new Dell and wondered how next I might be asked to atone for your sins.
Source:http://www.bizjournals.com/extraedge/consultants/bitwits/2007/04/09/column1.html?market=portland
Apr 06
Windows Vista more than doubled its market share in March from the prior month, while the share of computers running Mac OS X fell for the first time in nine months, according to statistics released Thursday by market research firm Net Applications.
By the end of March, Vista was used by 2.04 percent of computers connected to the Internet, according to the Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based company. That’s up from 0.93 percent of PCs in February.
Now ranked the fifth-most popular operating system by Net Applications, Vista jumped ahead of Windows 98, which had a 1.36 percent share. Vista still trailed its seven-year-old ancestor, Windows 2000, which had 4.71 percent share in March.
The share of PowerPC-based Macs fell, though, from 4.29 percent in February to 3.94 percent in March. That dip was not fully offset by an increase in Intel-based Mac hardware, leading to a overall net decline in Mac share of 0.3 percent, to 6.08 percent in March.
Net Applications collects its data from the browsers of visitors to its network of more than 40,000 Web sites.
Vista has now been available to consumers for two months — and to businesses for four months. Microsoft said last week that it had sold more than 20 million licenses of Vista, eclipsing the 17 million licenses for XP it had sold in its first two months of general release.
Some analysts have predicted that despite Microsoft’s plans to spend half a billion dollars marketing Vista, conversions from XP won’t be the norm until 2009.
Net Applications also released statistics that showed Internet Explorer’s share continuing to lose ground to Firefox, though it remains in no danger of being eclipsed soon. IE had a 78.57 percent share in March, down from 79.09 percent in February. Firefox gained nearly a whole percentage point, going from 14.18 percent to 15.10 percent.
Apple Inc.’s Safari browser, which runs only on Macs, fell slightly, from 4.85 percent to 4.51 percent. Opera ranked 4th with 0.80 percent while Netscape fell again, to 0.70 percent.
Source:http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130463-c,techindustrytrends/article.html
Apr 04
“Unlike previous Microsoft operating systems, Windows Vista is pretty streamlined right out of the box. It makes terrific use of a system’s resources, but it’s built as much for pretty looks and increased stability and security as it is for horsepower. It’s time now for a course of action that will take the ball and chain off this baby and let it fly. The ink on Windows Vista’s EULA is barely dry, so it’s very likely that more speed tips, registry hacks, and deep settings will be revealed in the weeks, months, and years to come. For now, here’s our set of tweaks that can help you turn up the throttle on your new operating system.”
Apr 04
Vista is one of those operating systems that was “good enough� for release. Some users are finding that it does not work like XP, icons have been changed, menus have been rearranged and some features are harder to find. I can see how the average home user (most of you) out there could be confused by this. This post might help you sort some of those out.
The first thing is there is no more BOOT.INI file available in msconfig. So? This file was used to change your boot if you had multiple operating systems installed. Vista has something called BCEDIT which is not user friendly; I do not recommend using it. What can you do… what can you do… download Vista Boot Pro, this freeware program offers an easy to use interface, click the options you want, select the OS to Boot first and click Apply. How did the big guns at ZDNet manage to miss that? Problem number one, solved.
Next on the list is the buried display settings problem. Burying and hiding settings from users is not a good thing but I don’t really feel that this is what they have done. Sure, you have to right click on your desktop and go down to Display Settings but if you have a sufficiently large display with a resolution of at least 1024 x 768 you won’t have to scroll to find it. Yeah, it could be annoying but if you think about it, it is more logically organized.
The Control Panel is hard to navigate. It is, in its default view mode. The “Control Panel Home� function is just annoying; you don’t know where any one feature is going to be. Everything has a name or heading and under that you will find the various functions, I want to know who thought this was a GOOD idea. It’s the same in XP, just switch to the Classic View. I know of no one who uses the default views in XP or Vista, they are just confusing. I agree on this one but only if you haven’t switched to the classic view.
Vista has more shut down options. More is good, isn’t it? That’s how us power users think, the more options and customizability, the better. And then, there are those that aren’t power users where more options just usually end up adding to the mess and confusion. Depending on the version of Vista installed, there will be up to nine shut down options. But it’s not that confusing.
Vista Home Premium has seven so let’s go with that. It has: Switch User, Log Off, Lock, Restart, Sleep, Hibernate and Shut Down. I don’t see anything confusing here. All of them are named by exactly what they do. Sleep has the same function as Standby in XP, Hibernate does the same thing it did in XP and Shut Down, well, shuts the PC down. There is nothing confusing here.
Poor application support, this shouldn’t come as any surprise. Vista doesn’t like old applications but it doesn’t like specific kinds of applications. Programs that have to integrate themselves deeply into the operating system like Firewalls and AntiVirus will usually fail to install or function properly under Vista. But, a select few do, McAfee, Norton, Avast and AVG are some I can name off the top of my head that have Vista versions ready. As far as Firewalls go, only the PC Tools Firewall is currently working on Vista, please don’t rely on the Vista firewall, a third party firewall is a necessity if you are not behind a router.
Office 2000 does not run under Vista, only Office 2003 to Office 2007 are supported. Oh well, hopefully you are a student or government employee and can get awesome discounts on Microsoft products, if not, I feel for you.
Hardware requirements. Ever since Vista (then Longhorn) was announced; people were complaining about the hardware requirements. Being in the technology field and doing my fare share of gaming, video editing, audio editing, photo editing and so on, I’ve always had high-end computers and so do my circle of friends, but recently I came to realize not everyone lives that way (I shutter to think what that is like).
To run Aero Glass you will be best served by having 1GB of memory, a sufficiently fast processor of 1.8GHz of the Pentium 4, Pentium D, Athlon XP, Athlon 64 or Athlon 64×2 lines and a dedicated DirectX 9, Shader Model 2.0 compliant video card with 128MB of memory. Considering an okay video card can be had for $54, it’s not a huge investment.
These are not robust requirements considering the level of today’s hardware and if you don’t have at least that, I’d say it’s time to get a new computer but if you aren’t interested in running Vista then it doesn’t matter. We are on the cusp of DirectX 10 and Shader Model 4.0, I hope you can see exactly how ancient those requirements are.
Another issue I agree on, too many product options. Vista comes in several versions, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. Adding insult to injury is the fact that if you buy the OEM discs you have to choose between 64-bit and 32-bit editions essentially doubling the options.
For most home users, Vista Home Premium is the best choice. Business and Enterprise have encryption features that most home users would never touch. These are the versions that corporations should buy. So that leaves three versions for the rest of us, Home Basic, Premium and Ultimate.
Home Basic lacks just about everything so it’s useless, don’t even consider it. This leaves Home Premium and Ultimate. Home Premium has just about all the features you will need, it’s the version I suggest to most people. Ultimate has all the features of Home Premium, Business and Enterprise and it comes with a price to go with those features.
If you are in doubt and do not run a business, you can’t go wrong with Home Premium and if that’s not the version you want, use the Any Time upgrade feature to upgrade your Vista Edition, you can only go up, you cannot downgrade from, say Home Premium to Home Basic.
Love them or hate them, UAC prompts are there to protect you. I suggest leaving this on if you can live with them. They are not nearly as bad as they were in the Longhorn and RC versions of Vista. Even administrators in Vista are running with reduced privilege levels so if something needs more you must grant it permission. The advantage to an Admin account is you don’t need to enter a password; standard account users will either have to know the password or will have to get in touch with someone who does to proceed with a process that needs UAC permission.
This also causes problems with some programs. If you turn off the UAC feature, Adobe Reader 8.0 for Vista will fail to install properly. UAC must be on for some programs to function properly under Vista. Turn it off if you wish but be warned you may encounter issues by doing so.
Vista is expensive but not if you buy the OEM versions which is a good way to save a few bucks. The full version of Vista Home Premium OEM will cost about $120, which is about the same price as Windows XP Home was at retail. I’m considering this busted because if you know where to look, Vista is not that expensive. You don’t get phone-in support from Microsoft or any documentation with OEM versions so be aware of that.
It’s partly broken. Yeah and what new operating system isn’t. There are already tons of updates for Vista with another on its way out to patch the ANI flaw. This is to be expected, remember when XP first came out, yeah, it was much worse. As far as I am concerned Microsoft has done a better job with Vista than with XP when it first came out. It has problems but eventually they will be fixed but all operating systems will always have a security hole or flaw that may or may not be patched.
Source:http://vista.blorge.com/2007/04/03/10-annoying-things-about-vista-and-working-around-them/
Apr 04
If you are considering getting the Vista computer operating system, DON’T
At least don’t get it for a year or two. Nothing works correctly with it. Nothing, that is, except Bill Gates’ own stuff and a few vendors he apparently made deals with.
First of all, forget your Blackberry. It will not work properly. The calendar goes berserk. Fortunately, Vista does not destroy the link to your old computer so you will, at least in our experience, be able to go back to your old computer, but who wants to constantly operate two computers?
Unfortunately, if you want to run Photoshop, Word Perfect, Quattro Pro, and most everything else, you have to have two operating systems: the new and “improved” Vista and XP or Windows 2000 to do the real work.
Blue smoke and mirrors
The problem is that Gates is so paranoid about someone figuring out the blue smoke and mirrors upon which his fortune is built, that he will not share enough program information with other software operators to allow them to do their jobs. His solution? In the case of Photoshop he apparently made some sort of deal with Corel to install a trial version of Paint Shop Pro XI. It comes with Vista for a 30 day free trial. After that you have to send money to use it.
Paint Shop Pro XI stinks. Hopefully Photoshop is able to get on board before 30 days is up. If not, just do without a photo editing program until Photoshop CS4, or whatever arrives.
The dude didn’t get to be the richest man in the world by being Mr. Nice Guy, or Mr. Generous. In the old days you could buy his expensive operating system and his expensive Microsoft Office suite when you bought your computer. Now you get a “free” 90-day trial version of Microsoft Office built into the computer. After 90 days you have to send him more money. I have been afraid to find out how much more.
Oh, yes, of course Microsoft Office 2007 files are not compatible with earlier versions. They appear to be labeled “.docx.” To be fair, you can save your efforts in an older version (.doc), but “not all features will be saved.” What does it leave out? Who knows, maybe it omits every third “e” or something. By the way, if you have ever used a PC for more than 13 seconds, you know not to even open Microsoft Works.
Other computers laugh
When you burn a CD and follow Vista’s procedure to “allow it to be read by other computers” you are wasting your time and a perfectly good disk. Other PCs will laugh at it. All photos pop into some program called “Snapfire.” It, too, does not seem to be compatible with anything else on the planet.
Ironically, Vista seems like a pretty good program. It has not crashed yet, which is unusual for the Seattle boy’s fruit. Of course, it does occasionally want to open up in “Safe Mode,” and I have spent some time on the phone to Microsoft in India or somewhere.
The new menus for Excel and Word seem to be better, though they take a little getting used to.
Excel is still nowhere near as good as Quattro was before Word Perfect ruined it. I believe it peaked in, maybe, Version Six or Seven; anyhow, it has been downhill since then. The latest version won’t even stay up on Windows 2000. Of course, Microsoft probably has a lot to do with that.
Mac is better
Stay with XP or 2000 — my kids say Macs are even better. Apple is better, but I have not yet found a good Mac spreadsheet. People say that Excel spreadsheets have seamless operation on both PC and Mac platforms. People are wrong. If you build a big, complicated spreadsheet with charts on it and share it with a Mac, parts of it will never be the same. The really bad thing is that you might not notice the damage right away.
Mac has been at a disadvantage all these years because so many more programs would run on PC. Vista has eradicated that advantage for at least a year or so. Outside of the limited Microsoft monopoly stable, we have not found a single program we use that works properly on Vista.
Source:http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1867&dept_id=124331&newsid=18160322&PAG=461&rfi=9
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