So Ive been using Vista in various ways for the last 6 months. Its always interesting as a beta tester to see the gradual change and stability surface over time. With Beta 2 now released its also been very fun reading the various reviews that have been coming out in regard to the new platform.. some people focus on some of the strangest things..
Pleased to meet you too...
Beta 2 has been a particularly good milestone for me, since it marks the first point in time where both the platform and supporting drivers have reached a stable mark and I can use the platform solidly and productively as a primary OS for the work which I do (Office, Visual Studio, SQL Server, image manipulation, gaming etc).
Interesting stat to highlight why I think this is progress.. Here has been the stability path for beta 2 as tracked by my usage
5270 (Dec): Lasted 1 day before shelving (aka frustration point breached). Dev experimentation only.
5308 (Feb): Lasted 3 days before shelving. Dev experimentation only.
5342: Mostly stable, although too slow and buggy for even a dual boot. Dev experimentation only.
5365: Minor stability issues, particularly around network and display drivers.
5381: Able to use happily as dual boot OS.
5384 (May, Beta 2): Able to use happily as full time primary OS.
So what Im looking forward to from here is that now we have reached what I would consider to be the first major marker (its as stable and productive as Windows XP for me). Whats going to be great to see from here is how much better it gets in success builds tracking towards RTM.. One other big indicator for me is that its now sad to go back to using Windows XP Always a good sign you have made the switch..
Why has it taken so long to get back to Windows XP perf? Personally I consider the large amount of change which has gone on behind the scenes so that while on the surface there are a lot of parallels to be drawn with Windows XP, it really is a largely different beast - and thats great thing because finally you have more guarentees around what the OS can provide (e.g. true reliability and security coverage).
Why is it not more of a greater leap forward? Well again, most of the real change has occured under the hood - the DWM, WGF, Media Foundation, User Account Control and the other security changes... etc etc.. I think its actually quite a decent leap - probably not as far as it could have been but such is the challenge of software development.
So whats going to be the challenge for Vista? One big one for me would be winning the corporate desktop back from Windows XP, the candy wont appeal to big business.. However one of the big things going for it? Security and the ability to work smartly in a connected environment.