Comments on: 4 Things that Microsoft Needs to Fix http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/ Connecting Ideas Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:11:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: The Windows Vista RC1 Monster Review at The NeoSmart Files http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-6916 The Windows Vista RC1 Monster Review at The NeoSmart Files Tue, 07 Nov 2006 17:59:44 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-6916 [...] We may have complained quite a lot before and after RC1 was released, but don’t let that mislead you, RC1 is good. Really good for a product that just a month ago was a complete and utter disaster as far as usability and stability were concerned. This review focuses on all aspects of RC1, which after all is the first real look at what we’re going to end up getting. What makes this review a bit different from our previous reviews is a more on-the-spot focus about the good and the bad. It’s a mega-review, it features subjective and objective tests, and every step of the way we’ll be giving our feedback about what works and what doesn’t. You can go ahead and press the next page link and read it from start to finish or you can use the mini-ToC below; each section is more or less independent of the rest. [...] [...] We may have complained quite a lot before and after RC1 was released, but don’t let that mislead you, RC1 is good. Really good for a product that just a month ago was a complete and utter disaster as far as usability and stability were concerned. This review focuses on all aspects of RC1, which after all is the first real look at what we’re going to end up getting. What makes this review a bit different from our previous reviews is a more on-the-spot focus about the good and the bad. It’s a mega-review, it features subjective and objective tests, and every step of the way we’ll be giving our feedback about what works and what doesn’t. You can go ahead and press the next page link and read it from start to finish or you can use the mini-ToC below; each section is more or less independent of the rest. [...]

]]> By: Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition : The Infamous RC1 'Conversation': Vista WILL Rock You http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-6378 Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition : The Infamous RC1 'Conversation': Vista WILL Rock You Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:15:04 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-6378 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] The Infamous RC1 'Conversation': Vista WILL Rock You Whew. Brandon was definitely not thrilled with me after this conversation. If you've seen my Windows Live Messenger personal message the last couple days, I said "The next build of Vista will rock your world." It led to a very interesting discussion with Brandon about "expectations", and what RC1 will shape up to be. Brandon and I both have seen the progress that has been made since 5472, and up until a couple weeks ago, I was pissed at the level of (in)stability Vista still exhibited so close to RC1. My public statement to that fact led to more traffic on this site than I had seen in quite some time. So what could make me change my mind so quickly? I got a sneak peek at the build TechBeta testers will receive (hopefully) soon. I won't go into details now, but suffice it to say, tt will have been worth the wait. Brandon's all hung up on UI, and that's fine. I'm not as picky as Brandon and Pirillo are (although I don't know how many people complaining it will take until they get Win 3.1 UI out of the OS). I just want to be able to use it on a daily basis without it hosing my computer in one form or another. And I wouldn't mind having my system be quick enough to be, God forbid, productive. I'm on a dual core 3GHz box with 3GB of RAM for Pete's sake... I ought to be able to have an app pop right up when I launch it. So what are my expectations? Well, my new WLM message reads: "If you haven't experienced anything since 5472, the next Vista build will rock your world." Is it finished yet? Hell no. I still don't think the next milestone should be called a "release candidate". But it gives me hope. And I'm patient enough to accept that (for the time being). (Oh, and I hear Microsoft is going to "get creative" with this release's name. Microsoft's really struck out with the way they handled build names up to this point, so we should really be in for a treat.) Share this post Published Saturday, August 19, 2006 11:51 PM by Robert McLaws [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> [...] The Infamous RC1 ‘Conversation’: Vista WILL Rock You Whew. Brandon was definitely not thrilled with me after this conversation. If you’ve seen my Windows Live Messenger personal message the last couple days, I said “The next build of Vista will rock your world.” It led to a very interesting discussion with Brandon about “expectations”, and what RC1 will shape up to be. Brandon and I both have seen the progress that has been made since 5472, and up until a couple weeks ago, I was pissed at the level of (in)stability Vista still exhibited so close to RC1. My public statement to that fact led to more traffic on this site than I had seen in quite some time. So what could make me change my mind so quickly? I got a sneak peek at the build TechBeta testers will receive (hopefully) soon. I won’t go into details now, but suffice it to say, tt will have been worth the wait. Brandon’s all hung up on UI, and that’s fine. I’m not as picky as Brandon and Pirillo are (although I don’t know how many people complaining it will take until they get Win 3.1 UI out of the OS). I just want to be able to use it on a daily basis without it hosing my computer in one form or another. And I wouldn’t mind having my system be quick enough to be, God forbid, productive. I’m on a dual core 3GHz box with 3GB of RAM for Pete’s sake… I ought to be able to have an app pop right up when I launch it. So what are my expectations? Well, my new WLM message reads: “If you haven’t experienced anything since 5472, the next Vista build will rock your world.” Is it finished yet? Hell no. I still don’t think the next milestone should be called a “release candidate”. But it gives me hope. And I’m patient enough to accept that (for the time being). (Oh, and I hear Microsoft is going to “get creative” with this release’s name. Microsoft’s really struck out with the way they handled build names up to this point, so we should really be in for a treat.) Share this post Published Saturday, August 19, 2006 11:51 PM by Robert McLaws [...]

]]> By: Internet Explorer 7 RC1 Review & Open Search at The NeoSmart Files http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-4044 Internet Explorer 7 RC1 Review & Open Search at The NeoSmart Files Sat, 02 Sep 2006 06:24:27 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-4044 [...] Don’t get us wrong, Internet Explorer 7 is not perfect, for instance the DIV rounding error is still there, and IE7 still doesn’t have input:focus CSS support, but it’s definitely shaping up great. Quick tabs still use the same dirty JPEG low-res captures, and we’re sorry to report that the nasty Windows 95 Import/Export wizard hasn’t changed, but besides that it’s shaping up. [...] [...] Don’t get us wrong, Internet Explorer 7 is not perfect, for instance the DIV rounding error is still there, and IE7 still doesn’t have input:focus CSS support, but it’s definitely shaping up great. Quick tabs still use the same dirty JPEG low-res captures, and we’re sorry to report that the nasty Windows 95 Import/Export wizard hasn’t changed, but besides that it’s shaping up. [...]

]]> By: at The NeoSmart Files http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3999 at The NeoSmart Files Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:58:24 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3999 [...] 4 Things that Microsoft Needs to Fix [...] [...] 4 Things that Microsoft Needs to Fix [...]

]]> By: Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET - Windows Vista Edition : The Infamous RC1 'Conversation': Vista WILL Rock You http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3870 Robert McLaws: FunWithCoding.NET - Windows Vista Edition : The Infamous RC1 'Conversation': Vista WILL Rock You Mon, 21 Aug 2006 05:29:44 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3870 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...]  The Infamous RC1 'Conversation': Vista WILL Rock You Whew. Brandon was definitely not thrilled with me after this conversation. If you've seen my Windows Live Messenger personal message the last couple days, I said "The next build of Vista will rock your world." It led to a very interesting discussion with Brandon about "expectations", and what RC1 will shape up to be. Brandon and I both have seen the progress that has been made since 5472, and up until a couple weeks ago, I was pissed at the level of (in)stability Vista still exhibited so close to RC1. My public statement to that fact led to more traffic on this site than I had seen in quite some time. So what could make me change my mind so quickly? I got a sneak peek at the build TechBeta testers will receive (hopefully) soon. I won't go into details now, but suffice it to say, tt will have been worth the wait. Brandon's all hung up on UI, and that's fine. I'm not as picky as Brandon and Pirillo are (although I don't know how many people complaining it will take until they get Win 3.1 UI out of the OS). I just want to be able to use it on a daily basis without it hosing my computer in one form or another. And I wouldn't mind having my system be quick enough to be, God forbid, productive. I'm on a dual core 3GHz box with 3GB of RAM for Pete's sake... I ought to be able to have an app pop right up when I launch it. So what are my expectations? Well, my new WLM message reads: "If you haven't experienced anything since 5472, the next Vista build will rock your world." Is it finished yet? Hell no. I still don't think the next milestone should be called a "release candidate". But it gives me hope. And I'm patient enough to accept that (for the time being). (Oh, and I hear Microsoft is going to "get creative" with this release's name. Microsoft's really struck out with the way they handled build names up to this point, so we should really be in for a treat.) posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 11:51 PM by admin [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> [...]  The Infamous RC1 ‘Conversation’: Vista WILL Rock You Whew. Brandon was definitely not thrilled with me after this conversation. If you’ve seen my Windows Live Messenger personal message the last couple days, I said “The next build of Vista will rock your world.” It led to a very interesting discussion with Brandon about “expectations”, and what RC1 will shape up to be. Brandon and I both have seen the progress that has been made since 5472, and up until a couple weeks ago, I was pissed at the level of (in)stability Vista still exhibited so close to RC1. My public statement to that fact led to more traffic on this site than I had seen in quite some time. So what could make me change my mind so quickly? I got a sneak peek at the build TechBeta testers will receive (hopefully) soon. I won’t go into details now, but suffice it to say, tt will have been worth the wait. Brandon’s all hung up on UI, and that’s fine. I’m not as picky as Brandon and Pirillo are (although I don’t know how many people complaining it will take until they get Win 3.1 UI out of the OS). I just want to be able to use it on a daily basis without it hosing my computer in one form or another. And I wouldn’t mind having my system be quick enough to be, God forbid, productive. I’m on a dual core 3GHz box with 3GB of RAM for Pete’s sake… I ought to be able to have an app pop right up when I launch it. So what are my expectations? Well, my new WLM message reads: “If you haven’t experienced anything since 5472, the next Vista build will rock your world.” Is it finished yet? Hell no. I still don’t think the next milestone should be called a “release candidate”. But it gives me hope. And I’m patient enough to accept that (for the time being). (Oh, and I hear Microsoft is going to “get creative” with this release’s name. Microsoft’s really struck out with the way they handled build names up to this point, so we should really be in for a treat.) posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 11:51 PM by admin [...]

]]> By: Israeli http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3684 Israeli Fri, 11 Aug 2006 07:20:31 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3684 First off all, No fixing can help Vista, it needs to be scraped ;) Second, honestly, If some terrorist group bombed and shelled your city, would you not agree that someone needs to bomb the s*** out of them??? or maybe you'd just sit around waiting for your turn to get hit... First off all, No fixing can help Vista, it needs to be scraped ;)

Second, honestly, If some terrorist group bombed and shelled your city, would you not agree that someone needs to bomb the s*** out of them??? or maybe you’d just sit around waiting for your turn to get hit…

]]> By: anonymous http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3647 anonymous Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:39:53 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3647 I'm not a beta tester so I dunno what Vista is: But I'm guessing some more: - If you really take icons and graphics into consideration, then Vista still needs major work because somewhere in some remote dialog boxes and windows, plenty of legacy 16-color icons are bound to be still present. In fact they should've got rid of 16 x 16 sized icons because they really look tiny on high resolutions. Overall, they should've at least prettied up GDI+. - Same goes for some 16-color AVI animations. In fact all graphical "resources" in files. - At the time when Windows 95 came, 640 x 480 was the most common resolution, so the entire design of dialog boxes and windows is such that at 640 x 480 it wont go out of the screen. But they still haven't enlarged few boxes and scrolling is unnecessarily required. In the HD age, they should've have designed it as per at least 1024 x 768 resolution. - The command prompt buttons look horrible with the Classic Windows 2000 look. - Calculator is way too basic although MS themselves have designed better free tools. Why haven't they merged Calc Plus, Microsoft Student's Graphing Calculator and XP's PowerToy Calc? - Registry Editor and Clipboard/Clipboard Viewer aren't powerful enough, not updated - They can't have updated WordPad and IExpress - Legacy codecs in VfW and ACM will still be present I guess - True legacy utilities like Object Packager, Private Character Editor - Inconsistent and legacy print dialogs - Some added niceties like native ISO image viewing, editing & creation support would have been nice. No need to mount, no need to burn. - Because MS has always supported proprietary standards rather than commonly accepted worldwide standards, DVD support is coming so late. Likewise, they could've added MPEG-4 AVC, AACplus and MP4 file format support to Movie Maker (btw does DVD Maker support Dolby Digital audio?) I cant think of more things RIGHT NOW, but I'm sure there are plenty more. I’m not a beta tester so I dunno what Vista is:
But I’m guessing some more:
- If you really take icons and graphics into consideration, then Vista still needs major work because somewhere in some remote dialog boxes and windows, plenty of legacy 16-color icons are bound to be still present. In fact they should’ve got rid of 16 x 16 sized icons because they really look tiny on high resolutions. Overall, they should’ve at least prettied up GDI+.
- Same goes for some 16-color AVI animations. In fact all graphical “resources” in files.
- At the time when Windows 95 came, 640 x 480 was the most common resolution, so the entire design of dialog boxes and windows is such that at 640 x 480 it wont go out of the screen. But they still haven’t enlarged few boxes and scrolling is unnecessarily required. In the HD age, they should’ve have designed it as per at least 1024 x 768 resolution.
- The command prompt buttons look horrible with the Classic Windows 2000 look.
- Calculator is way too basic although MS themselves have designed better free tools. Why haven’t they merged Calc Plus, Microsoft Student’s Graphing Calculator and XP’s PowerToy Calc?
- Registry Editor and Clipboard/Clipboard Viewer aren’t powerful enough, not updated
- They can’t have updated WordPad and IExpress
- Legacy codecs in VfW and ACM will still be present I guess
- True legacy utilities like Object Packager, Private Character Editor
- Inconsistent and legacy print dialogs
- Some added niceties like native ISO image viewing, editing & creation support would have been nice. No need to mount, no need to burn.
- Because MS has always supported proprietary standards rather than commonly accepted worldwide standards, DVD support is coming so late. Likewise, they could’ve added MPEG-4 AVC, AACplus and MP4 file format support to Movie Maker (btw does DVD Maker support Dolby Digital audio?)

I cant think of more things RIGHT NOW, but I’m sure there are plenty more.

]]> By: Szajd http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3644 Szajd Tue, 08 Aug 2006 13:10:17 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3644 Just to be a little defensive: There are some changes in Paint: * Like you already mentioned, the top-aligned palette. * Notice the nicer default colors in the palette. * New icons in the toolbox. * New zooming behavior (slider). * A new tool on the Image menu, with which you can crop the image to the selection rectangle. Also, in Windows 3.11, I think there wasn't any Paint, but Paintbrush. Although I'm not sure about that. Just to be a little defensive:
There are some changes in Paint:
* Like you already mentioned, the top-aligned palette.
* Notice the nicer default colors in the palette.
* New icons in the toolbox.
* New zooming behavior (slider).
* A new tool on the Image menu, with which you can crop the image to the selection rectangle.

Also, in Windows 3.11, I think there wasn’t any Paint, but Paintbrush. Although I’m not sure about that.

]]> By: Computer Guru http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3628 Computer Guru Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:43:57 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3628 Read the fine print in the EULA my good friend :) Read the fine print in the EULA my good friend :)

]]> By: Kristan M. Kenney http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3626 Kristan M. Kenney Mon, 07 Aug 2006 12:56:00 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3626 Microsoft holds the license to Paint .NET? Since when? Microsoft holds the license to Paint .NET? Since when?

]]> By: Computer Guru http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3623 Computer Guru Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:25:11 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3623 <em>Placeholders</em>?? You're kidding me. Everything in the OS has changed from top to bottom, Windows Mail has been rewritten from scratch, IE7 has been given an overhaul, and you actually believe that this late in the program it's still a placeholder? What about that bug reports closed as "Won't Fix," were they placeholders too? Microsoft has the license to the amazing Paint.net and rumors are it -might- replace Paint in Windows Vista... But we have yet to see. As for the rest of the issues, let's just hope they get fixed. Placeholders??
You’re kidding me. Everything in the OS has changed from top to bottom, Windows Mail has been rewritten from scratch, IE7 has been given an overhaul, and you actually believe that this late in the program it’s still a placeholder? What about that bug reports closed as “Won’t Fix,” were they placeholders too?

Microsoft has the license to the amazing Paint.net and rumors are it -might- replace Paint in Windows Vista… But we have yet to see. As for the rest of the issues, let’s just hope they get fixed.

]]> By: ee http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3620 ee Mon, 07 Aug 2006 02:44:17 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3620 They're placeholders you freaking retard and MSPaint has changed in other ways. They’re placeholders you freaking retard and MSPaint has changed in other ways.

]]> By: digg / Technology / Upcoming http://neosmart.net/blog/2006/4-things-that-microsoft-needs-to-fix/#comment-3618 digg / Technology / Upcoming Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:38:01 +0000 http://neosmart.net/blog/archives/234#comment-3618 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] 4 Things Archaic in Windows Vista [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> [...] 4 Things Archaic in Windows Vista [...]

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