Early look at Windows Vista shows promise

REVIEW

By Matthew Fordahl

updated 4:06 p.m. ET Aug. 3, 2005

Known for years by the code name “Longhorn,” the successor to Microsoft’s Windows XP has been dubbed “Longwait” for its numerous delays. As features have been announced, it’s also been accused of copying of Apple Computer Inc.’s Mac OS X.

And that was before most people had the chance to see — let alone use — what’s now been christened Windows Vista.

Microsoft finally took some of the wraps off last week, releasing Vista’s first major test version to about 500,000 programmers and tech professionals. The goal is to let them kick the tires, run their software on it and provide feedback.

Beta 1, as it’s known, is far from complete but gives a taste for where the world’s most widely used operating system is headed.

Yes, it does have more of a Mac-like look and feel.

And, yes, it’s insanely late.

But it also gives users hope that some of Windows’ most serious annoyances and dangers might be mitigated just in time for the holidays of 2006, when the final version is expected to be out.

(MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)

A copy of Beta 1 arrived last week, and I installed it on a state-of-the-art PC that had been running Windows 2000. Because it’s a beta — and the first one at that — I won’t mention the roughest areas.

Instead, I wanted to look at Windows Vista’s potential, and I found a lot to like. Beta 2, which will be more widely available, is expected to have more features and much bigger appeal.

Organization, search
The way Vista organizes and finds information topped my list of improvements.

In Windows XP, users often launch a program by clicking on the “Start” button and selecting from a menu that lists programs in order of how frequently they’re used. If a program isn’t on that short list, the user is stuck wading through a potentially long list that appears when the “All Programs” option is selected.

In Beta 1, the list of popular programs is still there but the “All Programs” link now triggers a much easier to navigate list. No more clumsy scrolling.

If you don’t like that, you can search for a program by typing its name into a box built into the menu.

The search improvements do not end there.