Anilrgowda

To get my input on Windows Vista, Microsoft offered to loan me an Acer Ferrari 1000 with the release to manufacture (RTM) version of Vista Ultimate, a Vista pizza with every feature of the OS included. The notebook would also come with the RTM version of Office 2007. Who could resist? I told them to send it with all due speed.

With most TG Publishing employees working at home or on vacation during the holiday break, DHL was unable to deliver the package to the office after multiple attempts. So, with a return of the package to Microsoft pending and though I was in the hacking-cough-let-me-go-to-sleep stage of a miserable cold, I drove to Hawthorne California (a few miles from TG Publishing's offices in Culver City). Taking possession of the package was a one hour hassle, the details of which I will spare you.
Suffice it to say that once DHL released the package to me, I protected it like a running back cradles a football for a long trip down field. I reached my car with the package untouched, got in and drove home at breakneck speeds, seemingly urged on by the super strong and relatively warm Santa Ana winds we Southern Californians have come to expect in early Winter.
Screw The Cold, Let's Get Going!

When I arrived home, cold or no cold, I immediately opened the box and anxiously put everything together so I could get my first hands-on look at both RTM Vista and RTM Office 2007. And, it shouldn't surprise you that I wasn't at all shy about playing with Acer's cool beyond cool Ferrari 1000 laptop.
This then is a diary presenting my experience with Vista and Office 2007 and the Ferrari. I'll make several entries in the diary over the next month or so. We'll publish the updated diary as I make new entries. I'm hoping that, along with you, Microsoft and other software vendors will be reading the diary to see not only what I'm telling you, but also whether they missed something important after subjecting Vista and Office 2007 to heavy internal and external quality control and user experience testing. I will raise questions I was unable to answer mostly, due to time constraints, and hope that answers are forthcoming from Redmond Washington or wherever else in the world a respondent might reside.
irst Impressions


The first thing that struck me was the way Vista's User Account Control dialog box asked me for permission to continue each time I ran any code, such as when I tried to install Adobe Acrobat Reader v.8. It's trying to protect me and my computer from an evil doer attempting to mess up my computer. The dialog box tells me that, if I started the program, I can comfortable click Continue. Maybe the dialog should be a bit more cautious. Just because I started a program doesn't mean it's safe to run it. I had to photograph the image of the User Account Control dialog box rather than capture the screen, because Vista totally locked up the computer until I clicked either the Continue or Cancel button. This is a very good idea, but it mean that my screen capture program wouldn't work.
To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with Vista's Aero windowing system. Yes, the 3-D with shadowing stuff is nice and yes the semi-transparent windows are cool, but for me it's no big-deal improvement over XP's windows. We'll see if this judgment holds over the month.