To Anyone and Everyone Who is Trying Vista

G

GreNME

2[H]4U
Joined
May 18, 2002
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I'm not going to bitch about the threads complaining of Vista features. I'm not going to whine about the threads asking for Vista downloads or Vista keys, or asking which programs work with what.

However...

Of all the people who are using this OS, and I am included among you, has it occurred to many of you that now is exactly the right time to be contributing to the development of the software so that it meets your needs / wants? The feedback feature in the OS is not there just for giggles, and in the progression of builds I have already seen a number of things addressed that I know people have been complaining about. How many people here who have complained of some feature have actually used the feedback to send a message to the developers about what is bugging you?

Here is an example: I've had some problems with UAC and installing some software. I managed to get around the problem with what was essentially a hack, but that sort of thing is unacceptable when it comes to requiring ease-of-installation for such software. So, I let Vista report the errors that occurred, and have made more than one report on the issue. Sure, I don't assume that my reporting alone is going to solve a problem, but if I don't take part in the reporting process then I am not really taking part in the solution process, and I tend to prefer getting solutions.

Vista has this feature called "Problem Reports and Solutions" under Start > All Programs > Maintenance that not only allows you to send the reports, but also tracks reported problems that are automatically sent. I currently have one Explorer crash report in the queue on my system, and it is listed as "currently being researched." I'll admit that it isn't very exciting and it isn't very quick, but considering the number of reports the development team is probably getting on a daily basis, I doubt they are going to concentrate on any single report as opposed to instead breaking the large number of reports down into related issues that need addressing. That's the way all development teams I've known work, and I seriously doubt Microsoft is much different.

So, the main questions I want to put forth to people trying out Vista right now is this: are you reporting problems when you run into them? If you are not reporting issues, then why are you bothering to run the OS? What possible benefit can you get from installing and running an unfinished version of an operating system if you are not at least going to report bugs you run into? What advantage is there, to you, in running beta or early release candidate software if you are not bug-checking? Are you aware of the bug reporting capabilities?

For those who are already reporting bugs, let's make sure we are letting people know the various ways to report them. Chances are we might find out from someone else another way to get a bug report in. Some people trying out the OS might not be reporting because they were previously unaware of the ability to report problems-- let's fix that.
 
Amen! Isn't reporting problems what TESTING is all about? Not just free OS software for a few months?

I found the error reporting feature to be really nice. I like checking back and seeing info about the problem and in some cases an ETA for the fix (in Beta2 I had about 15 items that eventually returned "Will be fixed in RC1").
 
I already reported some stuff, but it was Live Desktop Mail related.

If I used vista more, I would report more.
 
Very good write-up. I wish I could test the 3D Task Switcher, but I guess my drivers don't support it for the Mobile Radeon 9600 series. I'm hitting Win Key + Tab and nothing is happening.
 
I want more drivers. :(

Everything else is working great! Just need better drivers from Creative, Nvidia, and Logitech. Just to name a few...

Typing this on RC1 right now btw.
 
The only thing that irritates me the most is the mouse accelleration (and I provided feedback on it) See, mouse accel works at a different rate moving in one direction than the other. So much so that you have to disable it altogether and move mouse sensitivity to the middle...sucks if you have a high DPI mouse on high DPI setting.
 
I havent found any bugs yet, but I made a thread on some stuff I liked and dislike about vista, Ill prolly report the stuff that really annoys me when I build up a bigger list, and maybe they will fix it.
 
Great post, and I applaud it most heartily. I cannot see the point of using a Beta OS unless you are assisting to get the finalised version bug free by reporting any problems which might crop up in the pre-release version.
 
Yes do go ahead and give your free support and development ideas to the monopolist who is going to turn around and charge you too much for the OS. Good job.
 
general said:
Yes do go ahead and give your free support and development ideas to the monopolist who is going to turn around and charge you too much for the OS. Good job.
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$159 (upgrade) for home premium is hardly to much. I dont get it, people dont like MS for having problems with there software, so MS gives you a FREE os and now they get bashed for trying to fix the problems before retail?
 
Easy enough to avoid that, general. Don't buy and use the products and don't download and use pre-release versions of it either ;)
 
I dunno - RC-1 is the first build to let my Nforce4 onboard NIC get an IP address using DHCP. Till now I had to static an IP to get online, this is using the Nforce4 NIC!!?? I mean how many thousands of people have Nforce4 motherboards? That is ridiculous that this was JUST fixed. I've been reporting it for awhile now. So if reporting an issue means nothing gets done, or nothing gets done for 6-8 months... why bother. XP works fine. I don't think the reporting information will get anything changed, MS will write the OS the way they want it and prolly don't listen to any suggestions anyways. IMO I think it's a waste of time, MS doesn't listen.
 
dnottis said:
I dunno - RC-1 is the first build to let my Nforce4 onboard NIC get an IP address using DHCP. Till now I had to static an IP to get online, this is using the Nforce4 NIC!!?? I mean how many thousands of people have Nforce4 motherboards? That is ridiculous that this was JUST fixed. I've been reporting it for awhile now. So if reporting an issue means nothing gets done, or nothing gets done for 6-8 months... why bother. XP works fine. I don't think the reporting information will get anything changed, MS will write the OS the way they want it and prolly don't listen to any suggestions anyways. IMO I think it's a waste of time, MS doesn't listen.
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The problem is not MS but nvidia, they write the driver, MS just puts up on there servers so it can be installed by windows update.
 
general said:
Yes do go ahead and give your free support and development ideas to the monopolist who is going to turn around and charge you too much for the OS. Good job.
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If you want to make it such a personal issue, then go buy a Mac or use Linux. Both are fine alternatives and work great. Stop boring people with your personal problems.

dnottis said:
I dunno - RC-1 is the first build to let my Nforce4 onboard NIC get an IP address using DHCP. Till now I had to static an IP to get online, this is using the Nforce4 NIC!!?? I mean how many thousands of people have Nforce4 motherboards? That is ridiculous that this was JUST fixed. I've been reporting it for awhile now. So if reporting an issue means nothing gets done, or nothing gets done for 6-8 months... why bother. XP works fine. I don't think the reporting information will get anything changed, MS will write the OS the way they want it and prolly don't listen to any suggestions anyways. IMO I think it's a waste of time, MS doesn't listen.
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Sounds like a PEBKAC error to me. Network discovery has been working fine on a great number of NICs out there, and for those that it hasn't been working on, Microsoft has been building fixes into subsequent compiles of the beta (hence different build numbers, genius). If it isn't reported now, it won't be fixed in later versions.

You said you reported it, and all of the sudden it works in the latest build. That sounds like a success story to me. What, did you expect them to make you your own, personal hotfix for the issue?
 
sharpie said:
were do you get the cd keys from?
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You had to be registered for the Beta 2 program. As mentioned in every other Vista thread (it seems), there should be an opening of the next round of CPP, so keep your eyes open for it.
 
general said:
Yes do go ahead and give your free support and development ideas to the monopolist who is going to turn around and charge you too much for the OS. Good job.
Click to expand...
Have you always had these personal problems, or have they just developed over time? Based on your comments in various threads, I'd suggest selling your computer, go get a nice box of #2 pencils and some copybooks. Then all of your complaints will dissolve, and you'll live in bliss (read: ignorance) happily ever after.
 
Another thing to keep in mind, and this applies even to RC1, that the code is still not mature. A lot of parts of the OS have been rebuilt, practically from scratch, so the software is going to need a bit more time to mature than, say, Windows XP needed. XP was based off the 2000 codebase, which allowed for a shorter time to mature (and even that took arguably longer than it should have). Be sure to emphasize the immaturity of the code, then focus on the improvements it has made in just the last six months. With that in mind, let's aim for the expectation of equal improvements within the first six months of release.

I don't think that's unreasonable to expect. I'm sure the Microsoft dev teams are aiming for shorter goals than that, since they have a lot riding on the success of the OS when it is released. I'd rather send them a few reports too many for them to examine than sending them too few, since it helps us (the consumers) as well as them (the developers).

By the way: I forgot to mention the "How to share feedback" icon that is on the desktop when you first install Vista. Everyone should keep that link on their desktop, their quick launch, their start menu, or all of them combined. That allows you to actually send messages back instead of just crash data. I've used it a few times.

Get on `em, guys. ;)
 
also people need to keep in mind all the debugging and logging software they have running which people claim are "slowing" down their machine.... the real release will not have these running
 
munkle said:
$159 (upgrade) for home premium is hardly to much. I dont get it, people dont like MS for having problems with there software, so MS gives you a FREE os and now they get bashed for trying to fix the problems before retail?
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of course. If the retail Vista is actually 'good' people will have nothing to complain about and may have to stop bashing MS for a minute. That would be aweful
 
drizzt81 said:
of course. If the retail Vista is actually 'good' people will have nothing to complain about and may have to stop bashing MS for a minute. That would be aweful
Click to expand...

rofl
 
drizzt81 said:
If the retail Vista is actually 'good' people will have nothing to complain about and may have to stop bashing MS for a minute. That would be aweful
Click to expand...
Ha! That would be just terrible!
 
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