My new notebook arrived, and it is beautiful to look at, beautiful to feel. But the joy of owning this fine piece of engineering and design has soured over the past few days because of the unprofessional operating system.
It came pre-installed with Windows Vista Ultimate. Microsoft supposedly targets this version of their operating system to corporate users. What were they thinking?
After 4 days I am still only half as productive as I was with Windows XP, because finding your way around Vista is like playing a computer adventure game. The icons and text give you clues - but they are not always correct. It took me about an hour just to get the wireless networking up because the settings for a static IP address (my network has no DHCP server) were well hidden.
Now, being a responsible and careful user, I gave myself a 'Standard user' account. This is the right thing to do because the operating system will not allow me to modify system files. So if I inadvertently try and install some malware, the read-only status of the system files will prevent such self-destruction. But Vista, it seems, has no time or respect for 'Standard users'. Here is one example: I drag and drop an unwanted desktop shortcut icon into the recycle bin, and the following alert box appears:
I click on 'continue' and the altert box blinks but stays the same. Looking at the title bar it shows that the destination folder access is denied. The destination folder is my own recycle bin. It says that I need to confirm the operation but it does not say how I can do that. I am still trying to find the hidden buttons in this adventure game. (No need to tell me, I know that the shortcut is with the read-only 'all-users' desktop files, but that's not what the alert box says.)
I want to quit now, please.
Postscript
The adventure improves. I discovered that the silly behaviour was because I had the UAC turned off for the administrator account. Now, clicking on 'Continue' brings up the following dialog box:
I am beginning to enjoy the game.
I found it impossible to capture the above dialog box to the clipboard - thus the photograph. It is another little thing that adds to the fun. I'm actually becoming a Vista enthusiast. Can't wait for my clients to convert to Vista so that I can charge them for game hints and tips.
It came pre-installed with Windows Vista Ultimate. Microsoft supposedly targets this version of their operating system to corporate users. What were they thinking?
After 4 days I am still only half as productive as I was with Windows XP, because finding your way around Vista is like playing a computer adventure game. The icons and text give you clues - but they are not always correct. It took me about an hour just to get the wireless networking up because the settings for a static IP address (my network has no DHCP server) were well hidden.
Now, being a responsible and careful user, I gave myself a 'Standard user' account. This is the right thing to do because the operating system will not allow me to modify system files. So if I inadvertently try and install some malware, the read-only status of the system files will prevent such self-destruction. But Vista, it seems, has no time or respect for 'Standard users'. Here is one example: I drag and drop an unwanted desktop shortcut icon into the recycle bin, and the following alert box appears:
I click on 'continue' and the altert box blinks but stays the same. Looking at the title bar it shows that the destination folder access is denied. The destination folder is my own recycle bin. It says that I need to confirm the operation but it does not say how I can do that. I am still trying to find the hidden buttons in this adventure game. (No need to tell me, I know that the shortcut is with the read-only 'all-users' desktop files, but that's not what the alert box says.)
I want to quit now, please.
Postscript
The adventure improves. I discovered that the silly behaviour was because I had the UAC turned off for the administrator account. Now, clicking on 'Continue' brings up the following dialog box:
I am beginning to enjoy the game.
I found it impossible to capture the above dialog box to the clipboard - thus the photograph. It is another little thing that adds to the fun. I'm actually becoming a Vista enthusiast. Can't wait for my clients to convert to Vista so that I can charge them for game hints and tips.
