Comments on: Vista aims to be snappier with photos

However, some of Redmond's ideas aren't clicking with digital photographers who want more control over their images.

[cjohn17]

MS Dim Wits

More brain dead thinking from Microsoft's developers.

[jwarren.carroll]

I See that you ...

must be the lead developer for a successful company whose installation base reaches millions of users on countries spanning six continents. Or you could just be another hipster bandwagon junkie who likes to spout off cliché knee jerk statements about issues they obviously have nothing insightful, or meaningful to say.

Perhaps you don't actually care to know this, but the process of getting a job as a developer at MS is extremely difficult, and coveted by tens of thousands of IT professionals world wide. IF your resume is shiny enough to land you an interview you are still competing against a swarm of other bright individuals looking to get the job.

The developers at MS are far from incompetent and far from brain dead. But I'll let you get back to running your multi-billion dollar conglomerate organization.

[Penguinisto]

To be fair...

OSX has that (default) annoying habit of popping up iPhoto whenever you plug in a CF card too (I use GIMP for all my images - gives me tons more control w/o the expense of Photoshop).

/P

[nasserd]

Just ran into the same problem

This past weekend, I tried to import about 70 photos from my digital camera. It took me 20 minutes to realize that only the Windows Photo Gallery program let me import photos -- and the REAL wizard was gone. The new one only gives you 2 step: select the device and file tags (and whether to delete them from the device).

The version in XP was MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better!!! It allowed on-the-fly selection of which content items and which destinations -- as well as a preview of items ON the camera itself!

As a supported of their innovations, this 'advancement' reminds me of Win98SE .......

[mattumanu]

Is it just me?

Or are the "brains" at microsoft literally trying to tick everyone off at once?

I think I like the file system as it is. This new photo program will be one of the first programs I either uninstall or disable. If I remember right there was this sort of metal looking dooflachie that hovered on the XP desktop that tried to do something similar... I disabled that too.

Listen you Redmond rubes: Knock it off. We don't want this garbage, we just want an operating system we can use the way we want to use it.

[Seaspray0]

Nope, I prefer a more rubust app as well

I guess they're trying to appeal to the brain dead user who has trouble checking their email (seems to be alot of those). We do have alternatives available, thank goodness.

[rcrusoe]

Yet another reason

that most professional photographers use a Mac.

Microsoft has yet to learn that their "MS knows best" attitude is tolerated by the clueless masses and few others.

This attitude, coupled with things like Vista's draconian licensing (upgrade twice and you have to buy another copy of Windows) will have a lot of Windows users looking at alternatives.

And today, more than ever before, there are real alternatives to Windows.

[bemenaker]

uhm, your argument is going to totally backfire here

*** are you talking about. Have you ever listened to your mac crowd. They don't use anything but iphoto, well the home crowd, you are a pro' so you are in a different world. And just what program do you use for all this stuff? Probably one that is available on windows too. So, again, your point is moot.

As far as this being like iphoto, and trying to make a simple program that noobs will use, well, that's what they did. I hear people rave left and right about how great iphoto is. Sorry, it's not that special. Picasso is just as good, if not better. This new program is just the same. If you know your way around a computer at all, all of these programs are a waste of time, and there are better ways.

[Seaspray0]

Where multimedia was best

The motorola processor originally used in the Mac, Atari ST, and Commodore Amiga was exceptional at working with graphics over the intel chip. Musicians gravitated toward the Atari ST which had the built in MIDI interface before anyone. All this has changed over the years and especially with the recent adoption of the intel chip command set for all personal computers (levels the field). As far as cutting edge goes today, I'd give the prize to linking thousands of PC's together running in a grid as a single "brain" as computing's greatest recent achievement. Handling graphics and music is old hat these days.

[umbrae]

Vista makes you stupid...

With this and the "only 2 installs" thing seems to be proof that MS is trying to kill the hobbyist. People who enjoy building their own PCs will spend 5 times more for windows, and now photographers are being crapped on by useless tools.

Microsoft,

We do not want to run on lives on your terms. If you want to keep customers, then you have to allow us to use your products as we want.

[mattumanu]

Did you see this?

From the article:
>>Images can also be burned onto a DVD, sent to an Xbox 360 or special digital photo frame, or e-mailed to others.<<

Gee. I didn't know I couldn't burn my photos to a DVD in XP. And I didn't know I could email photos either. I'm a lowly XP user and can't email my photos at all... Geeze Louis micromud, I hope there's a wizard that explains exactly why I would want to send my photos to my XBOX.

Sounds like a candidate for disabling. I can hear is screaming now, "turn me off, turn me off, turn me off".

[thedreaming]

Microsoft

Microsoft isn't interested in doing business with the average joe. Microsoft wants to do business with other businesses. They like dealing with the likes of Dell, Compaq, HP, Emachines, etc. Microsoft would rather have the average joe buy their machine from one of them and let them handle the average joe.

This is why windows costs so much, they are discouraging average people from buying it. They want you to keep the PC industry alive by buying another machine, just to upgrade your OS.

[robwoods20]

Vista & photo importng and editing

If you feel limited in options when it comes to uploading pics from your camera to your comp than its all a matter of your settings, same goes for the auto-upload setting. Vista's photo book is by far one of the great bennifits due to layout and simplicity of keeping your album organized & together. It is to the point that now days everyone keeps there pics on there comp, whatever happened to prints by the way???

Anyways, If your camera has wireless capabilities than you dont even have to plug it into the system, another great plus that really makes Vista's expandability into future tech open, check the people around me settings, the system even deteced my pocket pc.

With Vista you can change an array of settings and configurations, almost to the point where it may be too much for the average user. I see rage in the future of those who are not patient & take the approach of not knowing what there changing before they change it. What a crap shoot. One thing that does aid with though is by simply hovering over the icon with arrow a little pop up will display what the item does or changes.

Anyway you look at it, people, they dont like change as it is. Vista goes about that change smoothly so as long as you pay attention during the install. First time I installed Vista it installed on my storage drive and not onto my dedicated C: drive. Well after literally destroying those files by forcing it with a

I am Microsoft partner and have been using Vista for 4 months now. I have Vista installed only my Media comp just so I could become familier with the OS. As for my laptop's, & pc's I will eventually install Vista on all but am going to ease into that transition.

Gods speed with Corp America and Vista's arrival. I think alot of people will need tutorials or navigational training to aid in the process, that's just my opinion.

HEY MICROSOFT, MIGHT WANT TO LOOK INTO PROVIDING AN OPTIONAL VERSION OF THE OS THATS SO SIMPLICIT THAT...WELL, MY GRANMOTHER COULD USE IT. THE RETIRED DEMOGRAPHIC COULD GIVE SOME GREAT FEEDBACK IN USER INTERACTION.

[robwoods20]

I do appologize,

Sorry, I submitted my post without editing and proofing.

[PajamaGal]

Vista rocks - Digital Photo management sucks!

I think the photo section of both Vista and the beta newsgroups is the weakest attept I've seen. Unlike all other subsections of the beta and the beta newsgroups, the handling of PHOTO is pretty damn weak. Of course on one hand it's free - comes with the OS, but on the other hand, the management of files is so lacking and counterintuitive its not worth using.
To make matters worse, the newsgrout monitors appear disinterested in simple suggestions which IMHO would make it top-notch!
PajamaGal

[alegr]

Competitors

If MS makes that photo editor actually good and useable we'll see Adobe or Corel morons suing MS bottom off.

[markdoiron]

I Hate It

MS does not know what's best for my computer!

I hate that XP requires a hack so that double clicking an image opens it in the photo editor you chose rather than what MS engineers developed.

I hate that MS engineers think that I store files together by type and not by project (let me make this clear: a report on a backpacking trip and images from that trip go in the same folder; I don't want images from that trip in the same folder as images from my church's 50th anniversary service).

And now I hate that MS engineers think I'm so inept with my computer that I don't know how to drag and drop the images I want onto my hard drive, that I don't know how to reduce the size of an image to e-mail it, that I don't know how to burn a DVD with images, and that I don't know how to prepare a slideshow in Windows Explorer, PowerPoint, or several other programs.

mark d.

[sanenazok]

"A hack"??

To change what program is used to open images you just change the file type association. Most image editing programs will do that for you. Maybe you got some bad info. I know in Paint Shop Pro (PSP) all I have to do is change an option under preferences menu to have this stick.

Also, even though I have thousands of digital pictures on my computer, I've never bothered with any of the Windows built in features. I use Google Picasa to view them or the aforementioned PSP. The default programs may be good enough for simple environments, but it looks you and I need something more. I guess the high variety of apps (many free) and Web 2.0 sites to manage photos should make this a non-issue.

[PajamaGal]

Can't type.....or spell either........LOL

Sorry for the typos and mispellings - Mr. Jive needs a spellchecker...............

[PajamaGal]

Can't type.....or spell either........LOL

Sorry for the typos and mispellings - Mr. Jive needs a spellchecker...............

[catch23]

MS can't do anything right

at least according to these posters. If MS had made the interface more 'professional level', these very same people would be complaining that MS made it too hard for ordinary people...
"MS did X? I'll whine and say Y is better. What, they did Y? I'll whine and argue for X"
Its nice to have arguments of convenience, that can be changed at the drop of a hat.

If you don't like the way Windows handles it, there are lots of other choices. Some free, some come with the equipment you buy, some you can buy.
Find what works best for you. At least you have choices.

[jwarren.carroll]

I See...

that you must be the lead developer for a successful company whose installation base reaches millions of users on countries spanning six continents. Or you could just be another hipster bandwagon junkie who likes to spout off cliché knee jerk statements about issues they obviously have nothing insightful, or meaningful to say.

Perhaps you don't actually care to know this, but the process of getting a job as a developer at MS is extremely difficult, and coveted by tens of thousands of IT professionals world wide. IF your resume is shiny enough to land you an interview you are still competing against a swarm of other bright individuals looking to get the job.

The developers at MS are far from incompetent and far from brain dead. But I'll let you get back to running your multi-billion dollar conglomerate organization.

[jwarren.carroll]

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!

Cnet has really got to fix the whole issue with posts not ending up where they are supposed to.

I don't get it

Vista won't copy duplicate files, but that could be "dangerous" if someone copies 2GB of images onto their laptop because it might "overflow" the harddrive? Yeah, if they have a laptop with a 4GB harddrive. Um...

Everyone seems to be up in arms about a feature that is convenient (or not), yet it is a tiny part of the overall OS. If you don't like it, then just use the software that came with your digital camera or any of the other countless Windows apps that are out there for importing and editing photos!

[bluvg]

Does CNET do any fact checking... ever?

"Microsoft added an ability to easily scale down the photo to a more manageable size, a feature that was part of the Mac OS, but lacking in Windows XP."

No, that feature has always been a part of XP. If you select the Email option in the task pane, it will ask you if you want to reduce/compress the pictures.

And why is everything a comparison with Apple? "Similar in many respects to Apple Computer's iPhoto...." This program is similar in many respects to A LOT of photo management programs, not just iPhoto. In fact, it's even similar to Microsoft's own software (Digital Image Suite and its predecessors). There's a deeply-rooted mindset here that if they're doing anything new in Vista, it must be copying Apple....

[yipching]

Ur right, I noticed that too

In fact, I think the default state for e-mailing a picture (at least from my home setup) is for Outlooks to assume I want the picture resized smaller. I have to tell it to leave it as is.

[baswwe]

I guess you never use an Apple.

MS has only imitaded what Apple has done.

[KarenSaid]

Clarification

Thanks for the comment. We checked this out with Microsoft, which had provided the original information. In Vista, the process will be more automated (less clicking through) and it will show the estimated size of the set of images, it said. There will also be one more size option offered: 1280 x 1024.

Developers at MS clever ?

ummmmmmmmmm.

They don't think the general public is capable of drop and drag.

I was going to buy a copy for my new Mac Pro, but then I realised
howcrap it's going to be, will stick with XP, at least that almost
works.

[slim-1]

You do get a lot more freedom not using a multibillion $ Companies Product

To all the Windows apologist that think you need to pay for software to get good software, you are incorrect. Windows is not the good product you think it is. Ease of installing software is it's only good point.

Also to Windows users who are very upset with Microsoft's products. Why are you still using an obsolete product? Linux, BSD & even Mac are far ahead on the issues you bring up.

If you use Linux or BSD you will get a free, secure & stable OS. If you insist on paying for it then Mac is pretty much the same as BSD with a simpler sheel.

As for the newbie. If all a person does is check email, surf the web and write a letter, oh yes and do photography then a base install of Ubuntu Linux would be all they ever needed.

[slim-1]

You do get a lot more freedom not using a multibillion $ Companies Product

To all the Windows apologist that think you need to pay for software to get good software, you are incorrect. Windows is not the good product you think it is. Ease of installing software is it's only good point.

Also to Windows users who are very upset with Microsoft's products. Why are you still using an obsolete product? Linux, BSD & even Mac are far ahead on the issues you bring up.

If you use Linux or BSD you will get a free, secure & stable OS. If you insist on paying for it then Mac is pretty much the same as BSD with a simpler sheel.

As for the newbie. If all a person does is check email, surf the web and write a letter, oh yes and do photography then a base install of Ubuntu Linux would be all they ever needed.

[ppgreat]

It's blatantly obvious to everyone except the Justice Department...

... that since MS cannot innovate its way out of a paper bag, it is
REALLY pushing its monopolistic weight around to force users to
"adopt" standards like this.

To all folks, consumer or IT, forget the FUD about training,
expense, etc. Do some serious due diligence and start pursuing
alternatives to the MS gorilla. It will be short term pain for very long
term gain.

[erniescar]

How can MS innovate?

Businesses, consumers, ISV's and MS internal submit millons of ideas for stuff to include in the next OS. There's alot of great stuff in there, but at the end of the day, MS is forced to include simple, easy to use, fairly limited feature set applications to include with the OS. Why? Because if they produce great full functional tools and include them for free, some 2 bit company cry's foul that MS leveraged thier monopoly to put them out of business. They have to leave opportunity for partners to build value add and I think they've done a good job with that on all the OS's. I crack Vista for the first time and I've got some tools that do most of what I need. If I want more I can go buy or download something that gives me the missing functionality. I'm not forced to use the tools included in the OS, and I'm free to disable them if I want to. So what is the big deal here? Do people really think 80% of the world wants a start button and a blank screen for an OS?

[erniescar]

MAC is free to innovate

Mac doesn't have to play by the monopoly rules and therefore can put whatever tools and apps with whatever functionality they want. Your not going to see anyone crying to the EU over new Mac features. And in this worry free environment MAC has done a great job. But don't try and argue that Mac innovates more than MS based purely on talent alone.

[ralfthedog]

Yes, that is what we need.

If Microsoft were to release a new operating system that was striped to the bare minimum, I think every IT department in the world (or 80% of the IT departments in the world) would buy it in an instant. The more junk you add the more broke it is.

Microsoft should fork it's product. Give us the version with the animated wall paper and singing clowns for home users to do there stuff, and the minimalistic version for business.

[gdmaclew]

Inaccurate Statement

For e-mailing photos, Microsoft added an ability to easily scale down the photo to a more manageable size, a feature that was part of the Mac OS, but lacking in Windows XP.

Not true...get your facts straight. Check it out before you say it.