Windows Vista inches forward

Microsoft released an interim test version of Windows Vista to some corporate testers on Friday, and said it will expand the program to selected tech enthusiasts soon.

The software maker, which is planning to broadly launch a "release candidate" test version by the end of September, said that it has delivered a more modest update (build 5536.16385) to businesses that are part of its Technical Adoption Program. It also has sent it to members of its TechBeta tester pool and of its MSDN developer network.

In addition, Microsoft intends to give the test version next week to about 200,000 of the 1.5 million tech enthusiasts who participate in the Vista Customer Preview Program (CPP).

The Redmond, Wash.-based company has been struggling to get the operating system update out the door. Last year, it cut features from Vista, in hopes that would allow the software to make it onto PCs by the 2006 holiday buying season. However, in March, Microsoft said it would have to delay Vista further, with plans for a mainstream launch in January.

In May, the company released its second beta version of Vista, the last update to be made broadly available for testing.

Microsoft has already selected which of the CPP testers will get the updated build and has notified them by e-mail. Those who weren't selected will have to wait until the release candidate is available to update their test version of Vista. The company said the goal of releasing this build beyond the technical tester pool is "to diversify ecosystem feedback."

The new test version does not include any new features, but a representative for the software maker said it does include "quality and performance improvements based on feedback Microsoft has received to date."

[Hardrada]

killer OS ?

Is Vista an XP killer ? i don't think so. The new systems that use vista will be unnecessarily expensive reducing PC sales. Mac is no cheap either. Go with Linux !! Woohoo!

[extinctone]

MS inches, others make leaps and bounds forward.

The systems I work on for a living run BSD, AIX, Solaris, NetWare (still going!), Linux of course and the occasional Apple OS desktop/laptop. There have been so many innovative changes to all these platforms. Yet networks based on Microsoft technologies have been stagnant for years. I asked an MSCE one day if he was bored with his work, I would find it terribly boring to work in such a stale environment. But he reminded me of the never ending excitement he has when his servers are hacked, his Exchange system regresses to a Virus Exchange with LookOut clients, and of course rarely 6 months passes by where a patch from Microsoft brings his network to its knees.

He then tells me about all the new features his IE7 beta has, rather stupidly I might add. All of these things I?ve been using with Mozilla products for years. And these are solid production products, not beta?s that have compatibility and on-going security issues.

If you look at IT from a worldly perspective you?ll see a fundamental shift of IT away from Microsoft reliance happening on a large scale. But here in the US we are sadly losing out on our IT lead in the world by sticking to a dieing breed called Microsoft. It reminds me of a 58 year old technician working here who is still thinking though problems as if it were 20 years ago and this firm was on a mainframe.

[Downloads_Prasanth]

The OS of Rich

Yes Yes Yes Vista is Faeture Rich with beautiful Temes Newly designed explorer,but what's the cost?
RAM:
A linux os with unbreakable security can just run with 2Mb(Command) or 16Mb(older Gui linux)
128Mb(present)

But Windows for vista asks 512Mb and recommends 1Gb of RAM.

Processor:
64-bit dual core would be nice.So should we just throw out the computers brought a 1 or 2 yrs back.

Size:
Vista Operating System alone takes 5Gb of Hard Drive Space.Should we Keep other files in our pockets? a computer brough in year 2004-2005 mostly has a 20-40 Gb Hard disk.

With All These Does Vista Still Have The Security comparable to Linux.


I tried Vista and my computer was attacked by w32.pinfi virus.I could not run Vista For more Than 2 Days

[rpgamer28]

Geez its degenerated into another troll debate...

Lets straighten this out here:
Just because a majority of users use Windows based operating systems doesn't mean that they are better or worse; it just means that they're popular because they come preinstalled on almost every computer. Linux may only constitute .36% of desktop access use, but it serves at least 30% of sites on the internet. That means every time you surf the internet you are more than likely using Linux at some point, albeit indirectly. And this is for good reason. Linux is vastly superior to Windows as far as the underlying technical structure goes, and regardless of what anyone says is MUCH less likely to be infected than Windows based machines. However, it is NOT well suited for the average desktop user. The user interface(s) are all deeply flawed in various ways, especially consistency. But by far the biggest problems are multimedia and hardware support; in order to simply set up the basic requirements of a system its almost a requirement for basic users to wade through online forums in search of the one dude who knows how to make the mp3s play, to put in the proprietary 3D supporting graphics card drivers instead of the almost worthless open source ones, to make multiple sounds play at once, etc. This is all very possible and the end result is awesome, but the trouble involved in setting all this up is simply ridiculous. Linux is far more suited to the server room and other similar environments in which functions that don't encroach on the web of patents companies have set up, and that's exactly where it has and will continue to prosper. At the present moment Linux is only suited for desktop consumption by advanced users. As such, Windows Vista will come to dominate the market once again as the only real contender for mainstream acceptance (Except maybe if MacOS X decides to support normal hardware configurations, reduces the price of their software / hardware and convinces others to preload it - unlikely at this juncture). It doesn't matter whether its good or not; Vista will be on everything you buy.

[hothorse04pc]

Not sure on either

Ive had problems with both MS and Linux. MS sucks in terms of security and their "updates" that bring whole networks down, and linux in terms of compatibilty. I've been trying to get a boot disk of ubunu linux to work for months on my labtop (compaq R4000) and it wont work. I've used suse on a school computer and it worked really good but the GUI had somewhat of a steep learning curve. But the same thing goes for Windows. When exploring deep withing the OS be carefull of everything or you will mess something up.
So im not sure on either right now but im leaning towards linux.

[curtegg]

Not quite

Concerning your reference from mi2g:

Aussie Cybersource company CEO Con Zymaris said the report
lacked any raw data, references to sources and had a broken
methodology.

He told the INQ:"In pulling apart the limited amount of
information that is given by Mi2g it seems that the company did
not include automated penetration attacks in its study." Mi2g
also failed to factor in viruses and malware, something that open
source expert Bruce Perens told Linux Pipeline, here that it was
"pretty ludicrous" when even its own study said that the financial
impact of viruses on Windows is tremendously greater than the
penetration on Linux.

However, on the company website here, an Mi2G spokesperson
defended the report insisting that manual hacker breaches were
more common in Linux.

He said that good administration is central to working with
Linux and these were lacking in the global market.

?Manual breaches can be much more complex and sophisticated
than automated ones proliferated through malware.?

The company is mightily miffed at what it calls clandestinely
attacks funded, aided or abetted by vendors or special interest
groups.

Previously the company stirred up a hornets? net when it came
out in favour of Apple and BSD, because the entrenched
supporters of Linux and Windows felt that mi2g was guilty of
'computing blasphemy'.

So obviously you must support Apple and BSD then!

[rmiecznik]

XP is good enough

XP is good enough, I see no reason to spend my money of Vista. Plus I am migrating slowly but surely to OS X, so I see no reason to buy anything from MS no more.

I bought Win 3.1, 95, 98SE, stopped there, and had my Employer buy the 2000 and XP, if they pay for the Vista and supply me with hardware, then I might run it :- )

I have good computers already capable of running Vista, but rather have Linux on it, can get more work done without crashing.

My choices are:

OS X
Linux ( prefer the original Slackware )
Windows XP

I think now that I look back, XP is to date the best OS MS put out, and I am only talking about the 32bit XP, not the 64 bit version, that is unsupported by a lot of things.

I can't even get a Anti-Virus for 64-bit XP Pro, other then the MS solution, nothing seems to work at 64bit.

[YankeePoodle]

Vista..

Personally, I wont move to another 32-bit OS as an upgrade, I would stick with XP. If Vista is able to assembly a feature complete and consistent 64-bit OS with excellent support to Multi-Core processors, it would be irresistable.

[extinctone]

Microsoft = Legacy

The US, Great Britain and a shrinking number of other countries/cultures still clinging to 'the Microsoft way' are very quickly losing the IT leadership positions in the world.

[zxocuteboy]

What can we do? Stick with XP????

The review says RC1 is no good, what do you think?
http://zxo.blogspot.com/2006/08/windows-vista-pre-rc1-sucks-too.html