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Vista SP1 Release Candidate Available
Microsoft has made available the release candidate for Vista SP1, after a limited beta begun last September. Informationweek points out white papers telling business users that if they were waiting for SP1 to solve application compatibility issues, they needn't bother waiting: SP1 won't solve them, and in fact might cause applications to break that were running under Vista. Techworld outlines the hoops users will have to jump through to get SP1 installed.
Is it worth installing?
Does it run Windows?
This will be the same as all the other Service Pack 1's for Microsoft OS's.
It's the mile-marker where the new OS stops feeling "foreign" as the details are refined, and developers have some reason to fully embrace it. Corporate deployments will pick up, as software vendors of TRUE business applications release their "real" Vista products. etc etc etc
It's the same old pattern that has been going on since Windows NT. Business as usual.
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
Terrorists can't threaten a country's freedom and democracy. Only lawmakers and voters can do that.
Why would anyone bother installing beta software before writing giant posts criticizing it and proclaiming the imminent death of Microsoft, when it's so much easier to farm mod points by cutting out the installing step? Heh.
FTFA: "Not everything planned for the final version of SP1 has made it into the release candidate"
So much for a release candidate...
Meh... My company nominated me to be the Vista guinea pig, to test whether the software we produce was compatible with Vista, and to make changes if it wasn't. Given that I didn't have a choice in the matter (Other than to quit... And quitting over that seems a bit dumb), I've got every right to complain.
Vista's shell sucks. I hate it with the burning rage that could only otherwise be produced by 35 angry chihuahuas.
Luckily, geoshell works on it, so I don't have to put up with it.
Dear reader, I have a confession to make: I love Microsoft. I love it more than I love my family. This ought not come as a surprise to any that know me: a long line of jaded ex girlfriends will laugh bitterly and recall the passion they could never share in, and those few that can call themselves my friends accept that, on Patch Tuesday, their lives are nothing to me.
But above even my love for Bill Gates' corporate loin product is my love for my work. It is a sacred task that has been assigned to me, and I dare not let friends, nor family, nor even software allegiances stand in the way of the fairness and impartiality that is my trademark.
But why do I tell you this? Why do I bare my soul in such a vulgar fashion? It is that you may understand: even now, I will not let my love blind me; I do not write from the perspective of an enamored lover, nor a too-faithful user. No, it is as a Genuine Microsoft User hungry for the Next Best Thing that I pen this, my review of Windows Vista.
Part I: Making the Switch
"Aha," you are saying, having been inundated by countless negative reviews, "He will surely realize that Vista is in every way a downgrade from previous Microsoft products; he will slowly become disillusioned with its clunkiness, bloat, and arbitrary changes made only for the sake of justifying an overzealous Vice President's salary. Over the course of many painful pages, he will finally renounce his love for the Monopolist, and end with an impassioned plea for the adoption of the obviously superior Apple OSX while a swelling orchestral piece rises in the background."
Alas, no. Such a review, while undoubtedly entertaining, would be as far from the truth as, say, religion. No, this is most assuredly a glowingly positive testimonial: Windows Vista is easily the best operating system on the market today. Such an assertion, I realize, may offend some of my readers' base sensibilities; if that is the case, kindly allow me to show you to the exit.
But I have, once again, gotten ahead of myself. Firstly, why I choose to review the Vistas now, rather than immediately following the January launch, bears explaining.
It was a cloudy Monday morning, some two months back, when my erstwhile laptop, a venerable old Compaq, gave up the ghost. The screen, which had been flaky for a number of weeks, finally quit altogether.
After a brief mourning period, I began scouring the print classifieds, searching for a replacement. I soon found one, a dual-core offering from Hewlett Packard. The $600 price tag--considerably less than my weekly escort--made its purchase, and my subsequent review, a foregone conclusion. It arrived the following Thursday, in the hands of a perky blonde UPS driver; I christened it Alex, turned it on, transferred my data (a breeze thanks to Microsoft's new Streaming Automatic External Backup Restore technology), configured it to suit my needs, and resumed my work.
I have been using it, very happily, ever since and, today, shall pass judgment.
Part II: New Features (and what they mean for you)
Aero:
This brand new DirectX-based desktop rendering engine was the focus of Microsoft's Vista promotional materials. It is easy to see why: Vista with Aero is stunning; it puts, in this writer's humble opinion, all other human achievements to shame.
I have been to the Louvre; I have seen the works of the masters, of Monet and Michaelangelo. My heart swelled, and I nearly wept at the sight. But the feeling I get when I gaze at Aero... even that cannot compare. It is more than my simple words can express. My screenshots are but pale reflections of its splendor.
You must experience it yourself: study the subtle interplay between light and shadow, feel the cool ephemer
"Wait for one hour after uninstalling software! Why?"
To calm down, that's why. Attempting to perform too many consecutive installations of Microsoft software, without proper breaks, has been linked to the recent upsurge in general anxiety disorder.
Am I the one one who finds it amusing that we have betas and release candidates for service packs? And then we often get patches to fix service packs after they finally do release it.
Future tech support calls:
Tech: "What version are you running?"
User "Lemme check. Looks like version '2007 SP1b Build 3567 Patch Level 3'"
Tech: "Sir, you should be at version 2007 SP1b Build 3768 Patch Level 2"
User: "Wait, is that newer or older than what I have now?"
Tech: "It is a newer build of an older patch. You can download it from our web site, but if you do install it, you will not be able to install older builds of newer patches."
User: "Uh, OK?"
Tech: "You may also want to try running the beta version 2008 which I hear from our dev tech is just awesome after you apply all the prerelease sub patches."
User: "Uh..."
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
I have confidence in Microsoft. I'm sure their RC is just as good as the final version will be.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Gartner's raison d'être is to promote Microsoft and proprietary software in general, regardless of the real advantages and disadvantages. Bill Gates could start shipping big boxes full of venomous snakes, and Gartner would have an article explaining how black mambas and hooded cobras add significant shareholder value, especially when compared to Ubuntu, which only ships with Python and not an actual python.
Hmmnn...
If we're ever there together, remind me to turn your head.
.
- aqk
F U