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Windows Vista
Build 5456 Overview
Little more than a month after issuing a bug-laden Windows Vista
Beta 2, Microsoft has shipped its first post-Beta 2 interim
build of the next Windows and it makes up a lot of lost ground.
Indeed, it's hard not to view this build and not believe that
Microsoft is absolutely back on track.
Though there are few major changes in build 5456, which, despite
the naming convention used on its desktop, is part of the
release candidate (RC) build tree, and not a direct successor to
Beta 2. But we shouldn't expect major changes at this stage:
After all, Windows Vista was mostly feature complete as far back
as February 2006. But what we get in build 5456 is dramatic
improvement in reliability, usability, performance, and fit and
finish. It is, quite simply, the build Microsoft should have
shipped as Beta 2 to millions of people around the world. This
build is so much better than Beta 2, in fact, that I'm begging
the company to offer it to everyone that signed up for the
public beta through the Community Public Preview (CPP).
So what's changed? Like I said, it's all small stuff. But
details count, and here's what you can expect to see in this
build if you're lucky enough to get it:
Dramatically improved Setup speed. Long ago, Microsoft promised
that Windows Vista would install in about 20 minutes, but we've
seen nothing even close to that throughout the beta. While
Windows Vista build 5456 doesn't quite achieve the 20 minute
mark, it did install in just 30 minutes on my primary desktop,
which is quite a bit better than before.
Slightly smarter networking. The first time you boot up into
build 5456, it sets up the network as a public network rather
than ask you if its public or private. Then, you have the option
of changing it to private if that's what the network is (and it
likely is if you just installed Vista).
Much faster network browsing. In Beta 2, waiting for Windows
Vista to load your list of networked computers and shares was
painfully slow. That's all been fixed in build 5456: Now, you're
networking resources pop-up immediately, making the Network icon
suddenly useful again.
Switch between programs is back. Previously pre-release versions
of Windows Vista included a Quick Launch icon that would trigger
the cool Flip 3D task switcher, which can be handy for those
without a Windows Key on their keyboard (Flip 3D is normally
triggered by tapping Windows Key + Alt). Well, it's back in
build 5456. Nice!
Aero performance warning. When you view the color scheme portion
of Control Panel, Vista now warns you that utilizing Windows
Aero's translucency effects might impact the performance of your
PC. If you turn off translucency, the warning goes away.
New icons and branding all around. Microsoft hasn't yet placed
the final boot screen in build 5456, but a number of other areas
have received new icons or branding icons. The Welcome Screen
and Secure Desktop now identify which version of Windows Vista
(Ultimate, etc.) you're running. And throughout the Start Menu,
Control Panel, and other on-screen locations, you'll see plenty
of new icons.
Performance improvements. Throughout the system, Windows Vista
is much speedier than was Beta 2. The best example of this is
with Microsoft Word 2003: In Beta 2, the first time you saved
any document, the application would slow to a crawl and you
could watch the saving animation occur in super slow motion.
It's still a bit slow in build 5456, but now you don't have time
to go get coffee. In fact, the whole thing takes only 2-3
seconds. This is about 10 times faster than it was in Beta 2.
I'm not saying the whole system is ten times faster, of course.
But there is a general speediness about Vista that was simply
lacking in Beta 2.
DVD Maker no longer quits if you don't insert a blank DVD, which
I always found annoying and unnecessary.
Windows Movie Maker was updated to the new Vista look and feel
with a new black toolbar and menu bar area. It doesn't appear to
have been given any major functional improvements, however.
Windows Photo Gallery was substantially updated with new
prebuilt tags and a restyled toolbar.
List view is back!! Thanks to numerous complaints from users,
Microsoft has returned List view to its rightful place in the
Explorer view styles. Now if they'd just return Filmstrip and
XP-style folder views as well, I could stop complaining about
the shell.
Internet Explorer 7. IE 7 picks up drag and drop tabs, which is
nifty.
There's probably a lot more, but that's what I've found in a few
hours of noodling around with the system while installing all of
my applications and data. I won't be providing a full review of
this build, but will instead continue reviewing Beta 2, adding
information about this build to that review where necessary. But
the important point here is that, for the first time in a long,
long time, Windows Vista looks really good. This is what I had
hoped to see in the public release, and it's a good omen for
RC1.
By
--Paul Thurrott
June 25, 2006
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