As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been using Vista RC1 for a few weeks (months?) since it was basically released. I upgraded to Vista RTM today.
I wanted to comment on a few of "usability" issues that I faced in using the product. I am not necessarily reporting this because I believe it is a blatant "bug". I am fairly certain most of my usability experiences have been "warranted" as per the Vista experience. It doesn't mean I like them.
UAC
User Access Control is a GREAT concept. If you believe in anti-virus. I know I'm probably 0.01% of the population that does not believe in anti-virus. I am not so crazy to actually believe viruses do not exist, but I am firmly of the belief that if you use Windows intelligently, you do not need anti-virus software. This is a major, major push by the entire INDUSTRY, and I think it is disingenuous to the end-user. Well, ok, I admit as an IT Director - end-users can be entirely stupid - but you CAN use your Windows workstation in a SAFE manner.
Which leads me to tangent on my experience to the Mac store recently when I asked the Mac sales rep why I should get a Mac. He proceeded to tell me how "it just works" on the Mac, and that he doesn't have to worry about "updating four different anti-virus apps to protect my PC". Which, of course I have absolutely no understanding of because I don't believe in anti-virus. I enjoyed promptly telling him that I do not run anti-virus and he sort of paused, "hmmmm"'ed and paused and didn't have much to say.
I do not run anti-virus at home because I do not have the need. I will not explain the actual protections in place that I have, but I am NOT a stupid user (hubris? perhaps. proof: in the pudding, baby - no viruses). I religiously write back to STUPID acquaintences that send me forwards. I do not open stupid attachments. I use "SpamBayes" for Outlook 2003. I do not go philandering through my e-mail. It seems so simple, folks. The world of Symmatec, McAfee, etc. has you by the balls. Cut yourself loose and recognize that it's fear-o-nomics. Don't be a stupid user.
Enough of the tangent. Back to Vista RC1/RTM. User access control IS STILL A GOOD THING regardless of running anti-virus. It is a decent mechanism that Apple and Linux also have in place to actually run the current user in a "less than privileged account" status. It means that if some malicious code SHOULD happen to run on your computer - it won't have the full capability to squash civilization that it would if you were running it under stay, XP or Windows 95.
But UAC caused me much pain. Enough to nearly make me cry. I am currently registered as a local administrator of my machine, and there are some things I simply can't do. I haven't fully turned it off, but there are times where it absolutely annoys me. For instance, I tried to clear my DNS cache because I was testing a web app I was publishing. "ipconfig /flush dns" broke because the console/cmd.exe app was not running as a full administrator.
What was most annoying about this situation was the fact that cmd.exe did not warn me at all. It appeared as though the command executed successfully/per normal. However, it had not in the least.
My major complaint: UAC is a good thing: but it is not integrated into the OS well enough to allow applications that fail because of it to notify the user with enough information. Fix it!
That is my major gripe with UAC. I completely refuse to go into the actual alert boxes that come up with the whole UAC/security precautions. You'll get tons per/second. Total over-exaggeration - but the perception is well behind the actual numbers - you'll hate it. When UAC is enabled and you can't do stuff, and you don't have the "local security policy" setup right - you'll be notified and prompted to make a decision on every stinking "secure" option you may have. I simply disabled this as it completely blew the whole user-experience for me. I wrote to them in my feedback that this HAS GOT TO behave like it does on Apple/Subunit which I have some end user-experience with. The UAC warnings are far too many, far too often.
My suggestion: keep UAC enabled, but disable the most frequent/annoying security messages in the Local Security Policy of the machine. (I can't remember the setting, run the sepal.masc/Security Options and edit something about the Administrator UAC alerts, blah blah blah.)
Enough about UAC.
The other issues:
SEARCH
I can't say how bitter I am about WinFS being neutered to the point that we still do not have a deliverable date. I'm hoping for a gaggle of white-rabbits to pop out of someone's hat and announce it's ready. But I'm not holding my breath.
Search is certainly integrated into Vista, but it's been in XP the whole while as well. Maybe not as "user friendly", but it's been there.
Several things:
1. Search should be a "standard API" for every single application. The "search" box that shows up on Windows Explorer - that same box should be accessible from MY APP via API so that I can hook into it. (Maybe it is, I haven't explored this - but in my Vista experience it only shows up in Windows Explorer).
2. Search- come on folks - We want to search our freaking e-mail (everything) easily!!
Because Windows Desktop Search is completely neutered when you upgrade, you're not going to get the pure-sex search of Outlook like you had in your toolbar. You're going to have to click on the "Start" menu for all search functions. It just seems like an extra step. If you're IN your e-mail - you want quick access to search. Back to #1 - make it API and toolbar accessible FOR EVERY APP, EVER MADE, PERIOD.
I can search for e-mail, but then even when e-mails show up, when I double-click them - sometimes they never show up. I don't know where they've went. Is it waiting for Outlook to load? Even when Outlook is loaded - is it waiting for Outlook to handle the pass-off and load? I don't know. I want that damn e-mail to load. But, it doesn't. Stupid. (This is RC1, haven't noticed this or proven it on RTM.)
Overall, search has to be easy to access.
If I'm sitting at a blank desktop ready to work - I have to go to Start menu to search. No good. I want it on my task bar. (maybe this works? how?)
3. Network File Shares
I often open Windows Explorer and navigate directly to:
\\servername\share
or
\\servername\share\foldername
and Windows Explorer just freezes.
I essentially have to kill the application - even if I sit and wait, it never comes to.
We have a mix of "old" Windows 2000 file server AND Windows 2003 file servers - and they all work the same. There does not appear to be discrimination with one or the other - it fails/freezes equally on both.
After killing the app, the only resolution I seem to have is to renavigate to the base server and drilling down to the location I require.
4. Mobile Device Center
I am still confused: should Mobile Device Center be included in RTM, or I do I still need to download it? For some reason the upgrade from RC1 Ultimate to RTM Ultimate did not install the device center. So now I'm tempted to download it as a Beta (from the beta download release site) compared to it being installed from the RTM disk (which it does not appear to be installed.)
5. Annoyance: RC1 to RTM - Erased my QuickLaunch. You stupid git.
I consider one of the tenets of a power user is intelligent use of the QuickLaunch toolbar. Upgrading to RTM nuked my QuickLaunch. Come on folks! This totally sucks!
What icons did I have down there?
Was this icon on the left or right of this? (I typically prioritize by my own preference/frequency of use/category of tool). Now I'm left to re-construct. No. No. No. No.
What do you care about my stupid QuickLaunch in the first place!? Leave me alone!
6. Video flashes.
I have a 256 MB ATI video card on my Dell OptiPlex workstation. Enough to run Vista competently as I would expect.
RC1 screen-flashed when it would go into "Log Off", "Shutdown", etc. And especially when going from screensaver back into login mode. (Password protected login screensaver.)
RTM is generally slightly faster - but the screen blinks and flashes are still ANNOYING! FIX IT!
I actually have the photo-rotation screensaver going. When I'm ready to come back in, I hit a key - or CTRL-ALT-DEL - hoping I'll get right there - and it blinks, flashes, wheezes, thinks, flashes, blinks.
It takes forever.
Seriously, not forever. But annoying enough to drive me NUTS. I'm here. I'm ready to use my PC. I want you back. COME TO ME - NOW.
CTRL-ALT-DEL - direct to login screen.
You essentially have to hit CTRL-ALT-DEL twice.
After 5 seconds, you'll be there.
Enter your password, you're in.
I seriously know this is so nitty - gritty - but I do this about 10 times a day and it is driving me nuts.
This user-experience has to be put back onto par with XP so that I can get back into my machine QUICKLY.
I have dual-screens. With a graphic back-ground to my desktop.
I don't care.
Give me "password" prompt as soon as I hit CTRL-ALT-DEL. I'm talking 1-second, tops.
7. Copying files slowness
I'm not sure if this is tied to the whole network exploration that goes on with the thing I mentioned above. But I copied a 762 byte - yes BYTE - file between my computer and the network today. It took 3 minutes.
How does 762 bytes ever take 3 minutes in any world - Apple, Unix, Windows. Ever. I mean, come on. This is completely, totally unacceptable.
And the freaking dialog box that pops up tells you NOTHING.
WHY. WHY. WHY.
I was hoping you had refined "SAMBA" or whatever you want to call it for Windows (CIFS, SMB, etc.) in Vista. Maybe you completely need to abstract FTP/TCP/IP with this stuff and give up on the stupid SMB stuff. Come on. Too slow.
8. Window sizing - Maximizing problems
I do like the color-coding hints Vista gives when a window is maximized. For instance, if you have Outlook maximized it will be a black border/background to the window. That way you know that it is full-screen and it is retaining the focus. Instead of the Aero sexy-sort-of-transparent see-through effect for normal windows.
With the black - which is nice, you still get it where the window goes UNDER the start menu.
I run my start menu two lines. One for "running apps", the other for "quick launch".
So when I run apps full screen, I notice the bottom scroll-bar for the full-screen app (let's say Outlook) is "under" the Start Menu.
The only way to force everyone to re-assess themselves is to drag the START MENU up and back DOWN to it's original position. Then the Start Menu (which is set to on-top) a will re-freeze, and the app says, "Oh man - I'm under the Windows base OS god=like functionality! I SHALL MOVE!" - and then it pops up to be just above the start menu like you would expect.
But you have to force this.
Disclaimer: I have experienced this in RC1 regularly, but not necessarily "consistently". I am still working with RTM to determine if this still happens, I think it does.
At this point in time, these are my current opinions about the experience of Vista. It reflects mostly RC1 but also my RTM experience (today) that I had. Since not a lot of stuff changed for the end-user in RTM, most of the frustrations I experienced in RC1 still plague RTM.
My overall point is this: Vista is Microsoft's 3'rd attempt at a major desktop OS. Sure, it's out. But is it upgrade-worthy? No.
It certainly doesn't feel like they've "arrived" due to the number of "details" that have been left out in the cold.
Vista was a major undertaking, and from a development perspective they certainly addressed a lot of security and overall features in the system. That doesn't always translate into a refined user experience.
You'll have to experience it for yourself to be sure. But my recommendation is to try it free if you can. There's no reason to upgrade. Stick with XP, as ugly as it is.
It sounds as though I am not the only one "underwhelmed":
Bryant Lykes:
http://blogs.sqlxml.org/bryantlikes/archive/2006/11/17/Vista-RTM-Thoughts.aspx
Sam Gentile:
http://codebetter.com/blogs/sam.gentile/archive/2006/11/17/Vista-RTM-Installed.aspx