Vista 5456 on Connect

Sven Groot wrote:

Some improvements in the are of UAC. Most importantly, it doesn't steal focus anymore! Instead we get a flashing taskbar button. That's the way it should be.

Excellent!

Hmm, one thing needs a little clarification in the UI (note: not new to this build). Due to popular demand, they brought the "Apply to all folders" button back, but it doesn't actually apply the current settings to all folders. It applies the current settings to all folders that use the same template as the current folder.

So if I change the settings in a folder using the Music template, then apply it to all folders, only other folders using the music template will use those settings.

I don't think this is a bad way of doing things, mind you, it just needs to be more clear from the UI. Right now the fact that there even are multiple templates is terribly hidden (customize tab on the folder properties).

I just noticed (okay, actually I read it on the newsgroup), you can drag reorder the tabs in IE7 in 5456.

I don't see it under "Available Connections". Isn't it a public beta?

This build is not for the public. On another note, this build seems really nice, speedwise I would have to say it is just as fast if not faster than XP. IE7 is greatly improved by feel too.

irascian wrote:

OK. So am I the only one who gets "You do not have permission to view this page" when he tries to click on the release notes hyperlink on Connect, or did everybody else just completely ignore the instruction "You must download and read the release notes prior to installing this build" and go ahead and do the download and install anyway!

I know you had said it was a rhetorical question but I do have to say something here....

Users aren't going to read the release notes they're going to want it to work. And if Jamie can complain about UI/Navigation points then I think it's OK if I can complain as well

If I was a serious beta tester (Dedicated time to filing bugs) then I would read the release notes, file bugs, subscribe to the newsgroups,etc...however I don't therefore simple complaining...doesen't hurt anything but maybe gives people a heads up on what maybe to expect.

Cybermagellan wrote:

I just did the upgrade...

Damn, that's all I have to say....

1) Took 3 hours...that's BS for an upgrade (boo)
2) 5 restarts...(boo)
3) New in select control panel areas... (yay)
4) Cleartype disabled (boo)
5) I had royale installed before the upgrade...did the upgrade, and now royale is gone (boo) cary over my themes damnit.

Just finished installing and I have to say I've had a completely different experience.

1. Installation took less than 25 minutes which was very good. Previously installations took at an average 45 minutes so this is a real improvement.

2. This build seems a lot more responsive in terms of performance and UI polish.

3. Tabs can be re-arranged in IE 7+ (YAYYYYYY)

4. The resource monitor (avaialble from the Task Manager) is finally usable and provides good information about the system.

5. New Switch windows icon the Quick Launch menu that brings up the new task switcher (Windows Key + Tab)

6. Windows explorer seems a lot more responsive than previous Beta 2. List View is back!!

7. Desktop window manager still consumes a lot of memory... I guess thats why they are recommending at least 1 gig of memory if you are going to use Aero Glass.

Stephen wrote:

If only Australia had a decent telecommunications provider I would have it by now.... lalala.. 1.5/512 is the fastest we get without paying through the <I must watch my language>

If you're in a metro area check out iiNET. I get 3.7Mbits/s down and 650kbits/s up and i'm 4 KM from the exchange.

My phone bill has chopped in half due to the voip service they offer as well.

But yes, ISP's do suck over here

Stephen wrote:

If only Australia had a decent telecommunications provider I would have it by now.... lalala.. 1.5/512 is the fastest we get without paying through the <I must watch my language>

Huh?  What are you talking about?  24000/1000 isn't much different in price from 1500/256.  With my ISP, 24000/1000 with a 30GB limit is cheaper than 1500/256 with a 25GB limit.

We do need a better telecommunications provider though, we should have had this stuff years ago instead of it just coming in to a few select areas now.

cain wrote:

 Huh?  What are you talking about?  24000/1000 isn't much different in price from 1500/256.  With my ISP, 24000/1000 with a 30GB limit is cheaper than 1500/256 with a 25GB limit.

We do need a better telecommunications provider though, we should have had this stuff years ago instead of it just coming in to a few select areas now.

Cyonix wrote:

If you're in a metro area check out iiNET. I get 3.7Mbits/s down and 650kbits/s up and i'm 4 KM from the exchange.

My phone bill has chopped in half due to the voip service they offer as well.

But yes, ISP's do suck over here

Yes that is all fine if you can get ADSL2 or Cable down your street and if not then I am left with what I have

This takes the thread Off-Topic so I will keep my on going whinging over at Whirlpool 

Can anybody post the link for downloading Build 5456 ? I can't find it...

Cybermagellan wrote:

I know you had said it was a rhetorical question but I do have to say something here....

Users aren't going to read the release notes they're going to want it to work. And if Jamie can complain about UI/Navigation points then I think it's OK if I can complain as well

If I was a serious beta tester (Dedicated time to filing bugs) then I would read the release notes, file bugs, subscribe to the newsgroups,etc...however I don't therefore simple complaining...doesen't hurt anything but maybe gives people a heads up on what maybe to expect.

Filing bugs and such is the entire point of the Beta. If you aren't going to do that, then what's the point of you using Vista at this point? Read clause 7 of the licence agreement that you agreed to.

I got to install with only making 4 choices - nice! Has anyone gotten Visual Studio 2005 Retail to install on this build? Setup.exe just crashes for me.

I've really given up on installing and uninstalling Vista.

This time I upgraded rather than a clean build. It still can't find any of my drivers where a couple of releases ago on a "clean" install it had no problems.

With 5456 the screen went back to a poor resolution, no sound, no wireless network. The in-built wireless card which is slow so not normally used IS detected but tells me there are no wireless networks within range despite the fact five other wireless PCs in the same room are happily using it. You can click on diagnostics, but then it expects to go out to an internet connection to display help and of course without a network....

I sorted the screen res out by reinstalling the XP driver I got from Toshiba's web site a few years ago. I can't do the same with the Yamaha sound driver or the Compaq wireless card. The sound driver complains about a missing codec. So you try and install the missing codec which fails with an unspecified OS error and... well life is TOO short. 

This is pretty basic stuff, has been there in different variations on many drops now and leaves a very negative impression. Maybe I'm just unlucky with my hardware choices but it's not like Toshiba Tecra and Compaq are not household names. If these sorts of issues are not fixed by RTM what hope for Microsoft improving their negative reputation for Windows when Joe Public try this sort of upgrade?

Maybe I've just been unlucky but I've spent too many wasted weekends on these various drops with little of real use or stability to warrant any kind of effort. When even Microsoft's own Mike Taulty can't get SQL Server 2005 to install on it what hope for the rest of us mere mortals?

The speed with which beta 2 has been withdrawn (what happened to the old "beta's will be quality releases" mantra?) as yet another "much improved" CTP build gets rushed out shows what a farce the whole Vista release schedule has been.

I really am beginning to believe those naysayers who think that Microsoft really have lost the plot.

Irascian you ol' time Niner! Put her there buddy!

irascian wrote:

The speed with which beta 2 has been withdrawn (what happened to the old "beta's will be quality releases" mantra?) as yet another "much improved" CTP build gets rushed out shows what a farce the whole Vista release schedule has been.

Sorry, but that's not true. Beta's are higher quality releases, and 5456 is neither a CTP (it's your usual interrim build) nor a replacement for beta 2 (as it's not public). The time between the beta 2 and 5456 releases is also not any less than I have seen in previous betas between milestones and the first interrim after.

Typically what happens is that the code in the milestone gets frozen (relatively) and only high-priority fixes get put in to achieve that milestone quality. More broader changes that had been deliberately put off until after the milestone show up in the next interrim build. This is also what happened with Vista beta 2 and 5456.

And 5456 isn't anywhere near the quality of beta 2. Sound stutters (again), microphone input doesn't work (on any PC or sound card), many visual glitches (some old, some new), x64 uses 64 bit IE by default and sometimes refuses to launch 32 bit IE, changing the sort order in explorer doesn't work, I can't open any folders in the favorites in IE, connecting my Windows Mobile device doesn't work, and more. Beta 2 was far better. But that's why beta 2 was a milestone and 5456 was not.

ManagedCode wrote:

I got to install with only making 4 choices - nice! Has anyone gotten Visual Studio 2005 Retail to install on this build? Setup.exe just crashes for me.

If you are trying to run setup off of the cds, copy the contents of the cds to your harddrive and run setup from there. I had to do that to get it to work under the new build. (much like you used to have to back a few months ago)