Windows Vista Dream Scene – Really Cool

Video: Windows Vista Dream Scene

Windows Vista ultimate Extras – Dream Scene Released

Dream Scene brings you dynamic Desktops where you can place any movie as desktop wallpaper. The format is preferably in WMW or MPEG. If you are a windows ultimate user you can directly download from ultimate extras.

Also StarDocks DeskScapes are also free. This is an add-on to Dream Scene that brings dynamic wallpapers to vista Ultimate. Deskscape adds .DREAM Files that have dynamic non-video content.

So your windows will look more dynamic and exciting.

Fore more info see here

Windows Vista Hands On Part II

So as far as pricing is concerned it does not make a huge difference between Windows XP and Windows Vista. I would recommend new buyers to go for Windows Vista.

Windows Vista is very different from the first view. I have been tracking windows vista from beta stages. I am not a internal beta tester or I do not have any MSDN subscription to receive the CD’s. But from Paul’s WinSuperSite I got a glimpse of how the operating system is building up and through the screenshots I can see the growth of the Operating system. I got the opportunity to test the software from Beta 2 stage through customer preview program. I downloaded Beta 2 and I installed on my Machine. To be honest, my machine is not a latest system and it is three year old system. I will write the config below.

Hardware Requirement

Many of them argue that you need to have a dual core CPU (Even friend of mine was having same thought) to run Vista which is totally wrong. I will give my PC spcs

• AMD Athlon 32 Bit (Barton Core) – 2600+
• ASUS A7N-E Deluxe – with nVidia N Force 2 Chipset, Dual DDR 400 Mhz.
• 80 GB SATA Seagate HDD
• 2 x 512 MB DDR 400 SD RAM = 1 GB (in Dual Channel Mode)
• nVidia GeForce Fx 5200 -128 MB RAM
• 17” Flat Panel Monitor

Before 3 years when I purchased this specs it was premium specs as was just 64 bit processors entering the retail market. With nVidia graphics and Drivers sets it was superb in Windows XP. But when I searched for drivers in nVidia site there was no drivers for my motherboard. Huh, I thought it was end of story to install Windows Vista. But I wanted to try.

So I downloaded windows Vista upgrade Adviser and checked for hardware components. Except for some Virtual CD Drivers and Other software’s everything was OK. For some it said it has to get drivers from Windows Update.

I proceeded to install. First I am not aware whether it will take the Silicon RAID Driver which is supposed for windows XP. Otherwise I would not be able to install since I have SATA HDD.

There are major changes in installation routine. It is very simple, quiet fast (I should not say very fast, at first Microsoft promised much more faster installation for vista but yet…), and clean. Setup routine can now detect USB medias, where in windows XP you have to use only Floppy Drives which was very horrible. After I installed Raid Driver, I was able to proceed with setup.

In windows XP also, there is no drivers for nVidia based boards, MCP and Network Cards and Marvel Gigabit Lan. After installing XP I have install using driver installation CD ROM.

When I installed windows Vista, Everything got installed, everything means all the drivers that I used to install separately in windows XP such as nVidia MCP drivers, Network Card Drivers, Gigabit Lan drivers etc. In Vista everything is pre installed, except one or two. Mainly I could not hear sound from my Vista on first start. That was really bad. But……

After restarting, it ran automatic updates and I got my sound. I just did not do anything. Everything was just out of the box for me. I did not go hunting for drivers this and that. Even in nVidia site there is no supported drivers for nVidia nForce 2 Chipset for Windows Vista. But that does not affect because all the drivers are installed.

One more thing I forgot to mention is that even nVidia GeForce 5200Fx Driver is also installed. There is real “WoW”.

Still there are lot of “WoW”s in Windows Vista.

First Look

So after installation and first boot, everything was there except antivirus software. I would like to make some suggestions to Microsoft that they should definitely give at least a basic antivirus system inbuilt into the system, which is very very essential. It is up to the customer to get any other antivirus software according to their trust level. I do not know how many of them know about “MSAV”- “Microsoft Antivirus” and “MWAV”-“Microsoft Windows Antivirus”, Which was there during the days of DOS and Windows 3.11 which was very basic antivirus tool, similarly there should definitely be a antivirus software right out of the box.

Any ways lets proceed.. So there was no antivirus and I wanted my PC to be always in a secure zone, so I searched for antivirus software’s for windows vista. There was just one from PCCillin which gave internet security beta product for testing which was for free, so I downloaded and installed, and everything was just nice.

When I went on, I found more difficulties, because Beta2 is was like half baked food and it was slow, also 50% of my softwares and tools working in Windows XP did not work properly in Windows Vista. I decided to just keep that in dual boot and use Windows XP.

Then I got windows Vista RC1. I installed RC1 as well and I saw a huge difference in speed and application compatibility. Seriously… but still I could not install Virtual Machine, Virtual Drives (CD /DVD) to load my ISO Images. Though most of the items are usable I could not make it as my Full Time OS.

Then I got Windows Vista RC2, This is where I totally abolished Windows XP and I decided to make Vista as my Full Time OS. Windows Vista RC2 and RC1 was not huge difference but there was lot of speed and lot more application compatibility. I could install almost all software’s that I installed in Windows XP. For some I got updates from internet to support Windows Vista.

So my journey to Vista Started there. Until I bought Windows vista Ultimate on Feb 2^nd I was using RC2 Version Of windows Vista.

WoWs

There are numerous comparisons for Mac OS X and Windows Vista. Honestly I should say, it has take some time for Microsoft to get to that level. It is not because of lack of expertise or lack of thinking but it is because of huge customer base and partner base. I will write a article on Mac Criticisms in detail, now we follow with Vista Hands On.

First when you see Windows Vista you will immediately see this (provided you have minimum compatible hardware) Windows Aero Interface. Seriously to impress in first glance it is very well laid out. Very professional. There I not BIG UGLY START BUTTON, but now it is windows squabble Logo. It is really nice. Total Black rendering which is my favorite color. Total reflective interface is really wonderful.

The My Computer has totally changed. Context Menu’s has changed. Networking has changed.

Some of them will be in doubt whether they want to upgrade to Windows Vista. My answer is undoubtedly they can upgrade if they hardware platform support. There are numerous reason for that.

On the surface level you can see all these enhancements.

• Flip 3D – User windows Key + Tab to switch using Flip 3D, – Flip 3D in RC2 was not very smooth while in Final Release version it is really smooth and good
• Flip – Using Alt + Tab – Very nice , Very fast to switch between running programs, with live preview
• Live thumbnails- Just hover over the minimized windows then it shows the preview – it is a negative in some areas because whenever my boss comes I used to minimize all windows using Windows + D Key. Now they can easily see a preview without even opening Window. L(
• New Games
• Windows Photo Gallery – In windows XP you do not have a photo organization tool or good photo preview tool. So you got to have either ACD See or Corel PhotoPaint or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Picassa at least. Now there Is no need for all those. You can do minor edits, color adjustments, crops, red-eye fix, exposure fix all in windows photo gallery. So no need to spend extra bugs.
• Windows Movie Maker – it is a upgraded version to what you have in windows XP. Though I did not use it very much, it is very well laid out.
• Windows DVD Maker – Simple DVD Authoring tool.
• Windows Calendar
• Windows Media Player (of course)
• Windows Meeting Space

Apart from surface level changes, there are huge improvements in productivity applications

• Internet Information Services 7 (IIS 7)
• Enhanced Remote Desktop
• Windows Network and Connection Center
• Dot Net framework 3.0

(I will post screenshots in next part)

Again from a developer point of view, Windows vista comes with .Net Framework 3.0. So all my Dot Net applications just run out of the box. Seriously it is a very important thing for me as a developer point of view as I always have problems to make the user to download and install Dot Net framework 2.0. So the new deployment will just a XCopy Deployment where no need to install any frameworks (unless you have written some libraries to include in GAC).

Windows Vista has Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation which will leverage the full power of windows vista when there is a custom applications based on these frameworks.

When I wanted windows to be just want to everything I want without scratching me for extra money for additional software’s Windows vista is the right Go.

I wanted IIS server on Windows XP and thus I need windows XP Pro. I also want to enjoy with Media Center sometimes where I could not do because I need to have Windows XP media center edition (or get some third party stuff – paid or free) which does not have RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and IIS. So I have to stick back to Windows XP pro. Let’s say if I get a tablet pc, I have to get tablet pc edition which again lacks some functionality. Now with windows Vista Home premium , it is best for all home users where u can get everything including tablet pc functionality if you have a tablet pc. For users like me Windows Ultimate is ultimate choice as it as everything I need. So one great problem of having different versions to fit different environment is no longer there and I can do everything I need to do with Windows which is what I always expected from first.

After having mentioned so many Plus points there are some negative facts too. I will cover them in next part. First I will cover how well the OS laid out not at the surface level but inside the OS itself.

As it is.. the article is getting bigger.. thus I will continue the rest in next part..

Until then bye..

Windows Vista – Language Out of the Box

Installing Language is support is very very easy when compared to windows XP. In windows XP to install additional language and complex scrips you have first install the language pack. But this is not the case with windows vista in which it is just out of the box.

1. Go To control panel –> Regional and Language Settings –> Go to Keyboards and Languages Tab

Click on Change Keyboards…

Click on Add (in installed services)

Now you will see list of Languages available. This is far more than windows XP and just out of the box.

Now you can select any languages you want and the keyboard layout given in the list. You can also preview the keyboard layout to make sure of the layout or to know the keyboard layout.

Thus the lanugage support in Windows Vista is far easy and better than windows XP. It takes some time for the people to adopt to Windows Vista but it has lot many features, which i will cover one by one in future.

Thanks for Reading.

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“Wow” Starts “Now” – Windows Vista Hands ON – Part I

Windows Vista is officially launched for consumers on Jan 30^th.

There are hell a lot of reviews on there on the internet. Also this is plus 1. In most of the reviews many small things and good things has been missed out. Everybody write only about Flip 3D, Thumbnail preview which is most obvious to us and leave out many small things that are there in OS. I am also yet to experience the full OS but I am sharing with you what I have discovered so far.

Hey OS X

Another thing is that Mac users are saying that “Windows Vista” is nothing new but all copied from OS X. I seriously doubt who copied who. The widgets (Dashboards in OS X) is not first in Windows Vista or Also not first in OS X. It was StarDock corporation who first started destopX (earlier known as “Object packs”) and then by Yahoo! (Also yahoo bought from Konfabulator). This was later adopted in OS X with little modifications. Similarly desktop search was not first in OS X. Desktop Search was there already by google. Even Microsoft has always had indexing service for fast searching. Only thing it was not properly implemented or not properly used. So there is this kind of argument saying “I am the first” is ridicules. There is a lot of things to criticize MAC but this article not for it.

Windows History

Windows evolved from DOS to Windows Vista Today. There are lot sorry huge changes to operating system over the years. When I started working with windows 3.11 it required just 60 MB (max) HDD, 4 MB RAM to run the OS and it was pretty good for use. I also installed Microsoft Word 6.0 for word processing and I was having Lotus 123 (windows based).

Then Microsoft released Windows 95, whose requirement became bigger as the content grew bigger. It required at least a Pentium class machine with 32 MB RAM and 200 MB of free space. Windows 95 was very much advanced when compared to windows 3.11. It had a lousy internet explorer. Network connections were much different and lot more. The whole experience was very nice.

Then Microsoft released Windows 98, which included internet explorer 4 and tight integration of Internet explorer and windows Shell (which gave raise to lot of problems later). The Internet began to grew at these stages quiet rapidly. Windows 98 was living very well and it had around the same requirement as windows 95 but it was far slower than windows 95. Boot time was more than windows 95. Meanwhile there was server products from Microsoft.

Then came windows 2000, which is based on NT (New Technology). It had far more requirements compared to windows 98. Windows 2000 was a workstation product of server editions. It seemed that Microsoft is merging DOS and NT or abandoning DOS. The driver database was getting huge in windows 2000. There was broad support for hardware platforms with windows 2000.

Then came Windows Me, Millennium edition. This is a sandwich edition between windows 2000 and windows XP. Actually I used windows Me a lot than windows 98. Windows Me had good driver bundles. Does not require you to insert CD all the time as it keeps backup of the required files. Networking was far easier than before, it installs many NIC (Network interface card) drivers itself and Connects to proxy server automatically and so on. It had preliminary system restore functionality.

Then it was Windows XP. It was seriously superb to see whole new LUNA theme. Progress bar, Title bar, Fonts, Clear Type, Tile View thumbnail view, shell enhancements, IE 6, inbuilt Data Access utilities and lot more. I should say windows XP was far better than any other pervious operating system. I did not imagine networking would be easier when compared to previous editions.

Longhorn in START

Windows XP when launched is the most stable OS in windows history. To be honest I have never seen a single blue screen of death with my 5 years of experience in Windows XP. But it occasionally hangs may be solely not due to OS alone but with the software’s I loaded. Windows XP had lot of security issues when it was exposed to internet. There started big problems for Microsoft. They had to stabilize the existing windows before they can move on to upcoming product. Thus they made windows a more secure with windows XP SP1. But still it was very much vulnerable to attacks and more frequently the whole system was down due to vulnerabilities. The “Longhorn” (now Windows Vista) was already begun and coding was started based on Windows XP code base. Due to all security drawbacks Microsoft had to pause longhorn development and started on Windows XP SP2. It fixed many critical issues. According to sources, there are 50% complete overhaul of windows XP. But yet those were not enough. The Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer wanted Windows XP SP2 as a separate windows release rather as a Service Pack which was opposed by Jim Allchin, who wanted it to be delivered as service pack keeping customer in view point. That is still today where Microsoft is able to grab hold on Windows XP SP2 until release of Windows Vista.

Windows Vista

Windows vista has a better code base of windows server 2003 and is much more stable than Windows XP. It is more secure and it has built in firewall, Antispyware (Windows Defender) for security attacks. Windows also included User Account Control where even administrators will run under limited privilege and can elevate the privilege for special administrator tasks .

Windows Vista has Five Editions

• Windows Vista Home Basic – Has windows vista core experience but lacks 3D graphics interface.
• Windows Vista Home Premium – has All essential features for Home User with media center
• Windows Vista Business – All Vista features without media center
• Windows Vista Ultimate – A Complete set of all windows vista features
• Windows Vista Enterprise – Edition for Enterprise only available in volume licensing

First of all I should ask why there are these many editions of vista. At first I thought it was very bad to have this many versions and it will confuse the customers. But after the release of pricing of products it was quiet reasonable to have different flavors as most of the home users do not use business functionality and will pay the cost without using the feature where was Business users who will seldom use media center functionalities neither want those. Thus the cost factor gets distributed here.

 

Should you upgrade ? if yes to which version ?

This is very good question , whether should you upgrade your windows XP to windows Vista. Windows Vista has more hardware requirement than windows XP. You may running smoothly in your windows xp but it will not guarantee you that you will be able run Windows Vista Smoothly. So first go to www.windowsvista.com and get the windows vista upgrade adviser. Run the software and check whether your system can support windows vista. If not you cannot upgrade to windows vista. If yes, then just don’t start believing you can install. You check with your motherboard manufacturer site that your motherboard can support windows vista. It is recommended to have 1 GB of RAM to run your windows vista smoothly. There might be a possibility that many desktops could easily support windows vista, if you have purchased a good one, with external graphics card of at least 128MB graphics memory.

 

If your PC supports everything then you can upgrade. Then decide on which version. If you are a home user and if you do not have multiple PC’s and if you need full Vista functionality choose Windows Vista Home premium. For most of the users even if you are business users except that you need “Remote Desktop” and other advanced communication features you can choose Home premium. If you do not want much of entertainment but if you need all communication and business advantages choose Windows Vista Business. Let’s say if you want both then Choose ULTIMATE.

 

How much does it cost ?

If you are buying a new system then you may get bundled with system maker otherwise you can buy OEM Software in the market.

Approximate street pricing of Windows Vista Software’s in Singapore

OEM

Windows Vista Home Basic (OEM)* – SGD $138 – Compare to SGD $100 to Windows XP Home OEM

Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM)* – SGD $177 – Compare to SGD $100 to Windows XP Home OEM

Windows Vista Business (OEM)* – SGD $224 – Compare to SGD $200 to Windows XP Pro OEM

Windows Vista ultimate (OEM)* – SGD $303 – Compare to SGD $200 to Windows XP Pro OEM

Comparing the Windows XP OEM pricing it is really not expensive because you have lot many features and applications when compared to windows XP Home or Pro.

*Note: OEM Licensing is tied to the PC. Thus the license dies out with the PC and you may not be able to transfer it. Even the system builders (DELL, HP, etc) are installing OEM license and hence you cannot transfer the license. It is considered that once you have installed it is tied to the PC. That is why OEM pricing is very low compared to Retail Pricing.

 

Retail Pricing*

Windows Vista Home Basic – SGD $199

Windows Vista Home Basic (Upgrade)

Windows Vista Home Premium – SGD 454.76

Windows Vista Home Premium (Upgrade) – SGD 309.86

Windows Vista Business – SGD 563.75

Windows vista Business (Upgrade) – SGD 382.62

Windows Vista Ultimate – SGD 698

Windows Vista Ultimate (upgrade) – SGD 468

* Note : All prices stated are approximate and in Singapore Dollars. Actual price may vary according to stores. Please check the stores for latest prices.

When you are going for retail options you have a benefit of transferring license. Thus you decide on which editions to buy. For myself I bought windows Vista Ultimate (Upgrade).

 

Little trick using Upgrade DVD for Retail Install

There is no patch, illegal crack or illegal key is required. You just need windows Vista upgrade DVD that’s all. First you install booting from the DVD and DO NOT KEY in the Product key when asked. It will install trial version for 30 days. After installing, install again for upgrade DVD. So you get a full retail version for the price of upgrade.

 

Next Part

As this part is getting very long I will continue to post the next part very soon with my experiences on windows vista ultimate.

 

Good night