Just something I noticed

[-Phil Clemence]

I just noticed how pretty Vista is.
I just noticed that Vista sucks ass.
I figure that is the best way to start in this group so that everyone knows
where I stand.
I will pick on Vista. I will defend what seems reasonable and condemn
idiocy.
MVP means nothing to me - I have seen all types with MVP sigs.
All that matters is honesty and fairness.
A little defensiveness is fine, as there are many who condemn the good along
with the bad, the simple bug or oversight along with the lack of common
sense. A little ranting is fine, as there are many who defend the
indefensible as well as what should be defended.

I bough an HP with Vista Premium preinstalled.
Vista looks nice...
Hmmm I set the Menu to 'classic' for the time being to facilitate faster
browsing and familiarization, but the Vista style is smooth and cool , with
the arrow to switch between ALL PROGRAMS and shortcuts, the nice doo-dads
(Sidebar goodies), etc ...
A little fiddling to set up file sharing (4 computers on router = 2 XP , my
Vista and co-workers laptop Vista)
Did a migrate from my old XP, but it was a 5 years old , and got too many
duplicate and crossed settings, etc.
Well, I have had a thousand programs on and off that poor thing , so ...
heheheh.
Did a restore with HP factory image .. ahh.. clean start again (I will do
that again to set this up for another user, when my new XP is here (I want a
motherboard with room to add stuff, and a mature OS compatible with some
older stuff).

I have checked out basic stuff, connected network printers, explored and
checked out some admin stuff.
A little confusing looking for things unless I choose "classic" views in
some places, (as I do in XP) but the future user won't care about that
stuff.
The grouping is pretty logical - I am just used to alpha numeric
organization ;-)
A couple of things bother me. They do not prevent me from doing anything,
but may prove to be indications of annoying things in my future Vista
experience.

1) When I copy, move or delete a folder, the window shows how many files are
being moved and where they are being moved from and to, but there is nothing
saying what folder is being manipulated. NO EXCUSE for that, in MY opinion.
It is evidence of Rain Man type thinking ;-)

2) My biggest worry (possible indication of similar thinking in design) is
the setup for Windows Media Center. It is the worst I have ever seen (I have
used about 100 different media players over the years, starting with Win95)
Rain Man thinking is one thing, and I can forgive that - it is to be
expected to some degree from programmers and most seems to get caught on the
way out the door, but the sort of thinking behind Media Center in NOT to be
forgiven. THE SETUP INTERFACE IS TOTAL CRAP.
They threw common sense and function to the side and created some
"experience". THAT SHOULD NEVER BE DONE DURING THE SETUP OF ANY PROGRAM. The
fact that there is no fully viewable menu (tabbed if need be) indicates that
whoever (whatever group) decided to create the "experience" do not have the
best interest of users in mind. THAT is very bad.

More to come, as I work with this - yes I know about many of the problems
others have had and have done some research to speed up my familiarization,
but I won't post what I happen to have seen already. This is just for
venting and possibly discussion. We have all been warned.
For each rant I will try to say something nice, too. It is up to Vista to
give me the nice to relate...
I continue to play with this and will have more complaints, as an OS
deserves ;-)
Annoyances are NOT bugs, and impatience does NOT mean it is broken.

Go slow - never expect an old habit to be comfortable with a new OS, and
never expect a new OS to run old programs ( I tested two the future user
will want - they seem fine). Patience grasshoppers.
It shore is purty!

 

[-Phil Clemence]

I just noticed how pretty Vista is.
I just noticed that Vista sucks ass.
I figure that is the best way to start in this group so that everyone
knows where I stand.
I will pick on Vista. I will defend what seems reasonable and condemn
idiocy.
MVP means nothing to me - I have seen all types with MVP sigs.
All that matters is honesty and fairness.
A little defensiveness is fine, as there are many who condemn the good
along with the bad, the simple bug or oversight along with the lack of
common sense. A little ranting is fine, as there are many who defend the
indefensible as well as what should be defended.

I bough an HP with Vista Premium preinstalled.
Vista looks nice...
Hmmm I set the Menu to 'classic' for the time being to facilitate faster
browsing and familiarization, but the Vista style is smooth and cool ,
with the arrow to switch between ALL PROGRAMS and shortcuts, the nice
doo-dads (Sidebar goodies), etc ...
A little fiddling to set up file sharing (4 computers on router = 2 XP ,
my Vista and co-workers laptop Vista)
Did a migrate from my old XP, but it was a 5 years old , and got too many
duplicate and crossed settings, etc.
Well, I have had a thousand programs on and off that poor thing , so ...
heheheh.
Did a restore with HP factory image .. ahh.. clean start again (I will
do that again to set this up for another user, when my new XP is here (I
want a motherboard with room to add stuff, and a mature OS compatible with
some older stuff).

I have checked out basic stuff, connected network printers, explored and
checked out some admin stuff.
A little confusing looking for things unless I choose "classic" views in
some places, (as I do in XP) but the future user won't care about that
stuff.
The grouping is pretty logical - I am just used to alpha numeric
organization ;-)
A couple of things bother me. They do not prevent me from doing anything,
but may prove to be indications of annoying things in my future Vista
experience.

1) When I copy, move or delete a folder, the window shows how many files
are being moved and where they are being moved from and to, but there is
nothing saying what folder is being manipulated. NO EXCUSE for that, in MY
opinion. It is evidence of Rain Man type thinking ;-)

2) My biggest worry (possible indication of similar thinking in design)
is the setup for Windows Media Center. It is the worst I have ever seen (I
have used about 100 different media players over the years, starting with
Win95) Rain Man thinking is one thing, and I can forgive that - it is to
be expected to some degree from programmers and most seems to get caught
on the way out the door, but the sort of thinking behind Media Center in
NOT to be forgiven. THE SETUP INTERFACE IS TOTAL CRAP.
They threw common sense and function to the side and created some
"experience". THAT SHOULD NEVER BE DONE DURING THE SETUP OF ANY PROGRAM.
The fact that there is no fully viewable menu (tabbed if need be)
indicates that whoever (whatever group) decided to create the "experience"
do not have the best interest of users in mind. THAT is very bad.

More to come, as I work with this - yes I know about many of the problems
others have had and have done some research to speed up my
familiarization, but I won't post what I happen to have seen already. This
is just for venting and possibly discussion. We have all been warned.
For each rant I will try to say something nice, too. It is up to Vista to
give me the nice to relate...
I continue to play with this and will have more complaints, as an OS
deserves ;-)
Annoyances are NOT bugs, and impatience does NOT mean it is broken.

Go slow - never expect an old habit to be comfortable with a new OS, and
never expect a new OS to run old programs ( I tested two the future user
will want - they seem fine). Patience grasshoppers.
It shore is purty!

I forgot to mention something about setting up networking and file sharing
that is a bit different than in the past.
It is a bit more multi-layered and absurd.
Now I have to balance that with something nice ...
Well ... now Network Administrators will be as frustrated as everyone else!

 

[Adam Albright]

Welcome to the party Phil. Something tells me Frank won't be you pal.
I'm sure you can handle him easily. LOL!

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

Well, look at it this way, no one's stopping you from using what you want.

 

[Lang Murphy]

Go slow - never expect an old habit to be comfortable with a new OS, and
never expect a new OS to run old programs ( I tested two the future user
will want - they seem fine). Patience grasshoppers.
It shore is purty!

Well, as Andre pointed out, we're all free to use whatever we want to... the
new Ubuntu is about to be released. I hear that too is purty.

I admit to liking Vista. It's never crashed, not once, on the five different
systems on which I've installed it. (Clean installs on all... no upgrades
here.)

My main complaint, and not a little thing either, is the file copy screw up.
Maddening, to be sure. (Much more maddening than UAC, to my way of
thinking... but to each his, or her, own...)

Not sure about your Media Center setup complaint. You didn't disclose which
type of setup you did... I did an express setup here and no problems that I
could detect.

I have no problem with folks having issues with Vista. I have issues with
Vista. I do have a problem with posters who position themselves as being all
knowing and label everyone who doesn't agree with them an idiot fanboy.

Guess we'll find out which type of poster you are...

Lang

 

[Chris Game]

Annoyances are NOT bugs,

Of course they are!

 

[-Phil Clemence]

Well, as Andre pointed out, we're all free to use whatever we want to...
the new Ubuntu is about to be released. I hear that too is purty.

I admit to liking Vista. It's never crashed, not once, on the five
different systems on which I've installed it. (Clean installs on all... no
upgrades here.)

My main complaint, and not a little thing either, is the file copy screw
up. Maddening, to be sure. (Much more maddening than UAC, to my way of
thinking... but to each his, or her, own...)

Not sure about your Media Center setup complaint. You didn't disclose
which type of setup you did... I did an express setup here and no problems
that I could detect.

I did the Media Center Edition and now find I can't even install WMP 11 !
Well, I don't need to intall it as this will be used by someone who might
like Media Center fine (a novice, but I will set it up for him).
Once it is set up , I don't care so much, but mistakes in original setup can
lead to files left where you don't want them, etc
The gripe about the menu system in Media Center is more about how the setup
should not be a new experience ;-)
I can get used to different interfaces for use, but setup should be as clear
and concise as possible.
So, I am not so bothered by the setup itself (no problem , I will be doing
it again anyway) but the fact that the setup could have been designed that
way. Why would they do that?

 

[-Phil Clemence]

Of course they are!

Of course they ... oh, nevermind.
Believe what you will.

 

[Lang Murphy]

So, I am not so bothered by the setup itself (no problem , I will be doing
it again anyway) but the fact that the setup could have been designed that
way. Why would they do that?

No clue. That's kinda like asking why is the sky blue. Someone can answer
you, but will the answer make any sense?

Lang