Windows Vista Beta 2 features bugs and blue screens
The most recent beta of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Vista operating system is the most unstable late development OS release from the company in over a decade, according to industry analysts.
"I have been testing Microsoft operating systems since Windows 95, and this is the buggiest OS I've seen this late in development," said Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "Look at the older operating systems, and by Beta 2 there is a stable foundation on which the [independent software vendors] can build."
In an article published at TopTechNews, Wilcox goes on to assimilate the recent Vista release to "a ship on stormy seas." A survey of 207 companies released by analyst's firm last week showed that nearly 50 percent of those companies plan to wait at least 13 months after Vista's release before deploying the software, while some don't plan to adopt it at all.
But Wilcox and his firm are not alone in their assessment of Vista. It's being reported that the broad range of Vista Beta 2 testers have found the release to be plagued by bugs and blue screens. Although Microsoft has not planned a Beta 3 release, some testers are suggesting that the company reconsider.
According to TTN, Vista's current memory consumption stands at a staggering 700MB -- recently reduced from a full gigabyte. Still, that's about three times the memory requirement of Microsoft's previously released Windows XP system.
"Put the testing aside, I can't find a valid antivirus software that works with it," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with research firm Directions on Microsoft. "That is a key application and runs at a core level. If the antivirus vendors, who work closely with Microsoft, can't get Vista working, then the core is not stable."
Cherry told TTN that it might be time for the industry to reset expectations because an operating system should no longer be considered groundbreaking technology.
"I am impressed with Apple OS and I like the way over the last couple of releases they have made a series of incremental improvements. It has not been earth-shattering," the analyst added.
For its part, Microsoft (as a company) has maintained that the first release candidate (RC1) of Vista would ship by the end of next month. However, individual executives have acknowledged that Vista's code will not ship until it is ready.
Microsoft has said Vista will be available for consumers in January.
"I have been testing Microsoft operating systems since Windows 95, and this is the buggiest OS I've seen this late in development," said Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "Look at the older operating systems, and by Beta 2 there is a stable foundation on which the [independent software vendors] can build."
In an article published at TopTechNews, Wilcox goes on to assimilate the recent Vista release to "a ship on stormy seas." A survey of 207 companies released by analyst's firm last week showed that nearly 50 percent of those companies plan to wait at least 13 months after Vista's release before deploying the software, while some don't plan to adopt it at all.
But Wilcox and his firm are not alone in their assessment of Vista. It's being reported that the broad range of Vista Beta 2 testers have found the release to be plagued by bugs and blue screens. Although Microsoft has not planned a Beta 3 release, some testers are suggesting that the company reconsider.
According to TTN, Vista's current memory consumption stands at a staggering 700MB -- recently reduced from a full gigabyte. Still, that's about three times the memory requirement of Microsoft's previously released Windows XP system.
"Put the testing aside, I can't find a valid antivirus software that works with it," said Michael Cherry, an analyst with research firm Directions on Microsoft. "That is a key application and runs at a core level. If the antivirus vendors, who work closely with Microsoft, can't get Vista working, then the core is not stable."
Cherry told TTN that it might be time for the industry to reset expectations because an operating system should no longer be considered groundbreaking technology.
"I am impressed with Apple OS and I like the way over the last couple of releases they have made a series of incremental improvements. It has not been earth-shattering," the analyst added.
For its part, Microsoft (as a company) has maintained that the first release candidate (RC1) of Vista would ship by the end of next month. However, individual executives have acknowledged that Vista's code will not ship until it is ready.
Microsoft has said Vista will be available for consumers in January.
Comments
And just because you can't find any antivirus software to run on it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I don't see any company releasing software for Vista until Vista goes final. Beta testing is to make sure the software is working correctly, not something for you to just install and use as your everyday OS.
To name a few.
Curry told TTN that it might be time for the industry to reset expectations because an operating system should no longer be considered groundbreaking technology.
Um, who's Curry?
Still, I'm doubtful about a January consumer release. I think it will be spring... especially with Apple giving themselves more time with Leopard.
Nothing "earth-shattering" in the recent OS X releases? How about a code base that makes my 6 year old Cube run faster with each release and is faster now than when I first got it with OS 9 on it? How about Spotlight? How about Dashboard? How about Expose? How about plug and play that just works? How about the Core Foundation (audio, video, image, and soon animation)?
To name a few.
Making the OS run faster with each release just points out how slow the initial releases were. As for it being faster then OS 9, I think a lot of people will argue that point. Spotlight is NOT earthshattering. Its nothing different then a half-dozen different indexing tools available on Mac and/or windows (like Google Desktop or MSN search). Dashboard is just Konfabulator redux, and, even then, that's just a bunch of little programs running and chewing up cycles but having little actual use (I'm sure I'm one of the few who apparently never found a use for Dashboard, esp. since it doesn't allow widgets to just always appear). Expose is nice, but nothing more then just window management with a pretty wrapper. "Plug and play that just works" isn't earth-shattering because (a) the Mac OS has always had it (can't call it new if its always existed) and (b) it works, but only on a subset of peripherals out there.
As for the Core foundation, find any non-programmer who actually even knows what you're talking about or how it affects them. They're few and far between.
Even from what we've seen so far, Leopard doesn't really offer much excitement in terms of 'new' features.
I think any of us could have written something more intelligent and factually based really.
Making the OS run faster with each release just points out how slow the initial releases were. As for it being faster then OS 9, I think a lot of people will argue that point. Spotlight is NOT earthshattering. Its nothing different then a half-dozen different indexing tools available on Mac and/or windows (like Google Desktop or MSN search). Dashboard is just Konfabulator redux, and, even then, that's just a bunch of little programs running and chewing up cycles but having little actual use (I'm sure I'm one of the few who apparently never found a use for Dashboard, esp. since it doesn't allow widgets to just always appear). Expose is nice, but nothing more then just window management with a pretty wrapper. "Plug and play that just works" isn't earth-shattering because (a) the Mac OS has always had it (can't call it new if its always existed) and (b) it works, but only on a subset of peripherals out there.
As for the Core foundation, find any non-programmer who actually even knows what you're talking about or how it affects them. They're few and far between.
Even from what we've seen so far, Leopard doesn't really offer much excitement in terms of 'new' features.
You don't offer much excitement here either...so pipe down.
Making the OS run faster with each release just points out how slow the initial releases were. As for it being faster then OS 9, I think a lot of people will argue that point. Spotlight is NOT earthshattering. Its nothing different then a half-dozen different indexing tools available on Mac and/or windows (like Google Desktop or MSN search). Dashboard is just Konfabulator redux, and, even then, that's just a bunch of little programs running and chewing up cycles but having little actual use (I'm sure I'm one of the few who apparently never found a use for Dashboard, esp. since it doesn't allow widgets to just always appear). Expose is nice, but nothing more then just window management with a pretty wrapper. "Plug and play that just works" isn't earth-shattering because (a) the Mac OS has always had it (can't call it new if its always existed) and (b) it works, but only on a subset of peripherals out there.
As for the Core foundation, find any non-programmer who actually even knows what you're talking about or how it affects them. They're few and far between.
Even from what we've seen so far, Leopard doesn't really offer much excitement in terms of 'new' features.
Google Desktop and MSN search are Spotlight knock-offs released after their respective companies got a good look at the Tiger beta. Dashboard is an extension of an idea that existed in System 6 in the 1980's called Desk Accessories. Expose has, for me, completely changed the way I work when dragging and dropping between windows/applications. One of my biggest gripes now when using Windows is the lack of Expose.
As for the Core foundation, it isn't necessary for something to be popularly known to be an earth-shattering development.
I can only speak for myself, but the latest releases of Apple technology, especially Spotlight's system-wide integration, and Expose have completely changed the way I work. I can't imagine going back to a system without them.
While questions remain, TimeMachine looks to do the same by making backup something for the masses.
does this mean that apple can realese leopard earlier now seeing that vista wont be out for a while. I remember in a post on another string someone said that if apple released os 10.5 now by the time vista was ready apple would be ready with 10.6 and the way it's looking now that could actually happen
Yeah, if this article is correct, it looks to me like we can expect the foreshadowed re-delays...
EDIT: I mean delays in Vista, not Leopard.
Making the OS run faster with each release just points out how slow the initial releases were. As for it being faster then OS 9, I think a lot of people will argue that point. Spotlight is NOT earthshattering. Its nothing different then a half-dozen different indexing tools available on Mac and/or windows (like Google Desktop or MSN search). Dashboard is just Konfabulator redux, and, even then, that's just a bunch of little programs running and chewing up cycles but having little actual use (I'm sure I'm one of the few who apparently never found a use for Dashboard, esp. since it doesn't allow widgets to just always appear). Expose is nice, but nothing more then just window management with a pretty wrapper. "Plug and play that just works" isn't earth-shattering because (a) the Mac OS has always had it (can't call it new if its always existed) and (b) it works, but only on a subset of peripherals out there.
As for the Core foundation, find any non-programmer who actually even knows what you're talking about or how it affects them. They're few and far between.
Even from what we've seen so far, Leopard doesn't really offer much excitement in terms of 'new' features.
I'm excited about Spaces to be sure, I'm also excited about Time machine, but I'd like to know a little more about how it works exactly.
And if you want the dashboard widgets to always appear do this:
Open the Terminal and type defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES and press Return. Then logout and log back in again.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...50422172929402
I did that and I use it all the time now to grab the calculator, or the dictionary for when I'm playing Yahoo Literati
I'm excited about Spaces to be sure, I'm also excited about Time machine, but I'd like to know a little more about how it works exactly.
And if you want the dashboard widgets to always appear do this:
Open the Terminal and type defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES and press Return. Then logout and log back in again.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...50422172929402
I did that and I use it all the time now to grab the calculator, or the dictionary for when I'm playing Yahoo Literati
You can also use Onyx, an excellent program, to set developer mode for dashboard, if you are positively command line-phobic. I've had my battery level widget on my desktop for months.
Google Desktop and MSN search are Spotlight knock-offs released after their respective companies got a good look at the Tiger beta. Dashboard is an extension of an idea that existed in System 6 in the 1980's called Desk Accessories. Expose has, for me, completely changed the way I work when dragging and dropping between windows/applications. One of my biggest gripes now when using Windows is the lack of Expose.
As for the Core foundation, it isn't necessary for something to be popularly known to be an earth-shattering development.
I can only speak for myself, but the latest releases of Apple technology, especially Spotlight's system-wide integration, and Expose have completely changed the way I work. I can't imagine going back to a system without them.
While questions remain, TimeMachine looks to do the same by making backup something for the masses.
Hear, hear! I agree that these were huge innovations to the OS. Perhaps by earth-shattering, the author of this article meant earth-shattering like an earth quake--it slows down productivity and hurts the economy. There you have it. Vista will be an "earth-shattering" OS release.
The author has it right though. The days for drastically altering OS's are over, at least for now. MS didn't see this in time and it has lead them to a very bad place.
To be honest, I'm not sure he knows what hes talking about - he calls OS X 'Apple OS'
I don't think the average reader knows what "OS X" is, so that's likely why he called it "Apple OS"
does this mean that apple can realese leopard earlier now seeing that vista wont be out for a while. I remember in a post on another string someone said that if apple released os 10.5 now by the time vista was ready apple would be ready with 10.6 and the way it's looking now that could actually happen
I'd say it's not likely. They can use the extra time to refine the features, plus hold out til the last second to spring the surprises on Microsoft.
I wonder if more business will switch to mac or linux....