I was pretty excited the other day when I was handed my disc with Longhorn build 5048 on it. I rushed home and found out the same thing that alot of other people were finding out. 5048 doesn't install in VPC. I gave some thought to trying to install it in Virtual Server, not likely to succeed, but possible. The laptop I install on is my personal machine, but I use it for work, so putting a possibly quirky beta on the machine is not the best idea. Combine that with the fact the first machine Jayson put it on bluescreened half way through setup, repetitively and things look sorta dicey.
So, I did what any other responsible computer professional would do.
I flattened the damn laptop and installed Longhorn. What the hell, the activation period on my MSDN Windows 2003 server was almost up and I didn't feel like having to activate it.
What are my impressions? Well, I hear alot of noise about the GUI being crap, and people defending saying the GUI is still ALPHA, or its a place holder or whatever. The GUI needs some work, that being said, alot of it is poor default choices. With some tweaking, the GUI in its current state or AEROness can look very nice. Much better than XP, not quite on the OS X level yet. I can see the potential though, and to me, that is the important part. There are still alot of things they are obviously working on, for instance, if you switch to details mode, the file name is truncated very short. You move the slider over so you can see the whole bar, and when you come back the next time, the name is truncated again. But, this is ALPHA, and I see the potential.
Talking about potential, the navigation system for the browser and navigating windows has changed...almost dramatically, but not quite. It is the same enough that you won't have to learn again how to get around Windows, but different enough, that if you explore some, you will notice there are much faster ways to navigate then you could before. Also, for those that saw the older builds, rest assured they fixed the god awful ugliness that was the top of Internet Explorer. For those that have the current build, you will notice it is better, but if you choose View|Toolbars and the Lock the Toolbars to unlock it, you will notice you can drag that third row up with the second row, and I think the top of IE might actually take *less* space then on Windows XP in that configuration.
I really, really wish I could show some screenshots to elaborate, but from what I have seen, that is a pretty big no-no at this moment, with this build. I can almost understand the reasoning behind this decision, but at the same time, it is somewhat surprising considering everything is about momentum. I would think they would want to capitalize on the current Longhorn momentum, but it is also possible they are just going to hold off for a month to let x64 breath and then get back on the Longhorn push.
Enough about the UI, lets talk about stability and compatibility for a moment. I installed this on my laptop yesterday, so the stability part will mostly be premature, but I *can* speak to compatibility. The install found everything on my laptop except the video card and the wireless card, well, and the modem, but I dont install drivers for that anyhow.
The video card was a quick download of the last Catalyst drivers and poof! done. The wireless I was somewhat concerned about. In 4074, whenever I installed wireless drivers for my Broadcom 802.11g integrated card, if I hit the function key to activate the wireless card, BAM. The OS would hard lock. Not crash mind you, just hard lock. Hit the function key and turn the wireless card back off, and the OS would continue on its merry way just as though nothing happened. Unfortunantly I am seeing the same thing in this build, no matter what version of drivers I try to install. Not a big deal, I am plugged in most of the time anyhow, and if I need the internet while not plugged in, I can stick a USB wireless Nic in for the moment.
Well, once that was resolved, the next thing, of course, is to install Half Life 2. Have to get my Counter Strike on. If you are ever in a server and see someone name Bob that has 1 or 2 kills and has died....38823 times, that is most likely me. Say hi and try not to make fun.
So, Half Life 2 installs, first good sign. I log into to steam and wait for the files to update. And wait...and wait. But that is a steam thing, not a Longhorn thing. That finishes and I launch Counter Strike. And wait for Steam to update. And wait. And wait...
BAM! Begin game comes on. I arranged ahead of time and Mike and I are going into a server to wreak some havoc, he is going to shoot alot of people, and I am going to splatter my toon in many hallways. The game plays flawlessly for hours. Too flawlessly for too many hours. I am somewhat tired at work the next day. Anyhow, this is a very good sign.
I have alot of things going on at work, but enough time I can click Next now and then, so I decide to see what else works. I install Visual Studio. NET 2003 and run into one of the first snags. It says 'Hello! Where is IIS??'
I look around confused, because I haven't seen IIS for awhile. I ask around. I go to Control Panel and click on Add Remove Programs. I find and click on the Add/Remove Windows Components once I have changed back to classic view. Classis View doesn't really look like Classic View, but it actually looks nice once you collapse all the categories. Anyhow, I am playing with the categories while I wait for Add/Remove Windows Components to load. I click it again...37 times. Well, it seems there is no Add/Remove Windows Components in this build.
I look around at another way to install IIS manually, but I don't think the code is there. Longhorn will have IIS 7 in it, so I am assuming at this point they have removed IIS 6 and haven't put IIS 7 in yet. I am really looking forward to another fresh rewrite of IIS if that is the case. I stop my Visual Studio install, becuase there is no real reason for me to keep Longhorn if I can't make ASP.NET applications on my laptop.
On a whim, I decide to try and install Virtual PC on Longhorn. In an interesting turn of events, Virtual PC complains but installs and runs wonderfully on Longhorn, I install Windows 2003 server in a vhd and we now have a 'remote' IIS server to deploy to. Problem solved. Visual Studio 2003 installs properly and runs great.
Next on the list is Office 2003 and Map Point. Both are tools I use often at work, and so far both seem to be working fine. For alittle less work related, I am somewhat concerned about installing Roxio DVD burning software and less so PowerDVD. PowerDVD installs and works great, emboldened by this, I slam in the CD for Roxio DVD Creator and reboot afterwards as asked. Works perfectly. So far things are going very well and I am pleased. If you have read some of my other recent work, you will know I am not often pleased. Anyhow...
Some things I am still needing to install:
Antivirus Software - I have and love eTrust, I will try to install it tomorrow.
DVDShrink - A necessity of sorts.
SQLServer 2000 - Work and whatnot, might install SQL 2005 instead, if others are successful...hey, I am only *so* bold
Doom3 - I am sure this will work, given the sucess with Half Life 2, what I am interested in is with Windows 2003, I had to install Orca and remove the OS check from the Doom3.msi file. I wonder if the default file will work or if I will need to use the modified file.
Some things that did *not* work:
Shadowbane - MMORG that revolves around PVP (Player vs Player), may have been user error, I had installed alot of other things and hadn't rebooted, its not a priority at the moment, but if it installs later, I will add an update.
Trillian - I use GAIM usually, but everyone claims it is inferior to Trillian, however, Trillian has never liked me. Ever. I decided with the whole fresh install, I would try it again. It installed fine but crashed while trying to log in. I pulled out my CAT5 and it ran fine, plugged in my LAN connection and it immediately crashed. Dont care enough to try again, GAIM is working fine.
The language bar in Office 2003 - No matter how many times I turn this off, the setting never sticks and it comes right back after a reboot.
\\machinename\share - This is blocked by default by the new firewall. Blocked *going out*. Not sure what they were smoking here, but I assume this will change by the time the next build comes out.
I will update here as I install new things that may or may not be of interest. I really, really wish I could post some screenshots, but you know how it goes. Before installing this build, had you asked me when I was expecting Longhorn to go RTM, I would have said May 2007, maybe July or August 2007. Now that I have spent some time in 5048, I can believe their 2006 claim somewhat easier. Oh, and per my norm, the new Recycle Bin icon is sweet...
*UPDATE* Doom3 installs fine with the default MSI file, and for Roxio, it installed and launches fine, but I am having issues burning. I think the IMAP service may be stopped, but I cant find the Services console to confirm.