With all the talk about Windows Vista, seeing as both Vista RC1 (and now RC2) and Office 2007 are freely available to anyone with broadband fast enough to download it in a reasonable time, or a credit card to order copies on DVD, we thought we’d put Microsoft’s latest through its paces for Free Access. Here are the results!
The Aero Flip 3D from Vista in action!
I’ve been running both Vista and Office 2007 as my primary system every day, using it surf the web, check email, write articles, use a wide-ish range of freely available downloaded software and more.
So, after three weeks of very solid use, how does it stack up? Well… the experience hasn’t just been surprising… it has been surprisingly good! I haven’t needed to go back to Windows XP, and XP is now but a memory. Using Windows XP on other people’s machines feels like going back to Windows 95 or 98, so I can happily say I’m an ex-XP user.
Although my system only rates a 2.8 of Microsoft’s scale (which goes up to 5.9), this score is based on the lowest score your system scored, and as with most notebook computers, this was the hard drive. Vista RC1 is running on a Tablet PC with 2Gb of memory and a 1.83Ghz Core Duo processor, and 224Mb of that 2Gb allocated to the integrated graphics card.
My system scores 2.8. See pic below for more info.
So, the system scored much more highly for graphics and processor performance, with scores between 3 and just under 4.8. The fancy Aero 3D graphics work almost perfectly, with only occasional visual glitches when the system throws you back to ‘Vista Basic’ whenever a web site activates Java, and for now that’s only my Internet banking sites, news web sites from News Limited and occasional random sites.
You can see my PC’s performance in a little more detail
The Vista Basic graphics scheme once looked like the basic Windows 2000 GUI, but worse. Thankfully in Vista RC1 it’s been beefed up to look just like Vista Aero, but simply without the transparency.
Given that most applications run in full screen mode, if the screen didn’t flicker and change to Vista Basic mode, then show you a yellow pop-up box telling me so, you probably wouldn’t have noticed that anything happened, at least until you try using the ‘Flip 3D’ mode to see a rolodex style view of open windows or until you clicked on the graphical ‘Vista’ button (which replaces the Start menu) or do something else that would normally trigger transparent Windows.
More Flip 3D eye-candy goodness
Sure, it’s annoying that Java isn’t Aero compatible, but surely that’s something that will be fixed in due course by the RTM.
Using Vista itself is a treat, and it flawlessly connected to the Ethernet, iBurst, Wi-Fi and Unwired broadband networks that I tried it with. Everything looks much more shiny and bright, the system is surprisingly responsive, the inbuilt desktop search which is seamlessly integrated into the operating system works and feels as good as Google’s Desktop Search software, but with the shiny Vista interface instead of in a web page.
Search results for ‘Free Access’ from Vista’s search tool
Everything just feels more comfortable, more modern and friendlier. Of course things are different here and there, but if you’re an everyday user of Windows XP, there’s no doubt you’ll quickly find the differences, find out how to do it in Windows Vista, and just keep on going. If it takes you a bit longer to get used to it, and you’re using Vista (be it the RC1, RC2 or the final version in the not-too distant future), well, you’ll be up to speed in no time, or at least you’ll have to be, because you’re unlikely to keep Windows XP around as a backup.
Indeed, with Vista RC2 launching only last Friday in the US, it’s currently being downloaded. I’ll totally re-install the Tablet PC with it, completely removing the existing C: partition with Windows XP. C: and D: will be merged back into one partition and RC2 loaded instead. Otherwise it’s just a waste of a 30Gb partition! It seems funny to say that, given that XP has been my operating system of choice for the past 5 years, but everything moves on. I’m living in a Vista world now, and I’m not going back!
So, what has gone wrong? The sound card has only partially installed, sending sound to the internal speakers, but the microphone doesn’t work, nor do the 3.5mm sockets for headphones and a microphone. A Logitech USB microphone/headset was plugged in, and thankfully it worked, restoring access to Skype and Audacity, a free audio editing program, used to record a weekly podcast. Still, there were more niggly issues…
Hibernating, sleep and turning off all worked, but then they seemed to go funny, blue screening on occasion. Turns out a piece of ‘unknown’ hardware that I decided to install using XP drivers about a week ago was causing this problem, uninstalling it again restored the hibernation, sleep and turn off modes to normality.
The Vista Security Centre with UAC turned off (see below)
The User Account Control (or UAC) proved a bit annoying, so it was just turned off. While this isn’t Microsoft’s intention, unless it is made much less annoying, perhaps working with the ‘lock’ system that Mac OS X employs, I’ll be leaving it off, and you probably will too.
The Sidebar has been played with, but mostly it’s been off. It is useful, and there’s be all many more interesting gadgets created once Vista has launched, but for now, it wasn’t a priority. Neither were games, which are important for some, but for now just using the operating system to do everyday work was the most important aspect.
DVD playback almost works, but it’s stuttery, thus rendering it unwatchable. Luckily there’s a DVD player hooked up to my TV, so this hasn’t been a big issue. However DiVX, xVID, AVI and other video clips work perfectly well in Vista’s Windows Media Player, as long as the correct codecs are installed.
Another problem revolves around Flip-3D. If too many windows are open, sometimes trying to demo Flip-3D causes the main screen to go dark, with the only way to see the screen being to plug it into an external monitor.
If an external monitor is not at hand, all that can be done (that I know of) is to hold down the power button until the system turns off. But knowing this, I make sure most Windows are closed and any open documents saved and shut down before trying to demo this feature. Clearly this is something that will be fixed by the RTM, and is hopefully fixed in RC2.
Programs such as WinRAR, iTunes, FileZilla (a free FTP client), Windows Live Writer, Skype, Audacity, VLC Player, the Popcorn email reader, Adobe Acrobat Professional 7 and more have all worked without hassles. Web 2.0 apps such as Gmail, ThinkFree Office, Youtube and many more have also worked perfectly in Internet Explorer 7.
No more start button – now the Vista logo instead
From time to time, IE7 will crash if too many windows are open, but when you click on ‘check for solution’, a message pops up saying that that this issue has been fixed in the final version of Vista. I’ll certainly be checking to see if this is the case in RC2 and will report on it soon. So, what about Office 2007?
As for Office 2007, this is a joy to use compared with Office 2003. I’ve really taken to the new ‘ribbon toolbar’, and while it took a few moments to find features at times, the new toolbar layout makes it very easy to find those features again in their new places.
The new logos for Office 2007 programs
About the only issue I’ve had with Office 2007 is with Outlook, and it isn’t with sending and receiving emails which works just as expected. It’s to do with Outlook’s inbuilt email search. It’s nowhere near as fast as Vista’s built-in desktop search which ironically searches all your email at light speed. Quite why this is the case, as they’re supposed to be using the same search technology, is unclear at this stage. Let’s just say for now that it’s a beta thing, and hope Microsoft fixes this for the final release.
Word, Outlook and Powerpoint are the programs I use the most, and the new versions have all worked well. Indeed, everything dramatically improved with Office 2007 when the Beta 2 Technical Refresh (or B2TR) update was released a few weeks ago. If you don’t have it, and are still running Office 2007 Beta 2, you must get it!
The new OneNote 2007 software, which now comes as part of the Office Suite, is also quite amazing. It’s a cross between Word and a desktop publishing program, and when used with a Tablet PC, or with a graphics tablet from Wacom plugged into an existing desktop or laptop computer, it’s a very cool notetaking system. You really do have to try it to appreciate it, but it does let you store, retrieve and search for your data – even if it has been handwritten – very quickly indeed.
OneNote 2007 in action
It’s like having a real notebook, but one that has endless paper, can be easily sorted and searched and can be written on just like paper, or typed into with the keyboard. If this paragraph doesn’t convince you, and I don’t really expect that it will, you will simply have to try it out. When, and indeed if, you get Office 2007, you’ll be able to. Perhaps Microsoft will also have download trial versions available – Microsoft made OneNote 2003 available for a six month trial, but we don’t know if they’ll do that again.
Office 2007 is finally on track, with the beta program about to be closed, and the RTM version due in a few weeks, just like the Vista RTM version, just in time for the November deadline for businesses.
No doubt, with both software packages, there will be many updates, patches, security fixes and more to come, along with SP1s and more, but for now, I’m very happily living in a beta Vista world (just like with some Google and other programs still in perpetual beta), and can’t wait for the gold versions to finally be released! So, should you try running Vista and Office now while there’s still time to download free beta copies?
The short answer is yes, if you want to and you know what you’re doing.
The longer answer is that it depends. If you have a relatively new system, have plenty of hard disk space, have everything backed up and are prepared to download gigabytes of software, or are prepared to wait for the DVDs to arrive in the post (after ordering them, with Vista RC2 only available via download) or can get a copy from friends and a valid licence key from Microsoft’s website (bearing in mind that the Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 2 disc I’m looking at says “do not make or send illegal copies of this software”), and are willing to go through all of this… then it’s probably worth trying out.
But if you don’t, or you rely on your computer for getting real work done every day, and aren’t as comfortable as I am running an as-yet still officially unfinished operating system (despite its release candidate status), then don’t do it just yet! The ‘final’ release versions will be out soon enough – as will all those patches and updates that will inevitably follow. But so far, I love using the new Windows and Office every day, and wouldn’t go back!
The big thing on the wish list now is a Core 2 Duo MacBook or MacBook Pro, so Mac OS X 10.4 (and soon 10.5) and Vista (and/or XP) can be run at the same time, along with whatever other operating systems you want. This is done using Parallels, or Apple’s Boot Camp. But a new Core 2 Duo powered Macbook is up to Apple, and this time, at last… nothing to do with Microsoft!
thanks.