Microsoft designs UAC to annoy you

UAC is among the most hated feature of Windows Vista. At recent RSA security conference 2008 in San Francisco, Microsoft's David Cross said: "The reason we put UAC into the platform was to annoy users. I'm serious".

In fact, the logic is that the annoyance should encourage application vendors to eliminate as many unnecessary privilege escalations as possible by causing users to complain about all the UAC 'Cancel or Allow' prompts.

Microsoft's strategy is actually quite successful. Personally, I never care about security privilege when developing software before this UAC stuff. Since the release of UAC, I noticed my applications will crash and throwing ugly error messages becuse of this UAC thing. As a result, I have to change my software development behaviour to avoid the UAC prompts.

However, Microsoft's strategy comes at the expense of user experience, and Microsoft get most of the complaints for the meaningless security warnings. As stated by Ars Technica, one of the most popular post-Vista install activities is disabling UAC. Yeah, it is true, I disabled UAC after using Vista for 3 days.

Source: Ars Technica

Funny video about Windows Vista

For non-Vista users, the video only captured the weaknesses in more exaggerated way, Vista isn't that bad...

Windows Vista in Pink packaging

Microsoft is doing anything to convince you to buy a copy of Windows Vista, this is happening in Japan now..

The original packaging of Windows Vista Home Premium....


The limited edition of Windows Vista Home Premium, wrapped in hot pink..

It is bundled with a year’s subscription of Windows Live OneCare and a copy of a Vista tips and tricks book too...

Source: Amazon Japan

Windows Sidebar Styler: Customize your Windows Sidebar

Windows Sidebar Styler provides extensions to the existing functionality of Windows Sidebar. It allows you to customize the appearance of the sidebar and even resizing it. For software developers, we can now create WPF gadgets for the sidebar. In addition, Windows Sidebar Styler is available in a number of languages. Various styles by other designers are available at the gallery here.

Microsoft Plus! for Windows Vista

Microsoft is doing the best to lure Windows XP users to upgrade to Windows Vista. Microsoft has introduced Ultimate Extras for Vista Ultimate users. Ultimate Extras was thought as a replacement to the Plus! Pack. It seems Microsoft is reviving the Microsoft Plus!. Look at this at Amazon.com (As it is listed at Amazon, this product is certainly not available for free). Unlike previous Plus! pack, Plus! for Vista includes only casual games. Not sure of the product release date since Microsoft and MumboJumbo (the games developer) have not finalized content.

Use tab-browsing in Windows Explorer

I like tab browsing!! Tabbed MDI architecture is made famous by Firefox. QTTabBar is an add-in for Window XP and Windows Vista that gives tab browsing feature to explorer windows. Again, this software is based on .Net Framework 2.0, Windows XP users must make sure .Net Framework 2.0 is installed in your PC.

Disable WIndows Vista from connecting to Microsoft's server

There are reasons to disable my PC from connecting to Microsoft's server, e.g. I always make sure the automatic Windows Update is disabled to prevent unexpected changes to my PC, etc. So, Vispa can help you to manage Windows Vista in ths regard, it is yet another tweaking program that bring all the relevant settings into one place.

Tweaking utility for Vista

VistaTweaker is a tweaking utility designed for Windows Vista, it works on Windows XP too. This software is currently in beta. I have grabbed 2 screenshots from VistaTweaker website - judging from the screenshots, I would say it is a lots easier to manage Windows Vista now. Since it is written in VB2005, you need to have .Net Framework 2.0 installed if you want to run it on Windows XP.

Windows Update can kills Windows Vista

Recent Windows Update for Windows Vista can turns into disaster. Windows may crash during the update. When you try to reboot, Windows won't start up, according to a victim here, the startup won't even get to boot menu - so no chance to do system restore or get into safe mode.

Given that Vista has poor driver support, this may not be Microsoft problem, it may be one of those drivers again.

WIndows Vista = Broken Windows??

A nice summary of why Vista is bad. Hopefully Microsoft learns from the mistakes and makes Windows 7 a really nice OS for us.

NEC launches Vista downgrade product

NEC is offering downgrade to Windows XP? This is happening in UK - read this. Seem like some people prefers to swap their Vista license to get XP license. I know many people who are quite resistant to Windows Vista and Office 2007 at first because of the changes in the UI. We need some patience to get used to the UI. Unless you cannot stand the slowness of Windows Vista, then NEC's offer may be the right choice for you.

InfoWorld launches 'Save XP' website

In a brave attempt to keep Windows XP available indefinitely, InfoWorld has launched www.SaveXP.com, and tells us why XP must be saved, and so, InfoWord invites us to sign the Save XP petition.

So far, I believe this move will fail in the end since there is only 90,381 people had signed the petition by 12-Feb. Although I do not know the how many Vista users are out there by now, I am sure 90,381 is not statistical representative enough. Having said that, I have to admit only minority of my friends upgraded to Windows Vista voluntary. Most of us are actually 'forced' to use Windows Vista by purchasing new PC. However, if Windows 7 is really good and is going to release by 2009, may be those Vista haters can skip Vista and get directly to Windows 7.

Mac is gaining market share

Apple is just doing better and better with the return of Steve Jobs. While Mac is gaining momentum, Windows XP still remains as the king with 76% market share. Windows Vista is breaking the 10% mark for a very understandable reason - people is forced to use Windows Vista when buying new PCs.

Related readings are this and this.

Launchy: Keystroke launcher

I think Windows Vista users should be very familiar with the search in the start button.

Every time I want to open a file or open an application, I simply type in some characters in the search box, then I select the item I want from the search results - no need to browse through the menus and Windows Explorer. Part of the reason I come up with this habit to launch an application is because the redesigned 'All Programs' menu is very hard to use and slow. Many users complained about it and switched back to classic flyout-menu style.

However, Windows Search is still slow. Sometimes it is even faster to cancel the search and browse through the 'All Programs'. Here is an application called Launchy that can provides solution. It offers the function as I described and it works faster than Windows Search. It works on Windows XP too.

The Greatest Minds Inventing Things No One Wanted

Check this out.

Business world is tough, either those big corporations push forward or they fail. We, as consumers, often become the victims of purchasing something not as useful as we originally thought.

As for the Windows Vista entry, I think the most annoying factor of the OS is UAC. I turned it off the second day after I used Windows Vista after seeing enough of 'Are you sure...' questions. Microsoft should make UAC turned off by default.

Windows Thumbnails

One of the enhancements I like in Windows Vista is the live thumbnails of the Windows in the taskbar, Alt+Tab panel and the Win+Tab 3D cascading panels. It is so convenient when I am working on multiple windows - simply point the mouse cursor on the taskbar to check the current state of the application without switching windows.

I didn't realized I can do fairly similar thing in Windows XP until recently. MiniMIZE shows a thumnail of each Windows on the desktop. it supports Windows XP only, though it can works in Windows Vista too with some configurations. I am not sure whether the MiniMIZE thumnails are live preview or just snapshots of the windows (I never use it). Nevertheless, it is a nice piece of free application for Windows XP.

Windows XP is an upgrade to Windows Vista?

An interesting blog post which explain why the author 'upgrades' to Windows XP from Windows Vista. I personally found that Windows Vista is an acceptable OS even though it is bulky, sometimes working relatively slower than XP, having troubles when installing older software which I can find the fixes for most of the time....but overall, Vista is still acceptable.....at least I have no problem running Visual Studio and Expression Blend.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1

Windows Vista SP1 RC is available for download now. Microsoft also published document to outline changes made in Service Pack 1. To date, I read mixed results about the Service Pack. Some users claimed their Windows Vista does not behave properly after Service Pack installation, e.g. Internet Explorer is slow, etc. So, I think it is better to wait until RTM version.

Auto Desktop Wallpaper Changer

There is a Windows Sidebar gadget called Desktop Wallpaper which has high download rate and high rating from users. According to the author's description, it is "similar to the MS Slide Show Gadget, but also changes your desktop wallpaper at set intervals". Even better, it provides some additional image scaling options like 'Crop to Fit Screen" for your wallpapers.

Personally, I am not a sidebar fan. So, I prefer John’s Background Switcher (JBS). It is a small piece of software sitting at your system tray. Unlike the Desktop Wallpaper gadget, JBS works on Windows XP too. JBS is also more interesting. Instead of simply pulling images from a local folder, JBS can retrieve images from web services like Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, etc. In other word, you never know what you will get for your next wallpaper.