Mary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Community Information Librarian

Windows Vista: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Presenter: Donovan Lambright

Only scratching the surface in the time allowed, but will talk a little about how it was developed and touch on some of the ways it's different from Windows XP. 

The Road to Vista 2001-2002.  Just before XP was due to be released, Microsoft (MS) announced Longhorn, which was to be a minor update to the operating system.  A year later, the ship date was pushed back a year.  Shortly afterwards, Gates announced that Longhorn was not going to be a minor update but would be a new operating system.

In 2003 development continued, including several features that never made it into the final product.  Aero glass did make it into the product - the user interface.

In 2004, rumors spread that MS had bitten off more than they could chew; MS secretly decided to scrap Longhorn and start over from scratch.  MS continued to promote Longhorn, but ship date was pushed back again.

In 2005, MS released Windows XP service pack 2, which addressed many of the security issues.  IE7 was released.  Developer and journalism communities grew restless as the wait for new builds grew.  MS finally announced the "Longhorn Reset" and releases "Build 5048" - their new product - to universal groans.  They announced the new product will be called Vista, and that Office 12 (aka Office 2007) would not require Vista.  New builds at that point started to look like the Vista we have today.

In 2006 development and testing continued.  In March, MS announced that Vista will be released to manufacturers in October.  Some testers decry the loss of previously-promised features.  In May, the Gartner Group was invited to come in and look at the MS "bug-catching" process.  Unfortunately for MS, Gartner opined that the product was so buggy and badly designed that it would probably never come out.

In August 2006, things started to look better; product released to manufacturer in November 2006.

One of the objectives was to create an emotional connection between the user and the PC.  Mac and Linux do this; Windows users don't traditionally have that sense of connection.  To do this, MS did a few things.  The boot screen is different - no splash screens, no advertising from other vendors.  The new operating system - Aero Glass - is eye-candy.  Translucent title bars (oohs and aahs from crowd), document previews.  The graphics card does a fair amount of the processing for the interface, improving performance to the device. 

Start bar is a bit different and a bit more user-friendly.  Switch between windows features allows switching between programs.  Icons format was changed, so they are scalable.  The extra-large icons would be especially useful for low-vision patrons.

The side bar now allows for gadgets like calendars, photos, etc. 

There is an ability to tell the computer to run a program as if the operating system was XP.

Searching capability is throughout the operating system and it works fairly well.  There is a search at the bottom of the start screen, intended to take the place of the "run" command.  There is a search option on the start bar, and it's quite fast. 

The Good: security is a major improvement.  The new user interface is beautiful and provides some enhancements.

The Bad: it's a memory hog - plan on at least 2GB of RAM.  Inconsistency in bundled applications and utilities interfaces.  Incompatibility with niche applications and hardware.

The Ugly: DL's personal opinions.  The technology journalists haven't done a very good job of reviewing the product, and some of what is being said is either unfair or wrong.  "The UAC is annoying and will drive you crazy. " UAC becomes less intrusive after you've installed applications and configured the PC.  "Vista is a resource hog that will slow your PC down to a crawl."  PCs less than two years old that are properly equipped will run Vista.  Don't upgrade an existing PC; just wait until you buy a new one.

Security - DL's personal opinion - is the main reason a home user should use this OS.  There are significant improvements to the security.  Everything in the OS has been redone.  The system is much less susceptible to hacking.  Two kinds of users -  standard and admin.  The first user is an adminstrator account; any further accounts default as user accounts.  There is a user-access control - even the administrator does not have complete control over the device.  The system verifies when something is being changed and asks if it's OK.  Users would need an adminstrator password.  Can be a bit annoying, but the interruptions do decrease.

UAC will probably be turned off at the libraries as Vista is installed, since there are a number of programs that do the same thing.  If a library wants to have it turned on, that's OK, too.

IE in Vista can't download software unless you allow it to do so. There is no problem using Firefox with Vista.  The system has a built-in firewall that's on by default.  For the home user, a good idea to use. 

SELCO and Vista - support available December 2007.  All PCs purchased after that date will have Vista loaded.  Will still support XP.  Vista PCs will be downgraded from Vista to XP in cases of demonstrated incompatibility or serious problems: Horizon thusfar has not announced that it is compatible with Vista, though there has not been a problem.  Pharos is not compliant with Vista and will not run under the operating system.  No word yet from the vendor when or whether that will change.  Any library using Pharos will be getting XP.  The MS Shared Computer Toolkit is still in beta.

Lanesboro will be the first public library to get Vista - they are leasing computers, and all will be replaced in the next few weeks.