Windows Vista Beta

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DieStimme

Is there any way for me to become a part of a Windows Vista Beta testing
group? I'd really like to try out the new OS and give my feedback.
 
Right now, the best way is to make a request at
http://connect.microsoft.com. You could also wait until the BETA 2 release
is released to the public then you can send feed back through the following
channels:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/sentiments/default.mspx

Microsoft BETA Client:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=43655
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
 
Andre Da Costa said:
Right now, the best way is to make a request at
http://connect.microsoft.com. You could also wait until the BETA 2 release
is released to the public then you can send feed back through the
following channels:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/sentiments/default.mspx

Microsoft BETA Client:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=43655
--
--
Andre
Windows Connected | http://www.windowsconnected.com
Extended64 | http://www.extended64.com
Blog | http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
Click to expand...
I thought top posting was a big NO NO on usenet? Anyways, vista isn't on
connect anymore as far as I can tell.
 
Microsoft's old boards or whatever they did back in the 1920s was done
top-posting style. They carried this over to their newsgroups when
newgrouping became the thing and have ever since. So on Microsoft newsgroups
the custom is to top-post.

Anywhere else on usenet/newgroups however, one is more likely to see
bottom-posting.

In other words, Microsoft is always a top [style], Linux/UNIX and the rest
are bottom [style]. Don't go further with this.

 
Yes but you did not mention that torrents do not come with an activation key
and are only good for 14 days.
 
Yeh, this is deffo. not the way to go around it :o(

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
» MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--
 
John;
Not just MVPs, no one wanting anything reliable will want Vista for testing
from that source .
File sharing such as that is a major source of corrupted software.
Corrupted files will render anything you may want to contribute virtually
worthless.
You are really giving Microsoft a very good reason not to accept any input
from sources other than from authorized testers.

Whether the % of deliberately corrupted software is high or low, can you
PERSONALLY guarantee that if I download Vista from there or any other file
sharing, that my stolen copy will be free of corruption?

Bending this rule and submitting reports from questionable downloads
benefits no one.
 
Hey guys, what did I tell you? An MVP complaining.. so predictable....

Jupiter....

You underestimate the power of torrent. It is not a tool of pirates and
hackers alone.
Your assumptions are wrong, and they show you have no knowledge of this
area.
If what you claim is true then the ISO's and other legitimate distributions
of software
that are using torrent to transfer are all hacked and corrupted.
Linux and opensource is using it as we speak to circulate huge amounts of
data.

You should learn some more about this medium before saying such
things..since it
is insulting. You are an MVP too... you should be a pioneer with vision.

Vision to bend the rules to benefit humanity. The establishment does not
always know
whats best for you. Its full of doubts of what can be done and what should
be done.

It is the visionaries that change the world, that bend the rules, that don't
listen to everyone's doubts and
negativness.

There is a fundamental rule of nature that you must understand and that is
not apparent.
You can either go against the waves, or you can learn to use them to surf.

Do you understand what I am saying here?
 
John;
"underestimate"? Really?
Do they guarantee the integrity of everything distributed by them.
If there is such a guarantee, then I do underestimate them.
If not, then my caution is valid since there are no assurances.
I never said "tool of pirates and hackers alone", buy you just did.
I also never said "are all hacked and corrupted", that was also said by you.
You paraphrase so poorly, you change the meaning.

What assumptions?
What claims?
You seem to think I suggest there is no value in those sites.
I never said any such thing.
My comment was clearly referring to Vista and you seem to try to make it all
inclusive .

I notice how you use words such as "alone" and "all"
When I said "Whether the % of deliberately corrupted software is high or
low"
That is far from how you found the need to portray my statement.
That is clearly not "all" since "high or low" covers an extremely high
range.
Or can you prove all there 100% clean?
I do not know what % is clean, but it is clearly not all.
And Vista acquired there is not guaranteed clean.

I also noticed you ignored my question, how convenient.
Here it is again "can you PERSONALLY guarantee that if I download Vista from
there or any other file sharing, that my stolen copy will be free of
corruption?"
If you can not, then you can not test with reliability since it may have
been corrupted.
If you can not test with reliability, that brings into question all related
data.

Your story about surf and waves is irrelevant since you seem to ignore the
fact there are dangers in many of those areas.

Read my post again...for the first time.
Then answer my question.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org
 
Give him a break John - he's only doing what he's doing best, helping out
others :o)

--
Zack Whittaker
» ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
» MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
» Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
» This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
that up!

--: Original message follows :--
 
DieStimme said:
Is there any way for me to become a part of a Windows Vista Beta testing
group? I'd really like to try out the new OS and give my feedback.
Click to expand...

It's really "dumbed down." Most configuration stuff is buried a few extra
layers deep, compared to XP. I can see that the interface has been designed
with user productivity in mind, instead of computer use.

In other words, put the icons you always use on your desktop and just use
those.
 
When I say something, its not something I just blabber out, without depth of
thought.

No I will not guarantee anything. But I don't have to, and I shouldn't. Let
me explain.....

1) Why I cannot guarantee, and I don't have to.
We are living in times of change, the quantum mechanics age in apposed to
the Euclidian logic.
Everything is in flux. There is no guarantee, only a statistical
possibility.

I say that there is a very good statistical possibility that files
transferred with torrent are good.
Why? Because if they have problems then the first people downloading them
delete them,
so then there are no people sharing the file. Furthermore there are comment
areas underneath
a torrent links, that people discuss... its very easy to find out what is
good or not.

If MS was smart and really cared about getting the maximal feedback, they
would share the beta
in torrent themselves, and make a very detailed site with questions to the
users.
Or even embed the questionnaire inside the beta as a home page of internet
explorer.
Then they would make statistical analysis of those data and see what people
like or not.
Yes it would take a big team to handle the amount of information.. but hey..
I think MS could pull it off.

A version of windows is so important that it should be seen as a project
equivalent to a space mission.
The whole world is affected by its choices.

That's what I mean by ridding the wave... torrent is here to stay, smart
people take advantage of it and use it as a tool,
instead of ignoring it or fighting it. Perhaps you will be suprized in the
future to see that MS will indeed use torrents.
In this case, please remember that I said it first!

2) Why I should not guarantee.
Taking a calculated risk is something people need to do to expand their
horizons...
If this was not so, then all the people that have changed the world for the
better would have been lost in time, and we would not have the benefits
of their personal courage and vision. Columbus? The write brothers? there
are so many.... They didn't have guarantees, all the world around them
thought they were crazy..

The very technology you use today is the product of geeky teenage guys, most
of them "hackers" who wanted to have a cheap computer
to play with at home. These guys did not follow the established rule that
said that a computer is a thing for super scientists and the equipment
is the size of several rooms, and the cost is millions of dollars. They are
the ones who made the personal computer a reality (starting from Apple).
Hey even Bill Gates was around at that time, a kid, curious, learning.
Did these people have guarantees???? Are you kidding? They never imagined
the way the computer world would change!

It is often that advancement comes from the common guy who has enthusiasm,
not from the corporate suits with the millions of their dollars.
This is the guarantee I can give, based on all of history.

Must I point to you this picture?
http://www.winfreestuff.com/images/nemail/funpics/fandp/invest_big.jpg

Would You have invested?
 
That's Microsoft, eh? Cute. Would Jupiter have invested? Heh heh. Sure he
would have ..

I didn't. At the time I was thirteen or fourteen, bullied and frightened of
life and not yet made some of my biggest mistakes. I hardly had any money to
invest and I didn't even know there was a Microsoft. Ten years later I
became vaguely aware there was a Microsoft ... there was a line when the
PCXT machine booted that said MS-DOS 3.1 Copyright Microsoft Corporation
blah blah. The only reason the C:\> prompt existed, as far as I was
concerned, was so I could type ww then Enter to get Word Wand running.
But other than that, Microsoft just wasn't on me radar until 1995 .. 1995 ..
what happened that year anyway?

 
Noozer said:
It's really "dumbed down." Most configuration stuff is buried a few extra
layers deep, compared to XP. I can see that the interface has been
designed with user productivity in mind, instead of computer use.

In other words, put the icons you always use on your desktop and just use
those.
Click to expand...
they really do need to open up betas to more people so that consumers can
provide feedback and there can be less bugs when the programs are released
like office, Internet explorer and windows. I'd even pay $50 for the right
to beta test software if it came down to it.
 
John;
The point is Beta software from unauthorized sources is unreliable.
No one can guarantee it is OK.
Since the source is not reputable for distributing Vista Beta, all data
derived is questionable at best.

"If MS was smart and really cared about getting the maximal feedback..."
Resources are limited, even for Microsoft.
Microsoft is already expending vast resources on the Beta.
Exactly how much more is enough?
Can you give a precise answer?
Once you think there is enough, how about the next person that does not?
Where does it end.
Since resources are limited, there is only so much data Microsoft can
analyze.
My guess is Microsoft is already getting near" maximal feedback" for the
resources dedicated to Vista.
Should more resources be expended? I don' know. But I do know it is
Microsoft's Beta and the owner makes such decisions.

Vista Beta started with about 10,000 and ramped up a lot since then.
Beta testers come from all over the world with varied experience levels in a
wide variety of fields including but not limited to doctors, homemakers,
trades people, educators etc.
Just about all experience levels with computers.
Additionally there are a large number of Tech Net and MSDN subscribers with
access the Vista.

If you want to play with Vista and download it from an illegitimate source,
fine, but do not ask me or anyone else to believe with certainty your
pirated copy and thus data is good while you have no such assurance
yourself.
Unreliable data is often worse than no data at all.

--
Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar
http://www.dts-l.org
 
Michael;
Subscribing to TechNet or Microsoft and get Vista, but not as many builds at
the Technical Beta testers but a lot more than $50.

"they really do need to open up betas to more people"
Exactly how many more?
What is a good number of Vista Beta testers?
Precisely much resources should Microsoft dedicate to Vista?
Right now consumers all over the world with very diverse computer
experience are already Beta testers.

Register on Connect:
http://connect.microsoft.com/
Find available Betas that interest you.
Participate and make yourself known to the Microsoft Beta community.
Do not over due it to the point you neglect some you have applied or you may
get a result opposite than intended.
That way when another Beta you like comes around, you have a better chance
of being selected.
Even if not selected, you may already be acquaintenane with someone who can
make it happen.
But for Vista, it is probably to late.
 
I suspect MS is getting lots of feedback now from various Beta/MSDN testers.
Opening it up to the public in it's current form has the potential for lots
of negative knee-jerk from those folks. They need to fix a whole lot more
before they consider releasing it to any wider audience.

Ed
 
Jupiter Jones said:
Michael;
Subscribing to TechNet or Microsoft and get Vista, but not as many builds
at the Technical Beta testers but a lot more than $50.

"they really do need to open up betas to more people"
Exactly how many more?
What is a good number of Vista Beta testers?
Precisely much resources should Microsoft dedicate to Vista?
Right now consumers all over the world with very diverse computer
experience are already Beta testers.

Register on Connect:
http://connect.microsoft.com/
Find available Betas that interest you.
Participate and make yourself known to the Microsoft Beta community.
Do not over due it to the point you neglect some you have applied or you
may get a result opposite than intended.
That way when another Beta you like comes around, you have a better chance
of being selected.
Even if not selected, you may already be acquaintenane with someone who
can make it happen.
But for Vista, it is probably to late.
Click to expand...
Open it up like internet explorer is or let people pay to test it. As for
testing stuff there is nothing on connect that i know how to test. I have
visual studio and am in the beta but I stink at programming. Actually I
should drop out of that beta because I can't even find the discs for visual
studio I bought from my school last year. Anyways I do belong to MSDN now
but that's not the point. You shouldn't HAVE to pay $700 to test a Operating
System. If you are interested and qualified you should be able to test it
for a reasonable amount of money or for free. I'd say open the beta programs
to around 2-3million people like they will for the consumer preview program.
 
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