vista views
Beta software should be usable. It may have minor bugs, a few imperfections here or there, but the definition of beta software means that any crippling bugs or user interface problems ("showstoppers" as we call them in the development biz) have been sorted out and the software is almost ready for release to manufacturing (RTM). Beta software should be stable for the most part. If it isn't, then it's still alpha software as far as I'm concerned and should be tested and fixed accordingly before moving to the beta phase.
After two weeks of testing, I don't think Windows Vista Beta 2 is usable or stable. Not on my computer, at least. It has locked up on me several times now, usually when trying to play a DVD (which I have been unable to do thus far). The System Restore feature takes up so much hard drive space (some 5 GB after just a few days' use) that I turned it off. The search box in the Google toolbar for IE 7 doesn't work (it may be because IE 7 has its own search box now, a la Firefox). Current versions of AIM will not work properly. Various programs will stop responding for no apparent reason.
I admit that my computer is just about the bare minimum you'd want to have in order to run Vista. But I've run other versions of Windows (although not betas) on computers which barely met the minimum requirements, and while they were slow, they were at least usable and stable. Vista seems half-baked at the moment.
I think I've satisfied my curiosity with Vista. My recommendation? If you want to run Vista, buy a new computer with the system preinstalled. Or make sure you've got at least a 2.4 GHz P4 or Athlon equivalent, 1 to 2 GB of RAM, a 120 GB hard drive and a newer Nvidia or ATI video card (released in the last year). Make sure all of your hardware is supported by the hardware manufacturer on Vista. This is crucial for your video card; if there aren't WDDM drivers available for it, then you won't be able to run the advanced visual effects. Without them, Vista looks OK-but it certainly doesn't represent a great leap forward from XP.
If you're a gamer, then you might be intrigued by the Live service which Microsoft plans to include with Vista. This will allow you play to online with Xbox owners. But be sure to confirm that your legacy games will run on Vista. The same goes for your other software; not all of it will be compatible, anti-virus programs in particular. My Norton subscription is currently useless on Vista because Symantec doesn't have a version of Internet Security that will run on the platform.
I'm pretty sure Vista will be much more stable once it ships, but for now I think I'll go back to XP. I'd like to be able to use my DVD drive again.
After two weeks of testing, I don't think Windows Vista Beta 2 is usable or stable. Not on my computer, at least. It has locked up on me several times now, usually when trying to play a DVD (which I have been unable to do thus far). The System Restore feature takes up so much hard drive space (some 5 GB after just a few days' use) that I turned it off. The search box in the Google toolbar for IE 7 doesn't work (it may be because IE 7 has its own search box now, a la Firefox). Current versions of AIM will not work properly. Various programs will stop responding for no apparent reason.
I admit that my computer is just about the bare minimum you'd want to have in order to run Vista. But I've run other versions of Windows (although not betas) on computers which barely met the minimum requirements, and while they were slow, they were at least usable and stable. Vista seems half-baked at the moment.
I think I've satisfied my curiosity with Vista. My recommendation? If you want to run Vista, buy a new computer with the system preinstalled. Or make sure you've got at least a 2.4 GHz P4 or Athlon equivalent, 1 to 2 GB of RAM, a 120 GB hard drive and a newer Nvidia or ATI video card (released in the last year). Make sure all of your hardware is supported by the hardware manufacturer on Vista. This is crucial for your video card; if there aren't WDDM drivers available for it, then you won't be able to run the advanced visual effects. Without them, Vista looks OK-but it certainly doesn't represent a great leap forward from XP.
If you're a gamer, then you might be intrigued by the Live service which Microsoft plans to include with Vista. This will allow you play to online with Xbox owners. But be sure to confirm that your legacy games will run on Vista. The same goes for your other software; not all of it will be compatible, anti-virus programs in particular. My Norton subscription is currently useless on Vista because Symantec doesn't have a version of Internet Security that will run on the platform.
I'm pretty sure Vista will be much more stable once it ships, but for now I think I'll go back to XP. I'd like to be able to use my DVD drive again.