Chris Pirillo » beta

Windows 7 Thoughts

Chris — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:26:35 +0000

Windows 7 Thoughts is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I took several live calls the other night, talking to people about Windows 7. Mitchell was one of the callers. He absolutely loves Windows 7. He’s been a Windows user for many years, and never did like Vista. He started using Windows 7 with the very first build, and is now using the RTM via his TechNet subscription.

Although he never upgrade his own machines to Vista, he did use it on other computers. He hated it from the get-go, and refused to upgrade until something better was released. That something is obviously Windows 7 as far as he’s concerned.

In Mitchell’s mind – and my own – upgrading from XP to Windows 7 is an excellent idea. Mitchell feels that the upgrade is best because of the Windows Explorer. He’s very happy with that. He felt it was too confusing in Vista. With Windows 7, it’s easier to navigate and find what you’re looking for.

If you haven’t upgraded to Windows 7 yet, what are you waiting for? Remember, if you’re needing some tips and help, you can check out my Windows 7 eBook, available for only $7.00!

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What Do You Like About Likaholix?

Chris — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:19:14 +0000

What Do You Like About Likaholix? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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There are many things in this life that I like. I like green tea. It’s Geekalicious, really. I like old video games, like back on Atari. I like bamboo. I guess I’m a likaholic. If you’re one as well, you might like Likaholix.

Likaholix allows you to share, discuss and discover your likes with people you know. Basically, you just like things. It asks me to enter the name of an item. So, I entered the word lamp. It gives me a few different options to choose from, or I can enter a web link to what it is that I liked.

Once you select the item, click an image that’s representative of the like. Next, you need to say something about why you like that particular thing. I can optionally select my location, and add tag words. I can edit my like, and leave a comment.

If others happen to like the same things as me, then they can say they like it as well. This way, I’ll find people who like the same things I do, and may meet new friends. This site is all about likes – and no haters!

Right now, Likaholix are giving away five Amazon Kindles to people who join and become extremely active at liking things and people. Why does the world have to be so full of negativaty? The glass is half full, not half empty!

Did you know your friends like the things they like? Do they know what you like?! Likaholix is a great place to find out.

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What’s New in Windows 7: A Lot!!

Chris — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:20:32 +0000

What’s New in Windows 7: A Lot!! is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Yes, I’m now running Windows 7 on my HP TouchSmart PC, instead of using Vista. I knew that the Beta had been released, after hundreds of you had come pouring into our chat room asking if I had used it yet – and what I thought of it. I gotta say – so far it’s running very well!

I wasn’t able to get Windows 7 to recognize all of the hardware. I had to install it twice. The first time, it wouldn’t really work well. The second time, I did the same thing and it worked great. The only thing I cannot get to work still is the multi-touch feature of the TouchSmart. I was surprised to see that things I hadn’t expected to change have done so – and for the better! A lot more features have been fleshed out.

There are a few things I think will plague Windows for all of eternity. Once again, this version of Windows is chock full of the Tahoma font. For that reason alone, I could never think of any version of Windows as more than a Beta. I just can’t stand to have to look at it! I don’t think any self-respecting designer would release an operating system that had the use of MS Sans Seriff Tahoma throughout the UI. It’s kind of sloppy in my book.

However, if you can look past something like this, then Windows 7 will likely be an excellent upgrade for you. It’s definitely a lot faster than Vista. There isn’t any lag at all when doing a search from within the start menu or elsewhere on the system. When I plug in a USB device, it is recognized immediately.

A lot of the things that I appreciate are the things that they’ve seen through. A lot of what we saw added into Vista were taken out even more. They’ve added even more functionality without overwhelming the users. If you’re a power user, my recommendation is that you download Windows 7 Beta and give it a shot. I don’t know that I’d use this yet as your primary system, but it’s definitely worth trying.

I do plan to do a small series on Windows 7, to prepare people for what they’ll see. I am going to focus small videos on things that I have found within this new operating system that I already like. Windows 7 isn’t enough to make me want to “switch back” and away from Mac OS X. But I do like it, yes. It’s an excellent experience so far, and I know many of you are going to be happy with it. It feels so much more complete than Vista – it feels like what Vista should have been. There isn’t a lot of “wow” factor, but they have taken a lot of time to develop features that are important.

If you want to send feedback to Microsoft, you can download the Beta. Inside of every window, there is a direct feedback link. You can give it a star ranking, type in your feedback, and more. Allegedly, Microsoft will be taking a serious look at everything you have to say.

Keep in mind, you will likely run into issues as you begin to use Windows 7. Remember – you’re using a Beta, not a final release! Identifying and fixing bugs and issues is what a Beta is all about. Let me know what your experience is like so far – both positive and negative. If you have excellent tips and tricks already, let us hear from you!

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Would You Like to Try the Bumptop Beta for Windows?

Chris — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:37:24 +0000

Would You Like to Try the Bumptop Beta for Windows? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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We’ve been doing GoToMeeting sessions again. I thought this time around, I’d ask presenters to show off different tips and tricks they have. Marc Billow decided to demonstrate BumpTop for us. You, too, can sign up for a Beta code – without having to wait five months for it! We’re going to be giving away 100 instant access codes so that our community members can help test this out!

BumpTop is a fresh and engaging new way to interact with your computer desktop. You can pile and toss documents like on a real desk. Break free from the rigid and mechanical style of standard point-and-click desktops. Interact by pushing, pulling and piling documents with elegant, self revealing gestures. BumpTop’s stunning interface makes clever use of 3D presentation and smooth physics-based animations for an engaging, vivid user experience.

As Marc shows you, you can literally make your virtual desktop look more like a real desktop. It’s a lot of fun to play with, and very addictive. Instead of losing everything with a standard Windows desktop, you can make things stand out the way you are comfortable with using BumpTop. You can create tidy piles with documents and icons, move them anywhere on your desktop, and even let everything have a ‘messy’ look.

So as I said, we’re giving away 100 instant-access codes so that you can run this utility now. If you want to be one of these people, you need to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and subscribe to Marc’s YouTube channel. You also have to leave a comment in this blog post on my website. Make sure you leave a good comment, which is something that adds to the discussion here. If you leave an insipid comment such as “wow this is cool!”, your comment will be deleted and you will not be eligible.

Thank you so much to Tim and the team at Bumptop for putting this together for us!

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How Are You Helping the Software Community?

Chris — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:34:42 +0000

How Are You Helping the Software Community? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Even before the World Wide Web, I downloaded everything I could find to run on my computer. I was a software Geek from day one. Hardware is expensive, so I never got into it nearly as much.

I got an email here from Josh, and he writes: “I’ve been a subscriber to your YouTube channel for awhile, and I thought I would put together a top 10 list for you about easy ways people can contribute to the software community”. So without further ado, let’s take a look at his tips.

Join an idea submission site to share the ideas on how to make a product better with the community, as well as the company sponsoring the site. Examples of this include Dell’s Ideastorm Ubuntu Linux’s Brainstorm site.

Download and test Alpha and Beta software. Companies that release this kind of software to the public almost always provide a way to report bugs as well as provide feedback. One easy and highly useful piece of software to test is a Web browser. Firefox and Chrome are two examples that offer easy to obtain public betas.

Join a public bug tracker for a piece of software you use. This way, you can report bugs you find, as well as help identify valid and invalid already existing bugs by voting. You can also confirm bugs that have already been reported in the bug tracker.

If you use OpenDNS, they have a community where you can submit domains for review, and vote on whether a domain is categorized correctly to help improve their content filtering. There are also a few places to report phishing scams, such as Phishtank.

Contribute support in forums and help sites. If you know the answer to a question someone is asking at one of these sites, you can post an answer. An example of such a forum is Lockergnome Help forums, Apple Discussions and even Microsoft Newsgroups.

Open Source projects often accept help writing documentation, or translating their documentation into a different language. Open Source projects also often accept donations. These donations can often be counted when you are doing your taxes. Some Open Source projects accept artwork, too.

Try to contribute what you are good at. Software companies need a lot of different skills, such as artwork, legal advising, financial management, translations, user interface testing, etc… There is a place where anyone can contribute.

Publicize software you use or like in your blog, Twitter, or even on YouTube.

Join a user group for a piece of software you use. I’ve never been in one, however I know a few people in these type of groups, including one person who is in a VMware user group. He is able to get large discounts on VMware’s product,s as well as give direct feedback to VMware engineers.

Use a lot of different software on multiple OS’s if possible.

So you see, there are many ways you can get your foot into the door where software is concerned, and make your voice heard. By helping out in any or all of these words will not only help you, but could help countless other people as well.

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What’s new in Firefox 3?

Chris — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:12:23 +0000

What’s new in Firefox 3? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Beta 1 of Firefox 3 was released today. I found a few bugs, but overall it’s looking like there are some excellent new features and improvements. When it goes final, I may switch from Maxthon 1.0 to Firefox for my Windows machine. Let’s take a look at some of what’s new, thanks to Asa Dotzler from Mozilla. Asa is my kind of Geek, that’s for sure.

More Security

One click site info: Click the site favicon in the location bar to see who owns the site. Identity verification is prominently displayed and easier to understand.
Malware Protection: malware protection warns users when they arrive at sites which are known to install viruses, spyware, trojans or other malware.
New Web Forgery Protection page: the content of pages suspected as web forgeries is no longer shown.
New SSL error pages: clearer and stricter error pages are used when Firefox encounters an invalid SSL certificate.
Add-ons and Plugin version check: Firefox now automatically checks add-on and plugin versions and will disable older, insecure versions.
Secure add-on updates: to improve add-on update security, add-ons that provide updates in an insecure manner will be disabled.
Anti-virus integration: Firefox will inform anti-virus software when downloading executables.

Easier to Use

Easier password management: an information bar replaces the old password dialog so you can now save passwords after a successful login.
Simplified add-on installation: the add-ons whitelist has been removed making it possible to install extensions from third-party sites in fewer clicks.
New Download Manager: the revised download manager makes it much easier to locate downloaded files.
Resumable downloading: users can now resume downloads after restarting the browser or resetting your network connection.
Tab scrolling and quickmenu: tabs are easier to locate with the new tab scrolling and tab quickmenu.
Text selection improvements: Multiple text selections can be made with Ctrl/Cmd; Double-click drag selects in “word-by-word” mode; Triple-clicking selects a paragraph.
Find toolbar: the Find toolbar now opens with the current selection.

More Personal

Star button: quickly add bookmarks from the location bar with a single click; a second click lets you file and tag them.
Tags: associate keywords with your bookmarks to sort them by topic.
Location bar & auto-complete: type the title or tag of a page in the location bar to quickly find the site you were looking for in your history; favicons, bookmark, and tag indicators help you see where results are coming from.
Smart Places Folder: quickly access your recently bookmarked and tagged pages, as well as you more frequently visited pages with the new smart places folder on your bookmark toolbar.
Bookmarks and History Organizer: advanced search of your history and bookmarks with multiple views and smart folders to store your frequent searches.
Easy to use Download Actions: a new Applications preferences pane provides a better UI for configuring handlers for various file types and protocol schemes.

Improved Performance

Reliability: A user’s bookmarks, history, cookies, and preferences are now stored in a transactionally secure database format which will prevent data loss even if their system crashes.
Speed: Major architectural changes put foundations in place for major performance tuning which have resulted in speed increases in Beta 1, and will show further gains in future Beta releases.
Memory usage: Over 300 individual memory leaks have been plugged, and a new XPCOM cycle collector completely eliminates many more. Developers are continuing to work on optimizing memory use and reducing fragmentation.

So there you have it. A long list of reasons why you should be taking a look at the new Firefox version 3.0 when it is released. Excellent kudos to all of the Dev team at Mozilla.

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The Vista Bashing Bandwagon

Chris — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 04:20:48 +0000

The Vista Bashing Bandwagon is a post from Chris Pirillo

It’s not often I find myself agreeing with The Inquirer. Microsoft Vista is still a mess:

Vista’s still a mess. It’s meant to be at release candidate stage, yet vendor’s are struggling to provide sufficient driver support, features are still missing or not yet complete, and its performance compared to XP is still poor. Nowadays hardware is cheap, and it would be sufficiently acceptable to upgrade in anticipation of a wonderfully revolutionary OS. Unfortunately Vista provides little to no benefit for end users compared to that of the previous version of Windows, released five years ago in 2001.

Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. I think we’re all hoping for dramatic (and I mean, DRAMATIC) improvements between RC1, RC2, and Gold.

Finally, the Office 2007 Ribbon Rocks!

Chris — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 05:02:57 +0000

Finally, the Office 2007 Ribbon Rocks! is a post from Chris Pirillo

I wasn’t sure if I’d be sold on the Office 2007 Ribbon interface. It’s different – almost too different. I know they said it was supposed to increase productivity, but to me it just increased screen clutter. Today, I heard that the Office 2007 Ribbon [is] To Be Tweaked:

The Ribbon, a new top-of-the-window feature in most of the suite’s applications — including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint — takes up too much space, say many beta users and reviewers . In response, the next Office 2007 update, a so-called Technical Refresh (TR), will include changes to the Ribbon. Although an undocumented – or at least unpublicized – Ctrl-F1 key combination has “collapsed” the Ribbon since the very first beta to provide more viewing and working space for documents, Microsoft program manger Jensen Harris has outlined new ways that the feature will be called in future versions.

YES! By doing this, they’ve made the Ribbon UI truly digestable. Taking the Minimized Ribbon to the Max – watch the video to see what I mean. They’re really moving the ideas of menus forward, and I really wish the rest of Windows (and Microsoft) software would follow suit. Collapsing the Ribbon was an AWESOME idea. Now, as far as charging for Office betas is concerned – that was pure stupid.

Windows Media DRM is Corrupted

Chris — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 17:00:09 +0000

Windows Media DRM is Corrupted is a post from Chris Pirillo

So, I’m getting ready for a trip to Colorado Springs for my future brother-in-law’s nuptuals. I figured I’d give the Clix a shot with Urge. I fire up the Windows Media Player and… blammo:

“Your Windows Media DRM is Corrupted.” *sigh* I love DRM. It’s awesome. DRM is teh shiz. I want to make love to DRM, it’s so sexy. DRM is the ultimate. Give me more DRM. I want to spread DRM on my toast in the morning. I need DRM in my life.

Tagging Your Posts for Gnomedex

Chris — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:47:28 +0000

Tagging Your Posts for Gnomedex is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’ve had a few people ask me what to tag their posts as for Gnomedex. I say (and have always said) just tag things “Gnomedex” and leave it at that. If you wanna get fancy, you can also do Gnomedex6, Gnomedex06, Gnomedex2006, or SirNotAppearingInThisFilm. For maximum flash efficiency, stick with “Gnomedex” and call it a day. The only other tag we’d like to recommend is “GnomedexDiscussion” – for the times when you’d like to make a comment on something that’s being said at the conference – specifically when we run out of time for a discussion on-site. If you want to watch what’s happening with any of the keywords, you can import any of the following into your news aggregator from TagJag:

http://tagjag.com/blogs/gnomedex/opml (Recommended)
http://tagjag.com/all/gnomedex/opml (Large!)
http://tagjag.com/blogs/gnomedex/rss (Single Feed, Beta)
http://tagjag.com/all/gnomedex/rss (Single Feed, Beta)

TagJag outputs OPML and RSS without you ever needing to visit the site! Plus, it combines tag search directories (fresh, like Flickr, Technorati, or de.l.ici.ou.s) with traditional search directories (static, like Yahoo!, Ask, or MSN).

New Google Earth Beta

Chris — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 21:22:04 +0000

New Google Earth Beta is a post from Chris Pirillo

It’s out, but I’m very sad to report that the new version of Google Earth is still calling on Arial as the default Window UI font (not the internal 3D mapping font, which is fine). Why do developers insist on using this instead of Tahoma (or Segoe UI, in the case of Windows Vista)?! Sorry, Google – if this is your first beta of v4.0, you’re already failing miserably in my book.

I posted more about this in tonight’s report, You Live on Google Earth – including stating that this really is a tremendous app that has amazing potential, but I just refuse to look past something as simple as using Arial as the default font in the non-3D experience. At least Google Talk allows you to change the font throughout the entire app!

I am sick and tired of playing the UI heavy around here. Would someone smack the appropriate person over at Google and tell ‘em to get their app act together? It’s great that they’re acquiring great software left-and-right, but it’s not great that they’re not conforming to a single user experience. I’ve given Microsoft hell for this – but they certainly don’t have a monopoly on inconsistent software experiences. I catch hell for stating that Google Earth is still calling on Arial throughout their entire Windows UI (non-nav) – but I’m not going to sit here and say that their software is amazing just because it’s free and it comes from them (Google). It doesn’t look like Google Talk, it doesn’t look like the Google Toolbar, it doesn’t look like Google SketchUp, it doesn’t look like Google Picasa… none of these freakin’ apps look like the other!!! I’d accept that from a startup company, but Google rakes in big bucks and can afford to spend some time on spit and polish. They’re not, and I find that beyond forgivable. I expect better from Google.

Windows Vista BitTorrent Tracker

Chris — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 23:46:52 +0000

Windows Vista BitTorrent Tracker is a post from Chris Pirillo

Okay, we’ve done it: VistaTorrent.com. I’ve set this up with Jake Ludington, so that (a) people can use BitTorrent to download Windows Vista Beta 2, as they’re likely using BitTorrent to do it anyway; (b) people will now have an official MD5 hash to check against any Windows Vista (Beta 2) ISO files they might download elsewhere; (c) we can help Microsoft, based on earlier reports from them and subsequent complaints from users. We’re only doing this to help, knowing that nobody wants to wait 4 weeks for a DVD to arrive when the ISO could be downloaded so much quicker through peer-to-peer networks (with a MANDATORY MD5 CHECKSUM comparison). If you send anybody anywhere, it’s all on VistaTorrent.com. This is not a crack, this is not a hack, this is not software piracy – it’s unofficial mirroring with official validation.

We are fully prepared to kill the seeded torrent upon request, but would appeal to Microsoft’s better senses – if Microsoft isn’t going to do it themselves, isn’t it better that someone trusted is doing it for them?!

Windows Vista: Download vs. DVD

Chris — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:05:58 +0000

Windows Vista: Download vs. DVD is a post from Chris Pirillo

A few minutes ago, in an online group chat, Microsoft Windows Featured Community leaders received the following stream of information regarding the number of sanctioned downloads for Windows Vista Beta 2. This report comes directly from Microsoft’s own Aaron Coldiron:

Yes, you can immediately publish what I’m about to tell you. You are literally the first to hear this – but I probably won’t be able to satisfy all your appetite for questions. ;) I wanted to update you on downloads for the Windows Vista Beta 2. Demand for Beta 2 has been huge – which we expected. But, we are hitting ceilings on bandwidth. Right now we are serving out product keys 10x faster than we can serve the downloads. Already this is the biggest software download event in history. There’s two points I want to give you:

We are pumping out bits as fast as we can. If we pushed out bits any faster there would be a measurable impact for the Internet. So, we are literally saying that if we increased our bandwidth any further there’s a possibility of taking down the Internet – people might have problems with World Cup viewing, etc. That would [sic] be bad. So, it isn’t that we weren’t anticipating demand – we were and are – it is that we are at the threshold of what the Internet can bear.
We want to encourage people who can wait to order the DVD. The DVD guarantees you RC1 upgrade (as long as you activate). DVDs will take about 1 – 4 weeks to arrive depending where in the world you live. And, I want to emphasize that we aren’t making money on the DVDs. We are just charging for cost of goods and shipping. Along with that – people who have PID keys may have a wait on their hands to get the download. This could be several days to even up to a week or more in some cases. That speaks to why ordering the DVD might be a good option. People who already have PID keys and want to get the DVD just need to go back to the GetReady site and go through the process there. They will get a new PID key.

When I asked why they couldn’t just seed it as a torrent (BitTorrent), Aaron responded:

There are legal and privacy issues which unfortunately make that not an option for Microsoft to officially sponsor a BitTorrent. I really wish we could do it, but we can’t. If someone [seeds or downloads a torrent] we can’t guarantee that they’ve got an unaltered copy, etc.

Even though Microsoft can’t sanction the seeding of a Windows Vista Beta 2 torrent, they’re probably not going to do anything to stop it from happening. I do hope that someone will officially produce an MD5 hash so that users can compare checksums! Aaron continued:

Stats – right now we don’t have any specific stats to share. Let me just say that demand is on the upper ends of our projections. We’ve been pretty clear in all our messaging that this beta will be limited. Limited in the # of people. I can’t give you any direction on this at this time. So, no comment.

The Internet needs to decide: Windows Vista Beta 2 or World Cup? :)

65 More Windows Vista Mistakes

Chris — Mon, 29 May 2006 00:26:05 +0000

65 More Windows Vista Mistakes is a post from Chris Pirillo

I just couldn’t leave well enough alone. Even after my problems with Outlook 2007, and my original feedback on Windows Vista, I went deeper into Windows Vista’s second beta. This time, I didn’t concentrate so much on the font issues (so that I couldn’t be accused of being such a nitpicker). Don’t get me wrong; there are still thousands of UI oversights still sitting within Windows. I intend to prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt. I don’t just want to hear about how some of my problems were addressed – I won’t rest until all of them are. I keep being told that a lot of it will be happening soon, but… I’ll believe it when I see it. This isn’t just about fonts and icons, my friends – it’s about something I intend on using as my primary operating system for the next… seven (?) years.

Why can’t it detect when I have a .com on the end of a domain in the “Start Search” field – working much like CTRL+Enter does in IE or Firefox?
If Windows is moving slowly, I can see the stop/refresh button in the Windows Explorer jump. At least, the graphic inside the button starts lower than normal – then jumps up to the proper (aligned, centered) position.
Dragging object icons – strange transparency issue still exists. Looks like hell.
For some reason, many dialogs/windows have a black line between the glass and the top of the inner-portion of the window. If this is due to me changing the size of my title bar – you’ve got a serious bug to fix.
Why, if I change my Shell Dlg font in XP to Segoe UI, the default size is 8pt – in Vista, it’s 9pt – and that REALLY screws things up. Is there no way to set it to 8pt anywhere? Please make the hook?
Would somebody please smack the person who thought that white Battery/Power and Volume icons were en vogue?
Why won’t you let me exit out of the location settings dialog if I don’t want to enter an area code first? Even by confirming that I don’t want to do it yet, you keep the window open. This might be tied into how I found out – by trying to get a Business number within Outlook. This may very well be Outlook’s fault, not your own (in which case, that’s another red checkmark in the Outlook 2007 column).
I was able to get ReadyBoost working, I think. If there’s an easy way to watch benchmarks, I’m not finding it. Tried looking for a “Benchmarks” option in the Start Menu, but it’s just not obvious to me. I found it once, but I’ll be damned if I can find it again. Tried looking in the most logical places, too – including within the Task Manager.
The ReadyBoost tab should display information like “You’ve sped up your system by 10% by using ReadyBoost today.” Wouldn’t that be nice to know? It’d also be nice if you could tell me the relative speed of my current USB memory stick – so that I could find out if there were faster ones available.
Why doesn’t ReadyBoost information show up in the System Properties? Ya know, Control Panel | System? There, it still shows me running “1.0 GB of RAM” – but it’s not accounting for the flash RAM I’ve just inserted.
System Information (if that’s Vista’s) is calling on a different point size of a font. I believe it’s Segoe UI, but it’s awfully 9pt Tahoma’ish to me.
The Event Viewer has tons of useful information. If only you’d stop calling on Microsoft Sans Serif throughout, and remember the damn window size every time I open/close the app. Tried looking for the benchmarks / system resource view here, too – still can’t find it.
Sometimes when I’m fiddling with the Visual Appearance, I lose the ability to turn on transparency. I have to reboot the system before that feature works again (even so, I have to go in and re-toggle it a few times to get it to work).
Why aren’t you doing this?
Thank you for pseudo-updating the default selection of backgrounds / wallpapers. However, where’s the dual monitor support? Seriously, you have nothing in here for dual monitors. What if I want one wallpaper to be X and the other wallpaper to be Y? What if I want to stretch wallpapers on both screens to each independent resolution? I have 1600×1200 on one monitor right now, 1680×1050 on another. Non-tiled dual monitor wallpapers look like hell in this scenario. Fix it.
I love the “img15.jpg placeholder” wallpaper. I say it’s a keeper, even if you make it hidden somewhere in the system where only the geekiest geeks could find it. Sad thing is, the “img15.jpg placeholder” was designed better than just about any other graphical system element I’ve run across.
The Personalization dialog’s top nav section seems to have a background color applied to it (that’s not matching the background image). Same holds true for the System dialog (each found as a subsection of ‘Control Panel’). Oh, and Power Options, apparently. Why in some and not in others. At least if you’re gong to screw something up, screw it up all over the place please?
Mobility Center is not customizable. Why can’t I save settings to different profiles? Wouldn’t that make sense? Jeez, even my cell phone has profiles contingent on setting.
You only have seven settings in the Windows Mobility Center – can’t you just make up an 8th one, or are we really going to have to stare at this glaring empty space in the lower right-hand corner? My suggestion: do away with the separation lines altogether, flood the entire area with white space, and for PETE’S SAKE round the corners like you have the outside of the window!!!
What’s starting to drive me nuts is your inconsistent application of internal window margins. For example, the distance between the top border of an Explorer window and the first window element (the search bar) is different than the distance between the top border of the Windows Mobility Center and the first window element (in this case, the panels). Open Notepad, and you’ll notice another distance altogether. Who’s in charge of looking at this stuff!? You really expect someone to fork over $100+ for this?
I don’t mind seeing the circled question mark icon in a window. However, I DO mind that you keep putting it in different places. Again, let’s compare and contrast the Windows Explorer window and a Windows Mobility Center window.
Why can’t I easily switch to the Recording options in the new Volume dialog? Seriously, why?
Why do the Volume dialog’s sliders have a boxy shadow behind them? Looks horrible.
I made this point a couple of bugs ago, but it really deserves to be called out here. Are things going to be curved or not? If you are going to curve the edge of Windows elements, then curve all of them. Not some of them – all of them. This would include every single possible edge you find in the OS. Buttons, borders, backgrounds, etc.
In the new (file) Open dialog, why does the “File name” field sport a different height than the “File type” field? Then, why are both of them sporting different heights than the breadcrumb and search bars at the top of the dialog. Gah!!! Do I need to buy someone a ruler… and slap them on the wrist with it a few times?
Again, in this Frankenstein of a file Open dialog, I have one several opportunities to press an upward/downward arrow. I press the one in the Search box (it’s one width, producing a menu typical of what I find throughout other programs). I press the one in the object area (seeing the width of the arrow button is fatter, producing another style of drop-down for object sorting and filtering). I press the one for the Folders view (seeing that it’s now a circle button, and that produces inconsistent padding both above and below it). I think you just made Baby Jesus cry.
In the open dialog’s breadcrumb bar, sometimes the file name (or path) gets cut off. No way of seeing what’s past a certain point. I don’t see a handlebar to make that area wider, but it should either stretch to a better length on its own or provide some kind of tooltip to show me the truncated information.
Hey, would someone please fix the fact that the Task Manager’s Applications Pane has a horizontal scroll bar that never goes away – no matter what you do? It serves no purpose and has been annoying the hell out of me since Windows 2000. WHY IS IT THERE?!
In the Task Manager, why can’t I right-click a column heading to add other columns – I can do that in an Explorer window – why not here as well? Did the Task Manager programmer not pay his Tribute to the king?
Why, in the Task Manager, when I hover over a truncated title, do I not see a tooltip with the hidden information?
Who’s duck do I have to sick to make this easier to do?
I turned off the Security Center. Why is it still showing up in my system tray?
Clicking the “Adjust indexing options” in the Performance Rating and Tools dialog (subsection of ‘Control Panel’) does nothing.
On my laptop, the Power Options should automatically go into Power Saver mode when I’m not plugged into AC power. Right now, I have to toggle everything manually. Likewise, it should go High Performance when I’m plugged into an external power source.
You have to figure out what else to do when it comes to needing more information in a Control Panel option. For the first hour or so, I didn’t even see the scroll bar in many panels. For example, Control Panel | Power Options | System Settings is just tall enough to warrant a vertical scrollbar. However, it’s pointless – there’s nothing else to show down there but (admittedly properly measured) white space.
Why am I still seeing old Windows dialogs? Like, for the Screen Saver option in the Control Panel. Shouldn’t that be a subsection of the Personalization applet?
There we go! I found the “Performance Diagnostic Console” finally. This is nice, but you wanna talk about scrollbar overkill? I’ve got more scrollbars in this single window than I think actually exist. Thus, creating what I like to call a “paradox.”
Reliability Monitor in the Performance Diagnostic Console is pretty nice. A few controls and images are awfully old, but the tool itself might prove useful in troubleshooting scenarios.
OMG. The Performance Monitor section of the Performance Diagnostic Console is calling on the System (or Terminal) font?!
Why can’t I drag & drop the Resource Overview (in the Performance Diagnostics section of the Performance Diagnostic Console) into the Sidebar? Either all four, or each one individually?
This is weird. I’m looking at the Personalization dialog here. The status bar is turned on, claiming… “2 items.” Really? I see more than two items here, so what “2 items” is it referring to? Conversely, the status bar claims to be seeing “0 items” in the System dialog of the Control Panel. Who’s seeing what?
I know you said it wasn’t going to make it, but can someone please tell me why I don’t have a slider control or pause button in the Windows Explorer copy function?
Why, when resizing a dialog like “Problem Reports and Solutions,” do I see white space appear in the window title area – specifically, on the side that I’m moving back and forth? Other areas of the window are being painted irregularly, too. Looks fine when I stop movement, but the actual movement is jarring to the window elements (apparently). Do you not expect anybody to resize – or do you expect them to excuse this kind of UI quirk?
In the Start Menu, why does an empty folder cascade out to “(empty)”? If you’re going to do that, at least shade “(empty)” a light gray instead of black.
Can you please require people to reference the same 16×16 help icon that I keep seeing everywhere? I’ve seen about three different versions of it – one polished, one plain, another completely different than these other two. Sounds like all of you need help with it.
The SendTo context menu seems to be calling on another kind of layout (compressed, compared to the overly-spacious Windows default). So, too, are the submenus of the Start Menu rightmost pane (Games, Favorites, Computer, etc.). AGAIN, a completely different style is being applied to the New context menu (Folder, Shortcut, etc.). Yet another style is being applied to the Organize menu in the Windows Explorer! IMHO, all menus should look and feel the same throughout the entire OS. If you want a baseline, look no further than the submenus of the Start Menu.
Why don’t I get a larger thumbnail preview of a document or image that I have on my desktop? Seriously, why? Is 128 MB of video RAM not enough?
Okay, now THIS is just funny (and sad at the same time). The Start Menu: nice default view, the margins between each recently-opened program shortcut seem fine – until you toggle the “All Programs” feature. Now, the margins between each of the Start Menu items is smaller. It’s noticeable. Small difference, but still quite noticeable. Egad, if you can’t even get it right in the same area – what hope does the rest of Windows have?
The separator bar between “All Programs” / “Back” changes widths by a few pixels on each end when you toggle the view. Again, I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. I’ve been waiting seven years for THIS?!
Just read a post on Channel 9 referencing my original list of Vista problems… “Wow, that’s the most annually retentive post I’ve ever read… Can you imagine what this person does when they actually find a problem as opposed to “OMFG BATMAN THAT BUTTON IS NOT PIXEL ALIGNED!!!1!!” I responded: “Yeah, and it’s attitudes like this which cause potentially ‘great’ products to come across as ‘okay.’ If that kind of sloppiness is happening on the surface, I cringe when I think about what’s going on underneath.”
The separator bar between the Start Menu Pin section and the list of recently-opened programs has a different “vspace” than the separator bar at the bottom of the Start Menu separating the “All Programs” toggle with the list of recently-opened programs.
Why does the system tray battery icon have an abnormal left margin to it? Breaks the flow here.
How come Firefox runs faster and better on Vista than IE7 does?
“Search the Index” option in the Start Menu’s “Start Search” field – what Index? Who’s Index? What’s an Index?
To piggyback the prior issue, “Search the Internet” – is that Live’s version of the Internet or Google’s? Can this be toggled to Google easily? If so, where? If not, why not?
I hit it on my first list, but the Windows Calendar UI is amazingly pathetic and inconsistent. First, why is the Search field formatted differently than it is in the Windows Explorer? Second, why is the Search field slapped up against the right border of the window!? Third, why is the view button not working like the View button in the Windows Explorer? Fourth, Why is the calendar formatted differently than it is in the Windows Date & Settings applet? Fifth, why is the “traditional” menu turned on in this program by default? Sixth, why is there virtually no top margin to the area within the Calendars section of the Navigation pane? Sixth, is there going to be a plan to better integrate this within Outlook – so that the two could work seamlessly between each other so that I don’t have to get an Exchance server just to share information between myself and others – and so that I don’t have to update two sets of Tasks and Appointments!? *sigh*
Why, and pardon me if this is wrong of me to ask, can’t I manage all my Windows Live accounts from a Control Panel applet?
Man, there’s so much going on inside the Search Index window – it’s like I’ve died and gone to short-attention span heaven. The only thing that’s missing is (seriously) the kitchen sink.
The Search Index window’s “Add a title” field text seems to be improperly aligned – as does its little magnifying glass graphic.
Why can’t I turn off the text and/or icons in the new Windows toolbar? I hate seeing the double-arrows when there are more options. I can make it with the icons, thank you very much.
The “in” field seems to be a different height than the “Add a title” field (and I’m still not sure what “Add a title” even means).
Why can’t I choose what meta information displays in the Windows Vista Preview Pane?
In Windows Explorer Views, I should never see a horizontal scrollbar. Instead, you should follow Outlook’s lead (!) and automatically push the information together into a single chunk rather than force me to look to the right or left to get to the information I’ve asked to see. And don’t tell me to maximize the window – that’s a cop out, and you know it.
Who decided that the progress bar would be green? Why isn’t that themable? I’d assume it’s a graphic – and if not, then why can’t I make it some other color?
Whoa. The Windows Easy Transfer dialog to warn you that the firewall is blocking the program from running appears to have fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on its way down. You look at it and tell me why I’d even say such a thing. Seems that other Yes/No dialogs have fallen out of the same tree in this tool as well.
Why is the Favorites folder icon the only folder icon that doesn’t have a folder icon in it? It’s just this gigantic star. I think it’s fine that way, but if you’re not going to have a folder image in the Favorites folder icon, then get rid of the other special folders’ folder icons.
Where’s the “Export all possible Windows settings” feature? I think it’s supposed to be there for documents, emails, photos, etc. – but what about my generic windows settings?

Okay, I lied. 67 instead of 65. That’s enough feedback for Vista in one afternoon. I’m going back to picking apart Outlook 2007 now, and will push you back to my first Vista list if this wasn’t enough.

Microsoft Slows Microsoft Down

Chris — Wed, 24 May 2006 17:30:05 +0000

Microsoft Slows Microsoft Down is a post from Chris Pirillo

The screen shot from Windows Vista proves it. Any comment, Brandon? Of course, I’d expect a lot of these kinds of bugs in beta builds – especially when one beta is combined with another beta. The search “engine” is light years better than it was in previous verisons of Windows, or so the Search team tells me. I haven’t yet tried to copy my PST over into Outlook. I’ll be using Vista more and more on the road, as it’s now my laptop OS.

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

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