The first thing that I noticed about Vista once I had it installed was that there was an update available for it. Howerver, gone are the days of visiting the Windows Update website; it’s now finally built into the operating system.

So with some updates out of the way, I becan to use Vista for normal file mangement tasks. WinKey+E is what I did next (for those unaware, it’s the keyboard shortcut to launch Windows Explorer). Windows Explorer looks familiar, but different nonetheless. The top menu (File | Edit | Tools | etc) has been replaced by a ribbon bar. The ribbon bar changes dynamically, presenting buttons for various tasks that changes depending on what you have selected such as a folder, a drive, an AVI file, a PNG file and so on. Actually, the first implementation of a ribbon bar that I saw was in Mastercam X. In a separate sets of posts, I’ll talk about Office 2007, which also makes extensive use of ribbon bars.

A lot of talk about Vista resolves around how Microsoft has aped a lot of visual accoutrements from Mac OS X, I can agree that there is some truth to that. However, one of the coolest things about Vista is how it will automatically scroll the left pane in Windows Explorer for you, should the folders/sub folders extend beyond the width of the pane (hey Microsoft developers, is that a souped-up Tree Control or what?!). I’ve recorded a small movie showing this functionality.

Stay tuned for more about my encounters with Windows Vista.

A couple of weeks ago, I installed build 5384 of the second beta for Windows Vista. Yeah, you can find plenty of reviews on and screenshots from “credible websites” but I’ll post my findings from my point of view.

First, I’ll start with the installation. I wasn’t planning on wrecking my computers by installing Vista on them; relying on a beta for an OS isn’t up my alley. Instead, I created a VMware virtual machine for it. Microsoft makes Vista via a 3GB ISO that can be burned on a DVD. As such, the install is long and slow. Even by virtual machine standards, it took pretty frickin’ long.

What was nice to see during the installation process was a GUI. Gone is the DOS-y setup interface used to prepare drives and start the installation. Bye-bye blue screen, gray text, and yellow progress bars. After eons pass while Vista installs itself, you’re presented with a wizard-type setup for creating users and connecting to a network, much like in Windows XP. I sorta flew by this, as I was still in an impressed daze from the setup GUI.

Next, I’ll get into configuring Vista to my liking. Stay tuned.

Last summer, I posted a couple of entries relating to the upcoming Windows Vista that were a brief daydream from a developer’s point of view and musings on the possible inclusion of a more-verstile command-line interface. Then I tore it all down by espousing Mac OX X. Finally, we’re getting more and more details about Vista everyday and I’m actually pleased with what I’m reading/hearing/seeing.

Extremetech has a good article here.

Right off the bat, I love the idea that more and more things are being moved into the user level of Vista‘s internals, instead of the kernel level such has been the case in Windows up to now. Drivers will operate at the user level – right on! If I never see another IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD error again, I’ll be truly impressed. I can live with a bare-bones VGA-type of mode if I’m trying out a new driver for my video card and it pukes; it’s much better than rendering the computer unbootable into anything other than Safe Mode. The fact that installing new drivers won’t necessetate a reboot anymore sweetens the deal. Then, of course, is the malware threat that is the bane of using Windows – hopefully it’ll be a real bitch for any ol’ app to gain access to the kernel. Stay in the user level where you belong, you hastily written piece o’ code!

Surely, everybody’s talking about the new Aero Glass interface in Vista. The screenshots from the beta versions of Vista make it appear to be super sexy for those lucky enough to have the beefy hardware for it in the first place. I can hear all of the Apple loyalists shouting “hey, we had a kick-ass GUI first in Mac OS X!”. Yes, Mac OS X has the best-looking uber functional interface right now without a doubt. Vista will 1-up it, then (hopefully) Mac OS X 1-ups Vista and so on. It’s a pissing contest for the fanboys but it sparks innovation, which is good for everyone. For me? If it’s functional and improves productivity, I’m cool with it – that’s it.

To earn a living, I develop for Windows on Windows. However, I can easily see myself using an Apple system for general use. I’d love to be able to have mutliple dedicated computers running various operating systems working together in perfect harmony – not virtual machines or dual booting – dedicated computers. Either way, I’ll probably continue to run Windows until as long as there is a marketplace for Windows software and the majority of the best games are for Windows. I’m just hoping that Vista is a the improvement over XP that it’s hyped to be.