My First 5c Worth. Vista Beta 2 Release.

Got my beta 2, installed it.

Not all my hardware is supported.

-QuickCam Communicate STX (Promised by Microsoft this would be fixed three CTP's ago.

-SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (As always it's "Creative's Problem")

A lot of my software does not work.

-Nero 6 "Reloaded" / 6.6.1.4

-Alcohol 120% / 1.9.5.3823

-Firefox 1.5.0.4 cannot install addons

the list goes on. But a lot of games work badly or not at all too.

But my biggest problem is with the look of Vista.

It's a bastard child of XP and Transparency. Seriously confused design. What is the point of all the transparencies.

Yes. They do look half nice, but really, its just not justified and eats up resources like crazy.

There is one more gripe that I have on the Vista transparency. The "streak" that goes through it, seriously now, it looks damn ugly when there is a large transparent area - like the gadget application. Seriously, I want Streak free Windows Please!!

No transparency? You still get "Streaks"!

Transparency? You still get "Streaks"! Either way, just can't get rid of those "streaks". Windex for Windows anyone?

There is a total lack of uniformity with toolbars.
Start Windows Defefender, Start Explorer, Start Calendar, Start Mail and lastly Start Paint.
What happened with user interface uniformity Microsoft? Look at the toolbars of each.
Some have ribbon bars. Many don't. Then some programes like Paint have no ribbon bar at all.

Go to add new fonts. There, a Windows 3.1 interface for adding fonts.

Windows 3.1 Lives in Vista

Look in Tools and Folder options - Non Vista styled design.

9x is still there.

Active Window? Can you tell which one is the active Window quickly! Try, you have a 50% chance of getting it right!

So how did you go?

There is only one way of telling, the red "x" - it's only active on the active window!

UAC - Don't get me started.

Then check your memory and resource usage. After restart my x86 build uses around 530MB of RAM from my 1GB PC and I'm running nothing but Windows.
This is a very poor release for Beta 2.

If this what Vista is going to be and what Microsoft has invisioned for the future of Windows; I have got to rethink. As a customer and an enthusiast I expected something special. What I got is nothing special.

What do you think?

I think that Vista should be delayed until Q3, 2007 and released when its really ready. Not when marketing think its ready.

I certainly am not ready or wanting to upgrade to Vista from what I see.

I give Vista Beta 2 a score of 4 out of 10. Let's see what RC1 brings. Miracles anyone?!