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Windows Vista Build 5231 Review
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has just released a new build for Windows Vista and it looks like Microsoft has made quite a few graphical changes. "This is possibly the only application with more anticipation surrounding it than Internet Explorer 7, if not Vista itself. We wonder if Microsoft would bundle Windows Media Player 11 with Vista exclusively or would it be available for download separately for Windows XP as well. It most certainly will end up looking a lot better (graphically) than most music players out there, iTunes included. Although it appears to look pretty straightforward, the interface has changed drastically, which makes it far more attractive than Windows Media Player 10 as well as competing applications."
How much do you need your media player to do beyond playing media?
If i wouldn't have gotten a mac I don't know if I would have ever gone past winamp 2.x
Phantom Menace had pretty graphics too...
I typed build 5231 into google ... heck out the sreenshots from winsupersite:1 _gallery_02.asp
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_523
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Microsoft again proves it knows how to sell a product. Not that graphical changes/updates are a bad thing - far from it, I like my eye-candy as do most. The most important thing about it, however, is that looks sell.
Now maybe since the thing looks prettier, they'll start working on adding some revolutionary functionality. I think that consumers valuing function over appearance are the minority of those who will be spending money, however.
You can fault Microsoft for not being much of a software company if you wish, but their business/marketing/money-making talent is second to none.
Windows media player and Realmagic player both suffer from the same dilusional management. Someone believes the player is more important than the media. If I want to watch a DVD or listen to an MP3 all I want is an easy way to find my media, and then to see/view the media itself.
This obsession with skins and enormous toolbars and wasted screen real estate drives me nuts. Winamp was good because there was virtually nothing wasted in the display. iTunes also realizes the media is more important than the player. When will Microsoft and Real catch up?
Quote:
We have never seen any WMP run this smooth especially on a beta release. While this might not mean much to anybody, it's a step in the right direction for Microsoft. Only thing we need to check now is how smoothly it runs while running a plethora of other applications in the end.
One thing we would like to mention is that our library had 1000+ songs, but there were no hiccups while scrolling through the list. It was almost like scrolling down Google's search results, which is very smooth and hassle-free. This could be due to implementation of Microsoft's new graphics technologies, namely XAML and WGF 2.0. Needless to say, this is definitely something to get excited about, since we can clearly remember the times when we launched WMP 10 and it would get stuck at the guide page, thereby making the user experience terrible.
Are they running their webserver on it?
It doesn't really matter, I'll make my standard response here:
"This looks pretty good- the graphic stuff doesn't really excite me, but I am interested in the way that it will integrate with my portable devices. I really like the move toward the better/more integrated syncing in Windows Media 10, so this should be even better.
While I am not too concerned about the new features, I wonder what the hardware specs of this will be. I guess I will need to upgrade my computer, but I'll wait on that. I'll probably move to Vista about 12 months after launch. But at work I am in the process of getting a new computer and I'm trying to load it up with everything possible. It's hard to explain to my boss (a gamer) why I need the best possible video card in the workstation I run a text editor on.
Oh, and I wonder if we'll be able to skin this version of Windows. I eventually liked the bubblegum blue theme, but it took a while. I hope they have a classic (bubblegum blue) mode!"
There..that's it. This is what I would have said if the article was available. And I would have tried to post it as close to the top of the page as possible (replying to another post which is unrelated) just to whore some Karma...which I've already whored enough of that it doesn't really matter.
No reason to lie.
what's with all the dead space around toolbars, blocks of text, etc?
...and that's all there is to it.
are here
Steve Balmer just sat down and wrote a review about the new ...
Wait, there were any chairs left to sit?
"It most certainly will end up looking a lot better (graphically) than most music players out there, iTunes included." In an ideal world, that would be a sensible comment. Gee, I think I'll dump iTunes and install Windows Media Player instead, because I just like its looks better.
iTunes, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer: the truth is, they're all badly behaved applications, and they are a pain. They're all getting bloated, they all suffer from featuritis.
And not one of them seems to more than about 10% devoted to serving actual user needs. They are 90% devoted to pushing someone's agenda--sometimes blatantly, sometimes insidiously.
I install security patches to Windows and Mac OS fairly routinely, but frankly I'm loathe to update any media player, and terrified to install a new one.
The percentage of times that installing a new version of a media player will break something that used to work is higher than the mortality rate from playing Russian roulette.
And they all seem to grow invasivelyinto your operating system like rootlets into a sewer.
When they are clean and functional and do what I want them to do instead of what someone else wants them to do, then I will be very interested in how they look.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Indeed! I find these new attempts at GUI creation to be terrible.
5 231_2_cpl.jpg
5 231_wmp11.jpg
I mean, look at this screenshot:
http://www.winsupersite.com/images/showcase/vista
Look at all the text there! That's not a very good interface for finding the icon you want quickly and efficiently. There's too much textual distraction.
There there is something like: http://www.winsupersite.com/images/showcase/vista
It takes forever to find out what it is you can click on, since buttons and other components are not well defined. I mean, is each album entry something I can click on? What will happen if I do click on them?
I hope that the Linux desktop community does not fall victim to the same shenanigans. GUIs are best when they consist of well-designed components, each with a clear and well-understood function. Microsoft's new fascination with random text/image mixtures is often counterintuitive and leads to applications which are difficult to use.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
You'll find all of the pictures here
foo mane padme hum
Link /.'d already?? I get timeout errors.
;-)
Slashdotted, or just an XP server?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Vista is going to flop,
That depends on your definition of "flop". MS is going to arm-twist the Dells and HPs of the world to include it with all new machines whenever it ships, so there will be many millions of copies of it inflicted on the public in any case. Sometime four or five years from now, it will be 30% or more of their installed base.
Somehow, Apple manages to get their users to take up each new version of OS X at a pretty good clip.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Why not ....
Here, let me summarize the parent post in one concise sentence:
"Why not do things the way I do them?"
Answer : Not everyone wants to do things the way you do them.
Download my free songs!