The GW Micro blog has been discontinued. For instant updates on GW Micro products and events, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.
My Experience With Microsoft Vista
by Raul Gallegos on Friday, May 11 2007This is just a general rambling about my experience with using Windows Vista. When I came to work for GW Micro, the machine given to me already had Windows Vista on it. In short, I was placed in a situation where I would be learning Windows Vista while at work. This was no problem since I like to tackle things head on. Using Window-Eyes with Vista was a non-issue since the access is there and it just works with no delays in speech. The below are just a small sample of my feelings on using Windows Vista for almost 2 months now.
There are a few things I don't like about Vista. These things come from the way Windows Vista itself does things and not the way Window-Eyes handles them. One of the most annoying things is that there are weird focus issues when having a folder open. Sometimes if you leave it open, you alt-tab away to do some other work, and
Alt-tab back in, you are not focused on the listview of files. This means that you have to press shift-tab at least once or twice to get back to the listview.
The volume controls are totally different and I have not gotten used to that. Because I like learning new things, it's not too bad, but I can see where it may be frustrating for some.
I realize of course that some may not want to learn a new operating system because they don't have time or because they simply do not wish to, and that is ok. I think that it took me almost 2 years before I switched from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. Back then, Windows XP did some things which I thought were different than Windows 2000, but eventually those things were just normal. Windows Vista will become the same way for many as they learn its ways of doing things.
Back on the volume controls now. Gone are the days of simply opening "sndvol32 /r" from the run dialog box to adjust recording controls. Now if you want to access your recording controls, you must go about it another way. The nice thing is that all these new ways of doing things are accessible with Window-Eyes, so learning the operating system is definitely possible. On a side note, I wonder if quick mix will work in Windows Vista. On my xp machine, I have short cuts mapped to different Quick Mix settings so that if I want to record from one source or another, I can do it without having to mess around with the volume controls. This method comes in handy for those Window-Eyes users who use software speech and accidentally mute their sound card. With the press of a Windows Short Cut, you can restore your volume, balance, and mute settings the way they were.
As far as the mail client that comes with Windows Vista, it's not too bad. Windows Mail seems to actually be better than Outlook Express in some ways. Although it's still the same program for the most part, some of the dialogs are arranged slightly differently and things seem to be worded more for the novice user. A new junk folder has been added and while it works half the time, there tends to be many good non-spam messages in there. This means I need to remember to check it from time to time. Of course I could always go turn off the junk filter settings, but that would require work on my part.
Web browsing is not really different in Windows Vista as it is in Windows XP. Of course you get Internet Explorer 7 installed with your system, and you can always install FireFox 2.0. Both work really nice as they always have and there are no conflicts, corruptions, complaints, etc.
All in all, my experiences with Windows Vista have been on the positive side. I hope that Microsoft can fix some of the focus issues, but you know the saying about holding your breath. Oh, if you are going to switch to Windows vista, I highly recommend 2 gigs of ram. The MS site says you can run it with less, but that's just asking for trouble IMHO. The key thing for having a smooth experience with Windows Vista is having lots of ram and having updated and working Vista drivers for little things like your sound card and your LAN.
That's it for now. As always, comments and complaints are always welcome regarding my opinions.
