Gizmodo: aero

Did Microsoft Deceive With 'Vista Capable'?

msparkes — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 04:53:23 EDT

A judge has ruled that a trial against Microsoft can proceed to decide whether they misled people with their "Vista Capable" advertising campaign. Two PC buyers have started a class action, and are arguing that they bought machines that weren't capable of running Aero, even though they were marked as "Vista Capable."

Microsoft is arguing that Vista can run on slower machines, albeit with some of the eye candy turned off, and that this was explained in their campaign. In any case, we'll probably not get to see this play out, because it's likely that the matter will be settled out of court. [The Register]

Vista Battery Life Sucks

Wilson Rothman — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:40:00 EDT

I've complained for months that Vista hogs battery life. Yet whenever I would look a laptop product rep in the eye and ask (most recently, HP and Gateway), I'd get a blank stare that says, "We can't really tell you." Now, the courageous folks at ZDNet have confirmation from inside HP. The Aero Glass interface is, indeed, a leech and a half.

When Aero is turned off, battery life is equal to or better than Windows XP systems. But with it turned on, battery life suffers compared with Windows XP...Laptop users who spent extra money on powerful laptops to handle the graphics requirements of Vista and the Aero interface are forced to run the aesthetic equivalent of Vista Basic, the low-cost version of Vista, if they care about battery life.

Apparently whenever a new OS is launched, battery life suffers at the outset, then settles in once hardware makers figure out how to tweak their systems. The ZDNet report says that HP has introduced its own power management systems that balance performance and battery life, and that Lenovo is doing the same.

I don't know. If battery doesn't improve, we might start seeing more laptops with those static-electricity hand cranks on the side, like the original OLPC. – Wilson Rothman

Vista draining laptop batteries, patience [ZDNet via The Inquirer]

Japan Watch: Akihabara Stores Using Porn to Sell Vista

Jason Chen — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:00:47 EDT

We all knew Japan loves running Hentai games on Vista, so it's no wonder that stores selling Microsoft's newest OS are advertising to the same market.

Scope this ad, found in a shop in Akihabara, saying "Vista Aero function is not possible on XP". Of course, Aero is a pun for "ero", or "erotic", something Ashcraft had to explain to me between swigs of sake and bites of a turkey and cheese sandwich (don't ask).

But is it helping sales? Not even in Japan. – Jason Chen

Akibablog [via Kotaku]

How to Build Aero-Enabled Vista PC With Money Left Over To Be a Pirate

Jason Chen — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 20:55:15 EST

Despite claims that you need a pretty high-end PC to run Vista well, J2s site came up with a system that runs Vista with Aero Glass enabled for only $538 (not counting the price of Vista itself).

From looking at the parts list, he uses some pretty decent—but not spectacular parts—and actually manages to get 2GB of RAM in there. It's not going to win any speed races, but this thing costs less than a PS3. – Jason Chen

How to Build an inexpensive Vista PC (Aero Enabled) [JJMelo]

Nike iPod Watch Details Leaked

Jason Chen — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:29:34 EST

If you're an owner of a non-Nano iPod (or a non iPod owner), you're probably looking forward to Nike's Speed+ iPod-replacing watch to save you the trouble of buying another iPod. In addition to Speed+, Nike has three other watches to compliment, not replace, the iPod Nano.

The first, Nike's Flight+, will be released May 1 for $129. The volume and track controls are built into a "rocking bezel" around the Electroluminiscent backlit screen. There will be two colors and it will be able to play back the Nike + iPod voice feedback.

The second, a lower-end bracelet called the Amp+, has its own LED display which can show the time or the iPod control status. You also get an iPod shuffle control pad to adjust volume, playback, or call up the Nike Sport kit stuff. This will be $79 on May 1.

The third one, Aero+, seems to be the male version of the Flight+. It's less feminine and comes with two colors as well. It's the same price as the Flight+ ($129) and will also be launched May 1.

Once again, these compliment the iPod + Nano system instead of replacing the Nano like the Speed+ kits. All of them will be out on May 1 (for the thousandth time.) – Jason Chen

Nike iPod watch details, photos leaked [iLounge]

Vista Aero Doesn't Slog Your Performance

Jason Chen — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:35:36 EST

Despite fears to the contrary, a North Carolina technology assessment company determined that running Vista Aero (the fancy graphical UI elements) doesn't slow down your computer compared to the less graphics-intensive versions of Vista. The three key findings on Vista performance were:

1. After several common business operations, Vista was more responsive after rebooting as compared to Windows XP
2. Generally, Vista and XP were equally responsive on most test operations
3. Aero had little to no negative effect on the responsiveness of Vista

More responsive after boot? Equally responsive on most applications? Little effect on responsiveness? Wow. That totally doesn't jive with everything else we've been hearing. Maybe Microsoft did something right with Vista after all? – Jason Chen

Study: Aero user interface has little effect on performance [Ars Technica]