Slashdot Mirror
Windows Vista: the Missing Manual
John Suda writes "It's been over five years in the making and its nearly perfect. No,
Im not referring to Microsoft's vast new operating system named Windows
Vista, but to the reference book Windows Vista: the Missing Manual,
by author David Pogue. The book is the latest, and perhaps best, in the Missing
Manual series published by Pogue Press / O'Reilly Media, Inc. The Missing
Manual series is the benchmark of quality for computer manuals. Unless youre
a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference
source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista." Read below for the rest of John's review.
Windows Vista: the Missing Manual
author
David Pogue
pages
848
publisher
O'Reilly Media
rating
9
reviewer
John Suda
ISBN
0596528272
summary
The only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista
Vista is the long-awaited successor to Windows XP and it is a major overhaul and upgrade of that operating system. It was designed primarily to address long-standing security issues with XP and its predecessors, but it also has a vastly new look and feel graphically and in operating features. It comes with a large number of new programs and features and its innards have been significantly beefed up, as it is a 64 bit operating system, focused on the intermediate future of computing hardware and software.
There are so many changes in Vista that it would take perhaps a dozen pages just to provide a bare-bones description of everything. You dont get any written material from Microsoft when you buy Vista. There are digital support and help resources built in and available elsewhere for Vista, but they are not convenient to use and they are relatively limited in scope and depth. Vista, the Missing Manual, provides the information Microsoft doesnt. It covers all five North American versions of Vista. Page 6 has a handy comparison chart of each version. The beginning of every content section refers to which version of Vista the discussion applies.
This Missing Manual uses every bit of 827 pages (including index) to provide similar descriptive and informational material as the built-in Vista sources, but provides much, much more:
Beyond mere description of features and functions, the book explains and evaluates all of the major (and many of the minor) changes from Windows XP to the new Vista. The introductory chapter itemizes all of the most important changes providing perspective on what Microsoft has done with the new operating system. It also highlights some of the more significant interface changes the new search tool, the revised Start Menu, and the new ribbon bar.
The author notes, at every point relevant, the options a user has in either using a new Vista feature, or in reconfiguring the operating experience to return to pre-existing features and the aesthetic elements of Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.
Pogue provides an expert users perspective on the value of the changes and new features in Vista. Some things are improvements and upgrades; others are rated as inferior to what was before. If you dont like the new or changed feature, Pogue guides you how to revert to previous iterations of the featuress, or otherwise provides workarounds.
Pogue is great at providing an expert users perspective on working with the operating system efficiently and pragmatically. He doesnt just describe a feature or function but includes tips and guides on how to be more efficient and practical with it and provides reference to other resources available for additional information or guidance. The Manual is written so that one almost feels that they are getting a one-on-one, hands-on lesson, in using Windows Vista. He represents the Alpha-geek relative you might have to help you out when you cant figure out how to do or fix something.
Beyond all of the information, guidance and perspectives, Pogue has a great writing style. The writing is sprinkled with wit, sarcasm, and good-natured humor, extremely rare for a computer related book. Microsoft gets more than a few slams for its many foibles, all well earned. WordPad, for example, no longer opens Word files!
The author writes for multiple levels of need and understanding. He details the basics of Windows Vista for beginners, provides richer material in breadth and depth for intermediate users, and a good amount of material useful for power users, both informationally and in advanced tips. There are many sidebars sprinkled throughout called Power Users Clinic which offer more technical tips, shortcuts, and information to PC veterans.
There is a lot new to Vista. The most important, if not the most noticeable, are the security enhancements. Microsoft now has a user account control which limits installation of new applications to a user who has administrative permissions. By default, the operating system generates accounts for simple users, without the ability to allow installation of new programs. There is a full page of FAQs just regarding the user account control.
A major security upgrade is service hardening which prevents access to the all-important system files by outsiders or unauthorized users. Other new security elements are the Windows Defender program designed to prevent spyware installs, a phishing filter in Internet Explorer, parental controls, protected mode, drive encryption, address space randomization, and much more. That list doesnt even include a new backup program to help protect users from nonfeasance in basic computer operations (although the author recommends third-party software.)
What is most noticeable is the appearance of the desktop, windows, icons, system font (Sergoe UI), and interface features. These are all redesigned to take advantage the vastly enhanced graphic capabilities of Vista referred to as Aero. The Start Menu has been redesigned to be easier to use. The conventional menu bar for the desktop and most application windows has been replaced with a content-based ribbon bar.
There is a lengthy list of new applications, most significantly Windows response to Apple Macintoshs iLife suite of media applications. In Vista, these are the Photo Gallery, Calendar, DVD Maker, Media Player 11, and DVD Maker. It adds to that group, Meeting Space, which is a collaboration program for local network users.
The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again.
Mr. Pogue is an accomplished writer and computer expert having authored over 40 books, including 17 of the Missing Manual series. Hes well regarded as the weekly technology columnist for the New York Times and a correspondent for CBSs News Sunday Morning. Hes been assisted here by four other experts who contributed chapters or parts of chapters to this manual. The writing is clear, concise, and jargon free. The book provides a fair evaluation of Microsofts latest operating system and gives it good grades overall. Pogue routinely points out the areas that Microsoft has unashamedly copied from Apple Macintosh, and notes it as a good thing.
The book is organized into eight parts including a set of appendices. These include the Desktop (or user workspace), the Vista software, Online and Internet connection matters, the new Pictures, Movie, and Media applications, hardware and peripherals, PC health and maintenance, and networking with Vista. The page layout is clean. The book is filled with hundreds of screenshots and numerous step-by-step instructions on nearly all of Vistas elements. The discussion is comprehensive and deep.
Part One explains the Desktop and whats new, including the Welcome Center, Start Menu, and the greatly enhanced search tool which graces every window and the desktop itself. It now offers natural language searching for the first time. For those using older hardware which may not be up to par for Aeros graphic demands, Pogue provides a handful of suggested speed tweaks. A full 10 pages is devoted to Microsofts improved speech recognition system, including a large handful of insights from an experienced user of such software. The author is a fan of Dragon s Naturally Speaking program, but gives good reviews to Vistas capabilities.
Part Two contains most of the material on the new programs and the improved programs Internet Explorer and its new RSS capability, tabs, and search bar, Mail (the Outlook replacement), and the Control Panel, which now contains at least 50 icons for mini-applications, wizards, links, and folders. Chapter 8 provides an applet by applet description. Dealing with the Internet with Internet Explorer and Mail comprises most of Part Three. There is a comprehensive section on connecting to the Internet with the growing number of methods-cable, DSL, dial-up, WiFi, cell, etc.
The media applications are covered in detail in Part Four including comparisons of Microsofts media applications to iTunes and Zune. The discussion of Media Center includes tips on managing recorded TV and setting up media hardware. Part Five deals with the fax, print, and scan functions and hardware related matters. Especially interesting are the printer tricks and the section on laptops, tablets, palm tops and hand-recognition software.
For maintenance, troubleshooting, and problem solving, there is a trio of chapters in Part Six covering disk maintenance and repair, the new dynamic discs feature, compression and encryption, and backups. Geeks may be interested in knowing how to uncover the hidden controls for the new improved firewall. Pogue even provides material on energy conservation and how to configure Vista to work most efficiently for the user.
Part Seven covers the basics of accounts and networks. There is a lot new in Vista, especially in regard to its separate users architecture. The difference between workgroup and domain networks is explained clearly. Sharing and collaboration functions are explained and there is a comprehensive and deep section on remote control using a multitude of methods.
The appendices are great. Appendix A. discusses the installation of Vista in a comprehensive, systematic manner, from pre-purchase and installation considerations, to making decisions about upgrades or clean installs, to dual booting. He describes the new Welcome Center which aggregates many of the initial configurations for a user, or for multiple users.
Appendix B. is cheekily titled Fun with the Registry and is an introduction, with examples, to the notorious registry which is carried over from XP and predecessors. Most authors writing for this level of reader tend to avoid discussion of the registry, but Pogue provides just enough material to intrigue the intermediate user.
Appendix C. is a short itemization of whats missing in Vista from previous Windows operating systems. It makes it easy to figure out why something youve used before cant be located and used. Appendix D. is a master list of keyboard shortcuts for both the operating system and its major applications, like Internet Explorer 7, and the new Windows Mail.
There is no wasted space or text in this book. Its worth every cent of its $34.95 price. As a small bonus, copies of shareware programs mentioned in the book are conveniently available for download at www.missingmanual.com.
You can purchase Microsoft's Vista: the Missing Manual from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Vista is the long-awaited successor to Windows XP and it is a major overhaul and upgrade of that operating system. It was designed primarily to address long-standing security issues with XP and its predecessors, but it also has a vastly new look and feel graphically and in operating features. It comes with a large number of new programs and features and its innards have been significantly beefed up, as it is a 64 bit operating system, focused on the intermediate future of computing hardware and software.
There are so many changes in Vista that it would take perhaps a dozen pages just to provide a bare-bones description of everything. You dont get any written material from Microsoft when you buy Vista. There are digital support and help resources built in and available elsewhere for Vista, but they are not convenient to use and they are relatively limited in scope and depth. Vista, the Missing Manual, provides the information Microsoft doesnt. It covers all five North American versions of Vista. Page 6 has a handy comparison chart of each version. The beginning of every content section refers to which version of Vista the discussion applies.
This Missing Manual uses every bit of 827 pages (including index) to provide similar descriptive and informational material as the built-in Vista sources, but provides much, much more:
Beyond mere description of features and functions, the book explains and evaluates all of the major (and many of the minor) changes from Windows XP to the new Vista. The introductory chapter itemizes all of the most important changes providing perspective on what Microsoft has done with the new operating system. It also highlights some of the more significant interface changes the new search tool, the revised Start Menu, and the new ribbon bar.
The author notes, at every point relevant, the options a user has in either using a new Vista feature, or in reconfiguring the operating experience to return to pre-existing features and the aesthetic elements of Windows XP and earlier versions of the operating system.
Pogue provides an expert users perspective on the value of the changes and new features in Vista. Some things are improvements and upgrades; others are rated as inferior to what was before. If you dont like the new or changed feature, Pogue guides you how to revert to previous iterations of the featuress, or otherwise provides workarounds.
Pogue is great at providing an expert users perspective on working with the operating system efficiently and pragmatically. He doesnt just describe a feature or function but includes tips and guides on how to be more efficient and practical with it and provides reference to other resources available for additional information or guidance. The Manual is written so that one almost feels that they are getting a one-on-one, hands-on lesson, in using Windows Vista. He represents the Alpha-geek relative you might have to help you out when you cant figure out how to do or fix something.
Beyond all of the information, guidance and perspectives, Pogue has a great writing style. The writing is sprinkled with wit, sarcasm, and good-natured humor, extremely rare for a computer related book. Microsoft gets more than a few slams for its many foibles, all well earned. WordPad, for example, no longer opens Word files!
The author writes for multiple levels of need and understanding. He details the basics of Windows Vista for beginners, provides richer material in breadth and depth for intermediate users, and a good amount of material useful for power users, both informationally and in advanced tips. There are many sidebars sprinkled throughout called Power Users Clinic which offer more technical tips, shortcuts, and information to PC veterans.
There is a lot new to Vista. The most important, if not the most noticeable, are the security enhancements. Microsoft now has a user account control which limits installation of new applications to a user who has administrative permissions. By default, the operating system generates accounts for simple users, without the ability to allow installation of new programs. There is a full page of FAQs just regarding the user account control.
A major security upgrade is service hardening which prevents access to the all-important system files by outsiders or unauthorized users. Other new security elements are the Windows Defender program designed to prevent spyware installs, a phishing filter in Internet Explorer, parental controls, protected mode, drive encryption, address space randomization, and much more. That list doesnt even include a new backup program to help protect users from nonfeasance in basic computer operations (although the author recommends third-party software.)
What is most noticeable is the appearance of the desktop, windows, icons, system font (Sergoe UI), and interface features. These are all redesigned to take advantage the vastly enhanced graphic capabilities of Vista referred to as Aero. The Start Menu has been redesigned to be easier to use. The conventional menu bar for the desktop and most application windows has been replaced with a content-based ribbon bar.
There is a lengthy list of new applications, most significantly Windows response to Apple Macintoshs iLife suite of media applications. In Vista, these are the Photo Gallery, Calendar, DVD Maker, Media Player 11, and DVD Maker. It adds to that group, Meeting Space, which is a collaboration program for local network users.
The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again.
Mr. Pogue is an accomplished writer and computer expert having authored over 40 books, including 17 of the Missing Manual series. Hes well regarded as the weekly technology columnist for the New York Times and a correspondent for CBSs News Sunday Morning. Hes been assisted here by four other experts who contributed chapters or parts of chapters to this manual. The writing is clear, concise, and jargon free. The book provides a fair evaluation of Microsofts latest operating system and gives it good grades overall. Pogue routinely points out the areas that Microsoft has unashamedly copied from Apple Macintosh, and notes it as a good thing.
The book is organized into eight parts including a set of appendices. These include the Desktop (or user workspace), the Vista software, Online and Internet connection matters, the new Pictures, Movie, and Media applications, hardware and peripherals, PC health and maintenance, and networking with Vista. The page layout is clean. The book is filled with hundreds of screenshots and numerous step-by-step instructions on nearly all of Vistas elements. The discussion is comprehensive and deep.
Part One explains the Desktop and whats new, including the Welcome Center, Start Menu, and the greatly enhanced search tool which graces every window and the desktop itself. It now offers natural language searching for the first time. For those using older hardware which may not be up to par for Aeros graphic demands, Pogue provides a handful of suggested speed tweaks. A full 10 pages is devoted to Microsofts improved speech recognition system, including a large handful of insights from an experienced user of such software. The author is a fan of Dragon s Naturally Speaking program, but gives good reviews to Vistas capabilities.
Part Two contains most of the material on the new programs and the improved programs Internet Explorer and its new RSS capability, tabs, and search bar, Mail (the Outlook replacement), and the Control Panel, which now contains at least 50 icons for mini-applications, wizards, links, and folders. Chapter 8 provides an applet by applet description. Dealing with the Internet with Internet Explorer and Mail comprises most of Part Three. There is a comprehensive section on connecting to the Internet with the growing number of methods-cable, DSL, dial-up, WiFi, cell, etc.
The media applications are covered in detail in Part Four including comparisons of Microsofts media applications to iTunes and Zune. The discussion of Media Center includes tips on managing recorded TV and setting up media hardware. Part Five deals with the fax, print, and scan functions and hardware related matters. Especially interesting are the printer tricks and the section on laptops, tablets, palm tops and hand-recognition software.
For maintenance, troubleshooting, and problem solving, there is a trio of chapters in Part Six covering disk maintenance and repair, the new dynamic discs feature, compression and encryption, and backups. Geeks may be interested in knowing how to uncover the hidden controls for the new improved firewall. Pogue even provides material on energy conservation and how to configure Vista to work most efficiently for the user.
Part Seven covers the basics of accounts and networks. There is a lot new in Vista, especially in regard to its separate users architecture. The difference between workgroup and domain networks is explained clearly. Sharing and collaboration functions are explained and there is a comprehensive and deep section on remote control using a multitude of methods.
The appendices are great. Appendix A. discusses the installation of Vista in a comprehensive, systematic manner, from pre-purchase and installation considerations, to making decisions about upgrades or clean installs, to dual booting. He describes the new Welcome Center which aggregates many of the initial configurations for a user, or for multiple users.
Appendix B. is cheekily titled Fun with the Registry and is an introduction, with examples, to the notorious registry which is carried over from XP and predecessors. Most authors writing for this level of reader tend to avoid discussion of the registry, but Pogue provides just enough material to intrigue the intermediate user.
Appendix C. is a short itemization of whats missing in Vista from previous Windows operating systems. It makes it easy to figure out why something youve used before cant be located and used. Appendix D. is a master list of keyboard shortcuts for both the operating system and its major applications, like Internet Explorer 7, and the new Windows Mail.
There is no wasted space or text in this book. Its worth every cent of its $34.95 price. As a small bonus, copies of shareware programs mentioned in the book are conveniently available for download at www.missingmanual.com.
You can purchase Microsoft's Vista: the Missing Manual from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Will the book come with weekly updates?
Vista Help Forum
Windows Vista Help Forum
You can get it at amazon for $23.09 (eligible for free shipping if you go over $25). (That is an associates link - if that bothers you, don't click it. If history holds true there will be a non-associates link available right quick if not already)
It has received very high reviews there. (bookpool has it for about 59 cents less - though you do have to buy more to get free shipping - that one is not any kind of associates link or anything-- just giving some options.)
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Is DVD Maker so good you had to say it twice?... I'm still not sold on it.....
"Stallman says add to this code and you are one of us. Gates says use this code and you belong to us."
Vista hasn't really been in consumer use enough to know what kind of problems people will hit in the real world. Surely this is a bit premature?
Cheers,
Ian
For a better operating system, see Mac OS X: The Missing Manual.
...Do you want to read it?
Yes/No?
its innards have been significantly beefed up, as it is a 64 bit operating system
So was XP. What else about it is "beefy" without also being labeled "cruft"?
Developers: We can use your help.
"You scumbag you maggot! You cheap lazy faggot! New OS your ass and thank god its your last!"
What a perfectly cromulent essay!
I really can't understand why MS isn't creating a good Windows manual for its OS products. A neat, home-printable pdf e-book explaining their flagship product afterall.
"Sum Ergo Cogito"
FTFA
Appendix B. is cheekily titled Fun with the Registry and is an introduction, with examples, to the notorious registry which is carried over from XP and predecessors. Most authors writing for this level of reader tend to avoid discussion of the registry, but Pogue provides just enough material to intrigue the intermediate user.
I do not want to be the one to try fixing what happens when general users get 'intrigued'
FTFA
Appendix C. is a short itemization of whats missing in Vista from previous Windows operating systems. It makes it easy to figure out why something youve used before cant be located and used.
If there is enough of that going on, might as well switch to Linux or Apple and get the pain over with once and for all!
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
10 replies already and no unbiased, informed, well-mannered discussion of the relative merits of Vista vs. other OSs? Come on, Slashdot, you can do better!
Let me make a start:
Vi$ta is teh suckage!
MacOS is for wimps!
Linux roxxorz!
thegodmovie.com - watch it
2. Load Dreamscape and play the cool volcano video on your desktop.
3. Say "Wow, that's nice, but my processor is pegged according to this gadget thingy".
4. Lunch time, so open 'Hold em' and kick ass at Poker while eating your sandwich.
5. When it is time to get some work done, Load VMWare and boot Windows XP.
My wife and I were very happy for many years, then we met."
This Missing Manual uses every bit of 827 pages (including index) to provide similar descriptive and informational material as the built-in Vista sources [....]
The index provides "descriptive and informational material"? Sounds like an odd kind of index to me...
http://www.skullsecurity.org/blog/
Use Linux.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
Has he been running Vista in Parallels or something?
"The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again."
Gadgets don't save configurations? That is a lie.
Wow, great review, but it's a *bit* long.
Here's the missing metareview:
Buy this book. The author knows Vista way better than even Bill Gates does, and might even make you crack a smile now and then as you learn. Imagine that.
Why should you have to learn an OS.
Doesn't it just execute the programs written for it?
Or did they accidentally bundle some user programs...
Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek
So, you posted this on Slashdot, where the vast majority of readers will fall into one or more of those categories, why?
You are attempting to read a book review about Windows Vista on Slashdot.
Cancel or Allow?
Having not actually read this book, I have the question its point to anyone besides a complete novice, for the following points:
1) Vista is actually fairly intuitive. If you have to resort to a book to figure out what WordPad or Paint is, perhaps you shouldn't be using a computer in the first place...
2) I can, possibly, slightly, maybe see this book being useful to someone without the internet. But then, why buy Vista? Any problem identified in Vista is likely to be fairly unique, and almost certainly not covered in the book. Perhaps it should really be about making the most of Google and Google Groups to find a solution?
3) Vista's built in Help is far, far better than that which shipped with XP. It actually "helps" you if you have a problem, and seems to connect to a huge online repository of articles.
4) Vista has been available to the general public for THREE WEEKS. How can you write a book on troubleshooting problems about it?
I'm sorry if this sounds so negative, but I honestly can't see the point of this book for computer professionals, particularly on Slashdot. For my grandma, maybe.
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
Vista has been out in general availability for 2 weeks and you already lost the manual?
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
But what else can they do? They so heavily vendor locked into Microsoft they have to pay the protection money. There will be no Vijay Verma for them riding into the pier to clean up the mess.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Pogue goes slack-jawed whenever Apple adds so much as a sticker to its products, but when MS ships an entire OS he snarkshafts them like the Appleboi that he is. Now he's trying to make money off Microsoft? Guy's got chutzpah, man.
The sidebar doesn't save your settings and you have to start over? I've been using Vista since pre-Beta 1 and I've never had to reset my sidebar widgets once.. (though I never really used the Sidebar until RTM, it still kept my zipcode for weather and stuff)
Shouldn't youre have an apostrophe there, since you're is an abbreviation of you are. am i being pedantic?
Why UNIX?
Perhaps before writing this review, the author should've read the missing manual for the English language. There's something called an apostrophe. I highly recommend using it.
Dear diary: Today I stuffed some dolls full of dead rats I put in the blender.
You can write the most carefully reasoned and researched, most authoritative reference manual ever written on the subject of manure, but in the final analysis, it's still just a book about crap!
Only slightly on topic, but my Karma doesn't care - and I want as many people as possible to see this. :)
/. article:
2 2237
I expect a certain number of security holes in any massive software undertaking. But I couldn't let this go by without referencing a recent
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/13/19
Which to me says "wow, MS still got it ALL wrong"
Notwithstanding a raft of smaller ones, there's basically two big security problems in Windows - 1) ActiveX et al and 2) a totally improper use of Admin/user privs.
The whole #2 problem is basically: Too damn many things make you need to login as admin to do, so it's way too easy to grant high privs to something malicious. In OS X you're never "logged in" as admin, you sudo as necessary for specific actions. Same is good practice in Linux. And in both cases, you need to do that as rarely as possible; you can do everything a user could want without being root.
But Vista apparently lets a normal user run random exes they've added to the system, (as it must be, for my definition of a "normal user") but _doesn't_ let them run anything Vista detects as an installer, no matter how unimportant the installer is. Meaning, "of course my new solitaire game needs complete and total access to my system" is par for the course. Instead of "boy, anything that needs admin privs must be VERY important and should come with a stern warning"
I HOPE that Vista has fewer problems with having apps that must-run-as-admin, and fewer problems with applications that can only be installed as admin but then can only be run by the user who installed them. (This is rampant in XP... I don't know if Vista has a "sudo" functionality the way OS X and Linux do and XP didn't, really. "run-as" doesn't have the capability of giving the files the nonadmin-user's ownership, which is the critical missing feature.)
But they've already demonstrated a continued disregard for the basic principles of privileges. *sigh*
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
Thats the exact somg that went through my head when I saw the writers name!
l d/Fairytale.html
These foos don't know nuthing modding you a troll
http://www.pogues.com/Releases/Lyrics/LPs/IfIShou
and they've already lost the manual? Geez, keep track of your stuff, people!
Saying your "phone ran out of batteries" is like saying your "car ran out of gas tanks".
Nobody was going to upgrade to Vista.
/., so I know that must be true.
I heard it here on
I just installed Vista for the first time. I opened up the command line prompt (that was a challenge) and typed "man vista", and you know what it told me? Command not found. What the fuck is that?
Long ago, in a virtual software galaxy far away, one of the developers involved in the design of the Xerox Star told me, "if you need a manual to figure out how to use a computing environment, it wasn't properly designed."
Its as if something is wrong with this review, but I cant tell what. Maybe the editors didnt read it before posting it? Or perhaps the editors arent performing the sorts of tasks generally assigned to editors? Im not sure. Anyone else notice something wrong? I cant quite put my finger on it.
You could always try running TuxRacer in X
The Windows Sidebar is modeled after Apples Dashboard, which allows customized applets to be displayed and used. A useful cautionary note mentions that the Sidebar gadgets dont save data or configurations when closed. You must start all over again.
Actually, this "warning" of losing preferences when closing gadgets also applies Apple's Dashboard: any widget removed from the Dashboard loses its preferences. The act of moving a gadget (widget) from the Gallery (Shelf) into the Sidebar (Dashboard) is what instantiaties a new gadget (widget). Persistence of configuration data is only acheived by keeping the gadget (or widget) alive. Both platforms save configuration data between logouts/shutdowns -- but for instantiated widgets (gadgets) only. Close them, and their done.
And now, some shameless self-promotion for you Vista early adopters, courtesy of lifehacker:
Turn any web widget into a Vista Gadget
The Amnesty Generator for Windows is designed to let you convert any embeddable web site widget (including Google Gadgets) into a Vista Sidebar Gadget with very little work.
Compared to Vista's Gadget library's relatively meager 275 gadgets, Google Gadgets for your web page, for example, currently sports over 3000 widgets - meaning that if you're a fan of Vista Gadgets and you want to expand your palette, the Amnesty Generator looks like a good way to do that. If this sounds at all familiar, OS X Dashboard-lovers may remember that Amnesty Generator is also available for Dashboard. Right now the generator still has a few kinks (particularly in the looks department), but in all it seems to work fairly well.
Amnesty Generator for Vista
<petpeeve>
Why are people so averse to using the associates link? Stoolpigeon has saved you some time and effort in going out to Amazon.com and looking the book up yourself. He is referring you to the book, and as such, deserves at least a miniscule amount of credit for it via the associates link.
Besides, it's not like you're going to pay more for the book if you buy it using his referral link than if you don't. If you click on his link, it's $23.09. If you look it up yourself, it's $23.09. If you use a non-referral link such as the one posted in your message, it's $23.09. The only difference is who gets $0.92 (4%) of that $23.09: Stoolpigeon of Amazon.com. While I don't have anything against Amazon.com, I figure they're making lots of money already, and it certainly wouldn't hurt them to fork over that $0.92 to someone for helping to sell products from their site.
I have a little-used associates account at Amazon.com. I know from experience that if you order something using a referral link, all that person knows is that the item was ordered, which is kind of necessary in order to know how much you've got coming to you. It doesn't tell you who ordered it, where they live, what their credit card number is, or anything else except that x number of item y's were bought.
So given the choice of clicking on Stoolpigeon's referral link or stang's non-referral link, click on the referral link. Not doing so is really pretty stupid and needlessly spiteful. Or else someone please explain to me why you think that Amazon.com deserves that extra $0.92 more than Stoolpigeon, especially when if it hadn't been for Stoolpigeon, you wouldn't have paid Amazon.com the other $22.17.
</petpeeve>
Option A: Prozac.
Option B: Get on the floor and kick and scream, until your Computer un-crashes itself.
For Nvidia SLI owners who spent a fortune on their video subsystem:
This section will be completed upon the cessation of laughter.
For AMD Graphics card users:
It is no longer necessary to say prayers before booting your computer, when it crashes, there is a 50% chance that your boot sector will remain unscathed.
I think I will get the book, and a copy of vista, then I can charge 200 an hour to fix it....
oh wait I do that now with XP.
A friend of mine just bought a new PC and at the counter opened the box, told the clerk he did not agree with the license and demanded a refund for the software. They thought he was crazy, so he demanded a refund on the PC and got it. three other people in line refused to buy the ones in there hands. Best part, they now have to sell the PC at a discount since its a open box...
I think XP will be around for a bit. If not we will be forced to learn it and support it.
-- I am the NRA, enough said...
best way to deal with windows vista EVER!
--meh--
Not in every case, according to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsv ista/editions/64bit.mspx:
The Normal shipping versions are in 32 bit, but you can order the 64 bit DVD for free after purchase.Is this is a manual explaining WinFS, NGSCB, the synchronized data across multiple platforms, and how Vista is not like OS X? Ohhhhhh, it's the manual *itself* that's missing... Clever...
Oh.... And you can come out of hiding now... your book passed the ORGA test this time.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
Neat, so now I can disable them tilt bits and the DRM.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
Wasn't it David Pogue's tepid review of Windows Vista (covered on Slashdot recently) that raised accusations that he was just a Mac Fanboy? His in depth review suggests that either he's capable of being open minded and doing a great job of research, or that his "research" was aided by the close similarity between Windows Vista and Mac OS X. Of course, deciding which is true simply goes to one's own OS allegiances.
:-)
Of course, I come down on the cynical mac fanboy side of things. That paranoid group that says Microsoft isn't providing features or advice on their "Vienna" release only because Apple hasn't revealed Leopard's "top secret" features yet.
So? Isn't that kind of the point of the comments section of Slashdot, to give responses?
I disagree. If someone posts something informative and it also happens to net them a few cents here and there, what's wrong with that? I doubt that anyone is going to seriously try to make their fortune off of referral links on Slashdot. (Well, other than Slashdot itself, through its B&N referral links, which everyone seems to oddly live with being okay—nice double standard!)
The way I see it, people post referral links here as a way of saying, "Here's something that is relevant to the conversation and perhaps useful to you." I still fail to see what's so evil about that. Besides, if a story, response, or otherwise imaginative tale gets submitted for the obvious purpose of generating income through an associates link, it quickly gets modsmacked. Such is the beauty of the Slashdot Way: It all works out.
If you (collectively, not you personally) are really that concerned about the quality of posts on Slashdot, there are many, many, many more productive places to start than making sure that Amazon.com gets an extra $0.92.
It just encourages people to post something, anything, even if they don't particularly have anything to contribute beyond the review, just to put that referral link in context and hopefully get some buy-throughs.
It's not a reflection on you, but it's a general trend. Slashdotters are smart enough to "know the difference"; in that if you _REALLY_ wanted to comment on the book, having bought it, and encouraging others to buy it, then you'd put a non-referral link. That speaks to slashdotters who know you have nothing to gain, and in considering your opinion understand there is a concious effort to remove bias from your remarks.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista."
My Fiancee is not a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek. She can use both my linux laptops, and mythtv, without any need for a manual. What is in an operating system that needs a manual? If Vista needs a manual, why doesn't it come with it? I'm sure that Office 4.3 came with thousands of pages of printed material, but now you drop a few hundered quid on a shiny DVD, put it in, and then are expected to pay mroe for a book!
I have never YET used Vista, nor have I seen this particular book. But I HAVE bought one of the book's (and Operating System's) predecessors. By that I mean to refer to "Windows 2000: The Missing Manual" (part of the same series), and I was immensely satisfied with it because it filled all the needs for immediate knowledge that I had at the time.
</p><p>
<b<Microsoft DOES NOT DO ANYONE ANY JUSTICE</b> when they leave out such incredibly pertinent amounts of information as I HAD TO FIND in a THIRD-PARTY book (series) like these. And I am not complaining about the book series, the one book I have is still excellent. It is just a SHAME that Microsoft could really "care less".
</p><p>
<b>Microsoft should be UTTERLY ASHAMED that people known for excellent documentation about OPEN SOURCE software can actually write BETTER MANUALS than Microsoft (known for closed-source commercial software, amongst other unsavory connotations) can, about their own CLOSED SOURCE software!!!</b>
</p><p>
Ironically ("yeah right!"), I actually wonder if Microsoft actually (subtly?) encourages people to "find out on their own" by writing or buying (or reading) books from series like these. Aside from their huge fees for their own "Microsoft Press" materials, that is (Pah!)
</p><p>
In short, based on previous experience with the book about Windows 2000, if I had Windows Vista, this book reviewed here would ideally be the FIRST BOOK I would want to purchase regarding it, and recommend to others as well.
</p>
9/11 Was An Inside Job! http://www.InfoWars.com/
"Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista."
So... it's probably the only reference source you'll need unless you read Slashdot. Good story!Really, Taco, if you're going to sell whatever cred you have together with access to our eyeballs, make sure you get a good price. You only get to spend the cred once.
--
phunctor
Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven
I sincerely hope Linux doesn't bork Vista partitions. Just had this happen twice in a week with EliveCD and then Ubuntu. Never happened to me before--apparently I always used FAT32 when I dual booted Windows XP and Linux--I forgot about that. But anyways, had my last two installs use NTFS. EliveCD and Ubuntu corrupted my Windows XP partition (* See below)! Let's hope when the time comes I can dual-boot Vista (because it uses NTFS by default) and a Linux distro without this same problem occuring. Fellow users beware (keep good backups)!
* I'm guessing because EliveCD attempted to automount my XP partition and Ubuntu modified the partition table during an install. Either way they had access to my Windows XP partition. Then XP refused to start and always froze before the login screen loading on C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\mup.sys (courtesy Windows safe mode output). Ran Knoppix (I'm impressed by ntfsfix, btw) and it says I had a dirty NTFS volume (not properly unmounted). But Windows won't even get to safe mode to run chkdsk and when I use the install CD for recovery, the installer crashes. It must be Linux because this EXACT same process occured after I ran both EliveCD and Ubuntu 6.10.
(And btw, YES some people like me want to eventually run Vista, YES I want to use Linux, and YES I want to dual-boot.)
this is a manual for Fedora...
Power to the Penguin!
"Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista.""
So why the heck did you post it on /. ?!
oah yeah for the 20yr old system administrator's that work at public schools "hmm now how do I disable the command prompt but still let my batch files run....." yeah that was senior yr for me, I liked writing batch files in notepad, and then playing Halo PC during class...'ed all over that post!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
It tells you exactly where to find what.
Sounds descriptive and informative to me.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Linux's incompatibility with NTFS is a known issue. The standard procedure for dual booting is to create an NTFS partition for Windows, and leave some space for a Linux partition and possibly a FAT32 shared partition. As you've found out, though there are tools that will claim to resize an NTFS partition, they are a "hit or miss" proposition due to the proprietary nature of NTFS.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
i knew they forgot to include something !!
Or previewed it.
qz
"Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek, this is probably the only reference source you'll need to learn Microsofts Vista"
Well that's the entire slashdot audience right there. So why even bother telling us?
The word you wanted in your last sentence is its; it's is a contraction for it is; thus, your sentence would be read as "However it is summary does contain a few."
Great Hog, to think you made that error in a thread about apostrophes.
It's is it is; its isn't.
------ "Darn floor. Big bite." (Koko the gorilla's best attempt at explaining the experience of an earthquake.)
"Unless youre a system administrator, programmer, or uber-geek"
So... why is the review of this book posted on slashdot?!?
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
ActiveX - as it pertains to the user - is the Microsoft implementation of the idea that random web programmers should get approximately the same kind of access to your machine that a locally running program would.
That is brain-dead.
Any use of the same technology outside this realm - or even in an actually "Trusted Zone" setting, like using it to deploy software to machines from an intranet - isn't my problem.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
I do not expect that any large software undertaking will necessarily have holes the size, scope, frequency and importance of the Windows ones. Windows is not my stanard for things working correctly.
But if you've ever developed a large project, bugs happen. And to stop them requires spending an exponential fraction of time on stopping them compared to making new things work. In short, that level of perfection is not economically justifiable. And any live project is a moving target.
So if I've been brainwashed, I've been brainwashed not by Microsoft, who I wouldn't consider a model at all, but by Apple, various Linux distros, FreeBSD and a variety of good application vendors. Even OpenBSD has had holes. The world isn't perfect.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
My best answer for Joe Sixpack is OS X, although primarily because everything in general configures more smoothly in my experience. But the security infrastructure is basically sudo. It is not harder for a novice to understand, unless that novice is substantially conditioned by Windows already and not a true novice. In OS X, if you do something, it usually works. If you need up-privs, it asks for your same pwd again. Period. But the vast majority of applications NEVER ask for your pwd, even at installation, unless you want them to decrypt passwds stored in the Keychain. (Which isn't mandatory.) And because none of them do, it's quite suspicious when a random application asks for it.
I'm not merely bashing "user or root" - it's a combination of things that make it ridiculous:
An application community where only running as the user who installed you is normal and that expects to often make admin changes without any particular rationale.
No system for having a normal user get enough permission to install something WITHOUT actually changing the "user who installed this" for the previous point.
Now, in Vista, it gets worse: Anything that seems to be an installer CAN'T behave nicely and not require admin privs. But just malicious code can. *sigh*
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot