Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Windows "Mojave" Experiment

I think this is really cool:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2008/07/29/windows-mojave-video-posts.aspx

Microsoft basically disguised Vista as a new OS named "Mojave" and then showed it to users. Before the test users were asked to rate Vista and gave it low scores on a scale of 1-10. Then after being shown Mojave they were asked to evaluate the OS and the scores were much higher. The kicker is that Mojave is Vista.

I have been using Vista Ultimate on my ancient desktop and have been more than pleasantly surprised by mostly the numerous little features here and there in addition to the larger, more prominent features. For example, small changes like this to the volume control allowing for per program volume:

 

image

or the newly improved Calendar:

 

image

 

are just tiny of the level of change throughout the whole OS.

Other things I find valuable:

  • Start Menu Search is indispensable.
  • Sidebar: I use it daily to keep track of stocks and local weather without having to go into IE (lazy I know).
  • Speech Recognition: This still has a long way to go, but it is a huge leap in the right direction.
  • Windows Explorer "Breadcrumb" Navigation is much more versatile than the simple address bar.
  • Built in Windows Media Center (I mean come on, that is sweet)

Going back to XP makes me cringe. What is even better though is there are a bunch of Vista features I haven't even started to play with - like System Restore, the new wireless connection management (I am on a desktop at home), the Photo Gallery (I am still using Picasa, but this looks comparable now), Windows Remote Assistance (to help the parentals), etc.

Anyway, hopefully more people give it a chance and some good vibes about Vista will start forming.

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