Windows Vista Annoyances 399
stoolpigeon writes "It has been well documented that the reception for Microsoft's Windows Vista has not been all that warm. Yet, visiting the web site of many PC manufacturers or visiting a retail outlet selling computers will show that most new hardware is being offered with Vista as the primary if not only option. O'Reilly's newest in their Annoyances series, "Windows Vista Annoyances", by David A. Karp, seeks to alleviate some of the pain for new Vista users. For the Vista owner who is able to put the book's suggestion into place, the edge should be taken off. For the individual considering a purchase of Vista and wondering if it can really be that bad, this book seems to indicate that yes, it is that bad." Read below for the rest of JR's review.
I've read a decent number of O'Reilly titles over the years. My bookshelf for technical books is a rainbow of the various volumes, each with their wood carving style cover. I don't think in all those years I've ever read an introduction like the one in annoyances. O'Reilly authors tend to be enthusiastic about their topic and are often well known proponents of the technology discussed. I can only guess that Karp is not a huge fan of Vista. The preface begins with a section labeled "Why am I annoyed?" and that section concludes with the question, "Would Microsoft be making decisions like these if it had to compete fairly for your business?" The first sentence of the first chapter is, "Windows Vista is like a papaya: sleek on the outside, but a big mess on the inside." And Karp never lets up. Throughout the book, from start to finish, he never tries to gloss over the ugliness of Vista. This book may be hazardous to the health of Microsoft fanboys. I would imagine that too much time reading would lead to high blood pressure at the very least. | Windows Vista Annoyances | |
| author | David A. Karp |
| pages | 641 |
| publisher | O'Reilly Media, Inc. |
| rating | 8 |
| reviewer | JR Peck |
| ISBN | 0-596-52762-4 |
| summary | Tips, Secrets and Solutions. |
In view of the mess that is Vista, Karp informs the reader that, "Whether it goes down smoothly or gives you heartburn is up to you." The point of the book is to give the reader the information that they need to make Vista palatable. This may sound simple but it brings up what I thought was the most difficult issue for Karp. Vista Annoyances is written with a level of detail and explanation that marks it clearly for the user with casual knowledge of personal computers and how they work. Karp takes the time to explain things like what it means to zip a file, what happens when defrag is run on a hard drive, networking basics and so on. This is great for someone like me, who is sure to start getting a slew of calls from friends and family as some of them move to Vista. The problem is, many of the solutions revolve around steps that are not necessarily a good idea for the pc novice. A large portion of the solutions revolve around editing the registry. The third chapter of the book deals solely with the registry. How it works, how to navigate within it and how to alter it. For some people this could be a great route to take, for many it could lead to much more serious problems than they had in the first place.
For the technically proficient, this book will seem a bit bloated. They don't need all the explanation given for the beginner. Many of the books solutions are not just Vista specific. They give information and work arounds for Windows issues that have existed in XP and possibly back to 98. The saving grace is a thorough index. The person who buys this as a reference to help out others, or deal with some specific issue will find that the extensive index helps to not waste time working through what could feel like a lot of extra material.
I don't think this issue of complexity is necessarily the author's fault. Many of the changes users will want to make to Vista just can't be made any other way than through the registry. Where it is possible to use a programitic interface (gui or command line) Karp gives thorough and detailed instructions, with screen shots on how to do so. But for many options those tools don't exist or have been removed, leaving direct editing of the registry as the only solution left. Another issue, that is somewhat similar, is that for most home users, some of the better solutions wont be available as they wont have access to tools available in Vista Ultimate and Business editions. This isn't Karps fault again, but it means for many the book will have a lot of information that they just can't use.
Dealing with the various editions and their features is handled immediately in the first chapter. That chapter, "Get Started with Windows Vista", also covers installation. Karp goes over the various types of installs and gives tips on how to deal with failed installs, how to best set up prior to an install and how to deal with licensing. Throughout the book, Karp makes note when he is talking about a feature, choice or tool that is limited to a subset of the Vista family. Keeping track of it all can be a bit confusing. Once again, I don't really see this as a shortcoming on the part of the author. It's just the nature of the beast.
The title of the second chapter threw me at first. It is, "Shell Tweaks." When I hear the word shell my mind immediately brings up bash or ksh. In this case Karp is talking about Windows Explorer. As this is the primary interface for users working with the Vista file system, the chapter holds some vital information for attaining a sane and consistent user experience. Karp points out that many of the defaults are not going to endear themselves to many users and in many cases do not make much sense. When Karp discusses explorer he explains how to modify it when opened to various folders and also in the context of the desktop and taskbar.
Karp points out many third party tools that he feels will help the user. Many are free, some are not. The tools mentioned more than any other are Creative Element's Powertools. Powertools can be downloaded for a free 45 day trial period but costs $18 to license beyond that time frame. This is important as many of Karps solutions can be managed without this software but would be very cumbersome. This is especially true of all the editing done in the registry.
The registry chapter is thorough and offers a detailed explanation of what the registry is and how it works. This material could be useful for anyone using any version of windows. The issue of trying to make Vista useful for non-technical users rears its head here quite a bit, as I mentioned. I found myself reading explanations of hex and binary as well as reading how to create a patch file for the registry. This could be useful information for me, in helping others with Windows issues. But when I consider my parents, there is no way I would want them trying out half of what is in this chapter. They would in all likelihood need a complete reinstall in no time. What reading this said to me, more than anything was that most people are going to just have to settle for Vista the way Microsoft gives it to them.
The chapter on dealing with multimedia was interesting and could prove helpful for users with less experience. There are solid explanations on codecs, players and how to get the most out of media, especially video. There is very little said about Vista and DRM. There is no mention of possible problems with hardware due to DRM. In fact the discussion on DRM was primarily limited to a short mention of Tunebite and MyFair Tunes for DRM removal. I assume that this is because finding and explaining such issues would have required a lot more time, research and hardware. Vista annoyances pretty much sticks to the basics of media use.
I had to chuckle a bit as I read the chapter on performance as many of the recommendations involve turning off much of what differentiates Vista from XP. It is useful though, as Karp explains what the configurable options are and how much one can expect in gains. He does make it clear that the initial defaults are less than ideal and it is worth the time to dig in and make adjustments. The same can be said for security and in that regard the chapters on networking and users are indispensable. Once again, getting all the tools will involve having Ultimate/Business and installing third party tools to bring Vista into line.
I've rated the book 8 out of 10. This is due to two issues. The first negative I have explained quite a bit and that is the book speaks to the novice but requires someone with more experience in many cases. While this is may not be the fault of the author and a necessity brought on by the subject matter, it still makes the book less useful. The second is that quite often I found the author bringing up points only to say that he would explain more later in the same chapter or in another chapter. This is because the chapters themselves are built around topics like performance and troubleshooting. But when Karp is working his way through each option of a menu it branches out into other topics, as many options in Vista are spread all over the place. Once again, this seems to be more of a Vista issue, but hinders learning none the less.
After finishing this book, my first thought was that I am going to do all I can to make sure that no family or friends buy a machine with Vista if possible. Service Pack 1 will address just a few of the issues that Vista brings to the table. From what I've read about it fixing activation 'loopholes' it could make some things worse. Should I find myself approached by someone who already has Vista and wants help, I would recommend this book if they have some idea of what they are doing or can learn without getting into too much trouble. For that classic parent or grandparent always brought up as an example, I think I would just tell them Visa is the way it is and hope that they adjust. If I like them enough, I'll pull this book off the shelf and head on over to help them out.
You can purchase Windows Vista Annoyances from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Meh (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Meh (Score:5, Informative)
Unfortunatelly that is not possible, nor it was ever expected to be because Service Pack is meant to update the whole installation, if it detects that something is missing it aborts.
So the only way to use vLite on SP1 is to use it on the preintegrated version, meaning you can configure the Vista DVD or ISO which already has SP1 in it.
Until Microsoft releases one you can try making your own by following this guide.
But be careful, it's not official nor easy method so it is recommended only for the experienced users.
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Obviously this book, as well as vLite, are not for everyone.
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This is a fairly expensive rig now (cost me $2400 or so in parts, a day in labor, over the past month), but it runs Vista clean and fast, and within the year will probably be in the $1000-1500 retail segment:
Intel QX9650 3 GHz quad-core
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Of course it is about the Registry. (Score:3, Informative)
There are really only two options.
#1. Run a utility that makes the Registry changes for you. Where are you going to find that?
#2. Edit the Registry by hand. At least the option is there.
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Profit (Score:2)
Even if it's not Microsoft, memory chip makers or OEMs.
Re:Profit (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, but how much did they pay the developers to write it? They released XP in October 25, 2001. They released Vista to the public January 30, 2007. That's over five years of paycheques to recoup before they actually start to turn a profit on this release.
Of course, it's the big media companies who paid for Vista. Microsoft saw the writing on the wall, and they sold out their install base. They didn't put the new features in for the benefit of the consumer, they put them in because they hope to get a few points on the dollar from the copyright industries once they've created an infrastructure for total information control. I imagine the US government threw a lot of money in the pot too.
Hopefully, this will all just collapse under its own weight. If it doesn't, eventually, it is going to be necessary to send ground troops after these people and force them to stop what they're doing.
My Only Vista Complaint (Score:5, Interesting)
Other than that, there are a few things that annoy me but nothing that royally ticks me off like the printer issue. I should say, i'm a casual user. I use the system to read email, browse the web, play around with a few vmware images and burn home videos. Since I got my xbox 360 at xmas, I rarely play games, so even tho vista is a resource hog, I haven't noticed much.
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Vista Annoyances- it is like they read my mind (Score:5, Interesting)
So, now my wife and I both say "I hate this f*cking computer" on a daily basis. First boot of the day often takes 5-10 minutes to simply stabilize and remain consistantly responsive with nothing but Firefox running. I am completely clueless as to what the hell this machine is doing on it's own that takes up all of its processing power that it can't handle simultaneously opening perezhilton.com. Additionally, the security package keeps annoying me over and over that my computer is not fully protected!!! because I turned off features that don't apply to our usage of it.
I would love to know a good resource to consult on how to tune the OS to get better performance w/o having to get into non-novice registry tweaks. I doubt this book could help me. Can anyone recommend a good resource for some more basic level Vista tweak advice?
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I disabled and uninstalled all the software include the games from WildTangent which is a known spyware maker. THen I ran the disk defrag utility. Now its fine.
You can disable indexing and windows search and turning off volume shadow copy and especially restore point. This would help with random disk access.
If you need anti virus capabilities there are free ones like clamWin whi
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In the US, Dell offer the Inspiron 1420 and the XPS M1330 laptops with Ubuntu on and the Inspiron 1501, Inspiron 1520 and XPS M1730 laptops with MSW XP on.
In the UK, they offer the XPSTM M1710 laptop with MSW XP on and the InspironTM 6400 and XPSTM M1330 laptops with Ubuntu on.
Having said that, last time I checked they had cleverly made their Ubuntu PCs look cheaper than their MSW Vista equivalent ones until one got to finally pay when they turned out to be more expensive thanks for the clever use of spe
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Dupe? (Score:2)
More Evidence Vista == Windows Me (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:More Evidence Vista == Windows Me (Score:5, Informative)
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I don't know, but I imagine it's things like "Annoyance #373: Mail application uses a GUI config wizard anyone can understand instead of an opaque text file!"
Re:More Evidence Vista == Windows Me (Score:5, Interesting)
At the time, when Windows ME was a product being sold, I admit, it was garbage. They removed access to underlying DOS, compatibility issues arose where they absolutely shouldn't have, and honestly, it didn't offer me anything over Windows 98.
As a programmer, I do, however, have a handful of clients that use win9x, for whatever exotic reason, so I dug up my install CDs, found an unused Pentium III 800, and made a tri-boot system, with Windows 95C, Windows 98SE, and Windows ME, all with whatever updates were available.
This is, of course, years after 9x was dead, and probably no one cared, but seeing all three of these OS's run on the exact same machine, I have to say, I prefer Windows ME out of all of them. I will give you a few reasons why:
People seem to have forgotten how readily Win9x bluescreened. Sure, we all still joke about it, but there is a slight amnesia to how it really was. Windows 95 most specifically would bluescreen out of nowhere... just sitting there, doing nothing. And every so many bluescreens, something in the system directory would get corrupted, and you would have to reinstall... and did you ever notice that bringing up a DOS window, or running a native DOS app started your system on the downward spiral to hell? I have. But really, I am just talking about Windows 95 and 98... not ME. I have yet to have ME bluescreen on the described system. And if something happened to your system files? There was the Windows File Protection people now take for granted in Windows, so reinstalling wasn't necessary like it was on ME as it was with it's older brothers
Nextly, something you can only notice in the kind of setup I have... the GUI was flat out more responsive... both under load and not. I know that sounds kind of funny, but on Windows 98 especially, clicking a button took about 100ms to register... something you don't really notice, until you use Windows ME and see that clicking on everything causes a reaction more readily. Also, for whatever reason, my network throughput when booted into Windows ME is much much better. Under Windows 95/98, playing Quake2 over a cable modem, my lowest ping was practically the same as Windows ME, but the consistency on Windows ME was so prevalent, that if I play such on that machine, it HAS to be booted into Windows ME.
Honestly, I could drum up a multitude of things that I see NOW, that make ME better... but then, I agree, it wasn't. It is almost like it hit its peak abilities well after the market was gone.
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My top 2 annoyances... (Score:2)
2. The spreading around of data that was generally kept in Documents and Settings
Thankfully I only have a limited number of machines to support, and my work is not going to migrate to Vista for the foreseable future.
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As for 2, I'm not sure what you mean. They've moved some things out of My Documents but it's all still in the "documents and settings" (now Users) area. They've also exposed more of that to the user by a creating a link to your use
Two things (Score:4, Insightful)
The two things I find annoying are UAC and enforced DRM. Yes, you can be affected by DRM even without buying any DRMed media--just try to load an unsigned driver in 64-bit.
Everything else is more disappointment than annoyance. With how much time they had to bake it, Vista could have come out amazing and full of great features. It was disappointing that it didn't live up to the hype.
It may not have been revolutionary, but it is still a solid improvement on XP. In my opinion.
Re:Two things (Score:4, Informative)
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if a shoddy driver is affecting stability beyond the device in question it's not the driver that's to blame. You may as well also subscribe to the BS microsoft spewed about old file formats being insecure rather than the program that reads them.
Re:Two things (Score:5, Informative)
I mostly disagree with this on a number of points.
(1) Every other remotely common OS -- the various Unixes, Linux, OS X -- is just as susceptible as Windows is. They all use the same architecture: the driver runs in the kernel. Once you have that, an unstable driver can easily crash the system. Guess what: there are rootkits for Linux too, and they use the exact same principles as Windows ones: once you are installed as a driver, you are God.
(2) The main reason that this has been done is that it's hard to do well another way. Until relatively recently, the only mechanism that provided protection against a badly behaved driver was to run it in its own protection domain. This means a context switch whenever the kernel wants to call the driver, and a system call when the driver wants to call the kernel or return. For many drivers, the overhead here has been unacceptable. In the last several years there have been a couple new ideas for how to provide protection with lower overhead, but (1) they remain in the research state and haven't made it to real-world products, and (2) they too have overheads that are not trivial.
(3) MS is actually doing MORE to move drivers out of the kernel than the other mainstream OSes. Linux has some examples, for instance FUSE, but Vista introduces a new driver model that strongly encourages user mode drivers. (For instance, sound drivers are often written with the UMDF.) Performance critical drivers, such as parts of video card drivers, still run in the kernel.
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Considering that Daemon tools still runs on Vista, I don't think that anti-piracy measures was the main point of the driver signing.
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Only 641 pages? (Score:5, Funny)
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Vista is the ultimate Apple marketing program (Score:5, Insightful)
I mention all of this because the Apple store was PACKED. I had never even visited an Apple store, but in past years I would walk by and see lots of empty space. Not anymore. When I see the pain of Vista (not even our MS-loving IT dept. will touch it), I can't imagine Steve Jobs scripting it any better. "Gee, I would like the market leader to squander their advantage by breaking compatibility with old hardware and software. Make things more complicated, add in some DRM, slow it all down, and let the poor customer sort out the mess." MS strategy with Vista is beyond Steve Jobs' wildest dreams.
If Linux can't make serious progress on desktop market share in this market, then it will never happen. Opportunities like Vista don't come along every day of the week.
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My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS... (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously - did I get the magic copy of Vista that works just fine or something? It runs smooth, starts up OK, I like the default sleep feature, the added security (oh no - i get a popup everytime I install something - the horror), the photo gallery, the built in firewall, etc.
Its not a giant leap forward or anything - but then again - I didn't think XP was a big advance over Win2K client either. Just another incremental advance of the NT Client OS.
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ITs not an unstable crappy mess such as WindowsME ever was despite what the naysayers tell everyone about it.
I am typing this on a machine with Vista and yes for people who do not like change it can be a hair pulling experience for the first month. Toshiba did not have any XP drivers for my notebook as I wanted to downgrade fast.
However Vista works, areo takes a while to get used and after I discoved how to put the file menu's back into windows explorer a few weeks of being fustrated I felt alot bette
-1 Shill (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS (Score:2)
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The notion that Vista took ~5 years is a fallacy. During those first few years, much of the Windows team was focused on the security push and XP SP2. What few teams were left on Longhorn (as it was called at the time) were mostly without direction. Once XP SP2 shipped and teams started focusing back on Longhorn, it was clear that things had gotten out of hand and they implemented the famous Longhorn [wikipedia.org]
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Seriously - did I get the magic copy of Vista that works just fine or something?
Not at all. My wife needed a laptop to run a certain industry-specific application, so we bought a Compaq that we later discovered to be XP-incompatible. That is, there are no XP drivers for the chipset or graphics card, so unless we want to give up USB, Wi-Fi, DMA, and resolutions above 800x600, we pretty much have to leave Vista on it.
Know what? You're right. It's a nice OS that boots quickly and smoothly with plenty of nice eye candy. Never mind that none of our printers worked any more, or that
Re:My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS (Score:2, Informative)
Oh, and to all you UAC haters, I actually like it. You all probably surfed the net with admin privileges on XP and thought you were secure because you use firefox. Not so, pineapple man! UAC works well, and is not intrusive. I only get prompts with (un)installs and serious configuration changes, but not in
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I have a laptop with an AMD 64 dual core processor, and 2 gigs of ram. It takes Vista at least 2 full minutes to boot from the time I type my password to the time I get a usable desktop. This is out of the box. With major tweaks, I was able to improve this, but it is just sloppy to have this kind of performance by default. Vista is geared towards your average joe who won't/can't tinker with the OS.
The shiny stuff is nice, I lik
Re:My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS (Score:2)
Nothing breaks Vista faster then crappy drivers, and when it first came out there were tons of those around.
(The 32 bit version should never have existed, IMO. Microsoft should have used that as the dividing line. "Want a computer with less resources? Use XP. Want to use 4GB of RAM? Use Vista." Its not like Vista
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Re:My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS (Score:2)
Well, based on my own experience and reports from others, you do seem to be a statistical outlier. Our machine (Dell C510 upgraded to 1GB RAM) was unbearably slow with Vista Home Basic (no Aero), even with several CPU and RAM-hungry options disabled. It couldn't even play its own boot-up sound without skipping. I put XP on there and it's actually usable now.
Perhaps with a higher-end machine Vista runs better, but for just ru
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Well, only about a third of Europe died as a result of the Bubonic Plague. And only about 60%-75% of the Jews who lived in territories controlled by the Nazis died in the Holocaust.
So I guess no matter how horrifying something is, there are always going to be people who dont see what the big deal is.
(I am not saying that Vista is as horrible as the Holocaust, I am saying that just because a few hundred thousand people might lik
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How much d'you think I can get for it on ebay? There's gotta be a ton of folks who want Vista with the hidden "Work OK" setting enabled by default.
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How much d'you think I can get for it on ebay? There's gotta be a ton of folks who want Vista with the hidden "Work OK" setting enabled by default.
Yep, I guess so. But you will also probably have to sell your computer so they have the exact same hardware that worked well for you. You will also have to sell your computer usage tendencies since your computer needs must align perfectly with what actually works in Vista. You will probably have to make sure
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You will probably have to make sure that the buyer has a similar level of patience as you do when all those pop ups start going off. (you might know what they are asking, but my dad thinks he has done something wrong every time it happens)
See - thats EXACTLY why I must have the magic copy of Vista. I never get any popups - and I have UAC fully enabled. I run plenty of legacy software that predate XP, let alone Vista, so before I installed it I figured I'd see it all the time. About the only time I ever see the popup is when I launch Visual Studio...
Re:My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS (Score:2)
Food for thought: Firewalls on the box are a bit like putting the moat inside the castle walls.
Re:My top annoyance with Vista? It ain't in the OS (Score:4, Funny)
Apparently you did. Not a single application compatibility problem? Lucky you. Lack of decent Anti-Virus/Firewall solutions available. Turn off a single "security" feature and the system nags you non-stop. UAC is retarded. I'm quite capable of using my system without it, but I can't turn it off without the nagging. It's simply not able to be configured at a fine-grained level, and the system complains if you turn it off outright.
As does every other modern OS on the planet. This one will only run smoothly if you either a) have a very modern system, which many can't afford yet, or b) change back to the Windows 2000 look and turn off all the bells and whistles (why would you do that?)
Yeah, the hard drive only grinds needlessly for 5 minutes before allowing me to use it. This on a Core-Duo with SATA drives. What the hell is it doing?
...which some random update causes it to remain asleep. Again, no exotic hardware, just a standard ASUS motherboard with a Core-Duo.
which explains that even with AVG professional I got no less than 5 adware registry entries within 3 months? (no, not browsing pr0n) My Windows XP box has never received even 1 (same AV engine). Oh yes, and making you click "Confirm"/"Deny" is really security? Why the hell did you execute the program, etc. if you didn't intend to? Idiot-proofing != security. You're stuck with Windows Firewall (which sucks) as opposed to being able to install (say) AVG Professional Firewall, which works well. There's no default AV program, and no free solutions were/are available, so there's another $60 to the price tag.
So you bought a $500 OS and a $60 Anti-Virus program to get a photo gallery? Either you've got money to burn or you just bought the most expensive slide-show program on Earth? Apparently you need Vista's idiot-proofing features...
Maybe the fact that you don't actually use your computer explains why it works for you. As a desktop ornament it's great and has lots of eye-candy. So does Ubuntu, and I can do stuff with it too.
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weird business model (Score:2, Troll)
That's a weird business model, assuming that we're talking about the world outside the BDSM area.
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Screen Flicker (Score:2, Informative)
If you do disable TMM, you will need to remember to disable the 2nd monitor before suspending your laptop to go somewhere. If you don't, you'll go to unlock your machine and be staring at a black screen. You'll then need to hit CTL-ALT-DEL, and select
Being Constructive. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's sad when.... (Score:2, Funny)
it's sad when an operating system is so horrible it severely hinders even writing about it.
Why would anyone ever buy this book (Score:2, Insightful)
If you have specific annoyances, you search for them on the Internet and find solutions. That's like having a giant constantly-updated index at your fingertips.
Microsoft will have released a new operating system, with new flaws and workarounds and fixes, before such a paper book becomes worn.
So why spend the money, unless you are a collector of books?
I'm starting to hate Vista (Score:3, Insightful)
The one thing about Vista that has been DRIVING ME INSANE, is the fact my vista clock keeps going forward by 4 - 6hrs (it's random but at a minimum of 4hrs). I've tried everything to correct this issue and have even come across users who have the same issue and still no avail. fix. I've tried new drivers, confirmed the time zone, checked in other OS's, etc etc but Vista will not remember the time for the life of it. It's a huge nuissance and is about to force me to go back to XP. I can't believe I've lived with Vista this long (bought it on the day it came out. . . yes I paid real $$$ for it). There is a bunch of other random issues but I won't bore anyone with the details as I'm sure it's already been beaten to death with the "I hate Vista stick"
When I find the time to reinstall all of the windows apps on XP I'm throwing Vista out.
My own experience hasn't been so harsh... (Score:4, Informative)
I was, in fact, pleasantly surprised...mostly. I don't know if it was the manufacturer (HP) doing a great install configuration or the version (Home Premium) or the fact it was built for Vista vs. just slapping an upgrade on a current computer, but I've had very few problems. Only thing I've done was upgrade the memory from 1 to 2 GB. I also turned off UAC which I found beyond annoying. The computer is used mostly at home and behind a firewall--not to mention that UAC can be foiled--and chances are most people are going to automatically approve something when they're installing a program (which is usually when a person gets a virus), so the UAC becomes useless.
If you're into voice recognition, the voice recognition that comes with Vista works surprisingly well--better than Dragon Naturally Speaking and with less training. (Just be sure and have a good microphone.) However you won't be able to use it with Open Office--you'll have to stick with MS Office, notepad, etc. Also I'm able to play even ancient DOS games with DOSBox and I've found very few programs I've had a problem running. Networking with my wireless router was a breeze.
Vista IS a Mac rip-off with eye candy--stick a few new screensavers and Yahoo! Widgets on your XP and you're 2/3s there. The most annoying thing is once again having to FIND where they hid the settings again--almost none of it is helpful or makes things smoother--especially if you want to just view ALL the programs. It's not as great as the fan boys praise, but it's not as horrible as the nay Sayers make out either. Personally I wouldn't upgrade from XP as long as possible, but if you're getting a computer with it installed, you might find it isn't as bad as you think.
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
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That issue aside, when it comes to making changes that you're not entirely comfortable with (which presumably you wouldn't be if you needed a book to tell you how) it's usually a lot more useful to have an interactive environment (ie. IRC, web forum, mailing list) in which you can fire back questions if things don't go according to plan. Books are great for refe
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Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not the books fault if the solution to a particular problem is perhaps too sophisticated for some users. Unless there's an obvious simpler answer that the book overlooks, then this is simply a fact of life. The whole point is that they're trying to help out with an annoying piece of software they didn't write. What else could they do? Do what you originally said and just list the annoyance and show no solution? Or even worse -- list the annoyance, say that there's a solution, but then don't say what it is on the basis that it's too hard?
If the book can help users get over some of their problems, then it isn't a moot point at all. If by providing solutions that may be beyond the average reader, they encourage some of those readers to push their limits and become more comfortable, then that's even better.
That issue aside, when it comes to making changes that you're not entirely comfortable with (which presumably you wouldn't be if you needed a book to tell you how)
Some people are a lot more comfortable doing things if they have a book to tell them how. E.g. I'm no tool maven, and I would be terrified of actually trying to fix any of my plumbing if left to my own devices, but I am confident enough with tools that given an appropriate book explaining what to do that I could do it.
I get your point about a static book not necessarily being the best companion to a dynamic piece of software, but for some people especially beginners a book they can easily refer to and work through at their own pace is a better starting point than a web forum where they have to deal with human factors of entering some geek forum as well (e.g. the way I'd feel walking up to a group of contractors and plumbers and going "Der, how do I stop my faucet from leaking?" and then being confused by their answer).
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Are you sure? From the review:
We've all seen the damage newbs can do when playing with the registry...have you?
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe, but newbies are also the ones who aren't particularly comfortable with asking questions, often can't completely explain the issues they're having (It don't do nothin'), and might have screwed something up which would prevent them from accessing the Internet.
A book, which can be propped open next to the keyboard and monitor, can be followed like a cookbook, minimizing the headaches of searching forums (and then trying to find those forums again after Windows asks you to reboot for whatever reason).
This sounds trivial to everyone here at /., but it's not for us.
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This is an O'Reilly book. If you don't know what that means maybe you are new around here. O'Reilly books are consistently authoritative 'cut through the crap' books on the topics they address.
O'Reilly has published _the_ authoritative books in so many software categories that it goes without saying that in this community (Slashdot) anybody who stumbles out of the woodwork attacking a book like this looks like, well, somebody stumbling out of the woodwork. O'Reilly is a traditional Unix book publisher. For instance, they published the X11 manual set. For Unix people trying to make sense out of the 'doze the O'Reilly books are often the first one to reach for. Further, the 'Annoyances' book series has been a cut-through-the-crap series for people forced to deal with Windows since the Windows 95 days.
To me it goes without saying that anyone who would refuse to even question the usefulness of a book purely because they like the publisher behind it is someone who is not helping anyone or anything. Sadly, there are all too many people in this community who, like you, will refuse to even discuss certain things based on their own merits because they've already picked their "side" and decided that this thing or that thing is either with them or against them (Gee, where have I heard that before?) and will bli
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Funny)
Did you mean: would be slashdot?
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method #1: get a real OS.
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Funny)
Oblig. Douglas Adams (Score:5, Funny)
This was the first thing I thought of:
The reason why it [the Hitchhiker's Guide] was published in the form of a micro sub meson electronic component is that if it were printed in normal book form, an interstellar hitchhiker would require several inconveniently large buildings to carry it around in.
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Funny)
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Upon reading the EULA for Office 2003, I can't find the clause you mention. It's a pretty standard EULA and is actually surprisingly generous in its licensing terms, especially with regards to clip art (which is more or less "don't use it to violate any depicted entity's trademark, and if you do, we're not liable"). There's nothing in there that I could find about not usi
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De revolutionibus orbium caelestium (Score:3, Insightful)
The workrounds for Vista are actually considerably simpler.
Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Seriously? (Score:5, Funny)
The publisher told him the trilogy probably wouldn't sell as well.
You forgot one (Score:2, Funny)
Re:You forgot one (Score:5, Funny)
That's not a drawback, it's a feature.
Re:You forgot one (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shock Horror (Score:5, Informative)
To summarize:
Even Cheaper (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Shock Horror (Score:5, Informative)
If Vista is so terrible, how come every single retail shop sells it first and foremost?
Umm, pretty much because Microsoft is forcing them to. And, yes, Microsoft does get to say when you can or can't sell something.
OEMs don't get forced into buying Vista after all, and it's not like Macs aren't selling either so it's clearly not just a Windows thing.
You have no idea of what an OEM agreement is, do you? Yes, OEMs are forced into buying Vista. Either that, or they forfeit all the nice marketing support, pricing, and other goodies that Microsoft gives - and that amounts to a lot of money. Think I'm kidding? Just try to buy an XP computer from Dell or HP after June 30'th. That's the cut-off date set by Microsoft for OEM sales.
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If your company wants to have any dealings with MS ever again, it is actually more expensive. All of Microsoft's agreements with OEMs charge based on how many PCs are shipped by the OEM, rather than how many PCs are shipped with an MS OS on. And that's leaving aside the fact that MS forces all OEMs to "recommend" the latest version of their OS and has consistently penalised any who ship with a non-MS OS using various lawful and unlawful means.
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Why Windows Vista: The OEM agreement.
Got it now?
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OEMs don't get forced into buying Vista after all,
If you believe that, I'll sell you this nice pretty bridge I live under.
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I will assume that you are new to this because things have been this way since the Pentiums first rolled out. There is nothing illegal, immoral or anything else wrong. It has nothing to do with liking or even if the OS is useful to their customers. It all comes down to availability a
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On second thought, the OEMs probably like Vista because it makes them more money. Not because of any value Vista brings, but because the customer need