I wonder if Thurrott suffers from a multiple personally disorder, one minute
he likes Vista the next he can't stop complaining about it. First, he whines
be because it's taking to long to be released. Let's not forget that MS put
Vista (aka Longhorn) on hold for quite a while they went back to XP and
created a much needed SP2 focusing on the security concerns plaguing XP. In
my opinion that was the right choice rather then making us wait for Vista's
release and charging us more money for bug fixes and security
fixes/improvements; like some companies would do (read: InstallShield).
Next he complains about the things that aren't going to be in the initial
release of Vista. Like he's somehow earned/owed these features because he
was at some conference 3 years ago where MS showed its vision for the future
of Windows. We all know feature cuts are common place in the software
industry. So much so that many of us won't announce future plans until were
sure we can deliver because of ridicule from people like him. I'm glad to
see MS opening up to the community on there plans for future versions of
Windows, even if they can't deliver on them as soon as they'd like. I'd much
rather they take their time and do it right then put it in just so they can
say it was on time.
His comments on the Aero UI's focus indication are valid. They could make it
more apparent which window has focus. In my use of Vista I never had a
problem with confusion about window focus. (Hint: Look at the upper left
corner for the red X to see which window has focus). Personally I could care
less if Vista has some "Mac like" features/look-and-feel. Although I don't
use/own a Mac they do have some nice UI features that, if appropriate, would
be a welcome addition to Vista. Why do we always have to reinvent the wheel?
As for Media Center, Thurrott's complaints are just that, his complaints,
based on his personal opinion. He whines about the colors because they don't
fit his personal taste. He call's the horizontal navigation a mistake, but
fails to see that this is the best layout for a wide screen television.
Given that MCE is designed for a television experience and prevalence of
wide screen tv's this seems like a great design decision. For that matter
even some LCD computer displays are going wide screen. In my opinion the
Vista MCE UI is a welcome progression to the current MCE lineup; so to each
his own.
The bottom line is Vista is still a work in progress and will likely under
go many UI and usability refinements over the next few months.
Okay enough complaining about Thurrot's complaining.
Just my 2 cents,
Thad