Windows Vista Beta 2

I installed the new Windows Vista Beta 2 over the weekend on my home computer. Vista is the next version of Windows that is expected to be released to the public in early 2007. The installation takes a long time! The beta is a 3.2G download which you must burn to a DVD in order to install. The installation went without a hitch, although I had to remove Windows Defender and Norton AntiVirus as they were not compatible with the installation. Windows Defender was reinstalled during the installation process. I will look for a compatible AntiVirus program today. The only other application that would not run so far was the Symantec enterprise VPN client. I will try reinstalling it after Vista is installed to see if that corrects the problem.

So far I like what I see. Screen handling in Vista is very nice. Windows and menus fade in and out nicely. Note that the video hardware requirements for Vista are not light. You must have good video in order to run Glass, the very cool video UI in Vista. The first few machines I put Vista on were not able to run Glass. Vista itself ran OK but without the nice video stuff.

The other thing that is very noticeable is the security in Vista. Almost everything I do for the first time requires that I approve the application. This is good but I wonder how the everyday user will feel about it.

I haven't had a lot of time to play around with the new stuff in Vista but as I do I will post my findings here. Remember that we do not suggest our Clients run any beta software on their production machines. Windows Vista is no ordinary beta. You will probably cause yourself some problems if you install it.