Windows Vista

matt_ash

Hey guys,
WOW! This is certainly a lively topic, so much so in fact that when I read the tread I had to register and stick my nose in :rolleyes:!
I regularly write technical articles for various online magazines (don't worry I'm not looking for publicity here) but I thought that you might find these few words on vista useful. This originally went live Thursday the 8th June.

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The rush to install the newest Windows Vista beta is on. But before you take the plunge, here are five things you'll want to think about first.

The news on Wednesday that Microsoft had finally posted a public beta for its long-awaited, often-delayed Windows Vista brought the usual rush by the multitudes that couldn't wait.

Enough, apparently, that some users have reported overloaded sites that never begin the download. (As of mid-day Thursday, we were still unable to reach the English-language, 32-bit download file.)

That inability to access Beta 2's multi-gigabyte download may be a blessing in disguise. Tucked into Microsoft's website are notes that may be deal-breakers for many.

Here are five. Read 'em before you download, or pay $US10+ to order a DVD from Microsoft.

1.) You'd better have a DVD burner

The hours it'll take you to download Vista Beta 2 - 9 hours using a 1.5Mbps connection (such as DSL) by Microsoft's estimate - will be wasted if you don't have access to a DVD-RW drive. It's possible, of course, to download the file and burn it to DVD on one PC, then install it on another, although certainly a hassle.

Sans DVD-RW, your only other option is to order the DVD, which costs $US6 in the US with another $US4 for shipping and handling to the UK. Microsoft says the disc should arrive in two to four weeks.

2) It goes dead in 2007, so what if Microsoft delays Vista again?

Like most previews from the developer, Vista Beta 2 has a time limit, after which it - '!!!!!!!' - stops working. The deadline: June 1 2007.

Although that may seem like more than enough time - over a year away - it's unclear what will happen to your PC if, say, Microsoft doesn't meet its previously-announced January 2007 release date for the consumer editions of the OS.

It's not as if Microsoft hasn't delayed Vista before.

3) You're stuck with Vista

There is no easy way to turn back the clock and return the PC now running Vista Beta 2 to the box's earlier operating system. You're stuck, sort of.

"Once you install Windows Vista Beta 2 you cannot roll back to the previous operating system installation - you will either have to acquire and install the final released edition of Windows Vista or reinstall a previous edition of Windows," says Microsoft.

It then gives some advice all should heed: "Before installing Windows Vista Beta 2 on any computer, please remember to back up all your files."

One way to avoid a total re-install of, say, Windows XP, would be to back up the PC to an external drive using a disk imaging program such as Symantec's Norton Ghost before trying Vista. With that done, you could ditch Beta 2 by simply re-imaging the PC's hard disk from the external drive.

4) You're stuck with Vista, deux

Ominous words from Microsoft: "You may not be able to upgrade your installation of Windows Vista Beta 2 to the final, commercially available edition of Windows Vista."

Naturally, you'll need the final version of Vista - what, you thought Microsoft was giving this away? - but you may also have to do what's called a "clean" install. In other words, the installation of the final Vista may be possible only by wiping out all that's on the hard drive of the PC.

Note the "may" in the caution. We suggest you take that to mean "will."

5) There are lots of "gotchas"

Finally, because this is beta software - and that's easy to forget, what with the plethora of software that companies like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo soft-launch using previews these days - there is a long list of known problems. (No word on how many unknown problems.)

The Vista Beta 2 Release Notes may make your eyes glaze over, but they're well worth browsing, or at least printing out for later reference if necessary.

Among the strange bugs, one that I found personally after an update from Windows XP to Vista, makes Outlook 2003 try to re-install whenever you click on the email client's interface.

No wonder Microsoft tries to wave off users.

"Before you decide to use Beta 2, you should feel comfortable with installing operating systems, updating drivers, and general PC troubleshooting," the company says on the Beta 2 download page. "Some risks of using beta operating systems include hardware and software incompatibility and system instability."

sco0ter

Welcome to the board.... You picked a good one to get started with.. What is your personal view of this BETA??. Have you tried it?. After reading through the Thread would you or wouldnt you want to try it??

matt_ash

Thanks for the welcome sco0ter,
In my view beta (beta2 is still beta) software should never be used by anyone, ever full stop! Ha ha OK that's going a little bit too far but it is safe to say that you really need to know what you're doing when running any beta software - ESSPECIALLY an operating system like Windows. For example personally I would never install vista beta2 on any machine that I even remotely relied on - why? Because as Microsoft say themselves "Some risks of using beta operating systems include hardware and software incompatibility and system instability". This means it'll crash, it won't behave properly basically it will act like a test version of Windows Vista... because that's exactly what it is!

However that said, if you have a 'spare' machine floating about and it doesn't matter what happens to the data stored on it then - "Great!" yes install it and have a play. That's what I've done and I think it's great - yes it's got a few little bugs but I know what I'm doing and I can live with them. The key thing to think about is your 'true' level of computer knowledge and experience - if you can install vista beta2 does that mean you know enough about operating systems to support it when things go wrong? No, BUT like I said a few sentences ago if you've got a spare machine that you can format at will and it does matter if it messes up... carry on :T

pizzaboy

Great post!

I suppose im in the spare machine category,i know i will have to shell out and reinstall vista next year ,the reason i downloaded it was after reading about it for about a year and having the shell pack for the same length of time,i just wanted to try it..see what it was like.

The one great thing about this forum is that you learn something new every day,i thought i had a bit of knowledge before coming on here ha ha ,ive got a lot to learn.

sco0ter

matt_ash wrote:

In my view beta (beta2 is still beta) software should never be used by anyone, ever full stop! Ha ha OK that's going a little bit too far but it is safe to say that you really need to know what you're doing when running any beta software - ESSPECIALLY an operating system like Windows. For example personally I would never install vista beta2 on any machine that I even remotely relied on - why? Because as Microsoft say themselves "Some risks of using beta operating systems include hardware and software incompatibility and system instability". This means it'll crash, it won't behave properly basically it will act like a test version of Windows Vista... because that's exactly what it is!

However that said, if you have a 'spare' machine floating about and it doesn't matter what happens to the data stored on it then - "Great!" yes install it and have a play. That's what I've done and I think it's great - yes it's got a few little bugs but I know what I'm doing and I can live with them. The key thing to think about is your 'true' level of computer knowledge and experience - if you can install vista beta2 does that mean you know enough about operating systems to support it when things go wrong? No, BUT like I said a few sentences ago if you've got a spare machine that you can format at will and it does matter if it messes up... carry on :T

I agree with everything you said... Installing things like this to use as an actuall operating system is something that should be done by people who think they can handle it. I have been Beta testing for years now and I think I am ready for this challange. What I dont like is people who will come on and start name calling because they dont want to install it so try to put everyone else off. As I have said over and over. I installed this as a main system. It is used on the computer because my network adapter was not supported to use WPA under XP. and if I installed the other drivers I lost over 30% of my connection strength (leaving 18%). The computer it is on is used for everyday stuff like accounts, e-mail, Messenger, banking, e-bay and other day to day stuff. It is always backed up at the end of every day (like I did with XP). I have tried games on it to see how they run but I mostly use my Gaming rig for my PC games.

If people dont want to install this then that is up to them but dont ridicule others because they want to. It wasnt even a case of Only install if your experienced it was just a blanket anybody who installs this as a main system is stupid.

The fact I was trying to make is... I have Vista installed with Anti-Virus/Firewall/security and spyware so there is no need for 3rd party so the chances of this rig going down the pan will be remote. Nothing else will be installed now as I now even have Media centre running on it so I dont need any software installed at all. My USB DVB-T was instantly recognised and installed by VISTA as well.. It is now running everything My XP rig did and more and is as steady as a rock. Office 12 is also installed and working fine (although I only really use Word,Excell,Powerpoint and Frontpage) This system expires June 2007 and this will become my daughters comp so I will just reinstall My image of my XP install and update it with SP3 (which should be out by then).

So ask yourselves Am I a looney for now having my computer running the way I want or is it acceptable that maybe this wasnt a bad Idea?

I am sorry for the long post but there seems to be people here who think when you install Beta software that all it does is give you trouble. I have been in Beta programs and ran the software for months and not found one bug. Admittedly OS is different as it is more complex and I have now found 6 Bugs but nothing that is causing system Hangs/crashes. they are also bugs Microsoft has information on how to rectify and it has always worked. The final word from me is... If you think you have enough experience and are willing to put in the time and effort for problem solving and report filling then by all means install Vista... If you just want it because its the latest thing then dont as you will easily get annoyed and bored with it. Dont think you are going to install this and everything will be roses because it wont. You will probably have to work at a few things to get them to work but when it does work its excellent.

pizzaboy

another good post.

have to admit after feading all the stuff that has been said about vista i felt a bit stupid for downloading it,i dont now.

cheers:beer:

bring on sweden!

Mark_LJ

I've loaded it onto a drive in a caddy - seemed the easiest way to do it and just swap between XP Pro and Vista when I want to have a 'play' with it.

I certainly wouldn't consider using it as my main OS. Only problem Ive had so far is sound card drivers. I just sold my X-Fi and went back to an older Audigy ZS. However, the only Creative card supported is the X-Fi. Having said that Creative seem to have enough problems writing drivers for OS' that have been out for years.

sco0ter

Mark_LJ wrote:

However, the only Creative card supported is the X-Fi. Having said that Creative seem to have enough problems writing drivers for OS' that have been out for years.

I have an Audigy 2 and thats supported.... Vista downloaded the drivers when I connected to the net. Try running windows update.

Just turned mine into a dual boot with XP tonight as well.. Got My invite to Beta Test Symantec Products

sco0ter

Just got a technet flash as well.. Looks like thier closing the Vista Beta in a few days.

tr3mor

I like my computer to run the programs I want to run, not to use all the resources running something that is supposed to be in the background.

I've used nLite to get rid of lots of the crap that comes with Windows XP, I've got the original install down to around 700megs, then once I've installed firefox, thunderbird, VLC, Media Player Classic, Avast and Zone Alarm, as well as running msconfig to stop things loading at start up it runs helluva fast.

I've got all the fancy visual effects in XP turned off, am still using a grey start menu and old school window borders etc.

scoOter, if you want an OS where you never have to install anything what's wrong with Mandrake or FC4? You'll have every program under the sun that you'd ever need, and it will never likely be hacked!