[Osiris]

Microsoft has announced the arrival of the February Windows Vista CTP, which was renamed to "Enterprise CTP" as the company moves from monthly to audience specific naming. The release means Windows Vista is now "feature complete," offering the first glimpse at the Windows Sidebar.

In a conference call Wednesday, General Manager of Windows Client Product Management Brad Goldberg heralded the Enterprise CTP -- numbered build 5308 -- as a "call to action for businesses." Microsoft is encouraging enterprises to begin testing out new features starting today.

"Windows Vista is as much, if not more, a business focused release that will provide significant value for business customers," Goldberg said. He cited four examples of how the operating will benefit companies: deployment and support costs, security, connecting people and information, and mobile productivity

[Tyler1989]

still no working NIC driver for me.

[ilovesocks]

Originally posted by coreyjames66
In my humble opinion, this whole topic is just so much hoo ha.

Heh, I agree corey. I was just looking through Vista's new features, as posted on Wikipedia. Here are a few gems:

Internet Explorer is upgraded with support for tabbed browsing, RSS, a search box, a phishing filter, and improved standards support.

:eek: No! Internet Explorer will have tabbed browsing?? This technology is way ahead of its time - it will never catch on! And a search box? What am I going to search? I already downloaded the Internet yesterday. In all seriousness, I'm glad that the spankin'-new, next generation of Windows will come with a browser that can do all the same things as the browser I'm using right now (think of a smoking-hot little animal with a bushy tail).


Windows Update: Software and security updates has been simplified, now operating solely via a control panel instead of as a web application.

Wait, I thought they were giving us a new version of Internet Explorer? I guess it's still not good enough for downloading updates.


Games: Every game included with Windows has been rewritten to take advantage of Vista's new graphics capabilities. New games include Chess, Mahjong Titans, Purble Place, and Hold 'Em.

Ah, finally we can all play poker with brand-new, DirectX 10-compatible graphics cards!


Search: significantly faster and more thorough search capabilities, similar to what is offered by Microsoft's own Windows Desktop Search, Copernic, and Apple Computer's Spotlight. Search boxes have been added to the Start menu, Windows Explorer, and several of the applications included with Vista.

The last time I used Windows' search function, I was looking for a file that it said was missing. I found it, by the way.


The "My" prefix on folder names has been dropped, and "Documents and Settings" has been renamed to "Users". The "Pictures", "Movies", "Music" etc. folders now reside in the user's main directory, not under "Documents" as in previous versions of Windows.

The work that's gone into this new version of Windows is nothing to sneeze at, folks. It's things like renaming folders that make it no wonder that Vista has been delayed for so long.


And let's not forget:
Touch-screen support will be included.
So that the one guy who has a touch-screen monitor can feel that warm sense of satisfaction. Seems like using a touch-screen takes more energy than moving a mouse.


Granted, there are a few useful things, such as

Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSat), a built-in benchmarking tool which analyzes the different subsystems (graphics, memory, etc), and uses the results to allow for comparison to other Vista systems, and for software optimizations.

and

Windows Defender: Microsoft's Anti-spyware product has been incorporated into Windows, offering protection against spyware and other threats. Changes to various system configuration settings (such as new auto-starting applications) are blocked unless the user gives consent. New version uses Windows Automatic Updates, and is compatible with the limited account.

But knowing Microsoft, the Windows Defender will probably be a weak point ripe for exploitation.


All in all, I'd say this is definitely worth a couple hundred bucks and a complete overhaul of my system. Thanks, Microsoft.

[Mak213]

Well gee since you are such an expert why dont you write us a OS that is 10x better than Vista?

Come on. It is a discussion of the stuff that is going ot be featured. Yeah we all know it isnt "innovative" or "New" but you know what- nothing is now a days.

Your little animal with a bushy tail stole the "Tabbed" browsing from Opera who in turn got it from someone else. It has been around for almost 10 years. Yet you think Firefox is the best cause it "Intorduced" it. More like made it main stream.

The other stuff like renamed folders and touch screen support. Does Linux have it by default? How about OS X? Okay thank you.

The Games-your right they are not all that special. I agree. But they are nice to see the remake instead of having Solitare from Windoew 3.1 on the next version of Windows.

But of course you know all this. How about the UAP. Where you are not allowed to install software that is considered harmful to your system? Why didnt you mention that? IT stops spywayre, malware, trojans from even being executed. But that isnt a nice feature. What about the more advanced network support? How it is easier for multiple computers to share information with just a few clicks? Not nice either.

Let me clear this up. I am not all for VIsta. I wont even get it for the first 2 years or so. But what i am saying is that is is a BETA. Which means it is not final. It may not be all that everyone hoped for but at least M$ is trying to make things the way us USERS want. Not the way they want to make it.

Vista is by far not at the top of the food chain. It did steal alot of ideas from other places. But in the computer industry nothing is "innovation" anymore. Everything has just about been done and tried out. So nothing new is really coming out.

So case in point if you dont like what Vista has to offer. DONT GET IT. Stay with XP. Dont bash something until you have complete knowledge and understanding of it. Not saying i do. But since i have tried all the builds out i can say that at least they are working to make things easier for us. Espically us Tech people. With preventing people from installing stupid software that destroies machines.

Okay i think i said enough.

[Tyler1989]

You covered that very well.

As for Wiki as a source I'll go over there and change the article to "ViStA is teh l33t". Any idiot can influence Wikipedia. Look at the presidents biography for example.

The download server is under so much stress today you are lucky to push 30K and then it will disconnect you. Hurray! Best to get it in a few days after the crazy rush. For those interested in the new CTP.

[Osiris]

NVIDIA has made available ForceWare drivers for Windows Vista February Customer Technology Preview (CTP) build 5308.FebCTP_Final.060217-2200. The current ForceWare driver is a preview release that will enable you to test the basic features and capabilities of the new operating system. This driver has no performance optimizations included and has received limited stability testing.

This driver does not include an Installshield. You must use the INF installation to install this driver by going to the Windows device manager and manually updating the graphics driver. The NVIDIA graphics control panel is not included in this driver release.


http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x64_87.15.html

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvista_x86_87.15.html

[mikee]

Since the feature complete version of vista is out why havn't we seen any real system requirements yet? what is ms up to?

[THE_VERN]

has there been a price tag on it yet?

[RockyZ]

Well gee since you are such an expert why dont you write us a OS that is 10x better than Vista?

No, I'm pretty sure no one here can write an OS as good as Bill Gates and his army of low-paid slaves. I do not see how you can even attack anyone with that statement, I cannot translate Manga better than Tokyopop, that still doesn't mean Tokyopop can translate Manga for crap.

I think I can safely say that anything that micrsoft has ever made is buggy. I understand its a BETA, therefore I will not judge it yet. But please understand, we are talking about microsoft, and they are known for crappy products, then again, I am currently using Windows XP.

I look forward to testing out this new OS but then again, my system is already outdated. Since VISTA is gonna come out in the mainstream, soon nothing will be compatiable with Windows XP anymore, and anyone who hasn't done a complete computer overhaul wouldn't be able to keep up with the newest technology.

I am hoping this is worth it, not having my hopes up.

[Mak213]

@Mikee. They have not gotten System requirements out yet since it is still not rid of the bugs that lag the system. It is still a memory hog and that would make the requirements high. Until they solve that problem you wont see System Requirments come out.

@Vern. No you wont see a proce come out untill they can get the system specs out. For the same reason. If they have to have a high powered system run it you will see its price drop a bit but if you can get away with running it on a less powerful machine you will see the price stay high.

@RockyZ. That was my point. The indivual was Attacking Vista for it "Features". I was trying to make a point that he should not speak since he could not even do that.

Also As you stated "Everything M$ releases is Buggy" well i have to say you are wrong there. M$ is the most attacked. That is why the bugs are found. If Apple/Mac or even Linux was attacked 1/3 of the amount of M$ then you would hear so much more aobut their security holes.

I am not trying to defend Windows. I am just trying to open people's eyes. They attack a OS that every hacker and their brother, mother, father, and sister go after. To me that is like saying Gas Prices are too high when we have no oil to make it.

I dont mean to go off like this but understand. Vista is the next "Big" thing in M$'s eyes. Not in Tech's or anyone else's eyes for that matter. M$ is putting more on this than anyone. If Apple would allow thier system to dual boot with Windows flawlessly Apple would take over the industry.