Vista - Hmmm

Didn't quite know how to title this thread, so just called it 'hmmm'.

I have recently taken the plunge and upgraded to Vista. I did it a previous
time and was overwhelmingly disappointed with too much about it.

However, the simple fact that DirectX10 will not function in XP, officially
anyway, and that Vista is geared towards DirectX10 hardware has basically
forced me to upgrade. There is a chance some clever code monkeys will get a
working DX10 in XP, but this isn't the most reassuring solution - relying on
emulation or cracks isn't really the way I want to work.

So, here I am, back on Vista Ultimate, and I have a few thoughts and
questions I would like to express.

First off, maybe it's just the fact I've installed it on my 3rd channel SATA
drive, while still having 2 IDE drives on the other 2 channels, but for some
unknown reason I can see the bootloader (glrdr) code just before the loading
bar for Vista kicks in. I have also discovered the 'boot' folder, containing
BCDEDIT etc is actually on my primary HD - just like my bootsector for XP
used to be - bootini etc. Thing is, the way Vista works is that 3rd channel
SATA drive is actually viewed as primary c: and the real primary c:, which
contains the boot directory, is now d:. And before anyone asks, my IDE
drives are slower and noiser than my SATA. Anyway, is this setup the reason
I can see the bootloading code (which resembles a DOS screen)?

Ok, as for the rest of the OS: basically of course it looks very nice - very
'shiny' and the animation and translucency is 'very purdy'. The dreamscene
seems a total gimmick though - having a moving desktop is as pointless as it
is bizarre. Maybe the reasons for that addition will emerge in time.

Not so good things: the Windows Mail client remains slow, ugly, and
unintuitive. Outlook Express was frankly infinitely superior, being quick,
simple, and clean. The abandonment of the contacts pane, plus the inability
to auto select the most recent message when ' show all read' is selected and
the mere fact it takes about 5 times as long to load compared to OE suggests
Windows Mail, while maybe more 'robust', requires a lot of work to improve
it.

Plus there remains a lot of 'erroneous' activity - usually by Explorer,
SVCHOST or dwm. It can be rather irritating that it takes about 2 minutes to
calm down after arriving on the desktop, and can then randomly kick in with
activity now and again. I killed the searching index which helped a lot, but
it does still happen.

I also have a major issue with MPG videos - go into any folder with these
files, particularly if you have thumbnails on, and you get rundll32.dll
stopping working, with its kind apologies. If you select any MPG you get the
same error. Marvellous.

I'm still also not very thrilled at the loss of the 'up' button in
Explorer...

And why is there no animation when you maximise a window whose size isn't
taking up the whole screen? It's instant now. It used to be a nice smooth
transition. It's odd that that animation is gone.

And Halo 2 and Shadowrun both crash out randomly. Oddly, both are MS games.

tbh, half of me doesn't mind Vista. It's pleasant to use, and is probably
the way forward.

But I do get a feeling it's no real advancement over XP. Not in the way XP
was over 98. And let's face it, 98 was what XP was the successor to. Vista
is basically a shiny all bells and whistles upgrade to XP, with quite a few
problems along the way (I can't believe they abandoned midi gamepad
support).

And the DX10 aspect is what is keeping me using it. Along with the regular
drive updates. If XP was to receive official DX10 support, I'd probably go
back.

Apologies for a rambling mess of a post

Things that make you go 'hmmm'.

KB

"Danny" wrote in message news:4w6hi.3317$fi4.276@newsfe7-win.ntli.net...
> Didn't quite know how to title this thread, so just called it 'hmmm'.
>
> I have recently taken the plunge and upgraded to Vista. I did it a
> previous time and was overwhelmingly disappointed with too much about it.
>
> However, the simple fact that DirectX10 will not function in XP,
> officially anyway, and that Vista is geared towards DirectX10 hardware has
> basically forced me to upgrade. There is a chance some clever code monkeys
> will get a working DX10 in XP, but this isn't the most reassuring
> solution - relying on emulation or cracks isn't really the way I want to
> work.
>
> So, here I am, back on Vista Ultimate, and I have a few thoughts and
> questions I would like to express.
>
> First off, maybe it's just the fact I've installed it on my 3rd channel
> SATA drive, while still having 2 IDE drives on the other 2 channels, but
> for some unknown reason I can see the bootloader (glrdr) code just before
> the loading bar for Vista kicks in. I have also discovered the 'boot'
> folder, containing BCDEDIT etc is actually on my primary HD - just like my
> bootsector for XP used to be - bootini etc. Thing is, the way Vista works
> is that 3rd channel SATA drive is actually viewed as primary c: and the
> real primary c:, which contains the boot directory, is now d:. And before
> anyone asks, my IDE drives are slower and noiser than my SATA. Anyway, is
> this setup the reason I can see the bootloading code (which resembles a
> DOS screen)?
>
> Ok, as for the rest of the OS: basically of course it looks very nice -
> very 'shiny' and the animation and translucency is 'very purdy'. The
> dreamscene seems a total gimmick though - having a moving desktop is as
> pointless as it is bizarre. Maybe the reasons for that addition will
> emerge in time.
>
> Not so good things: the Windows Mail client remains slow, ugly, and
> unintuitive. Outlook Express was frankly infinitely superior, being quick,
> simple, and clean. The abandonment of the contacts pane, plus the
> inability to auto select the most recent message when ' show all read' is
> selected and the mere fact it takes about 5 times as long to load compared
> to OE suggests Windows Mail, while maybe more 'robust', requires a lot of
> work to improve it.
>
> Plus there remains a lot of 'erroneous' activity - usually by Explorer,
> SVCHOST or dwm. It can be rather irritating that it takes about 2 minutes
> to calm down after arriving on the desktop, and can then randomly kick in
> with activity now and again. I killed the searching index which helped a
> lot, but it does still happen.
>
> I also have a major issue with MPG videos - go into any folder with these
> files, particularly if you have thumbnails on, and you get rundll32.dll
> stopping working, with its kind apologies. If you select any MPG you get
> the same error. Marvellous.
>
> I'm still also not very thrilled at the loss of the 'up' button in
> Explorer...
>
> And why is there no animation when you maximise a window whose size isn't
> taking up the whole screen? It's instant now. It used to be a nice smooth
> transition. It's odd that that animation is gone.
>
> And Halo 2 and Shadowrun both crash out randomly. Oddly, both are MS
> games.
>
> tbh, half of me doesn't mind Vista. It's pleasant to use, and is probably
> the way forward.
>
> But I do get a feeling it's no real advancement over XP. Not in the way XP
> was over 98. And let's face it, 98 was what XP was the successor to. Vista
> is basically a shiny all bells and whistles upgrade to XP, with quite a
> few problems along the way (I can't believe they abandoned midi gamepad
> support).
>
> And the DX10 aspect is what is keeping me using it. Along with the regular
> drive updates. If XP was to receive official DX10 support, I'd probably go
> back.
>
> Apologies for a rambling mess of a post

<snip>
>
> I'm still also not very thrilled at the loss of the 'up' button in
> Explorer...
>

I've seen others post this complaint. I have to admit, I'm somewhat puzzled
by it... one can still hit the backspace key to get to the previous folder
or click the "back" arrow. And... I'm not knocking you missing the Up
button, by any stretch of the imagination.

<snip>
> Apologies for a rambling mess of a post

Heh, heh, heh... either you're going to bed at 8 am or you haven't had your
coffee yet... ;-)

Lang

"Lang Murphy" <lang_murphy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news7A3842A-CC50-412A-BC26-C530F1F5B412@microsoft.com...

> <snip>
>>
>> I'm still also not very thrilled at the loss of the 'up' button in
>> Explorer...
>>
>
> I've seen others post this complaint. I have to admit, I'm somewhat
> puzzled > by it... one can still hit the backspace key to get to the
> previous folder or click the "back" arrow. And... I'm not knocking you
> missing the Up button, by any stretch of the imagination.

You don't need the up button anymore because the hierarchy of your location
is displayed above the file/folder tree to the right of the navigation
buttons and all you need to do is click on the level you wish to return to.
This allows you to easily go up one level but has the added advantage that
you can just as easily go up several levels to any level you want! This is
actually an improvement.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________
Qu0llSixFour@gmail.com
(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

"Qu0ll" <Qu0llSixFour@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:OXQ6MWuuHHA.484@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> "Lang Murphy" <lang_murphy@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news7A3842A-CC50-412A-BC26-C530F1F5B412@microsoft.com...
>
>> <snip>
>>>
>>> I'm still also not very thrilled at the loss of the 'up' button in
>>> Explorer...
>>>
>>
>> I've seen others post this complaint. I have to admit, I'm somewhat
>> puzzled > by it... one can still hit the backspace key to get to the
>> previous folder or click the "back" arrow. And... I'm not knocking you
>> missing the Up button, by any stretch of the imagination.
>
> You don't need the up button anymore because the hierarchy of your
> location is displayed above the file/folder tree to the right of the
> navigation buttons and all you need to do is click on the level you wish
> to return to. This allows you to easily go up one level but has the added
> advantage that you can just as easily go up several levels to any level
> you want! This is actually an improvement.
>
> --
> And loving it,
>
> -Q
> _________________________________________________
> Qu0llSixFour@gmail.com
> (Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)


Oh, I agree. I much prefer Vista's Explorer to XP's Explorer. I know many
people don't, and that's their prerogative.

Lang