Windows Vista
My unhappy reaction to the Windows Hardware Engineering (WinHEC) 2005 build of Longhorn is now, shall we say, infamous. I wasn't trying to make a statement per se. But I did refer to the next major version of Windows as a "train wreck," so I guess it makes sense that people would latch onto that statement.
A little work on Microsoft's behalf could have prevented this problem. For example, a pre-WinHEC briefing in which the expectations of me and other Windows enthusiasts were suitably moderated would have been a great start. As it was, I went into WinHEC with high hopes, especially given the news that we would receive our first Longhorn build in a full year.
As I noted in my review of Longhorn build 5048, however, my hopes were ill-placed. Build 5048 was a major step back from the previous build we had received (4074), from functional and features standpoints.
OK, that was three months ago. A few weeks ago, Microsoft briefed me about Windows Vista Beta 1, suitably setting my expectations. And Beta 1--and the pre-Beta 1 builds I've used over the past weeks--are much, much more impressive than Build 5048. Microsoft may have made some boneheaded mistakes in the past, but they're clearly learning.
On a much grander scale, Longhorn is finally improving again. Beta 1 doesn't feature the end-user functionality that will make this release compelling to actual human beings, but it does include enough new technology to stir my technology-loving heart. I still have my fears for Longhorn--er ah, Windows Vista--but before we get to that, let's take a little tour through the Beta 1 experience.
Installation
Compared to the installation routine for Windows XP, Windows Vista Beta 1's Setup has been drastically simplified. I installed the beta in two ways on a number of different machines: As a clean install on a new partition, starting from Windows XP and as a clean install as the only OS on the machine, booting from the Setup DVD. And yes, you read that right: Windows Vista 1 Beta 1, in either x86 or x64 form, comes only on DVD. In both cases, Setup only prompts you for a few simple items and then does its thing. An upgrade install (where you upgrade from XP to Vista) does not appear to be available in Beta 1.
In both types of installations, Setup prompts you for your product key, presents the End User License Agreement (EULA), and then lets you choose the installation type (Custom, in this case). Then, you can choose the install partition and the computer name. In the install partition phase, you can perform tasks such as creating, deleting, and formatting partitions as well. Then, Vista installs, rebooting the system once during the install and once after it's completed.
If you boot the system with the Windows Vista Beta 1 CD, you'll notice a slight change in the language used to prompt you to hit any key to start Setup: It says you can boot "from CD or DVD" and not just from CD like previous Windows versions.
Windows Vista Beta 1 user experience
The Windows Vista Beta 1 desktop is visually similar to build 5048, and if you have a dedicated graphics adapter you'll notice that Aero is enabled by default. Windows feature a polished, glass-like translucent look, and window buttons light up as you mouse over them (Figure). One nice touch: the Recycle Bin visually appears to fill up with little crumpled balls of paper as you throw items out (Figure). The taskbar hasn't changed much, but on notebook computers, you'll notice a new power management icon, which launches a nice dialog (Figure), and a new Presentation Settings icon that lets you configure how the screen behaves when you're giving a presentation (Figure) (I have no idea why that's visible by default). A third tray icon is more auspicious and will be instantly familiar to users of MSN Toolbar with Windows Desktop Search: It's the Windows Search Engine, and clicking it provides you with quick access to the engine's configuration dialog. The search window, too, should look familiar, since it debuted earlier this year in Mac OS X Tiger (Figure). Windows Search behaves as you'd expect, but I'm going to delve deeper into that feature in a future technology showcase. The Start menu, too, has changed little since 5048 and features the same odd mix of Windows Vista and XP icons (Figure); Windows Client Group Director Neil Charney told me recently not to fear, that all of the icons throughout Vista would be upgraded to be big, high-resolution, and beautiful. What's interesting is that some of the legacy icons--notably that for Set Program Access and Defaults--look the same as in XP but have been re-rendered in more high resolution versions (Figure). Start menu behavior is identical to that in 5048, but it bears another look. Instead of a cascading sub-menu for the All Programs link, as with XP, Vista features a curious in-place sub-menu that replaces the left half of the Start menu. Here's how it works. When you click the All Programs link, the left half of the Start menu changes to display the Programs menu, in-place (Figure). If you click on a folder, the list expands to show the contents of that folder (Figure). This, of course, can trigger the appearance of an in-place scroll bar if the programs list gets too long, which is odd looking (Figure). When you click the Back link (which appears in the same location as All Programs), the Start menu returns to its normal state. Because Microsoft built a search box into the Start menu, you can no longer use keyboard shortcuts to navigate around. To launch the Control Panel in XP, for example, you simply hit the Windows key and then the "C" key and, voila, the Control Panel opens. In Windows Vista, however, when you hit the "C" key, the system assumes you're searching for an application (Figure). Sigh.
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