Windows Vista is the Windows Me of the 21st Century
I earlier compared Windows Vista to the Sony PS3 (expensive and not selling well). More recently, I've been thinking of Windows Vista and Windows XP to be the current analog to the Windows Me and Windows 98 SE relationship. Windows Me was a disasterous release that followed the stable and well supported Windows 98 SE (Second Edition). Vista follows the stable and well supported XP. I'm apparently not alone in this general line of thought as exhibited by commentary over on CNet.
Why Microsoft must abandon Vista to save itself
Speaking of Windows 98SE, I wrote a somewhat tongue-in-cheek item over on the O'Reilly Network titled...
Microsoft should release Windows 98 SE as Open Source
These days, I think that while it is still unlikely to happen, I think Windows would see a resurgence if Windows 98 SE's code were released as Open Source to allow the vast number of talented developers out there to clean it up, secure it, and enhance it.
The Quarterly Windows Vista Ultimate Blog: New DreamScene (what took so long?)
First, a mini-rant. Microsoft should take the lead from Apple's Mac OS X and have one single version of Vista. Why, for example is Bitlocker available in the Ultimate Edition (and Enterprise) but not the Business Edition? Don't business users without Software Assurance need to encrypt too?
Did you know that there is a Windows Vista Ultimate blog? Yep, you can find it at...
It seems to be updated about once a quarter with two previous mini-blog bursts in mid-March and early July. In the meantime, Vista Ulitimate Edition users have enjoyed seeing, um, absolutely nothing except the usual security hold patches released (some printer drivers that work would be nice but don't seem to exist). The blog announces that the DreamScene pack that was supposed to be released much earlier (Vista's ship date would have been nice) was finally released. So, yep, there are some new animated desktops and the ability to use your own video (I thought we could already do that?).
StarDock has a site at dream.wincustomize.com dedicated to DreamScene. This DreamGallery site provides two free utilities, DreamScapes and DreamMaker, to provide new functions to DreamScene.
Well, I guess we have to wait for December or January for the next blog update from the Vista Ultimate Blog. I'd prefer something to removes or reduces the impact of the DRM slow-down code myself so that Vista would be a bit peppier on a "mere" Core 2 Duo box.
PC Magazine Vista Defectors
First PC Magazine's John Dvorak writes Me and My Mac. In it he talks about the Mac he got for his work for Podshow. He says he is not switching to a Mac for personal use, but uses it at that office and has been recommending Macs to friends.
The outgoing PC Magazine Editor in Chief Jim Louderback wrote in his final column Passing the Torch: I could go on and on about the lack of drivers, the bizarre wake-up rituals, the strange and nonreproducible system quirks, and more. But I won't bore you with the details. The upshot is that even after nine months, Vista just ain't cutting it. I definitely gave Microsoft too much of a free pass on this operating system: I expected it to get the kinks worked out more quickly. Boy, was I fooled! If Microsoft can't get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux.
In a previous blog entry I cited a survey by Patchlink reporting that 87% of the businesses they surveyed said they would stay with Windows XP. I haven't experienced all the problems reported by Louderback and other people. But, I've seen a bunch including the nearly inaccessible network settings and printer driver problems in Vista.
I like a lot of the features in Vista and still use it daily. But, I have to admit that my next "PC" will probably be a new Mac mini to replace my 1st generation PowerPC-based Mac mini running Mac OS X Leopard and either VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop for Mac for Windows compatibility.
Is Vista the end of the line for Windows as the dominant desktop OS? Will web-based applications and Mac OS X or Linux start getting more traction?
Is Vista Microsoft’s PS3
The PC World article...
...reports on surveys conducted by Patchlink that indicates that the number of businesses who said they were staying with Windows XP instead of upgrading to Vista went up from 53% in December 2006 (before Vista was released) 87% in July.
One of my blog items over on the O'Reilly Media WindowsDevCenter site...
Windows Vista Doesn't Run Any of My Software! Oh, Really?
...posted on May 1 continues to draw venomous comments about Windows Vista because of its software compatibility and lack of hardware driver support. Now, many of these comments are made without actually naming a single specific application. So, there may be a bit of anti-Microsoft trolling at work there. I've used Windows Vista for over two years now (Beta, Release Candidate, and production versions) and have run into only a handful of applications that didn't work. But, I've definitely run into a bunch of hardware driver issues. That said, I actually like Windows Vista and use it for a good chunk of the day on my notebook PC at work.
Given the general anti-Vista sentiment appears to be rising, I wonder if Windows Vista may be Microsoft's PlayStation 3. Sony's PS2 was the dominant game console for many years. Even the Xbox really didn't do much more than dent its dominance. But, the PS3 doesn't seem very popular except with hard core gamers. The Nintendo Wii and the Xbox 360 seems to have over-taken the PS3.
I think Vista's problem is that it didn't go far enough. Its incompatibility and user experience issues (I hate those UAC pop-ups) stem from trying to bandaid over years of Windows code. Microsoft should have bitten the bullet the way Apple did when they moved from OS 9 to OS X. Microsoft could have dealt with compatibility issues by providing a big upgrade to their Virtual PC product (instead of the incremental one they produced). A Microsoft Virtual PC that had the features of VMware Workstation and bundled with a Windows XP SP2 license would have allowed Vista users to simply move their current environment to a virtual machine and then migrate to the real Vista Windows as applications and drivers arrived. Instead, Virtual PC is too weak in the USB support area to really do much good as a complete virtualized environment.
With good virtual machine support available for the Mac (Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMWare Fusion), I wonder if we might see the migration there instead of Vista. The big problem, of course, is that most people will have to buy an XP license which is hard to find these days and somewhat expensive to do if one is found (since their old PCs probably came with a non-transferable OEM Windows XP). But, still if one is going to have application and hardware compatibility issues, why not move to a modern Linux or Mac OS X operating system instead of sticking with the nearly six year old Windows XP?
So, does Windows XP == Sony PS2? And, does Windows Vista == Sony PS3? We'll should know within the next 12 months or so. I'm going to keep using Vista on my PCs (and just bought VMware Fusion to try to virtualize it on a Mac). But, I may be in the minority if the various published reports are true.
YouTube Mailbag: Getting Aero Glass Working
The little video I created right after Vista's launch in mid-January generated quite a number of comments (75 so far). The video was based on my surprise that the cheap PC I installed Vista Ultimate Edition on actually supported Aero Glass effects even though I did not have a dedicated video card and was using shared video memory. It generated a bunch of questions such as:
- hello, can you please tell me how you were able to get Aero on vista to work like that? my computers specs arent the greatest and i cant get aero to show up under the management stuff... if you could help me out i would really appreciate it! unlinke your video, i have a dedicated graphics card BUT its an XP card and has no vista support/drivers
- Hey, i got vista how do u perform areo glass. what do you press. hey did the vista upgrade advisor say you needed to upgrade your video card or was it cool with it?
My understanding is Vista either has support for the graphics subsystem or it doesn't. Not all dedicated cards are supported. Nor are all integrated graphics chipsets with adequate shared RAM supported. You should check the vendor's website for further information.
If your graphics subsystem is supported, Vista turns on Aero Glass features such as 3-D Flip (demonstrated in the video). You press the Windows-key and the Tab-key together to display this. Press it repeatedly to flip through the windows. The pop-up mini-windows on the bottom of the screen are displayed by hovering over the application tabs in the Windows taskbar (usually on the bottom of the screen).
Windows advisor did not say anything about needing to upgrade my onboard graphics chipset using shared memory (it would probably help though 
.
Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 Didn’t Like Vista’s ISO Files
I installed a beta release of Windows Vista using Parallels Desktop for Mac 1.0 last year using a Microsoft provided DVD ISO file. So, I thought that installing the production version of Windows Vista using 5 CD ISO files would be a more-or-less similar experience. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Vista's installer apparently got lost in trying to work with the WIM (Windows Image) file format (introduced along with Vista) when used from inside an ISO file (just a guess, btw). So, next up... Installing from real physical CD discs.
UAC Changes Only for Vista Enterprise and Ulimate Users
If you read through Microsoft's...
How do I change the behavior of the User Account Control message?
...you'll find that only Windows Vista Enterprise and Ultimate Edition users can change certain aspects of UAC for non-administrator accounts. This leaves out both the Home and Business Edition users out in the cold. This, IMHO, is just a bad idea and mystery to me. I also don't understand why BitLocker wasn't provided at least to Business Edition users (again Enterprise and Ultimate Editions have this feature). Why aren't Business Edition users (at the very least) given these security related options?
BTW, if you want a good encryption option for Home or Business Editions, take a look at TrueCrypt 4.3a (released in May 2007). You may find it something you can use on PCs running that version of Windows.
Personally, I think Microsoft should follow Apple's philosophy and just have a single edition and stop causing Edition Confusion.
What Ever Happened to Microsoft Vista Sideshow?
One of the Windows Vista features I was most looking forward to last year was Sideshow: A secondary mini-screen that can be used with the primary screen. Although it can be implemented in various ways, I was specifically looking forward to its use as a small screen on the lid of a notebook PC (see image taken from Microsoft.com of an Asus notebook). So far, however, none of the tier 1 notebook manufacturers (Dell, HP, etc.) have produced a notebook with Sideshow. And, for that matter, we haven't seen any products that attach to the PC that take advantage of Sideshow either. I found a site called SideShowDevices. But, it is pretty sparsely populated. So, what happened? Too expensive to produce? No software to use it? No one else but me wants it? Hmm.
HP Photosmart 7700 Printer Drivers for Windows Vista Installation Failure
July's Patch Tuesday brought a nice little surprise (though that didn't last long): Among the list of optional Windows Vista updates was an HP driver for the Photosmart 7700 printer series (I have an old 7760). The patch was dated June 10. I have no idea why it didn't show up in the list until tonight since other Vista updates have arrived between Patch Tuesdays.
Unfortunately, two tries and a reboot in between was not enough to get the driver to install. Each attempt failed.
HP Printer Drivers for Windows Vista
I guess HP finally got around to releasing printer drivers for Windows Vista in April. I got around to taking a look to see if my old Photosmart 7760 was finally supported and, yet, found it has both a new driver (April 2007) and an uninstaller for, I guess drivers installed in 2000/XP previous to an upgrade (May 2007). However, take a look at this note from HP regarding this driver...
This download includes a Print Driver only. This driver makes it possible to use the basic functions for the printer. HP will not be providing a Full Featured Vista Software and Driver for this product; therefore, some functionality may be lost when you use this product with Windows Vista.
I can see why a lot of people are choosing to stay with Windows XP where they have full driver support.