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Product summary
Microsoft has released its new operating system, Windows Vista, to hardware manufacturers, marking the end of the development phase and the beginning of the distribution phase. Not everything is perfect, but Microsoft expects to have all the glitches under control by the company's self-imposed January 2007 product release date.
CNET editors' take
- Reviewed on: 11/08/2006
- Released on: 11/08/2006
Before installing Windows Vista, there's an option to go online and use Microsoft Vista's Upgrade Advisor on your current PC. The downloadable ActiveX component will inventory your current hardware and determine which version of Windows Vista is best suited for you: Windows Vista Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, or Windows Vista Ultimate. On our test laptop, an Acer TravelMate 8200, Microsoft recommended Windows Vista Business. Microsoft suggests that you run the test now to see if new hardware makes sense for the holiday season, then run the Advisor again in January 2007 to see if your hardware still makes the final requirements. (Microsoft says the Advisor is dynamic and will be updated as more and more software and hardware vendors post updates to the Microsoft site.)
For us, the installation took a little more than one hour. It's pretty much an automated process, with the installer first copying the ISO image onto the new hard drive or partition, then expanding that image. Once again, we experience uncomfortably long plateau at Expanding: 27 percent, as with previous builds, we waited about five minutes before the expansion continued. About halfway through, the installer reboots and continues the installation in Windows Vista.
Once fully installed, Windows Vista first asks for your country or region, then time and currency, and, finally, the desired keyboard layout. Next, you'll choose a username, a user icon, and a password. Then select your desktop wallpaper and security settings: Automatic, Install Important Updates Only, or Ask Me Later. After reviewing the computer's time and date settings, there's one more message: "Please wait while Windows checks your computer's performance." Here, Microsoft grades your computer on a five-point scale, with the overall rating based on your system's lowest score (in our case, that was for the video card).
This final build of Vista includes the new sounds for Windows Vista, written by veteran musican Robert Fripp. Compared to the familiar start-up tones for Windows XP, Windows Vista is lighter, almost spritely. The sounds for User Account Control and Log Off are also perkier than those found in Windows XP.
Right away, first-time users will be greeted by a Welcome Center, complete with tools to migrate data from another partition or hard drive and various services offered by Microsoft, plus the new Sidebar component, preloaded with three Gadgets--one each displaying time, a photo gallery slide show, and an RSS feed. Other than a rounded, more stylized Start menu, the changes aren't immediately apparent.
Longtime Windows users will appreciate the built-in file metatag and desktop search capabilities within Windows Vista. For instance, within the Start menu there's no need to use All Programs; instead, simply type the name of the app you're looking for, and a shortcut will appear as a search result. If you miss All Programs, it's still there, but now it's a hierarchy with expandable sections; instead of application lists building out onto the desktop, they push down the Start menu list. For Windows Explorer, type the author of a document and save the search results as a virtual file folder of that author's works. This a paradigm shift from Windows XP; now you can create folders of similar content, even if the content resides within different physical folders on the system's hard drive. There's no longer a need within Windows Vista to move files among various folders in the directory.
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