Vista - Mindshare Groups and Vista

I coordinate a senior's user group that belongs to the Microsoft Mindshare
program. Yesterday I received a "Mindshare Package" that contained a CD with
Vista Beta (good for 10 uses) on it to give away as a door prize. From the
notes on this newsgroup, it doesn't seem like Vista is stable enough to just
give it away as a door prize. Especially with the inability to uninstall it
easily and return to XP. Those of you who have installed this software -
does it seem stable enough at this point to make it a door prize at a user
group meeting? It seems to me I would have to give a lot of "install this
with caution" messages.

Thanks for your thoughts.
Tom

Install with caution would apply, so would:

- Do not install this on a production machine that you rely on working
correctly
- Do not install this on a machine where you cannot afford to lose the data
- Do not upgrade an existing installation unless you are comfortable with
formatting in order to return to where you started
- Do not upgrade an existing WindowsXP installation where IE7 beta is
installed
- Do not expect all your existing software to be compatible with this new
operating system
- Do not expect this operating system to support all of your hardware
correctly

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

"Tom from WI" <not_read_address@no-name-isp.us> wrote in message
news:eAoTlfHxGHA.4876@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>I coordinate a senior's user group that belongs to the Microsoft Mindshare
>program. Yesterday I received a "Mindshare Package" that contained a CD
>with Vista Beta (good for 10 uses) on it to give away as a door prize. From
>the notes on this newsgroup, it doesn't seem like Vista is stable enough to
>just give it away as a door prize. Especially with the inability to
>uninstall it easily and return to XP. Those of you who have installed this
>software - does it seem stable enough at this point to make it a door prize
>at a user group meeting? It seems to me I would have to give a lot of
>"install this with caution" messages.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
> Tom
>

"Tom from WI" <not_read_address@no-name-isp.us> wrote in message
news:eAoTlfHxGHA.4876@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>I coordinate a senior's user group that belongs to the Microsoft Mindshare
>program. Yesterday I received a "Mindshare Package" that contained a CD
>with Vista Beta (good for 10 uses) on it to give away as a door prize. From
>the notes on this newsgroup, it doesn't seem like Vista is stable enough to
>just give it away as a door prize. Especially with the inability to
>uninstall it easily and return to XP. Those of you who have installed this
>software - does it seem stable enough at this point to make it a door prize
>at a user group meeting? It seems to me I would have to give a lot of
>"install this with caution" messages.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
> Tom
>

And:
This operating system will stop working after 31 May 2007.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Please reply in newsgroup. Do NOT send email.

Good advice. I printed it out and will include it with whoever gets the
disk.
Tom
"Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:esY0KqIxGHA.4596@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Install with caution would apply, so would:
>
> - Do not install this on a production machine that you rely on working
> correctly
> - Do not install this on a machine where you cannot afford to lose the
> data
> - Do not upgrade an existing installation unless you are comfortable with
> formatting in order to return to where you started
> - Do not upgrade an existing WindowsXP installation where IE7 beta is
> installed
> - Do not expect all your existing software to be compatible with this new
> operating system
> - Do not expect this operating system to support all of your hardware
> correctly
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>
> "Tom from WI" <not_read_address@no-name-isp.us> wrote in message
> news:eAoTlfHxGHA.4876@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>I coordinate a senior's user group that belongs to the Microsoft Mindshare
>>program. Yesterday I received a "Mindshare Package" that contained a CD
>>with Vista Beta (good for 10 uses) on it to give away as a door prize.
>>From the notes on this newsgroup, it doesn't seem like Vista is stable
>>enough to just give it away as a door prize. Especially with the inability
>>to uninstall it easily and return to XP. Those of you who have installed
>>this software - does it seem stable enough at this point to make it a door
>>prize at a user group meeting? It seems to me I would have to give a lot
>>of "install this with caution" messages.
>>
>> Thanks for your thoughts.
>> Tom
>>
>

I've installed Vista on a blank HD, but I downloaded build 5536 instead of
the CPP copy Mindshare sent us. Most of it works, but can't get the Mindshare
demo to work. The Mindshare CD autoloads, and displays the main menu, but
when I try to start the Vista demo, IE opens and displays a message that it
can't display the webpage. And it's a non-existant folder on my local hard
disk.

I suspect a bug in IE7+ is causing the problem, but the script is too
complicated for me to troubleshoot.

I agree. Don't give the CD out, unless the member is highly literate and
knows what is in store for him. Give out the cap instead.

Gerry
Santa Barbara PC Users Group

"Tom from WI" wrote:

> I coordinate a senior's user group that belongs to the Microsoft Mindshare
> program. Yesterday I received a "Mindshare Package" that contained a CD with
> Vista Beta (good for 10 uses) on it to give away as a door prize. From the
> notes on this newsgroup, it doesn't seem like Vista is stable enough to just
> give it away as a door prize. Especially with the inability to uninstall it
> easily and return to XP. Those of you who have installed this software -
> does it seem stable enough at this point to make it a door prize at a user
> group meeting? It seems to me I would have to give a lot of "install this
> with caution" messages.
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
> Tom
>
>
>