The Dark Side of Windows Vista RC1

By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

I haven’t even installed Windows Vista yet, so I have no opinion, just passing along Paul Thurrot’s The Dark Side of Windows Vista RC1.

You see, Windows Vista isn’t perfect. It’s not even close to perfect. It’s better than Windows XP is, of course, but it damn well should be: It benefits from five more years of experience and work. Being better is the minimum requirement. Whether Vista is enough of an improvement over XP to warrant your hard earned money is a subject I’m saving for my eventual review of the final shipping version of the product, but I’ll give you a bit of preview now and say the answer may surprise you. In the meantime, let’s harp a bit on the things I don’t like about Vista as it now stands in RC1 form.

It’s the UI, stupid. Actually, it’s a stupid UI
Last year, I infamously called for the firing of the person responsible for what was then a miserable Media Center user interface. That was a bit harsh, perhaps, but you have to remember that the Media Center UI that debuted in the October 2006 CTP (see my review) was also absolutely horrible. Since then, Vista’s Media Center has improved a lot. At least Microsoft listens.

And take User Account Control (UAC), please. No seriously, please take it. And kill it. And stomp on its dead body. And then hang it on a flag pole as a warning to others. Yes, UAC is dramatically less annoying than it was in Beta 2. And yes, Microsoft has addressed the very egregious problems and bugs I found in this software earlier this year. And you know what? UAC is still annoying. It’s still really annoying. It still pops up way too much, especially when you’re using a so-called administrator account.

We Say: He also has a Five Great Features in Windows Vista RC1 to balance his review, and a great list of reviews he’s already done here.