What Do You Want In a Vista Preview?

[Ryan Smith]

Hey guys, we just got our copy of Vista Beta 2 here at AT today, and since we don't get to preview new versions of Windows all that often, I'm curious to hear what you guys want in a Vista preview. We're still planning this out, so I can't make any promises on what we'll have or what suggestions we'll use, but we want to make this as informative as possible for everyone without going overboard.

Just to give you an idea of what we've already decided on, we're definitely planning on covering DirectX10 some, along with revisiting 32bit vs. 64bit (since XP64 has been a flop so far) and at least some limited performance testing with games and Areo, keeping in mind it's still a beta OS. With that in mind, what else besides those items would you like to see in the preview? TIA guys.

 

[mechBgon]

Not quite to the point, but if Windows Media Encoder 9 Series runs on it, you might consider using WME9 to do some short .WMV screencaptures of anything that you think people would like to see in action. Then again, maybe that would be a major bandwidth-burner.

I'd like to see the low-rights-by-default aspect given attention, because I think Admin-by-default is one of the prevalent dangers to so many Windows users. One false click, and their kid, or roommate, or in-laws turn their computer into a steaming pile of adware. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost and all that. If the article is going to try to show what Vista has to offer beyond previous versions of Windows, then that looks like a big one.

While you're at it, you might test some software that's known NOT to work under a Limited account under WinXP/2000, and see if Vista can trick it into playing ball without an Admin account. Various editions of QuickBooks come to mind :roll: but there's plenty to choose from.

 

[ProviaFan]

I would like to hear your opinion on whether Vista handles multitasking under load better than XP. In XP x64 with an Athlon 64 X2, for example, if I am encoding some media with flac and converting some raw files in the Adobe DNG converter (both running at normal priority as default), the UI becomes almost unusable due to sluggishness. Given that Vista was touted at one point as having optimizations for the now more widespread multi-core systems, it would be interesting to see if these tweaks have actually made it into the product.

 

[Bowsky]

Something I would like to see, that unfortunately cannot be benchmarked, is the improvement on the UI with Aero. I've used OSX as well as Compiz under various Linux platform and enjoyed those experiences. Not only because of the eye-candy, but also the ability to pull up windows on a cluttered screen much faster than is possible with the current Windows ('expose' on the MAC and 'switcher' on Linux come to mind). I would like to know how Aero compares to these other tools when dealing with a large amount of windows. Is it just as easy to use? more or less functional? or just a glorified version of Aly-Tab?

Also, when it comes to benchmarks, it would be interested to compare CPU performance between Aero turned on and off. This should be close to zero as Aero is suppost to rely on the GPU to provide its effects.

 

[mchammer]

Try the new backup features out.

 

[dguy6789]

I would like discussion on performance in games compared to Windows XP. See if alt tabbing from an intensive game to desktop and back works as well or better than in XP. See how well Vista runs in general compared to a machine with equal specs on XP. Microsoft says that due to lots of network enhancements, broadband users and lan users should be able to notice a speed improvement; see if this is true. Find out how secure Vista is; See how easy it is to get spyware and such when compared to Windows XP. Test the functionality of the Vista firewall vs XP firewall. There is supposed to be lots of audio enhancements in Vista as well, be sure to check it out. Vista is supposed to have a more advanced application priority and thread management system; see if Vista multitasks better than Windows XP. Stress the operating system to the limits. Run lots of applications at once, play games, run various software scans, encode media. Give us your opinion on how solid the OS seems to be in terms of stability. Just kick back and use the OS for a few hours, then give us your opinion on how you feel about the new UI.

 

[SunnyD]

I would like to know how much of the current resource footprint is debugging overhead, so that all the whiners saying the system requirements can stfu. I'm expecting about 30-50% of the memory footprint is debugging code. Unfortunately, this is something that you're not going to be able to review, unless you talk to Microsoft. And they're not going to tell you.

 

[nweaver]

dual token admin account stuff would be good, especially if you can setup an internal test with malware websites, so that you can see how far coolwebsearch gets when someone is running as admin, and doesn't give their "admin token". Things like that.

Also, a review of the TCP/IP stack (XP to XP, VIsta to XP, Vista to Vista) comparision might be good. I think the claims are too good to be true myself.

 

[rbV5]

I'd like a look at the Media Center functionality and how it compares with MCE 2005 from a hardware and software perspective.