microsoft beta's to tend to be pants, unlike google beta's which we have come to expect to essentialy be the full app.
I believe microsoft will turn it around and vista will be a vast improvement. also, most of the criticism's are aimed at the interface and usability. that, in every sense, is just the tip of the iceberg. windows 2000 > xp was a very small jump. NT5.0 to NT5.1 in fact. Vista has undergone some very serious code updates/improvements etc... and is NT6.0.
The network center is one hell of a mess, although the network stack is _apparantly_ much improved. I did notice that it picked up workgroup computers etc very quickly and nicely, whereas xp hangs like a [explitive deleted] when using the "my network places" screen. especially on wireless networks.
the interface _is_ cludgy, although much improved from earlier betas. i think it very quickly detracts from the focus and it's easy to get lost especially for less techie people. i think the blur effects etc are not neccasarily _great_ although they are very pretty. I also believe osx also suffers from this a little, but NO WHERE NEAR as much as vista b2.
so please, don't write it off before the FINAL release. it is ridiculous. ms use there beta stage as exactly that, beta. but public perception of beta is not what it used to be, as companies feel more pressure for the beta's to be nearer completion i.e. google. i mean, gmail is _still_ in fricking beta and probably always will be. yet i would say it is a complete product... they just keeping adding to it. which means, there is also a beta version of the beta... and that's NOT the point. ms gave you the beta for you to try, find bugs, and in reality just to comment on how it is going so far. they will pull something out of the bag, i'm sure of it. and i, for one, lookforward to it's actual release.
which, for the record, i am sure will be later than they're letting on as i do believe they appear to have a long way to go. i've just given up using it as my main machines primary os since the beta2 release as i'm finding it is becoming less and less stable. Especially media player 11. it's pretty, but that's slow as hell and crashes all the damn time. both on vista and xp. oh, and vista/media player really hate my ipod.
