I finally got around to installing Vista RC1 (Build 5600?) on my iMac, and I must say, vista is not that bad. The vista search is comparable in speed to spotlight (probably didn't give it time to index), but it did seem slightly slower. My iMac with my sig specs scored a 4.4 in the ratings system (the video card killed it... why they only judge that on gaming is above me). Aero actually looks really nice, screenshots do not do it justice... the transparent look of windows is not that bad (plus it is easy to turn off). The effects on windows opening and closing is a nice touch, but can be annoying when opening preference windows and such.
User account protection is annoying as hell... and was the only bug I encountered on my short spin... how vista works is if you get a UAC window, the rest of windows goes dark and you must attend to the window, well when it goes back to windows, I get a video distortion with the stock windows drivers (which gave native resolution, aero support).
Built in programs are an improvement, windows calendar isn't a total iCal rip, more of an Outlook rip (which has been around longer than iCal). Photo gallery (?) is really disappointing... the layout and controls of the program suck. I was surprised though by the slideshow themes, very nice.
Media Center seems counter intuitive to me... they changed it from a vertical interface to a horizontal interface. Good for widescreens, but it increases scrolling. I'll take front row any day.
I only installing one third party program, and that was firefox. UAC made it annoying to install, had to right click it and run it as an admistrator, but it worked without a hitch. I tried installing iTunes seven, but IE seven would not load the download page properly, so I gave up (prior to firefox download, it is actually what prompted me to change).
Overall, and this is coming from a long-time mac user that has never owned a dedicated pc or windows, Vista is actually very nice. It isn't ground breaking to say the least, but for long-time windows user, and new ones, it seems like a nice, logical progression. Since I've owned my iMac, I've ran XP... I dont' see any real reasons for anyone to run out and buy Vista, but for new PC buyers, it should be worthy upgrade from XP.
User account protection is annoying as hell... and was the only bug I encountered on my short spin... how vista works is if you get a UAC window, the rest of windows goes dark and you must attend to the window, well when it goes back to windows, I get a video distortion with the stock windows drivers (which gave native resolution, aero support).
Built in programs are an improvement, windows calendar isn't a total iCal rip, more of an Outlook rip (which has been around longer than iCal). Photo gallery (?) is really disappointing... the layout and controls of the program suck. I was surprised though by the slideshow themes, very nice.
Media Center seems counter intuitive to me... they changed it from a vertical interface to a horizontal interface. Good for widescreens, but it increases scrolling. I'll take front row any day.
I only installing one third party program, and that was firefox. UAC made it annoying to install, had to right click it and run it as an admistrator, but it worked without a hitch. I tried installing iTunes seven, but IE seven would not load the download page properly, so I gave up (prior to firefox download, it is actually what prompted me to change).
Overall, and this is coming from a long-time mac user that has never owned a dedicated pc or windows, Vista is actually very nice. It isn't ground breaking to say the least, but for long-time windows user, and new ones, it seems like a nice, logical progression. Since I've owned my iMac, I've ran XP... I dont' see any real reasons for anyone to run out and buy Vista, but for new PC buyers, it should be worthy upgrade from XP.
