Tom's Overly Detailed Vista Review

prostoalex writes "The weekend is here, and several software sites have published extensive reviews of Windows Vista for your reading enjoyment. Tom's Hardware is running a 500 hour Windows Vista review that spreads out 40 pages." From the article: "This new operating system is huge: it has more than 37,800 files, taking up a total of 10 GB. Part of this size stems from the fact that the current Beta is for the so-called "Ultimate Edition", which contains all available components, including complete versions of both Tablet PC and Media Center capabilities. In addition, many applications have been compiled in debug mode, so some space savings should occur for final versions once that debug switch is turned off. For our Windows Vista preview, we used Build 5381."

Comments

The 3rd Prostoalex Submission Today

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, this is getting out of hand. He's already had 2 articles today, every one of them linking to a different site of his. Did Slashdot's contract with Roland expire or something? This guy is clearly using Slashdot to pad his various semi-scammy sites. Something smells rotten here(and it's not RMS without a shower...).

Re:I TOLD them it was a dupe!

[Sawopox]

Perhaps /. needs to implement a "DUPE" link that's accessible to subscribers. Have it function like Digg, totaling the number of DUPE clicks each article receives.

Then, allow subscribers to set a DUPE filter limit. Anything over that limit is not displayed on the page.

(Also, I've always wanted to use this in a post.)

3. ???????
4. PROFIT!!

10 gigs thats not huge anymore

[RobertLTux]

im mean really mandriva is 12gigs total debian is 12 gigs i think that just about all the big distros are that big

Re:10 gigs thats not huge anymore

[jlarocco]

Comparing full install size of Vista to a large Linux distro is apples to oranges.

Yes, some of the large Linux distros are huge, multi-CD behemoths. But they include just about every piece of free software under the sun. For your comparison convenience, here's a list of programs usually included with a mega-distro:

• Compilers (gcc, g++, gnat, fortran, perl, python, ruby, ocaml, haskell, lisp, scheme, awk, ...)
• Office suite (OpenOffice, KOffice, ...)
• Several word processors (OpenOffice, KOffice, Abiword, LaTex...)
• Spread sheet program (Gnumeric, OpenOffice, Koffice, ...)
• Databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, OpenOffice's Access equivalent, ...)
• Dev environments (KDevelop, Anjuta, emacs, vi[m], eclipse, ...)
• Graphics (Gimp, ImageMagick, [x|g|k]pdf, ...)
• 3D graphics (POV-Ray, KPovmodeler, blender, ...)
• Debuging tools (gdb, cachegrind, ...)
• Java development tools (gcj, jdk[not in strictly free distros], eclipse, ...)
• Mathematical/scentific tools (GnuPlot, Kalzium, KmPlot, Latex, ...)
• Window managers (XFCE, KDE, Gnome, WindowMaker, IceWM, Enlightenment ...)
• Web browsers (Opera, Firefox, Mozilla, lynx, links, w3m, ...)
• Mail clients (Opera, Thunderbird, Evolution, KMail, Mozilla mail...)
• Network tools (ethereal, tcpdump, wget, ...)
• Drivers for just about everything (not everything, but a surprisingly large selection)
• Text editors (Emacs, Vim, pico, nano, gedit, jedit, ...)
• Multimedia (Xine, MPlayer, XMMS, ...)
• Tens of thousands of other apps

That's a fraction of what you get with a distro like Suse, Mandriva, or Debian.

Now, a list of what you get with a full Vista install:

• Window Manager (only 1)
• Games (Solitaire, Minesweeper, ...)
• Basic network tools (Internet connection wizard, ...)
• Basic drivers (See /. article from a week or two ago)
• Graphics (paint)
• Internet (Internet Explorer)
• Email (Outlook express)
• Word processing (Wordpad)
• Text editor (Notepad)
• Multimedia (Windows Media Player)

Notice something? Nobody uses Paint. Nobody uses Wordpad. Nobody uses Notepad. Nobody uses Outlook Express. Nobody plays Solitaire and Minesweeper. For most intents, Windows is just a 10 gig OS. If you want to do anything useful, you have to install other programs.

A full install of a large Linux distro has programs for just about anything someone might want to do on a computer, and it's actually useful software. If it didn't include AbiWord already, I'd go download it. If Windows didn't have Wordpad, I wouldn't care.

But I run Slackware. It's 2 CDs - a full install is less than 3 GB, and comes with word processors, latex, compilers, debuggers, network tools, 4 window managers, XMMS, and some other stuff. It's very useable, comes with a hell of a lot more stuff than Windows, and is less than 1/4th the size for a full install.

Re:10 gigs thats not huge anymore

[Jugalator]

Yes, some of the large Linux distros are huge, multi-CD behemoths. But they include just about every piece of free software under the sun. For your comparison convenience, here's a list of programs usually included with a mega-distro

Yes, but much of the reason the Vista install has grown is because they're including much more bundles in this one than before, so yes, Linux may include even more, but the reason both grows is the same. Vista will compared to XP also include: a search based on Windows Desktop Search, Windows Defender, Windows SideShow, Windows Calendar, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Collaboration, BitLocker, new games (Chess, Mahjong, Purble Place), Services for UNIX.

So it's unfair to say that it's unfair to say that only Linux is gaining size from bundles. ;-)

Personally, I thought the idea of overly many bundles were idiotic, Windows and Linux editions/distros alike.

Instead release free/cheap "Addon Packs" to order on CD's for those who want, or via a slick OS integration for direct downloads if you have a good connection. For Linux/Windows to assume that everyone should want the bundled Movie Maker or other esoteric applications is just plain stupid IMHO.

Re:10 gigs thats not huge anymore

[Marc_Hawke]

The software our company writes uses the registry to store settings. However, the customers that buy our software like to lock down their users to where they have to 'write' access to ANYTHING, especially the registry.

The two are incompatable. It's a constant barage from Customer Support trying to tell Development to "get the heck out of the registry."

Of course, our other product writes to text files...and we are constantly having to tell people to give write access to those text files. And finally, another product writes to files that are stored in the users space. (Flavor of the day is "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\application\" Have fun walking a non-techy user through checking that. (Especially since it's typically hidden by default.)

I guess there's no way to win...but we've definitely 'lost' the most when using the registry.

HDD Space

[Konster]

Really, a 10GB install isn't that bad, considering that I can get a weenie 250GB drive for $80, and it doesn't even make a dent in the new 750GB drive.

Laptop users may have a valid whine, with low-end drives at 40GB, mid-range at 80GB or so, but I'd expect that a notebook install wouldn't take that much on a low-end product.

I'm not fond of the Microsoft Vista Ultimate Extreme De Luxe Ultra version that's a complete system-resources orgy that wants a few GB or so of RAM or a UI that makes my Geforce run at a good % of max for a good slice of time et cetera.

On the plus side, MS Vista will be shipping (eventually) with a copy of Duke Nukem Forever.

Re:Subscribers can be trolls too

[Knetzar]

Instead of restricting reporting dupes to subscribers, they could restrict it to those with good Karma. That way only the people that seem to add something to /. can report problems.