Windows Vista (Katrina) Redux

“I have a horror of people who speak about the beautiful. What is the beautiful?”
--Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)

Ok, let’s review the non-features of the non-beautiful Windows Katrina (aka Vista).

1. Improved Setup Routine
Mentioning this alone as a feature should give one a suspicion as to how lacking in features KATRINA actually is. I mean honestly! How often do you install Windows? So it takes 30 minutes as opposed to one hour for Windows XP. Quick! Grab your left over New Years Eve horns and toot them to proclaim your ecstasy over such a fabulous feature!

2. New Start Button and Start Menu
The Start button is now rounded and has the Windows flag on it. When looking at this and the new rearrangement of folders and icons, the only thought that can genuinely come to mind is: “Does Microsoft now have a cap of 80 on their employee’s IQs?”

3. User Interface
Themes and colors and Apple OS-like transparency. Sound familiar? If any of this lends itself to productivity, please let me know.

4. "New" Applications

a. Windows Defender. Um, Microsoft’s AntiSpyware now is a part of Windows.

b. Windows Photo Gallery. My Pictures gets a bit of improvement.

c. Windows DVD Maker. I’ll be impressed if I can burn a DVD without the Digital Rights Management software kicking in; even if I have already de-encrypted it.

d. Windows Collaboration. No one will use this outside of a few teams of 10 or less people in corporate environments.

e. Windows Calendar. Oh PLEASE! Let us lay palm leaves at the feet of the Microsoft Moses who brought this clay tablet of a turkey down from the mountain.
For those users who don’t have Outlook, there are already many free calendaring programs available on the Internet.

f. Windows Backup. Only upon RTM will we be able to see if this more useful than one of the commercially available products on the market or if it is just another half baked product like Windows Transfer.

g. Windows Transfer. Formerly known as Windows Migration Wizard, I have never gotten this to do a useful reliable, functional transfer from one PC to another or even from one hard disk drive to another.

h. Windows Mail. Outlook Express gets a new name. You might want to go lie down and rest your rapidly beating heart after such an exciting piece of news.

i. Windows Media Player 11. Same product very minor improvements.

j. Media Center. No new juice here other than UI improvements.

k. Internet Explorer 7. Isn’t it sad that the current version of Opera is better than IE7?

l. BitLocker. Encrypt your drive. Watch your system performance come to a crawl.

m. Family Safety. I’m a parent. Kids will find a way to do something you didn’t think of. If you forget the password you get to reinstall Windows or set up your kid as yet another user account. How many families are still sharing PCs anyway?

n. SuperFetch. Plug in an external drive or a USB and watch your performance improve. Doesn’t distributing caching across multiple devices increase overhead instead of reducing it?

Is there an actual reason for planning to purchase Windows Katrina or have I missed something?

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