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Longhorn Beta is Disappointing
bonch writes "Well, Longhorn beta 5048 was released a day before the start of WinHEC 2005, suggestive of the fact that it is not terribly impressive. Paul Thurrott (a Windows writer whose previously reported review of Mac OS X Tiger was updated after user feedback) confirmed this today in day two of his blog from WinHEC. Microsoft needed something big to kill the hype of competitors, but screenshots show minor visual updates from the last beta, and to quote Thurrot: 'This has the makings of a train wreck.'"
I've seen a whole load of Linux distributions that don't look *near* that good, even with a final release.
Actually, I think there are problems so deep with the theme that they interfere with functionality. For example, window title bars consume too way much real estate, which really interferes with MDI applications like Paint Shop Pro. I guess I'm in a minority though since I got modded "troll". Sigh. Additionally, it seems to convey a lack of professionalism when someone does a demo in Luna/crayola for software that sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most major companies I've seen gold-disk their XP Pro boxes with crayola turned OFF.
Because, of course, it's Microsoft fault you can't read Spanish.
Baloney. OS X runs decently on a 350mhz G3 with 256MB of RAM. As long as you're not firing up CPU and memory intensive apps, it's dandy for web browsing, word processing, and other homebody uses. I SERIOUSLY doubt that Shoehorn is going to be anywhere close to that. It's bloated like Patrick Deuel after an all-you-can-eat buffet.
The icons you see in the beta screenshots are NOT the icons that will roll out with the actual final release. MS is keeping those and the theme a tight secret. Afterall, they have to have SOME element of surprise to use in all their glitsy marketing.
Maybe you should be directing your ire at Apple since, as the Mac zealots like to keep reminding us, they did it first...
I arrived at the blogger lunch late as well, but it was a veritable who's-who of the Windows enthusiast community. Among the people I spied in the crowd were Robert Scoble, Steven Bink, Tom Warren, Chris Pirillo, Mary Jo Foley, Todd Bishop and Ed Bott, among many others.