100,000 pre-release Vistas up for grabs

o_deadly furby · 08-29-2006, 04:19 PM

Benevolent Vole
By Inquirer newsdesk, Tuesday 29 August 2006, 11:21

Microsoft is letting 100,000 guinea pigs download flaky versions of its upcoming Vista suite of cobbled-together programs.

The code includes what we used to call an operating system and has loads of stuff on top, designed primarily to leverage Microsoft's monopoly position.

You can grab yours here.

o_ginger lord · 08-29-2006, 04:22 PM

I downloaded the last beta, seemed alright and ran pretty well on an old system.

o_|404|innoc-tpf- · 08-29-2006, 04:23 PM

No thank you. I will wait until Service Pack 1 is ready to go. Beta testing for Windows Operating Systems has never ended until a year or so after it's release for sale to the public.

o_zaskar · 08-29-2006, 04:37 PM

I dont mind bugs (using a PC gets booring with the same old stable stuff ;P Business applications aside ofcourse)
As long as they are able to be worked around I like messing with new stuff.

Be warned with that Pre-RC1 version, i alwready tested it, and the release nots indicate that the way drivers interact with the OS has Changed again, which means the current Nvidia/Ati Beta 2 drivers Dont work, they will cause your machine to have a Black screen whenever its using the driver (always, aside from safemode)

Like the old drivers diddnt suck enough already though, maby this will force nvidia to put another driver out, their last Vista one was from the end of May, and buggy as shit.

o_|404|innoc-tpf- · 08-29-2006, 04:49 PM

Seriously? You don't mind bugs? You're ok with paying money to purchase something and then have it operate less than optimally? Personally I don't like it at all regardless of whether it's business or personal use. It's one thing to have problems due to some third party issue...driver, api, library, etc. But for basic operations included as a part of the OS..those are the things I cannot stand.

o_zaskar · 08-29-2006, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by |404|Innoc-TPF-

Seriously? You don't mind bugs? You're ok with paying money to purchase something and then have it operate less than optimally? Personally I don't like it at all regardless of whether it's business or personal use. It's one thing to have problems due to some third party issue...driver, api, library, etc. But for basic operations included as a part of the OS..those are the things I cannot stand.

Wha money? If its not stable at release ill hold off. but as far as free software goes I like testing and don't mind bugs, as long as they don't Stop me from doing things (can be worked around, like a problem in the GUI or something)

I like testing things, most every game ive played and software ive used I at one point have beta tested in some way. I find it keeps me sharper, when the software is officially released I already know it while everyone else is looking out from their soon to be outdated software section like vampire to sunlight.

Most of my Computer knowledge comes from self tutelage also, which i get most of it from messing around with stuff and getting things to work, and when it doesn't it requires me to then research online why and how to fix it. Allot of experience comes from doing stuff like that. I ended up learning Linux as an end means to wanting to create a HL server, and then getting board with it on windows.

Ill probably buy some OEM version of Vista online the day it comes out though :P Sure it will still have bugs, but ill end up havin to get it eventually and its not like it will be a different version then then what id get at release, it will just have patches to DL.

Im totally with you on the Microsoft monopoly thing, but what other option is there? Mac? :P
Linux is out of the question. Its biggest draw is that its an open source OS, which is at the same time its biggest downfall. because of that there is many MANY versions, Most/all requiring different conditions/installers for software catered to that specific distro. Because of that usually only 3-5 installers are made of the top few, and the rest need to compile their own from source, and hope to god they have all the dependencies. And also hope their running a easy package downloading version of Linux. Also they need to know their shit cause the program doesn't tell you why it failed to compile (well it does, but it doesn't always help) so then you gotta sometimes unless your lucky DL multiple dependencies to find the right ones.

Yea something requiring that much computer knowhow is ever gonna take off the ground to the general public :/

Who would initiate the change, people are gonna use whatever has the best software pallate to chose from, and ease of use. Why do you think Xbox failed in comparison to PS2? the hardware spec was better, but sony established a much much bigger software base (and fanbase because of that)

Software companies dont give a crap what OS they make things for as long as it Sells allot. So their not gonna go out on a limb and support OS's that dont make them a decent enough profit.

o_|404|innoc-tpf- · 08-29-2006, 06:29 PM

What money? When talking about MS products I do not, have not and will not use warez. I don't and won't participate in MS Beta's. My time is very valuable so I am only interested in a product that is supposed to be a finished one. If you like testing that's great. However, when I pay for an OS it damned well had better be ready for prime time...there has not been a single release of Windows that has met that criteria. I jokingly refer to "Beta Testing after sales to the public" as that what early adopters are as far as I can tell.

I am also a user of Linux for quite a very long time....since the Beta days of Mustang (Red Hat V5). I use it exclusively for servers and, no, it's not for the casual or uninformed user. Yeah, you marry up to a distro..not unlike Microsoft. However, Open Source IS Linux's greatest strength. You have an entire community working on bugs as they are discovered....across ALL distro's. As a fix is available the various distro can take that fix and recompile it for their own distro's. It generally happens VERY fast...something MS cannot claim. They take absurd amounts of time in fixing problems...some fixes never see light of day.

I've been in the Red Hat camp for a very long time. I have played with Gentoo, Mandrake, Slack, Prime, Centos and a few others over the years. Stability and security are my chief concerns. I am presently getting ready to leave the Red hat camp for various reasons. But I can see Linux being a part of my operations for quite some time.

o_zaskar · 08-29-2006, 07:33 PM

Like i said, i enjoy testing. i dont see it as time lost because usually I come out of fixing a bug with somethin new learned. Usually it would not have any game braking bugs, most of the time it will be stupid stuff you can work around. And i get to use the latest and "greatest" (rofl). basically I get board and seek change. I would never use it on a server or anything, but my stupid home PC that I use to BS on and play games it is a non issue. Ill set up a dual boot if it becomes one. Also i wasnt refering to me wearezing it, i was refering to me using a beta now, which they dont charge for, so how can i complain :P MS, atleast for the OS ill wont Warez, its not worth it, you either cant update after a while, or you have to every few weeks spend a few hours finding a newley generated key that they havent added to their list yet. And unless you know means of doin that yourself, its not gonna last long because if you found it, so did like 100000 others And Microsoft :P

BTW, I really liked Debian if your looking to try a new very stable server OS. The standard version (not from a testing branch) is one of the most solid Distros there ever was, but also because of their high standards it takes longer for newer things to be tested and worked through enough by the devs to be added. Not usually an issue for a Server, sometimes an issue for a PC.

Right now im messin with Slackwear, ive used Redhat&Fedora, Gentoo (to be fair ive only used gentoo on my "Xbox Server"), Debian, Ubuntu (Debian base modded by another team to be one of the most modernized distros package wise), Mandrake, and a few other smaller ones and CD versions. Dont like Slack too much, its excellent for "works out of the box" stuff, but horrid for updates. It doesnt update config files, you gotta manually go and add them after updates ><

o_vampiricus · 08-29-2006, 08:04 PM

Yo where the white women at?

o_skanky butterpuss · 08-29-2006, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VampiricuS

Yo where the white women at?

wat he sed lol

o_vampiricus · 08-29-2006, 08:50 PM

im gonna go ahead and make a partition to give it a whirl. so this is just another beta of vista?

o_zaskar · 08-29-2006, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VampiricuS

im gonna go ahead and make a partition to give it a whirl. so this is just another beta of vista?

Yes and no. its a bit more polished, but if you were one of the lucky few whose nvidia/ati card drivers actually had little enough problems to play games fine, then you will be disappointed as the old drivers dont work on this new build and the new ones arent out yet. (built in windows ones ARE good enough for basic windows high res use though)

o_|404|innoc-tpf- · 08-29-2006, 09:11 PM

I suspect we can both agree that whatever condition MS releases Vista in it is almost certain that it will include things that MS should have and probably did know about prior to sale that should have been addressed beforehand...given their track record I am certain this is the case.

As far as Linux goes I appreciate the suggestion but I am moving forward with Centos for many reasons. Chief among this is a lively and active user base, solid security/patch record as well as Red Hat heritage which will satisfy certain program dependencies that will move from the existing builds to the new one.

o_vampiricus · 08-30-2006, 09:19 AM

install went easy as pie. so far no issues. im going to run it for a while. seems to like my vid card as well. i made a 17 (16.6) gig partition and i have 6.5 gigs free. ive still got plenty of room elsewhere, or i could just log into my XP and expand it if need be. otherwise no problems as of yet. I havent dipped into it too far yet but in due time.

08-29-2006, 04:19 PM	#1
o_deadly furby Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Cell Block 17 Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	100,000 pre-release Vistas up for grabs Benevolent Vole By Inquirer newsdesk, Tuesday 29 August 2006, 11:21 Microsoft is letting 100,000 guinea pigs download flaky versions of its upcoming Vista suite of cobbled-together programs. The code includes what we used to call an operating system and has loads of stuff on top, designed primarily to leverage Microsoft's monopoly position. You can grab yours here.

08-29-2006, 04:22 PM	#2
o_ginger lord Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Carlisle, UK Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I downloaded the last beta, seemed alright and ran pretty well on an old system.

08-29-2006, 04:23 PM	#3
o_\|404\|innoc-tpf- Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: The Midtown Express Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	No thank you. I will wait until Service Pack 1 is ready to go. Beta testing for Windows Operating Systems has never ended until a year or so after it's release for sale to the public.

08-29-2006, 04:37 PM	#4
o_zaskar Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: NY Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I dont mind bugs (using a PC gets booring with the same old stable stuff ;P Business applications aside ofcourse) As long as they are able to be worked around I like messing with new stuff. Be warned with that Pre-RC1 version, i alwready tested it, and the release nots indicate that the way drivers interact with the OS has Changed again, which means the current Nvidia/Ati Beta 2 drivers Dont work, they will cause your machine to have a Black screen whenever its using the driver (always, aside from safemode) Like the old drivers diddnt suck enough already though, maby this will force nvidia to put another driver out, their last Vista one was from the end of May, and buggy as shit.

08-29-2006, 04:49 PM	#5
o_\|404\|innoc-tpf- Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: The Midtown Express Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Seriously? You don't mind bugs? You're ok with paying money to purchase something and then have it operate less than optimally? Personally I don't like it at all regardless of whether it's business or personal use. It's one thing to have problems due to some third party issue...driver, api, library, etc. But for basic operations included as a part of the OS..those are the things I cannot stand.

08-29-2006, 06:29 PM	#7
o_\|404\|innoc-tpf- Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: The Midtown Express Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	What money? When talking about MS products I do not, have not and will not use warez. I don't and won't participate in MS Beta's. My time is very valuable so I am only interested in a product that is supposed to be a finished one. If you like testing that's great. However, when I pay for an OS it damned well had better be ready for prime time...there has not been a single release of Windows that has met that criteria. I jokingly refer to "Beta Testing after sales to the public" as that what early adopters are as far as I can tell. I am also a user of Linux for quite a very long time....since the Beta days of Mustang (Red Hat V5). I use it exclusively for servers and, no, it's not for the casual or uninformed user. Yeah, you marry up to a distro..not unlike Microsoft. However, Open Source IS Linux's greatest strength. You have an entire community working on bugs as they are discovered....across ALL distro's. As a fix is available the various distro can take that fix and recompile it for their own distro's. It generally happens VERY fast...something MS cannot claim. They take absurd amounts of time in fixing problems...some fixes never see light of day. I've been in the Red Hat camp for a very long time. I have played with Gentoo, Mandrake, Slack, Prime, Centos and a few others over the years. Stability and security are my chief concerns. I am presently getting ready to leave the Red hat camp for various reasons. But I can see Linux being a part of my operations for quite some time.

08-29-2006, 07:33 PM	#8
o_zaskar Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: NY Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Like i said, i enjoy testing. i dont see it as time lost because usually I come out of fixing a bug with somethin new learned. Usually it would not have any game braking bugs, most of the time it will be stupid stuff you can work around. And i get to use the latest and "greatest" (rofl). basically I get board and seek change. I would never use it on a server or anything, but my stupid home PC that I use to BS on and play games it is a non issue. Ill set up a dual boot if it becomes one. Also i wasnt refering to me wearezing it, i was refering to me using a beta now, which they dont charge for, so how can i complain :P MS, atleast for the OS ill wont Warez, its not worth it, you either cant update after a while, or you have to every few weeks spend a few hours finding a newley generated key that they havent added to their list yet. And unless you know means of doin that yourself, its not gonna last long because if you found it, so did like 100000 others And Microsoft :P BTW, I really liked Debian if your looking to try a new very stable server OS. The standard version (not from a testing branch) is one of the most solid Distros there ever was, but also because of their high standards it takes longer for newer things to be tested and worked through enough by the devs to be added. Not usually an issue for a Server, sometimes an issue for a PC. Right now im messin with Slackwear, ive used Redhat&Fedora, Gentoo (to be fair ive only used gentoo on my "Xbox Server"), Debian, Ubuntu (Debian base modded by another team to be one of the most modernized distros package wise), Mandrake, and a few other smaller ones and CD versions. Dont like Slack too much, its excellent for "works out of the box" stuff, but horrid for updates. It doesnt update config files, you gotta manually go and add them after updates ><

08-29-2006, 08:04 PM	#9
o_vampiricus Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	Yo where the white women at?

08-29-2006, 08:50 PM	#11
o_vampiricus Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	im gonna go ahead and make a partition to give it a whirl. so this is just another beta of vista?

08-29-2006, 09:11 PM	#13
o_\|404\|innoc-tpf- Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: The Midtown Express Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	I suspect we can both agree that whatever condition MS releases Vista in it is almost certain that it will include things that MS should have and probably did know about prior to sale that should have been addressed beforehand...given their track record I am certain this is the case. As far as Linux goes I appreciate the suggestion but I am moving forward with Centos for many reasons. Chief among this is a lively and active user base, solid security/patch record as well as Red Hat heritage which will satisfy certain program dependencies that will move from the existing builds to the new one.

08-30-2006, 09:19 AM	#14
o_vampiricus Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego Posts Rated Helpful 0 Times	install went easy as pie. so far no issues. im going to run it for a while. seems to like my vid card as well. i made a 17 (16.6) gig partition and i have 6.5 gigs free. ive still got plenty of room elsewhere, or i could just log into my XP and expand it if need be. otherwise no problems as of yet. I havent dipped into it too far yet but in due time.

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