Review: Vista - Initial Reactions

Today saw the launch of the much anticipated Windows Vista Operating System. And along with Microsoft’s latest edition of Windows, came the release of several of the new Sony Vaio notebooks, complete with Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed.

So we took it upon ourselves to compare the start-up procedure of, what we will dub Windows VHP, to that of the Windows XP MCE found on Sony’s previous range of notebooks.

The notebook used was the VGNC2S/W. A brand new release sporting a 1.66Ghz Core 2 Duo T5500 processor with 1Gb of DDR2 RAM.

The first screen that presented itself was not dissimilar to the BSOD(Blue Screen Of Death) found on current XP installs, only this time on a black background, notifying us that System Preparation was in effect.

A couple of check boxes and text inputs, and two[2] reboots later. The system was geared up and ready to go. The whole process took about 16 minutes 10 secs; far exceeding the pre-installed start-up time of the older Windows XP MCE operating system (running on the same spec, yet older, VGNC1S/W). We also found that button response was laggy during the set-up procedure.

Perhaps the most noticeable “feature” of the set-up procedure was the boredom. Microsoft have relieved nearly all interactivity between the set-up and the user, consequently resulting in a dull waiting game at the expense of end users. From a technical viewpoint, this could be an advantage of sorts. No longer will computer technicians have to pay frequent visits to an ailing machine in order to proceed with the re-installation of a Windows OS. However, the long waits and constant, idle appearing, black screens will more than likely result in an increase in customer support queries as naive members of the public go about their new computers.

A, post set-up, shutdown / start-up took 0.32 seconds and 2 minutes 57 seconds respectively. At nearly 3 minutes, this again exceeded the previous XP set-ups.

Once fully loaded a number of changes suddenly become apparent. The interface looks more polished, more stylised and a feature bar presents itself down the right hand side. For Linux users, this simply comes across as Microsoft’s take on the GKRellm application, only geared more towards media. Features include RSS feeds, a slideshow of you photos, system performance and a large clock face. The standard clock is still present in the System Tray, bottom right.

The Start Menu itself has also changed. The addition of a search facility implemented directly into the menu base allows users to locate things fairly quickly. Clicking on the All Programs tab no longer presents a separate list to the right but loads the list within the menu itself, using what looks much like an iFrame. We also found that the highlight colours through the Start-up Menu where difficult to see, consequently you couldn’t quite see what you were accessing. Another bugbear was our inability to find the “RUN..” prompt, its new position being: Start - All Programs - Accessories - Run..

Upon your first start-up, you are presented with the Windows Vista Control Panel. If you thought that XP made a mockery of the control panel with its grouping of actions, then Windows VHP is certainly taking the piss. Again grouped by function; Power, System, Devices and so on, the new control panel offers access to configuration elements by including them as single line sub links. Stacked under the parent icon, these small pieces of text are sure to raise concern with older or impaired users, as targeting the mouse can become a chore. Along the top of the control panel is a “Bread Crumbs” style navigation, so you know where you are and where you came from.

To anyone but a keyboard cowboy, the familiar Menu Bar will appear to have been abandoned. However, by pressing the ALT key, the menu will magically appear as if from nowhere. Unfortunately there is nothing to inform you of this.

Further, by initiating the wireless switch, Windows VHP on the test machine actually sought and installed the hardware for the card. On a pre-installed machine, this is nothing but ludicrous.

One of the boasted features of Windows Vista is its new “Aero” interface. This appears to be nothing but a new set of colours, transparent window frames and a bucket of redundant widgets. Hovering the mouse over programs in the taskbar reveals a small thumbnail of said application, likewise the Alt-Tab quick window replacement tool displays a preview of the application. This is further achievable via a third method. Vista Flip 3D. What once was considered a fully interactive 3D interface now becomes nothing more than a 3D Alt-Tab. It looks nice, and would be preferable of Alt-Tab in many instances.

Vista Alt-Tab

Flip 3D

However, unlike Alt-Tab, you have to wait for the Flip 3D animations to subside before firing up the desired window making the whole affair slow and tedious for developers and power users alike.

There are, however, some nice features. The new and improved Image Viewer offers the user a choice of actions across the top of the window, ranging from burning images, editing and emailing, although the lack of “Send To..” was a gripe.

Vista Image Viewer

And the new implementation of Windows Explorer displays folder content in a more 3D manner, showing the contents spilling from its containing icon. Again this is merely aesthetics, and quite possibly the bain of any 14 year old surfing their image collection as their parents walk by.

Windows Vista Explorer

Whilst using Windows Vista, you cant help but feel that Microsoft has borrowed something from other operating systems and just added gloss. The Control Panel is reminiscent of that of Linux and the YAST2 panel, the explode/implode of windows reflecting Mac OSX influences and the “Save As..” dialogue suggestive of early Workbench interfaces (Amiga). It would appear that Internet Explorer 7 was a taster of what was to come with the release of Windows Vista. It’s unintuitive, difficult to navigate and uses redundant features. If you aren’t fond of IE7, you won’t get on too well with Vista. Putting the difficulty in navigation aside, it is fairly nice to use and the experience no doubt builds as a result of continual use.

All in all, to the average user, Windows VHP is nothing but a glossy, confusing mess. It looks sexy, there’s no question about that, but it lacks any form of intuition and finds numerous, more time consuming methods of achieving the same goals.