It’s the one you have all been waiting for… The all-new optimization guide by Kristan Kenney and Chris Holmes; for the all new, almost code-complete Decemeber CTP (Build 5270.9)
Vista 5270 Optimization Guide This is a must read; Great job Kris & Chris!
In hope that this is the first review on the internet for Vista 5270, I will try to keep it as factual as possible…
Microsoft Windows Vista 5270.9 (aka the December CTP) is the final build to be given to the Technical Beta testers before Vista reaches code complete. For more information about the background of the December CTP please read the previous post on this topic..
As most of you know, the November CTP failed to make it to the scene, causing much dissent in the ranks of Beta Testers worldwide. This is very important, because it put pressure on Microsoft to release the Decemeber CTP as soon as possible.
As far as my impression about this build, it can best be summed up in a list of quick, sharp, and to the (very pointy) point. In a nutshell it is beautiful and buggy. Read on…
OK, besides feeling embarrassed as hell at the last post that turned out to be nothing more than a rant, I also feel guilty that this did not go up as soon as I had promised earlier; but that’s that, and here is the post ;)
Basically this can be summed up in one sentence, or even, a fragment of a sentece: Where do those builds come from?
I’d really like to know. Its not just 5259 here; I mean every single build out there that gets reported as “Stolen” then “Released;” how do they steal a program that has not been released? At the risk of stating the obvious: Doesn’t it seem as if the builds are leaked from within the company??? Its not just Microsoft either. When you have leaked versions of internal builds for Symantec, McAfee, WindowsBlinds, and all the rest, it makes you wonder: from where?
The all new ‘Network Center’ is more than just a pretty face.
Networking appears to have been rewritten completely from the bottom up in Vista 5231. For those of you piping on about how its ‘just a number’ trust me, its not.
The new Network Center allows you to do somethings that users have demanded for years: for instance, configure multiple connections to automatically switch between themselves when connected to the appropriate network.
For example, at work you connect to one wireless router that does not use DHCP, and at home one that does, while at University you connect to a third that doesn’t. In XP you would have to manually configure 1 of the connections every time. In Vista, you don’t.
But it goes further than that: Vista automatically queries the SNMP for all local networks. I plugged in my Efficient Networks SpeedStream 5100b DSL modem, and Vista let me know that the address 192.168.0.1 could be used to access the configuration page for the SpeedStream.
The new ‘Network Map’ draws a cloud diagram of your PC and all the networks its connected to. It correctly identified that I was connected to a Wireless Network with my Wi-Fi adapter, and that I was connected to the Internet via my wired LAN connection. It correctly ID’d the routers/modems on both ends, and supplied the network name.
On the Command Line side it has also added the ‘route’ command which can be used by advanced users to dictate how traffic should be routed across the various simultaneously connected networks, and to quickly and easily solve issues that previously required luck and conformity.