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Post-Install Windows Vista Beta 2 Thoughts
Now, I’ve only been using Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2 for a couple days now, but I absolutely love it. That might sound a little odd coming from a Apple OS X and Linux user but Vista is really coming together. I know Microsoft keeps delaying the RTM date but maybe it’s going to be worth it. I was listening to some podcast the other day and they mentioned that in order to make a really great product its worth delaying just so everything can be as bug-less as possible and be a great product.

So far I’ve only had to install 1 driver which was my audio driver. Everything else from my video to my NIC cards drivers were installed right off the bat which was really nice. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s having to download a NIC driver with no internet connection because the piece of hardware isn’t recognized.

Something that Microsoft beefed up from XP to Vista was the security. Now we all love to have a secure system, but it almost gets to the point where I would rather have the security in XP over Vista just because it gets really annoying having to click ‘Ok’ 5 times to the security prompt window when I want simply change my desktop wallpaper. While I do feel much more secure then when I am on a Windows XP machine, I think they should tone it down a little.

The new GUI, Aero and all the new icons are really wonderful and I think they did a very nice job with that all. The icons are now much larger and they look a lot more slick. The sidebar is a wonderful addition and now that I have a 20″ widescreen display I really cannot complain about it being there. I remember in 3683 I wouldn’t mind it since it was a totally new thing to have on your screen, but future releases always had me turning it off or complaining. The fact that the gadgets on the sidebar seem to float there without actually having to see the sidebar is really cool. Only when you hover over that area on your screen do they show which I thought was neat.

Not once has this operating system crashed on me which was really nice. I haven’t had anything lock up either. I think Microsoft has really come a long way and they’re doing an exceptionally good job this time around. This won’t be another Windows ME, Windows Vista is really something that I am looking forward to and it’s great that Microsoft has put Beta 2 out for public use.

While this article only covers some of my thought on the basics of Beta 2, I am sure I’ll dive deeper in more of the operating system and cover things like the new email program, the photo gallery, the calendar program, Media Center and much more.