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Vista: First thoughts

So I’ve been using Windows Vista for a few days now and I have some quick observations:

Hardware Requirements

Someone once said that what Intel gives, Microsoft takes - i.e. everytime Intel releases a massively fast processor, Microsoft makes an OS to ‘take advantage’ of this.

I don’t mean to say that Vista is a slow OS. On the contrary, it is quite fast, faster than XP in certain scenarios. But that speed comes at a cost: serious hardware requirements which means most current PC’s would be better suited to run XP.

So what are the requirements? Microsoft has an official post here. Basically Microsoft categorizes PC’s as either Vista capable or Vista premium.

Vista capable machines have at least an 800MHz processor, 512MB ram and a Directx9 capable graphics card.

Vista premium needs a 1Ghz processor, 1GB ram Directx9 WDDM card, audio, DVD, etc (though even a capable machine should require a DVD otherwise how would you install Vista?)

My recommended specifications would be any machine with a dual/quad/multi-core processor, preferrably 2- 4GB RAM (yes, GB) and any Directx9 WDDM card which supports 32bit color (for the aero interface)

Installation: mostly easy - boot off the DVD (Vista comes on a DVD, occupying around 2.5GB) and follow the prompts.

Stability: In my testing, RC1 was mostly stable. I did notice occational oddities (like Explorer swallowing 300MB of ram once but I guess that was temporary insanity and will be fixed with the RTM version.

Speed: very fast, but resource hungry.

Resource usage: 1GB ram, around 6GB of hard disk space (reqd min 6.9GB or so to install) and a lot of processing power. Quite simply this was unlike any OS I ever saw.

First Impressions - what’s new:

Vista represents a total redesign of Windows - yes it looks somewhat like XP but under the skin the architecture is totally different. At least that is what I heard. Anyway here are some of the features that I noticed as new. Yes, some of them were already in XP SP2..

1. New Theme- Vista includes a new theme called Aero which includes transparent windows, (at least the frames are transparent) and cool special effects such as 3D flipping to select Windows. Lots of other little features exist like live previews of Windows in the taskbar and so on.
2. New Interface - The interface has been mostly reworked. Basically clever scientists studied how trapped mice in mazes find cheese and decided to apply the logic to how humans find porn. Summary, you have to relearn a few things. Thankfully its mostly intuitive. Unthankfully you have to forget some of what you ‘learned’ with 95, 98, etc.
3. New sidebar - It.. er… sits on the side of your screen and enables you to place little widgets - little mini programs represented which reside there. I see a big market for widgets in the future. Some say Microsoft were inspired from MAC OS X, when they developped this future. lies. Lies! all lies and malicious propaganda.
4. Speed - On a fast PC, even with Aero enabled - everything seems to happen instantly - I think Vista achieves this by massively caching most of the operating system and preloading as much as possible into RAM. This is a very inefficient way of doing things, but it works. Think of Vista as the SUV of OS’s
5. Security - Vista includes a Firewall and a Defender. The defender basically checks every program that attempts to run if it is a Microsoft program or not, and if not asks you whether you are sure you want to run it. Ok that’s an oversimplification but I’m feeling somewhat irreverant right now. (note: I think you can download Firewall and Defender for free if you use XP).

So why did Microsoft make Vista?

1. Because XP is so yesterday. Vista is so wow.
2. To battle spyware and virus (virii?): Millions of Windows PC’s belonging to clueless n00bs are being merrily hacked and attacked by spyware and viruses. Vista includes some stuff like Defender and Firewall which should make the PC more idiot proof. Problem is every time someone makes something idiot proof, better idiots (and hackers) come along. 
3. To keep up with fast hardware: Modern PC’s resemble workstations of the past - multiple processors, gigabytes of ram, and nothing to take advantage of that. So, Microsofts engineers probably had a conversation like this:
   MS 1: Hey, people keep switching to Ubuntu. What can we do to make Windows better?
   MS 2: I know, let’s make our OS load faster by loading it into RAM and cache everything we can. True it will be massively resource hungry, but that’s OK, it will be faster than anything else.
   MS 1: OK done, but theres some leftover RAM still!
   MS 2: I know, lets make a nice 3D interface and fill that up too!
4. The whole DRM thing: Somewhere along the line someone decided that an expensive PC should be used as a device for playing HD-DVD/BLU-RAY and other high def content. Microsoft wanted in on the action so decided to make an OS with lots of digital rights management built right in. Or so I was told by a chap with an eye patch. He muttered something about tilt bits but that’s all baloney!

So, is Vista for you? What advantages would you see?

Business clients: Recommended

1. Security: Vista has a lot of security built in, plus it’s more idiot proof and harder to screw up than XP. This should mean less downtime, less tech support etc.Of course the new interface and architecture means a lot more complexity, and previous experience with Microsoft software shows complexity is proportional to number of bugs. Hope that aint the case here.
2. Aero Interface: Nothing to do with Business as such but it’s cool and will match your art deco furniture.
3. More support: By releasing Vista, Microsoft will slowly phase out support for XP. So, business customers should eventually need Vista over the long run. Unless they switch to something like Ubuntu. Or something.
4. More software: Soon, we should see the first software applications that are made for Vista. They will make use of the Aero interface and various hardware tweaks to make your user experience more entertaining, secure, fashionable, and cure common problems like depression, insecurity, and the common cold, while making the world a better place. Expect to see that annoying message “This program is designed for Windows Vista” popping up pretty soon.

Power users: Depends

1. L33t people will love the Aero Interface: Except for true h4×0rs who only use assembly language in a console, who will say “Bah”.
2. Security: The security features won’t mean much to them as most power users have stuff like Zonelabs (Firewall) and Common Sense, to protect them from malware. 
3. Programmers: Those who use anything Microsoft will find benefits from Vista. For example, programs .NET will operate so fast that the results will arrive before you run the program.
4. Gamers: In theory, Vista might benefit gamers, but Google tells me most games run slower.
5. Photoshop users: People into graphics, rendering, etc may get benefits as Vista can use flash drives for caching… or you could take the $200 and buy a few GB of ram instead.
6. HD: Vista supports HD (high definition video) support including HD DVD/BLU ray etc etc. it even includes all the DRM stuff built in so Hollywood will probably let you use it to watch an HD DVD or Blu ray disk. Or you could buy an Xbox or playstation. Still, its good to know… And, FYI linux probably won’t officially support this sorta stuff as linux wouldnt be able to legally licence the decoding technology.

n00bs, clueless people, parents, HP Users: Highly recommended

You know, those people who purchase their PC from a shop window because it looks nice. (no offense to HP), it could be Dell users…

1. Aero interface is pretty and intuitive.
2. Security features should help prevent their PC’s becoming zombie bots, and enable them to go online safely.. Or so we hope.

People with old hardware/on a budget: For older PC’s or those with less than 1GB ram, XP or Ubuntu would be better IMO.

Final thoughts:

Vista is the future, and it looks to be a colorful and interesting future. On the right hardware, it is faster than XP and more fun - thanks to the Aero interface it’s pretty and stylish, while the various security enhancements should help n00bs a lot..

So, um, that’s my preliminary review. I for one, welcome our new Vista overlords
Update: Switched to a SATA 250GB drive and I was amazed that the whole installation process completed in around 20 minutes.

Update2: I’m told that Vista might not be able to play HD-DVD/Blu-ray and other HI def content on some PC’s due to licencing issues - for example where the PC’s monitor or graphics card do not support HDCP (but this applies to ALL OS’s and PC’s e.g. Apple etc, not just Vista powered PC’s).

10 comments January 8th, 2007