Shawn Wheeler’s Thoughts on Education & Technology

This is a follow-up post to Upgrading to Windows Vista

Twenty-three days ago I put a new hard drive in my laptop and loaded a clean copy of Windows Vista Business Edition. I still don’t see what people have been complaining about. Yeah, it has a couple of things that are a bit different but nothing to make me lose sleep. I do realize by the time I sit down to create this post Windows Vista has been out for over a year but I didn’t run out to watch ET either.

So let me set the stage for you. I have had a copy of Windows Vista for a number of months and I did make an effort to use it 6 months ago. However, I discovered my 5-year old Sony didn’t have the horse power in the video card and I really didn’t feel like shelling out any money to upgrade. What can I say… I am cheap. Now, with the Vista OS loaded on my laptop and 23-days under my belt, I am ready to share what I have learned so far. I will also share with you what a good friend of mine does and does not like about Vista. In some cases, I agree while in others I have to refute his complaints because I either like the change or find it to be less than significant.

Let’s start with what I like.

Gadgets - My first thought when I looked at the Gadgets was… “Gee, isn’t that cute, Mac like and for the most part useless.” After 23 days and looking at the several hundred Gadgets posted on the Microsoft site, I can say that I have found a few that I find useful. Yeah, there are some on that site that are useless too!

I have been a SnagIt user for years. In fact, it is the second application I install on my machine right after Office. I was very pleased to stumble on the Screen Snaper Gadget. This has the basic functions of SnagIt without the out of pocket cost. The Gadget allows me to snap a screen capture of the Desktop, Window or Region and I can put the screen snap to in the clipboard or save it as an image. While I am not willing to give up SnagIt as it has a functions that Screen Snaper doesn’t, it has proven handy on several occasions in the past 23 days and it has a home on my Gadget bar.

Dealing with multiple servers throughout the day, I have maintained a folder in my Quick Start Menu for years with Remote Desktop setting to the various servers I need to work on. I found a Remote Desktop Gadget that really fits my needs. I had a way to deal with remote machines in XP and that method easily transferred to Vista, I have to say I like this Gadget and it saves me a few clicks. Gee, I must be getting really lazy… But clicks are clicks and fewer clicks equal time saved.

As an avid Podcaster and Blogger, an RSS feed Gadget is a no brainer. However, I didn’t like the one that came preloaded with Vista, I did find several others that I like better. These are more about personal taste than functionality. If you are running Vista and want an RSS Gadget, try them out until you find one that fits.

The other Gadget I just love is Remove Drive Safely. It allows me to choose what USB drive I want to release from the computer. Yes, I could do that without the Gadget but… I never did, I would just pull them out of the machine. I know… Shame on me. Now, I have no excuse not to do it the correct way!

With all of that said, I did remove the analog clock, there is a digital clock in the task tray that works fine and I have an analog clock on my wrist. Then, there is the picture rotator. It was cute and I left it on the screen for several days. Much to my surprise, it was more of a distraction so I removed it. What can I say… I am getting more ADD by the minute. What was I talking about?

Search Rocks - For years I have labored to find files, music, etc… I was so excited the first time I installed Windows Desktop Search on my XP box as it allowed me to find files I had been looking for and do it quickly. Vista HAD the same or similar cool tool called Instant Search. However, it was hidden in Vista with the release of SP1. While the basic search in Vista is still better than the old days, the Instant Search is THAT much better. If you want to try it out, press the Windows Key + F. You can thank the good folks at Google for this change. Read more about this and other SP 1 changes at Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows. Click here for his review of SP 1.

All Programs - Now this is where my friend and I agree yet disagree. The view for all programs is dramatically different in Vista vs. XP. While I hate the way XP manages view, I don’t love what Vista did to it either. Note the two images below.

However, I have to say I do love the fact that I can type or rather start to type the name of the program I want to open in the Start Search field and Vista will return a list of programs. Considering I often don’t remember the full name or the folder the file is hidden in, this is a killer change.

Start button Default vs Classic - If you remember the heartburn you felt when we upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, the Start button menu was a sore spot for many users and noted above, it still is for some. I guess that is why Microsoft has given us the option to set it back to the classic view. Yuck.. I have an analogy for this but I need to keep this blog family oriented.

The photo viewer is another change to Vista. This to me is more of a garnish change but it does give you quick access to some handy tools. For instance, you can quickly fix a picture by using the Auto Adjust, Exposure, Color, Crop and you can even fix Red Eye. Although, if you take a crummy picture, it isn’t going to fix that. Sorry.

One interesting thing I discovered was the ability to edit ID3 tags for audio files is built-in. However, I didn’t notice this until after I had installed AudioShell which I use on my XP box. I just assumed this was not available with Vista.

Movie Maker really should be listed under it got better but… This program has been around for some time now and is really in dire need of an update. Now I realize that a 100 bucks will buy Pinnacle or Ulead but this software desperately needs a makeover.

What did improve? Well, Microsoft added some of the cool Ken Burns panning effect that make Photo Story so cool. However, you do not have the control over these effects the way you do in Photo Story. While this is an improvement, it could have been better. What really bugged me was the removal of the snapshot tool. This tool allowed you to take a still shot of a single frame in a video. A minimal feature I realize, but one I used. I really would love to see a burn to DVD feature in Movie Maker. I have heard it is available in Windows Vista Home and Ultimate Editions but I have not been able to verify this. I was able to verify there is software called DVD Maker in the Home Premium and Ultimate Editions so I assume this hooks into Movie Maker.

Okay, on to what I don’t like and/or my friend doesn’t like.

I had a heck of a time getting my USB microphone to work. To be honest, I am not sure this was totally a Vista issue as much as a laptop setting. Once I figured out that the thing was defaulting to the built-in microphone, life has been good.

The folder navigation is very different in Vista. Okay, very is a bit over the top, but it is different enough to force a second look. To be honest, I didn’t like the default view. However, once I clicked the browse folders link and was able to view my trusty folders again, I could breathe a sigh of relief. Is this a major deal? It could be to some. If you hear someone complaining about this, point out the browse folder link. See the two images below.

My friend told me the time it took to copy files in Vista was ridiculous. Given the fact this was talked about in Paul Thurrott’s review of Vista SP 1, I can only assume he had a valid complaint. From what I have read and heard on various Podcasts, this issue has been resolved. I will note that I did find a Gadget for RoboCopy that looked promising and RoboCopy beats Window GUI copy any day of the week. The RoboCopy Gadget helps those of us who are scripting challenged!

The Network Connection view just bugged me. I had a heck of a time adding my wireless router at home partly due to getting the security key installed correctly, work was slightly better. Again, this is more of an issue of the different look to this old dog.

My friend doesn’t like the integrated Search in the tools menu bar. Ironically, I had not noticed it until he sent me the email with his list of likes and dislikes. I guess this is an area where he and I will have to agree to disagree. When I tried it out, I liked it. If I remember to use it, I will like it even more.

He also told me he didn’t like the bloated OS as it had too many cute things. I don’t know how bloated it really is, but, do know it requires more space than XP did on a hard drive. However, so did XP compared to Windows 2000 compared to Windows Me & 98… You get the point.

As for cute things… Yeah there are some cute things that we don’t need and you can shut some of them off or ignore them. Probably the cutest yet useless thing is the Aero desktop. In fact, I didn’t realize I was not running it until Mike in my office pointed it out last week after he installed Vista. It is cute but I lived for two weeks without it just fine. (Apparently I had shut if off when I was first messing around after the install.)

My final complaint really isn’t against Vista per se, my complaint is with the multiple versions. As an enterprise customer, (school districts are enterprise customers), I understand Microsoft has a different marketing strategy for us compared to home users. However, education is not your normal enterprise and some of those features included in the Home and Ultimate Editions of Vista would be very helpful to the education world. Think about it, they have 5 versions now, (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise, (see the details)), what is one more for education.

I would love to see Microsoft offer an education version of Vista with an updated version of Movie Maker that would go head-to-head with iMovie. For that matter, I would like to see an Education version that had the tools to go head-to-head with iLife and of course this should include some podcasting tools!

The end result, 23-days in, I like Vista and wish I had it on my home machine. When I buy a new one, I will welcome Vista with open arms. Of course, I will make sure it is running Vista Ultimate so I can have all the bell and whistles.

 

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