haha!!! i have also used this beta and it REALLY blows...and if i have final say my company wont be using this operating system for as long as possible. its the same situation over again...2000 is overall faster and more reliable than xp...now xp is faster and more reliable than vista. but we have to wait till the final release to say for sure. if i had my way everyone in the company would run ubuntu or we would use macs.

Wow...lots of word twisting here, Gizmodo. The author said that *installing* the OS was "one of the worst operating system experiences that I've ever encountered", not *using* the OS. Certainly, you can see that. "Krakow informs us that the beta version is difficult to handle and that all the prettiness is lost on those with even a passing awareness of OS X" He doesn't say anything like that. This is a joke. You guys use Macs...we get it. You want others to use Macs...we get that too. No need to put words in the author's mouth though.

I use OSX and Vista looks damn good...

Is there such a thing as journalistic trojans? You know, these malcontents write an article that screams moron and like that technology blogs and other assorted opinionated websites pick up on it and run with it. Pretty soon my Dad is going to call me and tell me Windows Vista Beta 2 sucks because a friend told him so. Let's see, Senor Krakow receives a "near beta 2" copy of Windows Vista and attempts to install it onto a laptop (you know those devices with very picky driver sets). He has a single bad experience and sets out to say how poor it is? As if that was not bad enough, he then installs it on two others, one needs a new battery and the other suffered a massive hard drive failure. I could be wrong, but I doubt Windows Vista had much to do with that. So with 1 bad installation experience, and two failures unrelated to Windows Vista we see headlines like "Windows Vista Beta 2 Sucks". I wonder who will be slamming CNN the next time they rush out to cover a story and get some facts wrong.

are you kidding? beta software is buggy? who knew!?

"...we're slowly getting the feeling that the big V is going to blow a donkey." Hmmm... this is a new feature in Vista I hadn't heard about. And everyone's making such a big deal that it's not shipping with WinFS!

The X60 has integrated graphics, so he couldn't have even seen the screenshots in the article which show areo glass features. It does sound like he had a bitch of a time installing it, so he was peeved to begin with. Bad form.

at this point 10.6 is going to be out before Vista is. It will be very funny if 10.5 does include a XP emulation layer. Then Apple can rub it in that they can do Windows better than Microsoft can.

Mac offers windows compatability to make their product marketable :) A beta is what a beta is.

God, Firstly, Krakow, is a crackhead. Yes that's childish and immature but come on, the guy has been quoted saying 15,000$ is an affordable price for speakers. He's not known for being terribly technically astute. Not to mention IT'S A BETA, for fuck sake why would anyone review a beta?! that's like judging the comfort and cleanliness of a new hotel by the way the construction workers are maintaining their break room.

Let me do my own paraphrasing of the article for non-mac-fanboys... The stuff that works on this early beta version of Vista seems to work well. Installing it was hard, mostly because of bad choices on the authors part. Vista beta seems to bea competent OS once it's installed. The beta tested was obviously a work in progress. Microsoft has time to improve it, let's hope they do. That's what the article ACTUALLY says. The author should go out and buy a second hardrive and try instaling it on his desktop. Then write another review that isn't tainted by your initial issues.

it's in beta. enough said.

haha, idiot. The first thing that the Vista Beta 2 warns you about is that it's not an upgrade. It has to be installed clean and can't be used to upgrade XP. I'm not a fan of Vista, but I have it installed on an extra pc for development testing. This journalist couldn't be dumber.

Not enough said. I was a beta tester for Win95, and as shit as the final product was, the beta (1 and 2 - 2 being the final) was stable enough to run as my main OS full time. Just goes to show software is getting more bloated and sloppy.

I love it when some bonehead makes a review on technology and is a total techno-retard. If he knew,(which he doesn't) there is a Windows Vista compatibility test on MS site. You have of course, to download the latest .net framework to operate the application... (he might not even know what that is on the other hand...) He would have then realized his crappy laptop was not qualified to run Vista... Hey! but this is just me talking... I would not go testing R&D parachutes after 1hr of skydiving lessons.... Vista requires a lot of hardware many people is not aware of... this is MS operating system for the next 10 years... so it does require upgraded hardware. Period. At work, my workstations are dual 2GHz Xeons with massive memory 15K RPM HD's and Quadro Video cards... Top of the line... right?...WRONG... they still need to be upgraded on several fronts to accept Vista... Including 15 GB of free drives to complete the installation. If you wanna blog, surf or e-mail (and write crap),do some video, and a little artwork... get a Mac... you'll be fine. For the rest of our worldly computing needs, the serious and real engineering work, get a PC. Whether it runs Windows or a Unix variant, it is the platform of choice for actual work. Vista has a lot of code that is Unix at it's roots... many people just don't know about it. Krakow should stick to pen and pencil to be on the safe side.

beta 2 says it's only to be installed clean, not as an upgrade. The install was very simple for me. No issues yet, except I just don't like vista. I had to install it for development purposes. The author didn't read directions well, as the first thing the install says is that "this is not an upgrade. don't try upgrading xp".

Whoever wrote the article is clearly an idiot.

Hey, this stupid car can't fly -- wtf?!

"Whether it runs Windows or a Unix variant, it is the platform of choice for actual work." Hmm, ace007. Wonder if you would be so humble to describe to us what you think "actual work" is? Could it include: publishing, biotech research, film editing, music composition, architectural design, medical imaging, and using the MS Office suite. Or is it "engineering" your PC to actually run Vista, whenever it may finally ship. Don't worry. I'm sure Ballmer and Co. will give you enough time to figure things out. BTW, an Intel Mac is already Vista ready, as well as able to run that Unix variant - called OS X. Sounds like a "platform of choice" to me.

vista seems like it mite be sweet, but i dunno, the only real way to see if its any good, is when the final version comes out. I actually hope that windows finally fucks up and linux plays its cards JUST right (using the 100 DL to firmly establish itself in other countries...and in time...the United States). I dig windows, i just think they have too much damn power and could use a slap in the face...if anything it might help make them work harder to ensure that they make a kick ass operating system. Also, i havent heard much about linux..if ever, and would like them to produce a high quality OS that is a big competitor for windows and is still free

I tried to install OS X onto my Motorola StarMax 5000 and had all kinds of problems getting it to run and it's not even beta.

"Whether it runs Windows or a Unix variant, it is the platform of choice for actual work." Hmm, ace007. Wonder if you would be so humble to describe to us what you think "actual work" is? Could it include: publishing, biotech research, film editing, music composition, architectural design, medical imaging, and using the MS Office suite. Or is it "engineering" your PC to actually run Vista, whenever it may finally ship. Don't worry. I'm sure Ballmer and Co. will give you enough time to figure things out. BTW, an Intel Mac is already Vista ready, as well as able to run that Unix variant - called OS X. Sounds like a "platform of choice" to me. by chris217 on 05/24/06 09:09 PM ^^^whats up your ass exactly? it must be big.

I agree after fighting with beta and then RC1 it SUCKS!!!

I must agree after months of fighting with beta and then RC1 it blows.Formated my system and installed my XP home sp/2.Oh yeah now all is well.Jo