It took five years, 10,000 employees, and (allegedly) billions of dollars. It contains some 50 million lines of code. Yes, it’s Windows Vista, and it’s finally here. And guess what? In some ways, Vista has Linux beat.
Originally published in the April 2007 print edition of Linux Magazine.
It contains some 50 million lines of code, and took five years, 10,000 employees, and (allegedly) billions of dollars to develop. Yes, it’s Windows Vista, and it’s finally here. And guess what? In some ways, Vista has Linux beat.
No, I’ve not been drugged, bought, or blackmailed by BillG. It’s just true. That doesn’t mean that Linux is bad, or that I’m going to stop using the Penguin. It does mean, however, that Linux users should work to understand how Vista is superior, so we can talk reasonably to Windows users about all of their options. More important, we can implement the good stuff that Vista has, while shunning the stupid, consumer-unfriendly, so-called “features” that Microsoft has also introduced with Vista.
In any battle, it’s a good idea to understand your enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. Read on to learn everything about Vista.
User Interface
If there was a truth-in-advertising law, you’d see this in all Vista ads: “Try new Microsoft Vista! Now more Mac-like than ever! “
The much-vaunted, new Aero provides a fancy, new user interface for Windows, with transparency, animations, and live previews. For instance, Alt-Tab doesn’t just switch between open applications anymore; Alt-Tab, now called Windows Flip, now shows you little up-to-date pictures of open windows instead of simple application icons. Or, if you press Windows-Tab, live pictures of windows appear in a 3D stack. It’s a pretty cool effect, guaranteed to impress the techno-illiterate.
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