Microsoft’s long awaited replacement for Windows XP has finally been released, and we have been playing around with the final version of Vista Ultimate edition to see if it really is ready to take over as everyone’s primary OS. Several changes have been made since the various Beta and Release Candidate versions, some of them very welcome, others less so.
Installation
Installing Vista will be simple enough for any user who has installed an OS before, though the process has been tidied up since XP. There is no longer a DOS-style “copying files” stage, with everything being handled by an attractive graphical interface complete with mouse support. A few hardware configurations were unable to load any more than ugly 8 bit colour but for the most part, it’s a much more aesthetically pleasing experience than previous MS installations. Installation is pretty fast considering how much larger Vista is than XP, and on a good PC you should be looking at the fancy new interface within 30 minutes or so. One of the best features of Vista installation is that all of the settings and configurations requiring user input are done in the first installation stage, so once you have selected the partition you can leave the install program to it.
Aero Interface
Without a doubt, the most significant overhaul than people notice first is the new GUI, which is extremely attractive. In order to use the Aero 3D desktop interface, a reasonable video card will be needed. All versions of Vista have the Aero 3D interface, except for the basic versions. Any sort of GeForce or Radeon card from the past two years will be fine, though if you are still hanging on to an old Matrox or integrated video card now would be an ideal time to upgrade. Active windows show a translucent glass edge when being moved around, with the high resolution desktop backgrounds showing through translucently. The often demonstrated Flip 3D application switcher (windows key and tab) now works very smoothly, and with newly anti-aliased edges looks far more impressive than it did with the early Beta versions. There have been a few other aesthetic tweaks on this final release since RC2 (the final version before the RTM version), the most obvious of which are the application icons. The new icons are cartoonier and are much uglier than the RC2 blue and white alternatives. Fortunately changing icons is as simple as it was in the XP days.
The Vista sidebar has made it into the final release, showing by default an RSS reader, a picture viewer and a large clock. Various other “gadgets” can be installed, with the sidebar cleverly hiding itself automatically when you maximise a window so it rarely feels in the way. Microsoft can’t stop messing with their start menu and Vista is no different. Gone is the All Programs folder tree, instead Vista shows all of the folders within the start menu itself, expanding and collapsing them as you click on each subfolder. We tried it for a couple of hours before relenting and going back to the classic start menu style we all grew up with.
