A le Matters: Vista i 't so bad after all?

Hadley Stern at A le Matters has pe ed a, shall we say, 'unique' review of the recent RC1 of Microsoft Vista. Since I need to oil the article for my post here, I'll summarize: he likes it. Hadley found RC1 to be a vast improvement over earlier releases, regarding it as a usable, a y OS. In fact, the whole experience led Hadley to question whether the lines and differences are going to be drawn anymore between Mac OS X and Windows if once Vista shi .

In particular, Hadley sees A le's advantage dwindling in terms of software and UI: "what is left? Better hardware? Perha . More software selection? Certainly not," but what I think Hadley is not accounting for is that 'more' does not definitively equal 'better,' not by a long shot. I'll admit it's been years since I've truly sat down at a Windows machine and worked on it or searched for software to do one task or another, but an ongoing discu ion involving software quality, i ovation and acce ibility eludes to the po ibility that a little co umer fish i 't always at an advantage in a ma ive, diluted software pond. In other words: there are reaso why A le is praised so often for including things like iLife with their machines (which still stom commercial Windows counterparts), and why the typical MacUpdate-savvy, R -aggregating Mac users are often asked where and how to find any decent software by their Windows-toting brethren.

The most significant element of Vista Hadley steamrolled over is the truly ma ive and fundamental changes Microsoft is making to Vista's UI (whereby 'changes' could be interpreted as 'taking a sledgehammer to'). I'm not talking about just the Tra arency Everywhere%26trade; technology (that's an entirely separate conversation): this is about the radical redesigning and non-standard placement of traditional, basic elements like menu bars. Remember how much of an outcry e ued with Windows XP's slightly redesigned task bar and Start menu? Office dwellers were hurling themselves out of windows (and of course, forgetting to log out before doing so), claiming the apocaly e had arrived. While the Office 2007 camp has been receiving some eventual praise for the new 'ri on' interface, I dare you to look at Office 2007, Vista's Windows Explorer, Windows Media Player 11 and IE7, and try to claim their UIs were forged from the same standards playbook.

Take a look at this Microsoft blog with examples of how much Vista's new UI has shifted, and note the non-standardne of everything. Some a now have 'button bars,' while others have been stri ed of a menu bar entirely. How anyone could co ider this as looking "very similar" to Mac OS X or even 'understandable by the common user' is beyond me. This is a lot worse than Vista merely being "ugly" - it's like someone taking a shotgun to the Windows UI, duct-taping the results for review and Ballmer sla ing on his gold-plated stamp of a roval while polishing his two left feet.

Of course, from the guy who's trying to lay the OS down to sleep, I gue this all makes a little more se e. Let's just hope Mr. Stern is never actually faced with his 'desert island' decision, since after all: it still is a decision.