As a computer science student, I’m allowed access to free copies of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Recently, I’ve been downloading and trying different versions of it out of pure boredom, and felt like typing up some impressions. The versions of Windows that I looked at were 2000 Professional SP4, XP Professional SP2, 2003 Server Enterprise SP2, and Vista Business. They all have their pros and cons, of course, but it’s interesting to see what has changed over the last decade or so.

All of these were installed and tested on a virtual machine with 512MB of dedicated memory in VMWare Workstation 6.

Windows 2000 Professional:

Before today, I had never actually installed and used Windows 2k. Back when I actually used Windows on a daily basis, I had made the jump from 98 directly to XP, so I didn’t really know what to expect from 2000. My initial impression was that it was very quick, which stands to reason as 512MB of memory was a lot back in 2000. However, I was stuck at 800×600 and 16 bit color until I installed the proper video drivers.

Windows 2000 took me back a lot farther than I expected it to. I was anticipating something similar to XP running in classic mode, but the user interface was much closer to that of 98. Windows 2000 came with the ancient Internet Explorer 5, which I used just long enough to go and download Firefox 2.0, which looks very shiny relative to the rest of the applications in 2000. Then for fun, I decided to see just how many updates there were to install, but it appeared I had to update Update before I could update to the latest updates. Then, I had to install Internet Explorer 6 in order to see any updates. At this point, I don’t care enough to keep playing with 2000, so I move on.

Windows XP Professional:

What can I say? XP is XP. There really wasn’t anything of note here other than my usual bitching about it, which is why I don’t actually use it on a day to day basis.

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise:

Server 2k3 is essentially the server version of XP. I initially downloaded 2003 because I used it in the remote desktop trick that I wrote about a few days ago. Server 2003 manages to be a fairly stable operating system when compared to XP, although I haven’t put it through much. While I never made use of any of the actual “server” services of it, it made a decent client OS as well, and sometimes it replaces XP for me when I need to virtualize something. In particular, 2003 really doesn’t like to be shut down, so I generally suspend the virtual machine rather than powering it off.

Windows Vista Business:

And here’s the impression that really matters today. Now, I’ve been saying bad things about Vista since I used it during open beta testing, but it’s possible that Microsoft has done a little better than I had expected them to. Now, it’s still utter shit, but as far as shit goes, it’s not that bad. It is the fillet mignon of shit, if you will.

Now sadly, the first thing I saw when I booted Vista up for the first time was the log in screen. Robin Williams once had the following to say about golf, “…you can wear colors that would make even a blind, gay man go ‘Oh, dear Christ.’” Well, the Windows Vista login screen invokes a similar reaction. The rest of the stupid effects I was able to disable and revert to the “classic look,” but the login screen remained there to torment me. Now, a couple other things Microsoft did go over the top on. For instance, I can’t properly play Solitaire now because it requires 3D acceleration, and I’ve yet to figure out how to disable the stupid animations.

However, there are a few things that Microsoft has really improved on. The first thing is the directory structure of the C drive. If you open up the C drive in Vista, you’ll only see three folders: Program Files, Users, and Windows. As always, Program Files contains your applications and Windows contains the operating system itself. However, your personal directories are now located at C:UsersYourUserName so for me, C:UsersZach. This is much better than the previous way of doing things which was to put them at C:Documents and SettingsZach TibbittsMy Documents. As a terminal junkie, it’s a lot easier to cd into my home directory now than it was in XP.

The next thing that has been somewhat improved in Vista (and I use the term somewhat here, because some things may have been changed for the worse) is the overall design of the user interface. I’m not talking about Aero, which is roughly as useless as my pet cat, but the design of the interface itself. The Start Menu is the most obvious example. Gone are the endless nested menus, and instead there is a simple list of applications. Clicking on All Programs displays the rest of the installed programs, but instead of popping up another menu, they are displayed in the original Start Menu.

Now, there are a few things that Microsoft left out of Vista that they really should have included. The first is Windows Powershell, also known as Monad. Although you can install it later, it really should have been included by default. The second thing is WinFS, a new filesystem to replace the archaic NTFS filesystem in use now. However, Microsoft scrapped WinFS some time ago, which is sad really, as NTFS is almost 14 years old at this point.

Then there’s the UAC. It’s intrusive, it’s annoying, but if you insist on using Vista then take my advice: learn to love it and never turn it off. It only takes a fraction of a second to click ok whenever you need administrative rights, and the benefit of an extra level of protection from a malicious software installer or a random PEBKAC error is worth the slight inconvenience.

Finally, there are the things in Vista that I flat out don’t like or want there. First is of course, the implementation of DRM in the operating system. I’ve yet to see an application of DRM that I would consider valid, and refuse to buy a copy of Vista solely on this fact (though I obviously don’t mind playing with a free copy). Aero I’m not particularly fond of, though it can be disabled. Now, I don’t mind compositing in general, and if I had a computer that could run it smoothly, I’d probably even use Aero.

All in all, I’m not sure about Vista yet. If Microsoft wasn’t so damned anticompetitive and generally oppressive with their operating system, I’d be more inclined to use it alongside Linux, but at this point I’m just not sure.