Dave Pogue Reviews Vista in the NYT "Vista Wins on Looks. As for lacks..."

you "lucky b@stard"

"Alexander Suhovey" <asuhovey@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:CB731E38-84FF-4B13-A37E-1A51A3646B70@microsoft.com...
> "Chad Harris" <msftneedstogetoutvistainfo.net> wrote in message
> news:e3Pw9crJHHA.4068@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> It's always great to hear when one peson says "all my drivers work all my
>> peripherals work well; my hardware works great in Vista." We all want
>> that.
>
> I must be one ot those lucky b@stards. Because all my drivers work all my
> peripherals work well; my hardware works great in Vista.
>
> --
> Alexander Suhovey

Is "Mat Kimball" your real name?.


"Jupiter Jones [MVP]" <jones_jupiter@hotnomail.com> wrote in message
news:uBakY2wJHHA.780@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Chad has a small point with the printer port.
> My guess is the person speaking did not speak with authority and was
> overruled by those that did.
> This does not excuse an apparent promise, but there may be more that is
> not seen by us. Perhaps in the communications that Chad conveniently
> suggests are "private".
>
> Chad seems to have an axe to grind related to his former Beta days.
> He seems to carry it on blindly to Microsoft and against others that seem
> to disagree with his way as is often demonstrated in his long rants that
> usually go to politics and way off topic.
>
> And as you suggest there is a prioritization to bugs in any system.
> If a product is to be released, a line must be drawn at some point.
> Security issues are usually major candidates for must fix.
> The order of items in a drop down such as Chad is complaining is probably
> very low since all that needs to be done is for the user to select the
> correct item.
> But often that is not necessary as I proved with my older HP USB printer
> which was immediately properly detected without any intervention on my
> part and runs well with native RTM Vista drivers.
> Microsoft probably had other issues that were more important and demanded
> the limited resources rather than this minor and often a non issue.
>
> --
> Jupiter Jones [MVP]
> http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
> http://www.dts-l.org
>
>
> "Dale" <nospam@nospam.ever> wrote in message
> news:e2Ue$nwJHHA.3872@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> I'm not saying there are not a lot of bugs or flaws in Vista. There are.
>> But in any development project you have to prioritize and work your way
>> down the list until you run out of time and budget. While I could list
>> dozens of things that would be different in Vista if there were no budget
>> or time constraints, if that lack of constraint existed, there'd be no
>> Vista; there's always another bug or feature. Projects without both time
>> and budget limits are destined to fail.
>>
>> To me, the important thing is that the Vista product team listened and
>> considered the suggestion. Who knows what worse flaw may have been left
>> in Vista had they done the printer port fix? Because they listen and
>> consider customer feedback, Vista is better for it. The Windows Media
>> Player product team could have learned a lot from the Vista team in this
>> regard.
>>
>> Dale
>

Yes, I have used JJ in one form or another for many years and many know me
by one or both.
For some reason only known to Chad, he likes to post it.
Apparently he also feels the need to change the title of threads.
Perhaps he gets an ego boost from such antics.
Also probable he is unaware that by changing the thread name, he disrupts
some whose newsreader sorts by thread name.
If he is aware, he simply does not care about others and is simply being
rude again.
But that's Chad again.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org


"Mr. Vista" <Mr. Vista@lhere.com> wrote in message
news:esOcK%23wJHHA.780@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Is "Mat Kimball" your real name?.

The drop down is a priority when your printer won't print. I don't know
anyone who is happy with a computer and a printer that doesn't print. Maybe
that's the case with people you are surrounded by Kimball. Many users never
find out about that drop down or its connection to their printer not
working, even when they call so-called Tech Support most of whom aren't
aware of its impact from HP or Brother or another printer company.

Only a moron would think it would take more than five minutes to change the
drop down for Microsoft. What a ridiculous sycophantic stance. It is
significantly important to a large number of people whose printers would
work if they found the drop down. Try a few printer forums.

This discussion was had with a lot of us and Tali Roth. She runs the Vista
printer teams and is the PM for them. Tali wasn't overrulled; they were
just careless and in this case defaulted a parallel port in a USB world
incompetently. As I said, but you ignored there were multiple repeat
discussions in different venues and I posted just one of them. It wasn't a
small point to any of us and only a moron would think thousands of printers
now not working in Vista is a small point. The point will become even
larger as many bugs will come January 30, 2007 when there will be a large
backlash against what Microsoft didn't fix in Vista and their horrendous PSS
outsourced to Convergys who outsources it to Indians who can't speak English
and know nothing about Windows or Windows Vista or Office. Not because they
are Indians for the dim witted who would construe this as an indictment of
people with Indian backgrounds, but because they are poorly trained
individuals who are cheap labor with butts seated in India.

Interesting you consider thousands of printers working a small point. It
ain't small if one person can't use their printer that could who doesn't
know that MSFT stupidlly defaulted a parallel port when printers ahven't
been sold with parallel only ports since the days of Windows 98.

The axe to grind is to fix things that should have been fixed that were
pointed out by a lot of us carefully when things should have been fixed
****In Microsoft's not Chad's lol Beta days.***

Because if I had received the bugs that MSFT did, I would have fixed them.

I understand prioritization so save the explanation for any kids someone is
ridiculous enough to have with you. There was no excuse for the large
number of things shipped broken.

The interesting thing about a Microsoft sycophant is they will defend
anything no matter how ridiculous when there was a compelling, obvious, and
consummately constructive reason to fix it.

CH


"Jupiter Jones [MVP]" <jones_jupiter@hotnomail.com> wrote in message
news:uBakY2wJHHA.780@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Chad has a small point with the printer port.
> My guess is the person speaking did not speak with authority and was
> overruled by those that did.
> This does not excuse an apparent promise, but there may be more that is
> not seen by us. Perhaps in the communications that Chad conveniently
> suggests are "private".
>
> Chad seems to have an axe to grind related to his former Beta days.
> He seems to carry it on blindly to Microsoft and against others that seem
> to disagree with his way as is often demonstrated in his long rants that
> usually go to politics and way off topic.
>
> And as you suggest there is a prioritization to bugs in any system.
> If a product is to be released, a line must be drawn at some point.
> Security issues are usually major candidates for must fix.
> The order of items in a drop down such as Chad is complaining is probably
> very low since all that needs to be done is for the user to select the
> correct item.
> But often that is not necessary as I proved with my older HP USB printer
> which was immediately properly detected without any intervention on my
> part and runs well with native RTM Vista drivers.
> Microsoft probably had other issues that were more important and demanded
> the limited resources rather than this minor and often a non issue.
>
> --
> Jupiter Jones [MVP]
> http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
> http://www.dts-l.org
>
>
> "Dale" <nospam@nospam.ever> wrote in message
> news:e2Ue$nwJHHA.3872@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> I'm not saying there are not a lot of bugs or flaws in Vista. There are.
>> But in any development project you have to prioritize and work your way
>> down the list until you run out of time and budget. While I could list
>> dozens of things that would be different in Vista if there were no budget
>> or time constraints, if that lack of constraint existed, there'd be no
>> Vista; there's always another bug or feature. Projects without both time
>> and budget limits are destined to fail.
>>
>> To me, the important thing is that the Vista product team listened and
>> considered the suggestion. Who knows what worse flaw may have been left
>> in Vista had they done the printer port fix? Because they listen and
>> consider customer feedback, Vista is better for it. The Windows Media
>> Player product team could have learned a lot from the Vista team in this
>> regard.
>>
>> Dale
>

I agree that changing the thread name does make searches difficult.



"Jupiter Jones [MVP]" <jones_jupiter@hotnomail.com> wrote in message
news:ewb3DDxJHHA.1248@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Yes, I have used JJ in one form or another for many years and many know me
> by one or both.
> For some reason only known to Chad, he likes to post it.
> Apparently he also feels the need to change the title of threads.
> Perhaps he gets an ego boost from such antics.
> Also probable he is unaware that by changing the thread name, he disrupts
> some whose newsreader sorts by thread name.
> If he is aware, he simply does not care about others and is simply being
> rude again.
> But that's Chad again.
>
> --
> Jupiter Jones [MVP]
> http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
> http://www.dts-l.org
>
>
> "Mr. Vista" <Mr. Vista@lhere.com> wrote in message
> news:esOcK%23wJHHA.780@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Is "Mat Kimball" your real name?.
>

As if any searcher wants to find anything in this thread. LOL

Dale

"Mr. Vista" <Mr. Vista@lhere.com> wrote in message
news:OVD$iyzJHHA.1248@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I agree that changing the thread name does make searches difficult.
>
>
>
> "Jupiter Jones [MVP]" <jones_jupiter@hotnomail.com> wrote in message
> news:ewb3DDxJHHA.1248@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Yes, I have used JJ in one form or another for many years and many know
>> me by one or both.
>> For some reason only known to Chad, he likes to post it.
>> Apparently he also feels the need to change the title of threads.
>> Perhaps he gets an ego boost from such antics.
>> Also probable he is unaware that by changing the thread name, he disrupts
>> some whose newsreader sorts by thread name.
>> If he is aware, he simply does not care about others and is simply being
>> rude again.
>> But that's Chad again.
>>
>> --
>> Jupiter Jones [MVP]
>> http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
>> http://www.dts-l.org
>>
>>
>> "Mr. Vista" <Mr. Vista@lhere.com> wrote in message
>> news:esOcK%23wJHHA.780@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>> Is "Mat Kimball" your real name?.
>>
>
>

I use windows vista business at home, but I don't understand why this version
didn't have parent control??????

Should Microsoft add it on ?

"Chad Harris" wrote:

> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/te...erland&emc=rss
>
> December 14, 2006
> State Of The Art
> Vista Wins on Looks. As for Lacks ...
> By DAVID POGUE
>
> "After five years of starts, stops, executive shuffling, feature rethinks
> and delays, Windows Vista is finally complete. It's available to
> corporations already, and starting Jan. 30, it's what you'll get on any new
> PC. Its programmers, who probably haven't seen their families in months,
> will have an especially merry Christmas this year.
>
> So after five years, how is Windows Vista? Microsoft's description, which
> you'll soon be seeing in millions of dollars' worth of advertising, is
> "Clear, Confident, Connected." But a more truthful motto would be "Looks,
> Locks, Lacks."
>
> Looks
>
> Windows Vista is beautiful. Microsoft has never taken elegance so seriously
> before. Discreet eye candy is partly responsible. Windows and menus cast
> subtle shadows. A new typeface gives the whole affair a fresh, modern
> feeling. Subtle animations liven up the proceedings.
>
> If the description so far makes Vista sound a lot like the Macintosh, well,
> you're right. You get the feeling that Microsoft's managers put Mac OS X on
> an easel and told the programmers, "Copy that."
>
> Here are some of the grace notes that will remind you of similar ones on the
> Mac: A list of favorite PC locations appears at the left side of every
> Explorer window, which you can customize just by dragging folders in or out.
> You now expand or collapse lists of folders by clicking little flippy
> triangles. When you're dragging icons to copy them, a cursor "badge" appears
> that indicates how many you're moving. The Minimize, Maximize and Close
> buttons glow when your cursor passes over them. There's now a keystroke
> (Alt+up arrow) to open the current folder's parent window, the one that
> contains it.
>
> Some of the big-ticket Vista features and programs are eerily familiar, too.
> The biggest one is Instant Search, a text box at the bottom of the Start
> menu. As you type here, the Start menu turns into a list of every file,
> folder, program and e-mail message that contains your search phrase,
> regardless of names or folder locations. It's a powerful, routine-changing
> tool, especially when you seek a program that would otherwise require
> burrowing through nested folders in the All Programs menu.
>
> A similar Search box appears at the top of every desktop (Explorer) window,
> for ease in plucking some document out of that more limited haystack.
>
> New programs include the Sidebar, a floating layer of single-purpose
> programs called gadgets ( Apple called them widgets) like a weather
> reporter, stock tracker, currency converter, and so on; Photo Gallery, a
> deliciously simple shoebox for digital photos; the bare-bones DVD Maker, for
> designing scene-selection menus for home-burned video DVDs; and Chess
> Titans, whose photorealistic board can be rotated in three-dimensional
> space.
>
> Flip 3-D, which presents all open windows in all programs as cards in a
> floating deck, seems to be modeled on Mac OS X's Exposé feature - minus the
> ability to see all the windows simultaneously. You have to flip through the
> "cards" to find the one you want.
>
> Now, before the hate-mail tsunami begins, it's important to note that Apple
> has itself borrowed feature ideas on occasion, even from Windows. But never
> this broadly, boldly or blatantly. There must be enough steam coming out of
> Apple executives' ears to power the Polar Express.
>
> Even so, brazen as it was, the heist was largely successful. Vista is
> infinitely more pleasant to use than its predecessors. There's more logic to
> its folder structure and naming scheme. Things are easier to find. Fewer
> steps are required to perform common tasks, especially when it comes to
> networking.
>
> And besides, not all of the new goodies fell from the Apple tree. The new
> grouping, stacking and filtering options give you efficient new ways to
> parse the masses of files in a window. If you have a spare U.S.B. flash
> drive, your PC can use it as extra main memory for a tiny speed boost.
> Windows Speech Recognition isn't as accurate as, say, Dragon
> NaturallySpeaking, but it's beautifully designed and much better than
> previous Microsoft attempts.
>
> Laptop luggers will love the clever new Sleep mode. It combines the best of
> the old Standby mode (everything stays in memory so it's ready to go when
> you reopen the lid) and the old Hibernate mode (after several hours, Windows
> commits all this to the hard drive to save battery power).
>
> And then there's Presentation Mode, the answer to a million PowerPoint
> pitchers' prayers: it prevents your laptop from doing anything embarrassing
> during your boardroom presentation. It won't go to sleep, display a screen
> saver, pop up dialog boxes or play any beeps. It can even automatically
> change your desktop wallpaper to something uncontroversial, so your bosses
> won't unexpectedly glimpse the HotBikiniBabes.com photo that you usually
> use.
>
> Locks
>
> The visual and feature upgrades are nice, but for Microsoft, security was an
> even more important goal. As well it should be; Internet nastiness like
> viruses and spyware were sapping the fun out of Windows PCs.
>
> The list of internal fortifications could fill a stack of white papers (and
> does), and the technical language could put the Energizer bunny to sleep.
> But examples include Service Hardening, which prevents background programs
> from tampering with essential system files, and address-space randomization,
> which makes it impossible for viruses to find important software bits in
> predictable places.
>
> Other security-suite components are more visible. The much improved Internet
> Explorer 7 (also available for Windows XP) alerts you when you're visiting
> one of those fake bank or eBay Web sites (called phishing scams). Windows
> Defender protects your PC from spyware. Parental Controls lets you, the
> saintly parent, dictate what Web sites your children can visit, which people
> they correspond with online, and even what times of day they can use the
> machine.
>
> Then there's User Account Control, an intrusive dialog box that pops up
> whenever you try to install a program or adjust a PC-wide setting,
> requesting that you confirm the change by entering your password. This will
> strike most people as an unnecessary nuisance, and you can turn it off. But
> it's actually one of Vista's most important new protection features; when
> the day comes that a virus is making changes to your PC, and not you, you'll
> know about it.
>
> Lacks
>
> Various Microsoft divisions split up the duties of writing the 50 million
> lines of Vista code, and they didn't always share the same vision. The most
> visible areas received the most attention, but many darker, less visited
> corners weren't visited by the Microsoft Makeover fairy at all.
>
> As a result, Vista has something of a multiple-personality disorder. Links
> for common tasks sometimes appear at the left side of a window, sometimes
> the right and sometimes across the top. In wizards (step-by-step "interview"
> screens), the Back button is sometimes at the lower-left corner of the
> dialog box, sometimes at the upper-left. Microsoft has hidden the
> traditional menu bar in some programs (you can summon it by tapping the Alt
> key), but not in others.
>
> Here and there, you'll find some jaw-dropping misfires, too. For example,
> Photo Gallery can play slide shows - but if you want music too, Microsoft
> cheerfully suggests that you first switch into another program and start
> some music playing there.
>
> Windows finally comes with a prominent backup program. That's great, except
> that you can specify only which categories of things to back up (pictures,
> e-mail, and so on), not which specific files or folders.
>
> And then there's that Sidebar, the floating layer of mini-programs. If you
> close one of the gadgets, you lose its contents forever: your notes in the
> Post-it Notes gadget, your stock portfolio in the Stocks gadget, and so on.
> You couldn't save them if you wanted to. How could Microsoft have missed
> that one?
>
> Some useful XP features have simply been removed. NetMeeting, a program for
> collaborating across a network, has been replaced by a Vista-only program
> called Meeting Space - which lacks its predecessor's voice- and video-chat
> features.
>
> And WordPad, the built-in word processor, can no longer open Microsoft Word
> files. That, evidently, is a ham-handed attempt to force you into buying
> Microsoft Office. (Let's hope the masses realize that they have a free
> alternative at docs.google.com.)
>
> What to Do
>
> Windows Vista is not, as the Web's chorus of caustic critics claim, little
> more than a warmed-over Windows XP. Its more intelligent navigation and more
> powerful file-manipulation tools provide you with greater efficiency from
> Day 1. And while the more secure plumbing doesn't guarantee a virus-free
> future, it will certainly make life more difficult for the sociopaths of the
> Internet.
>
> That's not to say, however, that Vista is worth standing in line for on Jan.
> 30. Moving to Vista means hunting for updated drivers for your printer,
> audio card and so on, not to mention troubleshooting incompatible programs.
> It also means some relearning, thanks to features that Microsoft has moved,
> removed or rejiggered.
>
> Microsoft isn't helping the confusion issue by releasing Vista in five
> versions, each with different features: Home Basic, Home Premium, Business,
> Enterprise and Ultimate. For example, the latter three offer Complete PC, a
> feature that backs up your entire computer, programs and all; Home Premium
> and Ultimate offer Media Center, which plays music, videos and photos on
> your TV. You practically need an operating system just to choose an
> operating system.
>
> The prices range from $100 (for an upgrade version of Home Basic) to $400
> (for the full version of Ultimate). Most people will probably wind up paying
> $160, the price to upgrade to the Home Premium edition from an earlier
> version of Windows. (Avoid Home Basic, which is too stripped-down to be
> worthwhile.) For a fee, you'll be able to upgrade from one edition to
> another.
>
> Of course, none of this factors in the price of the new PC you'll probably
> need. Vista requires a fairly modern PC, and unless you have a powerful
> graphics card, some of its most useful new features turn themselves off. You
> can download the free Vista Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft's Web site to see
> if your PC will be able to handle Vista.
>
> According to a SoftChoice survey, in fact, only 6 percent of existing
> corporate PCs have enough muscle to run all of Vista's goodies. No wonder
> Microsoft expects that only about 5 percent of PC users will upgrade their
> existing computers to Vista.
>
> Online, there's much talk of Vista's place in the universe. Is it too
> little, too late? Does the Mac's uptick in market share threaten the
> dominance of Windows? Does Web-based software make operating systems
> obsolete?
>
> None of the above. Windows isn't going anywhere, the landscape won't be
> changing anytime soon, and the corporate world will still buy it 500 copies
> at a time.
>
> In other words, it doesn't matter what you (or tech reviewers) think of
> Windows Vista; sooner or later, it's what most people will have on their
> PCs. In that light, it's fortunate that Vista is better looking, better
> designed and better insulated against the annoyances of the Internet. At the
> very least, it's well equipped to pull the world's PCs along for the next
> five years - or whenever the next version of Windows drops down the
> chimney."
>
>

I hadn't look for parental control in Vista Biz and if it's not there then I
believe of course they should add it on. We have a significant exponential
growth of people who telecommute and have businesses large or small that
they use and run from home all the time.

Howver, if you do a google,dogpile, msn search for net nanny/parental
control type apps there are many excellent free ones and some articles on
the Tech TV site archived discussing them. I don't use it, so I'm not in a
position to compare Vista's parental control with others, but I know there
are good 3 party apps on the web for the downloading.

Good luck,

CH

"Thaifoods" <Thaifoods@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CB44F09D-0955-4AA1-AE97-97598FE9095A@microsoft.com...
>I use windows vista business at home, but I don't understand why this
>version
> didn't have parent control??????
>
> Should Microsoft add it on ?
>
> "Chad Harris" wrote:
>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/te...erland&emc=rss
>>
>> December 14, 2006
>> State Of The Art
>> Vista Wins on Looks. As for Lacks ...
>> By DAVID POGUE
>>
>> "After five years of starts, stops, executive shuffling, feature rethinks
>> and delays, Windows Vista is finally complete. It's available to
>> corporations already, and starting Jan. 30, it's what you'll get on any
>> new
>> PC. Its programmers, who probably haven't seen their families in months,
>> will have an especially merry Christmas this year.
>>
>> So after five years, how is Windows Vista? Microsoft's description, which
>> you'll soon be seeing in millions of dollars' worth of advertising, is
>> "Clear, Confident, Connected." But a more truthful motto would be "Looks,
>> Locks, Lacks."
>>
>> Looks
>>
>> Windows Vista is beautiful. Microsoft has never taken elegance so
>> seriously
>> before. Discreet eye candy is partly responsible. Windows and menus cast
>> subtle shadows. A new typeface gives the whole affair a fresh, modern
>> feeling. Subtle animations liven up the proceedings.
>>
>> If the description so far makes Vista sound a lot like the Macintosh,
>> well,
>> you're right. You get the feeling that Microsoft's managers put Mac OS X
>> on
>> an easel and told the programmers, "Copy that."
>>
>> Here are some of the grace notes that will remind you of similar ones on
>> the
>> Mac: A list of favorite PC locations appears at the left side of every
>> Explorer window, which you can customize just by dragging folders in or
>> out.
>> You now expand or collapse lists of folders by clicking little flippy
>> triangles. When you're dragging icons to copy them, a cursor "badge"
>> appears
>> that indicates how many you're moving. The Minimize, Maximize and Close
>> buttons glow when your cursor passes over them. There's now a keystroke
>> (Alt+up arrow) to open the current folder's parent window, the one that
>> contains it.
>>
>> Some of the big-ticket Vista features and programs are eerily familiar,
>> too.
>> The biggest one is Instant Search, a text box at the bottom of the Start
>> menu. As you type here, the Start menu turns into a list of every file,
>> folder, program and e-mail message that contains your search phrase,
>> regardless of names or folder locations. It's a powerful,
>> routine-changing
>> tool, especially when you seek a program that would otherwise require
>> burrowing through nested folders in the All Programs menu.
>>
>> A similar Search box appears at the top of every desktop (Explorer)
>> window,
>> for ease in plucking some document out of that more limited haystack.
>>
>> New programs include the Sidebar, a floating layer of single-purpose
>> programs called gadgets ( Apple called them widgets) like a weather
>> reporter, stock tracker, currency converter, and so on; Photo Gallery, a
>> deliciously simple shoebox for digital photos; the bare-bones DVD Maker,
>> for
>> designing scene-selection menus for home-burned video DVDs; and Chess
>> Titans, whose photorealistic board can be rotated in three-dimensional
>> space.
>>
>> Flip 3-D, which presents all open windows in all programs as cards in a
>> floating deck, seems to be modeled on Mac OS X's Exposé feature - minus
>> the
>> ability to see all the windows simultaneously. You have to flip through
>> the
>> "cards" to find the one you want.
>>
>> Now, before the hate-mail tsunami begins, it's important to note that
>> Apple
>> has itself borrowed feature ideas on occasion, even from Windows. But
>> never
>> this broadly, boldly or blatantly. There must be enough steam coming out
>> of
>> Apple executives' ears to power the Polar Express.
>>
>> Even so, brazen as it was, the heist was largely successful. Vista is
>> infinitely more pleasant to use than its predecessors. There's more logic
>> to
>> its folder structure and naming scheme. Things are easier to find. Fewer
>> steps are required to perform common tasks, especially when it comes to
>> networking.
>>
>> And besides, not all of the new goodies fell from the Apple tree. The new
>> grouping, stacking and filtering options give you efficient new ways to
>> parse the masses of files in a window. If you have a spare U.S.B. flash
>> drive, your PC can use it as extra main memory for a tiny speed boost.
>> Windows Speech Recognition isn't as accurate as, say, Dragon
>> NaturallySpeaking, but it's beautifully designed and much better than
>> previous Microsoft attempts.
>>
>> Laptop luggers will love the clever new Sleep mode. It combines the best
>> of
>> the old Standby mode (everything stays in memory so it's ready to go when
>> you reopen the lid) and the old Hibernate mode (after several hours,
>> Windows
>> commits all this to the hard drive to save battery power).
>>
>> And then there's Presentation Mode, the answer to a million PowerPoint
>> pitchers' prayers: it prevents your laptop from doing anything
>> embarrassing
>> during your boardroom presentation. It won't go to sleep, display a
>> screen
>> saver, pop up dialog boxes or play any beeps. It can even automatically
>> change your desktop wallpaper to something uncontroversial, so your
>> bosses
>> won't unexpectedly glimpse the HotBikiniBabes.com photo that you usually
>> use.
>>
>> Locks
>>
>> The visual and feature upgrades are nice, but for Microsoft, security was
>> an
>> even more important goal. As well it should be; Internet nastiness like
>> viruses and spyware were sapping the fun out of Windows PCs.
>>
>> The list of internal fortifications could fill a stack of white papers
>> (and
>> does), and the technical language could put the Energizer bunny to sleep.
>> But examples include Service Hardening, which prevents background
>> programs
>> from tampering with essential system files, and address-space
>> randomization,
>> which makes it impossible for viruses to find important software bits in
>> predictable places.
>>
>> Other security-suite components are more visible. The much improved
>> Internet
>> Explorer 7 (also available for Windows XP) alerts you when you're
>> visiting
>> one of those fake bank or eBay Web sites (called phishing scams). Windows
>> Defender protects your PC from spyware. Parental Controls lets you, the
>> saintly parent, dictate what Web sites your children can visit, which
>> people
>> they correspond with online, and even what times of day they can use the
>> machine.
>>
>> Then there's User Account Control, an intrusive dialog box that pops up
>> whenever you try to install a program or adjust a PC-wide setting,
>> requesting that you confirm the change by entering your password. This
>> will
>> strike most people as an unnecessary nuisance, and you can turn it off.
>> But
>> it's actually one of Vista's most important new protection features; when
>> the day comes that a virus is making changes to your PC, and not you,
>> you'll
>> know about it.
>>
>> Lacks
>>
>> Various Microsoft divisions split up the duties of writing the 50 million
>> lines of Vista code, and they didn't always share the same vision. The
>> most
>> visible areas received the most attention, but many darker, less visited
>> corners weren't visited by the Microsoft Makeover fairy at all.
>>
>> As a result, Vista has something of a multiple-personality disorder.
>> Links
>> for common tasks sometimes appear at the left side of a window, sometimes
>> the right and sometimes across the top. In wizards (step-by-step
>> "interview"
>> screens), the Back button is sometimes at the lower-left corner of the
>> dialog box, sometimes at the upper-left. Microsoft has hidden the
>> traditional menu bar in some programs (you can summon it by tapping the
>> Alt
>> key), but not in others.
>>
>> Here and there, you'll find some jaw-dropping misfires, too. For example,
>> Photo Gallery can play slide shows - but if you want music too, Microsoft
>> cheerfully suggests that you first switch into another program and start
>> some music playing there.
>>
>> Windows finally comes with a prominent backup program. That's great,
>> except
>> that you can specify only which categories of things to back up
>> (pictures,
>> e-mail, and so on), not which specific files or folders.
>>
>> And then there's that Sidebar, the floating layer of mini-programs. If
>> you
>> close one of the gadgets, you lose its contents forever: your notes in
>> the
>> Post-it Notes gadget, your stock portfolio in the Stocks gadget, and so
>> on.
>> You couldn't save them if you wanted to. How could Microsoft have missed
>> that one?
>>
>> Some useful XP features have simply been removed. NetMeeting, a program
>> for
>> collaborating across a network, has been replaced by a Vista-only program
>> called Meeting Space - which lacks its predecessor's voice- and
>> video-chat
>> features.
>>
>> And WordPad, the built-in word processor, can no longer open Microsoft
>> Word
>> files. That, evidently, is a ham-handed attempt to force you into buying
>> Microsoft Office. (Let's hope the masses realize that they have a free
>> alternative at docs.google.com.)
>>
>> What to Do
>>
>> Windows Vista is not, as the Web's chorus of caustic critics claim,
>> little
>> more than a warmed-over Windows XP. Its more intelligent navigation and
>> more
>> powerful file-manipulation tools provide you with greater efficiency from
>> Day 1. And while the more secure plumbing doesn't guarantee a virus-free
>> future, it will certainly make life more difficult for the sociopaths of
>> the
>> Internet.
>>
>> That's not to say, however, that Vista is worth standing in line for on
>> Jan.
>> 30. Moving to Vista means hunting for updated drivers for your printer,
>> audio card and so on, not to mention troubleshooting incompatible
>> programs.
>> It also means some relearning, thanks to features that Microsoft has
>> moved,
>> removed or rejiggered.
>>
>> Microsoft isn't helping the confusion issue by releasing Vista in five
>> versions, each with different features: Home Basic, Home Premium,
>> Business,
>> Enterprise and Ultimate. For example, the latter three offer Complete PC,
>> a
>> feature that backs up your entire computer, programs and all; Home
>> Premium
>> and Ultimate offer Media Center, which plays music, videos and photos on
>> your TV. You practically need an operating system just to choose an
>> operating system.
>>
>> The prices range from $100 (for an upgrade version of Home Basic) to $400
>> (for the full version of Ultimate). Most people will probably wind up
>> paying
>> $160, the price to upgrade to the Home Premium edition from an earlier
>> version of Windows. (Avoid Home Basic, which is too stripped-down to be
>> worthwhile.) For a fee, you'll be able to upgrade from one edition to
>> another.
>>
>> Of course, none of this factors in the price of the new PC you'll
>> probably
>> need. Vista requires a fairly modern PC, and unless you have a powerful
>> graphics card, some of its most useful new features turn themselves off.
>> You
>> can download the free Vista Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft's Web site to
>> see
>> if your PC will be able to handle Vista.
>>
>> According to a SoftChoice survey, in fact, only 6 percent of existing
>> corporate PCs have enough muscle to run all of Vista's goodies. No wonder
>> Microsoft expects that only about 5 percent of PC users will upgrade
>> their
>> existing computers to Vista.
>>
>> Online, there's much talk of Vista's place in the universe. Is it too
>> little, too late? Does the Mac's uptick in market share threaten the
>> dominance of Windows? Does Web-based software make operating systems
>> obsolete?
>>
>> None of the above. Windows isn't going anywhere, the landscape won't be
>> changing anytime soon, and the corporate world will still buy it 500
>> copies
>> at a time.
>>
>> In other words, it doesn't matter what you (or tech reviewers) think of
>> Windows Vista; sooner or later, it's what most people will have on their
>> PCs. In that light, it's fortunate that Vista is better looking, better
>> designed and better insulated against the annoyances of the Internet. At
>> the
>> very least, it's well equipped to pull the world's PCs along for the next
>> five years - or whenever the next version of Windows drops down the
>> chimney."
>>
>>

On the other hand, most businesses aren't interested in parental controls.
They use Active Directory for access control.


"Thaifoods" <Thaifoods@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CB44F09D-0955-4AA1-AE97-97598FE9095A@microsoft.com...
>I use windows vista business at home, but I don't understand why this
>version
> didn't have parent control??????
>
> Should Microsoft add it on ?
>
> "Chad Harris" wrote:
>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/te...erland&emc=rss
>>
>> December 14, 2006
>> State Of The Art
>> Vista Wins on Looks. As for Lacks ...
>> By DAVID POGUE
>>
>> "After five years of starts, stops, executive shuffling, feature rethinks
>> and delays, Windows Vista is finally complete. It's available to
>> corporations already, and starting Jan. 30, it's what you'll get on any
>> new
>> PC. Its programmers, who probably haven't seen their families in months,
>> will have an especially merry Christmas this year.
>>
>> So after five years, how is Windows Vista? Microsoft's description, which
>> you'll soon be seeing in millions of dollars' worth of advertising, is
>> "Clear, Confident, Connected." But a more truthful motto would be "Looks,
>> Locks, Lacks."
>>
>> Looks
>>
>> Windows Vista is beautiful. Microsoft has never taken elegance so
>> seriously
>> before. Discreet eye candy is partly responsible. Windows and menus cast
>> subtle shadows. A new typeface gives the whole affair a fresh, modern
>> feeling. Subtle animations liven up the proceedings.
>>
>> If the description so far makes Vista sound a lot like the Macintosh,
>> well,
>> you're right. You get the feeling that Microsoft's managers put Mac OS X
>> on
>> an easel and told the programmers, "Copy that."
>>
>> Here are some of the grace notes that will remind you of similar ones on
>> the
>> Mac: A list of favorite PC locations appears at the left side of every
>> Explorer window, which you can customize just by dragging folders in or
>> out.
>> You now expand or collapse lists of folders by clicking little flippy
>> triangles. When you're dragging icons to copy them, a cursor "badge"
>> appears
>> that indicates how many you're moving. The Minimize, Maximize and Close
>> buttons glow when your cursor passes over them. There's now a keystroke
>> (Alt+up arrow) to open the current folder's parent window, the one that
>> contains it.
>>
>> Some of the big-ticket Vista features and programs are eerily familiar,
>> too.
>> The biggest one is Instant Search, a text box at the bottom of the Start
>> menu. As you type here, the Start menu turns into a list of every file,
>> folder, program and e-mail message that contains your search phrase,
>> regardless of names or folder locations. It's a powerful,
>> routine-changing
>> tool, especially when you seek a program that would otherwise require
>> burrowing through nested folders in the All Programs menu.
>>
>> A similar Search box appears at the top of every desktop (Explorer)
>> window,
>> for ease in plucking some document out of that more limited haystack.
>>
>> New programs include the Sidebar, a floating layer of single-purpose
>> programs called gadgets ( Apple called them widgets) like a weather
>> reporter, stock tracker, currency converter, and so on; Photo Gallery, a
>> deliciously simple shoebox for digital photos; the bare-bones DVD Maker,
>> for
>> designing scene-selection menus for home-burned video DVDs; and Chess
>> Titans, whose photorealistic board can be rotated in three-dimensional
>> space.
>>
>> Flip 3-D, which presents all open windows in all programs as cards in a
>> floating deck, seems to be modeled on Mac OS X's Exposé feature - minus
>> the
>> ability to see all the windows simultaneously. You have to flip through
>> the
>> "cards" to find the one you want.
>>
>> Now, before the hate-mail tsunami begins, it's important to note that
>> Apple
>> has itself borrowed feature ideas on occasion, even from Windows. But
>> never
>> this broadly, boldly or blatantly. There must be enough steam coming out
>> of
>> Apple executives' ears to power the Polar Express.
>>
>> Even so, brazen as it was, the heist was largely successful. Vista is
>> infinitely more pleasant to use than its predecessors. There's more logic
>> to
>> its folder structure and naming scheme. Things are easier to find. Fewer
>> steps are required to perform common tasks, especially when it comes to
>> networking.
>>
>> And besides, not all of the new goodies fell from the Apple tree. The new
>> grouping, stacking and filtering options give you efficient new ways to
>> parse the masses of files in a window. If you have a spare U.S.B. flash
>> drive, your PC can use it as extra main memory for a tiny speed boost.
>> Windows Speech Recognition isn't as accurate as, say, Dragon
>> NaturallySpeaking, but it's beautifully designed and much better than
>> previous Microsoft attempts.
>>
>> Laptop luggers will love the clever new Sleep mode. It combines the best
>> of
>> the old Standby mode (everything stays in memory so it's ready to go when
>> you reopen the lid) and the old Hibernate mode (after several hours,
>> Windows
>> commits all this to the hard drive to save battery power).
>>
>> And then there's Presentation Mode, the answer to a million PowerPoint
>> pitchers' prayers: it prevents your laptop from doing anything
>> embarrassing
>> during your boardroom presentation. It won't go to sleep, display a
>> screen
>> saver, pop up dialog boxes or play any beeps. It can even automatically
>> change your desktop wallpaper to something uncontroversial, so your
>> bosses
>> won't unexpectedly glimpse the HotBikiniBabes.com photo that you usually
>> use.
>>
>> Locks
>>
>> The visual and feature upgrades are nice, but for Microsoft, security was
>> an
>> even more important goal. As well it should be; Internet nastiness like
>> viruses and spyware were sapping the fun out of Windows PCs.
>>
>> The list of internal fortifications could fill a stack of white papers
>> (and
>> does), and the technical language could put the Energizer bunny to sleep.
>> But examples include Service Hardening, which prevents background
>> programs
>> from tampering with essential system files, and address-space
>> randomization,
>> which makes it impossible for viruses to find important software bits in
>> predictable places.
>>
>> Other security-suite components are more visible. The much improved
>> Internet
>> Explorer 7 (also available for Windows XP) alerts you when you're
>> visiting
>> one of those fake bank or eBay Web sites (called phishing scams). Windows
>> Defender protects your PC from spyware. Parental Controls lets you, the
>> saintly parent, dictate what Web sites your children can visit, which
>> people
>> they correspond with online, and even what times of day they can use the
>> machine.
>>
>> Then there's User Account Control, an intrusive dialog box that pops up
>> whenever you try to install a program or adjust a PC-wide setting,
>> requesting that you confirm the change by entering your password. This
>> will
>> strike most people as an unnecessary nuisance, and you can turn it off.
>> But
>> it's actually one of Vista's most important new protection features; when
>> the day comes that a virus is making changes to your PC, and not you,
>> you'll
>> know about it.
>>
>> Lacks
>>
>> Various Microsoft divisions split up the duties of writing the 50 million
>> lines of Vista code, and they didn't always share the same vision. The
>> most
>> visible areas received the most attention, but many darker, less visited
>> corners weren't visited by the Microsoft Makeover fairy at all.
>>
>> As a result, Vista has something of a multiple-personality disorder.
>> Links
>> for common tasks sometimes appear at the left side of a window, sometimes
>> the right and sometimes across the top. In wizards (step-by-step
>> "interview"
>> screens), the Back button is sometimes at the lower-left corner of the
>> dialog box, sometimes at the upper-left. Microsoft has hidden the
>> traditional menu bar in some programs (you can summon it by tapping the
>> Alt
>> key), but not in others.
>>
>> Here and there, you'll find some jaw-dropping misfires, too. For example,
>> Photo Gallery can play slide shows - but if you want music too, Microsoft
>> cheerfully suggests that you first switch into another program and start
>> some music playing there.
>>
>> Windows finally comes with a prominent backup program. That's great,
>> except
>> that you can specify only which categories of things to back up
>> (pictures,
>> e-mail, and so on), not which specific files or folders.
>>
>> And then there's that Sidebar, the floating layer of mini-programs. If
>> you
>> close one of the gadgets, you lose its contents forever: your notes in
>> the
>> Post-it Notes gadget, your stock portfolio in the Stocks gadget, and so
>> on.
>> You couldn't save them if you wanted to. How could Microsoft have missed
>> that one?
>>
>> Some useful XP features have simply been removed. NetMeeting, a program
>> for
>> collaborating across a network, has been replaced by a Vista-only program
>> called Meeting Space - which lacks its predecessor's voice- and
>> video-chat
>> features.
>>
>> And WordPad, the built-in word processor, can no longer open Microsoft
>> Word
>> files. That, evidently, is a ham-handed attempt to force you into buying
>> Microsoft Office. (Let's hope the masses realize that they have a free
>> alternative at docs.google.com.)
>>
>> What to Do
>>
>> Windows Vista is not, as the Web's chorus of caustic critics claim,
>> little
>> more than a warmed-over Windows XP. Its more intelligent navigation and
>> more
>> powerful file-manipulation tools provide you with greater efficiency from
>> Day 1. And while the more secure plumbing doesn't guarantee a virus-free
>> future, it will certainly make life more difficult for the sociopaths of
>> the
>> Internet.
>>
>> That's not to say, however, that Vista is worth standing in line for on
>> Jan.
>> 30. Moving to Vista means hunting for updated drivers for your printer,
>> audio card and so on, not to mention troubleshooting incompatible
>> programs.
>> It also means some relearning, thanks to features that Microsoft has
>> moved,
>> removed or rejiggered.
>>
>> Microsoft isn't helping the confusion issue by releasing Vista in five
>> versions, each with different features: Home Basic, Home Premium,
>> Business,
>> Enterprise and Ultimate. For example, the latter three offer Complete PC,
>> a
>> feature that backs up your entire computer, programs and all; Home
>> Premium
>> and Ultimate offer Media Center, which plays music, videos and photos on
>> your TV. You practically need an operating system just to choose an
>> operating system.
>>
>> The prices range from $100 (for an upgrade version of Home Basic) to $400
>> (for the full version of Ultimate). Most people will probably wind up
>> paying
>> $160, the price to upgrade to the Home Premium edition from an earlier
>> version of Windows. (Avoid Home Basic, which is too stripped-down to be
>> worthwhile.) For a fee, you'll be able to upgrade from one edition to
>> another.
>>
>> Of course, none of this factors in the price of the new PC you'll
>> probably
>> need. Vista requires a fairly modern PC, and unless you have a powerful
>> graphics card, some of its most useful new features turn themselves off.
>> You
>> can download the free Vista Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft's Web site to
>> see
>> if your PC will be able to handle Vista.
>>
>> According to a SoftChoice survey, in fact, only 6 percent of existing
>> corporate PCs have enough muscle to run all of Vista's goodies. No wonder
>> Microsoft expects that only about 5 percent of PC users will upgrade
>> their
>> existing computers to Vista.
>>
>> Online, there's much talk of Vista's place in the universe. Is it too
>> little, too late? Does the Mac's uptick in market share threaten the
>> dominance of Windows? Does Web-based software make operating systems
>> obsolete?
>>
>> None of the above. Windows isn't going anywhere, the landscape won't be
>> changing anytime soon, and the corporate world will still buy it 500
>> copies
>> at a time.
>>
>> In other words, it doesn't matter what you (or tech reviewers) think of
>> Windows Vista; sooner or later, it's what most people will have on their
>> PCs. In that light, it's fortunate that Vista is better looking, better
>> designed and better insulated against the annoyances of the Internet. At
>> the
>> very least, it's well equipped to pull the world's PCs along for the next
>> five years - or whenever the next version of Windows drops down the
>> chimney."
>>
>>