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Vista RC2 is Here, But is it Ready?
Ready or not... here it comes
Published on October 9, 2006 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

Is it ready?  That's the question a lot of people are asking themselves right now as Microsoft runs ahead full-steam towards declaring Vista "done" and going RTM (release to manufacturing).  This past Friday, Release Candidate 2 was pushed out the door to the hordes of developers and tech enthusiasts to hammer away at in the hopes of finding and squashing those final remaining bugs that are blocking the operating system from release.  Vista has had a very rocky road since it went into public beta earlier this year.  Beta 2, the first wide-spread public build of the OS was slammed for poor stability, security issues, and horrible usability (specifically the debacle that is UAC).  Many felt that the OS just wasn't where it needed to be if they planned on releasing to businesses before the end of the year. 

Well, several builds have come and gone since the first Beta 2.  We're up to the second Release Candidate build, which is likely to be one of the final ones Redmond will push out before the end.  Advances have been made in terms of stability and usability, but is it enough?  A lot of thought and effort is being bent towards this specific topic. 

ComputerWorld's Scot Finnie posts his impressions of the new build here.  The gist?  A large improvement over previous builds as they further refine the system, but it's still not quite there.

An extension of the Stardock Web Empire, VistaBlogging.com, has a number of articles on the view of Vista from people ranging from tech enthusiasts, semi-regular users, and even skinners.

JeremyG posts on the Vista UI
The Big Man himself, Brad Wardell chats about the inclusion of skinning tech in the core operating system
rabidrobot passes along some Vista tips he found useful.

(VistaBlogging.com automatically crawls the Stardock forums looking for Vista-related articles.)


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Comments
1
thomassen
on Oct 09, 2006
Odd how things go back and forth in these builds. In 5600 PhotoShopCS2 ran under Aero, in 5477 Aero Basic kicks in. In 5600 I could manually tell Vista to activate before the automatic activation after 3 days, but in 5477 nothings happends when I tell it to register. Go figure.
2
Corky_O
on Oct 09, 2006

On my mid-level notebook running the released builds, I have seen better stability and the UAC now becoming easy to disable, leaving the notification icon (which can be hidden) in the tray. I am sure that if users could easily remove the UAC, then security experts would basically 'slam' Microsoft for leaving a vulnerability.

If I am not mistaken, the UAC is for providing protection for people who don't have any inclination towards learning all the underlying structures of the OS. They just want a reasonably secure OS that is simple to use for their daily work and play. I think Vista comes close to this idea and need.

IMO - Microsoft is timing the release fairly well. It is rather clear that the real performance of Vista needs to be tested using the third party software (programs and drivers) which seem to be difficult to develop without the 'RTM' version.

I would say that it is time for the third party software vendors to show their stuff, so that people can get an idea on what possible issues or great developments are in the future.

I spoke with Adobe concerning CS2, and they made it clear that the Vista platform is not currently supported. Indeed, I would have been surprised had it been supported due to the lack of the 'RTM' version.

It should also be interesting to see if Vista drivers (not beta versions, mind you) become available to users of the interim builds, or whether there will be simple promotion of upcoming drivers for Vista. ATI has released a beta driver that does fairly well, and I have seen marked improvement between build 5728 and 5744 in the same driver package. Wacom has also released Vista beta drivers which have a lot of promise and additional functionality which take advantage of the 'Tablet PC' functionality as well as the new features in Office 2007 for tablet users (both artist tablets and tablet PC's).

Perhaps the question of readiness for release should perhaps be applied to the third party suppliers as well. Without them, the question of whether a new OS ready, needed, or even a prudent choice is too open-ended for a solid answer.

Of course, I am not a coder, so I am sure there are many things which some developers may or may not like about the new OS that would not be obvious to me.

3
Jafo
on Oct 10, 2006
I have RC1 running [thanks, Corky] in VMWare .... not a 'real' way to test things...but sufficient to 'play'.....just haven't had much time to do so....yet....
4
danioc
on Oct 10, 2006
I tested all public releases and I'm running the RC2 at the moment. I have to say it's running very stable, the only (and most annoying) problem is the Wireless network support that is like HORRIBLE, It's work when I first boot Vista (after the installation), I restart once and 'boom' the silly Vista don't find my access point and/or find and won't let me connect and sometimes it's work, all depending of 'Vista mood' after a reboot. I'm very sure my wireless settings are right because when I boot on XP (on the same computer) the network works fine and I can my wireless access point just fine. I tried to find an answer over the internet and couldn't find any anything that help, only people that report more wireless problems.

After all, I can’t tell it’s ready (not for me ) because I can use a OS that can’t connect right to a access point that sits at less than 2 meters from my computer when other OS’s (tested with WinXP and Linux) connect just fine.

PS: I reported all bugs/errors I found, including the wireless network ones and never got it fixed or received any reply (not that I was expecting any call from MS too), since the Beta 2.
5
MarkSnyder61
on Oct 10, 2006
Microsoft definately wants this OS on only the newer chipsets like AMD Turion or Intel's Core 2 Duo. My Core 2 Duo notebook works great with it but not so good on a P4 2.6Ghz with 512MB RAM. Vista could not even recognize it's own hardware like the MN-510 Wireless USB Adapter. I honestly don't think it is ready for primetime. There's really not enough difference in Vista compared to XP Pro for me to really seriously consider switching. I think it needs another year personally.
6
MarkSnyder61
on Oct 10, 2006
oops
7
rabidrobot
on Oct 10, 2006
I had issues similar to what danilloOc describes concerning wireless networking. With Beta2 and RC1, but haven't had any trouble with RC2 so far.

On boot up, I would get messages about not being connected. Sometimes I just had to wait a few minutes. Sometimes I had to reboot the router. I don't know enough about networking to say for sure, but I think it was something to do with assigning internal IP addresses.

But I have to disagree that the support, and process in general, for wireless networking with Vista is horrible. I have found the automatic dialogs much, much more useful than I did with WindowsXP. Once I figured out that it worked quite a bit differently, that is. With XP I eventually had to disable the base OS wireless networking and use some software that came with my wirless card--which would complain each time I opened the app that it wasn't compatible (/shrug).

Vista is much more intuitive. It sees my hidden network, and asks only for the important information, SSID and WEP key. I didn't have to wonder if I needed automatic IP assigning or static IP, I didn't futz with DNS servers, none of that. Vista seemed to know what I wanted to do, and what it needed to ask me to get that done. And with RC2 I haven't had any trouble, yet, with it forgetting that info.
8
Dollar29
on Oct 10, 2006
vista is not fully out until 2007 so it's just betas not full version yet
9
starkers
on Oct 11, 2006
Microsoft definately wants this OS on only the newer chipsets like AMD Turion or Intel's Core 2 Duo.


I don't know about that, I have Vista running quite well with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ and 3gigs of Ram....though it'd be running a lot better on the AMD Athlon 64x2 4800+ I ordered and Paid for, and now can't get.

Since the advent of the AM2 socket, it seems a lot of OZ suppliers WON'T (not can't) get ANY AMD 939 socket CPU's. Three weeks ago, my (former) PC store told me the 939 version was available, but when I went in to pick it up on the due date I was told it hadn't arrived...nor was it going to because their suppliers no longer handle the 939 sockets. They tried talking me into going AM2, but that also meant replacing my mobo and RAM, so I got my money back and began looking elsewhere.

I got the same story over and over but finally found a store that could order me a 939 socket AMD Athlon 64x2 4600+....has since arrived and awaits pick-up next time I'm in town. Seems to me, some stores/suppliers have gotten too big way for their boots and just can't be bothered anymore. The much smaller store went the extra mile and tried several of his suppliers to get what I wanted, whereas the larger stores were totally disinterested, made no enquiries whatsoever and kept saying 'no can do'.

not so good on a P4 2.6Ghz with 512MB RAM.


Vista is considerably more RAM intensive than XP and ideally should be run on PC's with more than 512mb, so a RAM upgrade would help. For example, my wife's 2.66Ghz Celeron is roughly equivelant to my current CPU, but with only 515mb of RAM, compared to 3gb, Vista does not perform as well on her machine.
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