The annoying side of Windows Vista
Can Microsoft get it together?
Thursday, April 20, 2006 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Paul Thurott takes a look at the latest Windows Vista (and has some screenshots) beta and has some criticisms.
We've been playing around with it as well and our initial excitement over Windows Vista is starting to turn into concern as we remember where Windows XP was at this stage of development -- it was in better shape.
The issue isn't just the bugs (which there are more than one would expect) but significant compatibility issues combined with Microsoft not making it clear whether they're going to live up to their performance expectations. For instance, the new Aero glass UI isn't fully hardware accelerated from what we can tell. Resizing windows or doing anything particularly intensive on the screen eats up a lot of CPU. CPU? It's supposed to be using the video card (WindowBlinds 5's performance gains don't eat up all your CPU on XP because it's using the GPU instead of the CPU for instance).
The state of some of the new goodies is problematic. The Sidebar, which we're excited about as a concept, needs better content if it's going to be on by default. Microsoft has broken the LogonUI elements which many programs, including many of ours, finger print readers, etc. made use of in order to do their magic and has provided no work around, no new API, nothing to resolve it despite developers asking for a resolution.
Bugs get filed and then marked closed seemingly arbitrarily. And many existing programs, which should work fine on Vista, just don't work. Right now, even DesktopX is not working on Vista. Why? We don't know. We'll find a way to resolve it long before release but it's these seemingly arbitrary compatibility issues that give us pause (let me put it like this -- WindowBlinds works on Windows Vista which you'd think would be a much tougher thing than DesktopX to get working).
It's too early to say that Vista is having serious problems. But time is running out for Microsoft to provide a build that looks like it's remotely ready for prime time. We'll be traveling to Redmond next month to talk to Microsoft on these issues and more.
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Reply #22 Friday, April 28, 2006 1:42 AM
| I'll update to Vista no matter what, since that's the only way I'll be able to play HALO-2 on PC. |
By the time Vista comes out it'll probably be cheaper to purchase a used Xbox with Halo 2 than to legitimately purchase a copy of the OS.
Besides, Microsoft would be shooting themselves in the foot if they prevented Halo 2 from running on Windows 2000/XP. Another thing to note is that Halo for the PC came out in 2003, over a year after XP, and runs fine on Windows 98 SE.
Long story short, it would be a foolish idea for Microsoft to make Halo 2 a Vista-only product. They'd lose over half of their potential customers.
That said, I'm just going to stick with XP for a while. I used to be kind of excited about Vista, but the extremely high system requirements is one of the main things turning me off. Obvious usability issues aside (read the article that Brad linked to), I can do most of the same things with the Object Desktop suite, not to mention being able to customize it however I like.
Also, is it just me, or does Royale (Media Center 2005's default theme...
my laptop) look nicer than Aero? Meh, maybe I'm just weird.Reply #23 Saturday, April 29, 2006 10:07 AM
This the info I got from GameSpot, I am a member and get Game update info, etc.
Halo 2 headed to PC; new OS required
Master Chief and fellow Space Marines say, "Hasta la Vista"; Microsoft Game Studios to develop Halo 2 for PC and its next-gen operating system.
I have XP professional at the moment and am happy with it, I do not wish to change to VISTA. But I did play the first HALO and love it so much that I am willing to change my OS to be able to play the next version. I have an extremely powerful gaming computer and do not wish to spend any money getting an Xbox. So, I guess this is my only option, get Vista and enjoy HALO2. I do agree with your comments, but such is life.
Reply #24 Saturday, April 29, 2006 12:53 PM
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Reply #21 Monday, April 24, 2006 7:26 AM