Windows Vista in pictures

We're not entirely sure when the "Wow" starts, but our Vista coverage certainly starts now. We've got plenty coming down the pipeline for Microsoft's biggest software launch in years, but let's dive in right now and get our hands dirty, yeah? How about a comprehensive screenshot gallery of over a hundred pictures of Vista in action to whet your appetite? Sorry Mac fans, you may want to avert your i's.

Gallery: Windows Vista in pictures

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[LiQUid @ Jan 29th 2007 2:47PM]

First?

In other news XP > Vista

[BTS.WRKNG @ Jan 29th 2007 2:48PM]

THEY JUST HAVE NO TASTE.

[Michael @ Jan 29th 2007 2:49PM]

I have an idea - how about we stick to Vista conversation here, and have no mention of Mac or OSX?

[Marian @ Jan 29th 2007 3:57PM]

I wouldn't discuss about OS X here. But Microsoft forced me, by ripping off so many things out of it:
- Expose -- they made the crappy shuffle card thing, when a window covers another
- Dashboard -- they changed the name. Now they are gadgets. Not widgets
- Spotlight
- many others...

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jan 29th 2007 9:44PM]

If you didn't want anyone to mention OS X, then why'd you bring it up? I think Vista reminded you of something?

In all seriousness though I would have no problem with people mentioning Vista on a OS X thread if they had a point to make. If we can't contrast Vitsa to the major competition then what's the point in anybody ever reviewing it? Here's an example I think you might understand; Volvo recently just brought out the Volvo C30, it's not bad, but I prefer the Volvo S40, and seen as they are around the same price, if I'm in the market for a new car and have that much to spend, when I'm getting my next car I'll be going for the S40, cause I like the S40 more. If I wasn't going to get the C30 when you knew I was in the market for one, you'd ask me why, but you would say before you tell me the answer you're not allowed mention any other cars, would you?

[MearWolf @ Jan 29th 2007 2:51PM]

Almighty Vista, we humble mortals bow down before your beautiful glory

[derfreddy.de @ Jan 29th 2007 3:39PM]

you forgot a smiley.. i nearly overread the irony

[Marian @ Jan 29th 2007 2:56PM]

OSX ripoff...

[Christopher @ Jan 29th 2007 2:56PM]

Vista is a nice clean OS. It took a bit to get used to for me. I finally am used to it and prefer some of the new features. Such as the Search Indexer.

[dunk @ Jan 29th 2007 2:56PM]

i played around with vista this weekend and i will say it's very nice. lots of gimmicky stuff, but fun. the window redraw was really nice compared to winXP and for the first time i can say windows "feels" right. hard to explain, but in the past windows' windows has always felt like tissue paper, but they "feel" much weightier in vista.

flip3d is totally useless though. looks bad, works even worse. i was also a little disappointed in the system-wide search. i was expecting it to be faster than spotlight on OS X.

[Joshua @ Jan 29th 2007 2:58PM]

My impressions of this OS kinda went like this:
"Oh hey this is pretty nice looking."
"This isn't as bad as I expected"
"Hmm, Most of these new features have been on my mac for years"
"This OS is annoying to actually use"
"BLARRRGGGggg..."
"Well, its better than XP at least. I can also play games"

[01 @ Jan 29th 2007 3:00PM]

why would we avert our eyes, we saw all this when OS X came out :-)
I kid, I kid, we all know that inovation comes out of compotition, good luck to the boys in Redmond, they'll certainly need it.

[Ray-- @ Jan 29th 2007 3:22PM]

Vista is copying OSX?? Oh you mean the Media Center UI with the ability to record/pause TV and listen to/pause radio and watch live TV with web integration etc..???? OH wait MAC has NEVER had anything close to that.... but i guess its just a copy...

[glacia @ Jan 29th 2007 3:00PM]

So your plan is to hype like crazy then show screencaps of the installation so that people will post "is this what all the hype was about" and hope they don't notice it was you hyping it in the first place.

You're acting like there's been some smokescreen hiding Vista and now there's some Applesqe unveiling. Vista is interesting but the pretense isn't.

Cue the sheep for their negative comments.

[matt e @ Jan 29th 2007 3:02PM]

Engadget, what exactly would I avert my eye's from? This ugly piece of imitative crap?

*commence negative score on my comments from windows fan boys.

[Alphadan @ Jan 29th 2007 3:04PM]

Hey, i remember there was an app that kind of lets you run a OS in a small window while your on XP for example. Is that what you used? Anyway, what's its name???
Cheers

[Brad @ Jan 29th 2007 3:04PM]

Awesome! Engadget is starting to cover the vista launch.

Hey guys, when are you planning on wrapping up the OCTOBER contest coverage?

[Ryan Block @ Jan 29th 2007 3:06PM]

This week.

[T @ Jan 29th 2007 3:04PM]

It is no OS X, that is for sure.

[Mike @ Jan 29th 2007 3:07PM]

I remember there was an app that kind of lets you run a OS in a small window while on Windows XP for example.... Is that what you used? Anyway what's its name??

Cheers

[Buck Jones III @ Jan 29th 2007 3:09PM]

I'm ready for the new Vista experience with the media center especially. I don't have a imac or ianything and never plan on it. I had bad experiences years ago with macintosh gear. Anyways, I'm one of those crazy people looking forward to this new OS.

[Goobimama @ Jan 29th 2007 3:17PM]

I was at first really excited about Vista (I own an iBook as well as iMac Intel), thought it would be a great upgrade on the home peecee. But now that I look into its features, there's nothing. After five years of development, if all they could come up with is a nice looking "skin" and a photo app, I'm dissapointed...

[Jason @ Jan 29th 2007 3:26PM]

Trust me... Vista is NOT a copy of OSX... not by any means... I have been using the RTM version of Vista for almost a month now and I have a Mac Mini at home. Vista is still WINDOWS... it is still far superior to OSX... there is just TONS more software for Windows than OSX... I can't even THINK about switching over to OSX...

ANYONE WHO SWITCHES TO OSX FROM WINDOWS IS NOT A "REAL COMPUTER USER". If you can cleanly switch to OSX from Windows then you just don't use your computer for very much. Sure you can do all the emailing and web browsing you want on OSX and if you are crazy about graphic design then you can use all the Adobe tools out there but outside of the graphic design field there is just nothing out there for OSX.

I am still struggling switching completly to Vista because on 1 (one) application that doesn't run in Vista... how in the world could anyone make the switch over to OSX when there is only a fraction of the applications that run on it? If you do then you are just willing to make the sacrific and use APPLE software... you are sold on the "cool" factor of anything in the OSX look... plain and simple.

I have a iPod Nano that I use for running (the Nike+ stuff) and having to use iTunes to sync it is just TERRIBLE!!! It is frustrating to NO END that in order to get album art imported into iTunes from my existing collection that i have to signup for an account in the iTunes store!!! Having used WMP11 I am just so spoiled with its clean and easy to use views allowing you to see a hundred + album covers on the screen at the same time... looking for music in iTunes is like looking for something in a database!!! BORING... and the new spinning album view in iTunes is USELESS! You can still only see a couple of albums at the same time!!!

I don't understand how people who "switch" can make the move and just plug themselves into EVERYTHING apple... most of their products are not nearly as feature filled as other offerings out there... it amazes me to no end.

And this... a simple post with some links to screenshots of Vista you can tons of APPLE cronies crawling out of the woodwork yelling "COPYCAT!!!"... Please!!! For once can't the work/play you do on a computer be more important the your "LOVE" for company or CEO (Jobs) of the company?? Why does it pain some many Apple users that Vista is coming and it is an improvement over XP?

[Daniel @ Jan 29th 2007 3:49PM]

1. The notion that "feature-filled" = quality and ease of use is a mistake.

2. I switched this past year from Windows to OS X, and I'm a software programmer/analyst. I don't miss a thing. It's a rather bold statement to assume who uses/doesn't use their computers to the fullest.

[qwert @ Jan 29th 2007 4:09PM]

to that jason guy:
what happened? did your girlfriend that introduced you to the mac just leave you? or did your erm .. "finger" get trapped in your floppy drive (hurts like hell, ive been told)?
why so angry. if you cant find software for OSX you must be doing something wrong. i have never missed something on mine, and i didnt have to spend a single dollar for it, and i didnt pirate either, there is a nice thing called open source software. and if thats not enough you can still go in store and buy things. strange but true.

but back to topic:
the first thing i see in vista is how ugly it looks. dont get me wrong, im not that aqua-is-god fanboy, i have no problems using other stuff. hell, even win98 looks better than tthat. can i still switch back to to classic theme like i did after the first time i booted Xp?
Just why does everything have to be transparent and "glassy"? whats the use with that?
and flip 3D? why? whats the use with that? the old versoin with the icons wasnt pretty, but i was easily able to see what i would get, but now? i have roughly 10% of the size of the window available to determine to wich app all this shiny godess belongs. really nice. that will shurely help my productivity (sarcasm).
i could go on and on and on

and no, im not an apple fanboy, i also regularly use winxp, win2000, win98, linux, freeBSD and S60, and they all have their good sides and their bad sides. but vista? it looks like taking XP and making it worse.

qwert

[erin @ Jan 30th 2007 3:07PM]

ummm, i don't know how to tell you this but you don't have to have an itunes account to import artwork. maybe to import it from the itunes music store or whatnot, but there are other ways to get it...

as far as "looking for music in iTunes is like looking for something in a database!!!" goes, have you ever heard of a little something called alphabetical order? how does being able to look at "hundred + album covers on the screen at the same time" make it easy to find what you are looking for?

sorry, i realize that this comment has nothing to do with vista, but neither does half of the comment i'm replying to.

[Shawn @ Jan 29th 2007 3:26PM]

All you apple fans are very irritating. "Buy a mac", "OSX rip off", Vista sucks". I laugh at you and your over-priced apple hardware. While you spend an extra $700 for your computer, I just bought a new canon sd900 digital camera. So STFU apple fans!

[CharlieX @ Jan 29th 2007 3:33PM]

Oh Shawn, I'm sure we're all pleased that you could afford the camera of your dreams. Don't be a tool.

[Sean @ Jan 29th 2007 5:18PM]

Considering how much a USEFUL copy of Vista is, I believe you are the one who is overpaying, you f'in tool.
Enough with this Macs are more expensive crap, just demonstrates how out of touch you are with reality.

I use XP almost exclusively for work and play now after having switched from OS X, solely because that is what is used at work. Both got the job done, both have their shortcomings. I'd say Vista needs to mature another 2 years before this DRM-ladden crap will ever get its hands on my data.

And yes I agree that Vista has only now caught up to OS X, VISUALLY, cause it seems to me that's all it has to offer to anyone.

[Jimmijam @ Jan 29th 2007 3:31PM]

It "looks" pretty, but the interface still feels like XP?

[Sam @ Jan 29th 2007 3:35PM]

Yeah...it's not like Mac doesn't have the resources to incorporate things like pause, re-wind and record of live TV. They choose not to do it for whatever reason. I think people are more talking about things like aqua look and widgets and stuff like that.

[Clint @ Jan 29th 2007 3:38PM]

"It looks baaaaaaaaaaaad." - The Sheep

Kidding aside, it's just a new version of an OS. New features. Some cool, some annoying. :shrug:

[CarlieX's Mom @ Jan 29th 2007 3:40PM]

Oh CharlieX, I'm sure your loving your over-priced mac hardware aren't you. Ah good boy. Mommie loves you.

[CharlieX @ Jan 29th 2007 7:03PM]

Dear Mom,

I made some grammatical corrections to your post:

I'm sure you're loving your over-priced mac hardware, aren't you?

[Revels @ Jan 29th 2007 3:41PM]

Windows Vista has performed an illegal operation and needs to shut down.

[Michael @ Jan 29th 2007 3:42PM]

COOPERTINO, START YOUR COPIERS!!! (jk)

Windows vista? or OSX with vista skin?

[EriCKY @ Jan 29th 2007 3:42PM]

Holy shit, haters of Vista are so freaking arrogant. I'm on a macbook, and even I can say that I like Vista's interface. It's definately gonna be on my desktop.

[KaosDG @ Jan 29th 2007 3:47PM]

Can someone just show me a screenshot of the "Install New Font" screen?

Because it seems to me that this interface hasn't changed AT ALL since Windows 3.0. At least give us a font preview or something :(

[danielisaprogramminggod @ Jan 29th 2007 9:09PM]

A anal-ist and a programmer? Wow, you must be smrt.

Get over yourself.

[Lisa H @ Jan 29th 2007 3:51PM]

Egads. I'm not sure I see what it is in this OS that makes it for a 'real' computer user. I guess people are only valid in what they do computing-wise if it meets a narrow definition of 'real'. So what is the amazing new 'real' computing breakthrough here? Search? Widgets? Aero? More versions of Solitare? WMP?
Or maybe it's the 'amazing' applications, the ones that third party vendors make that have nothing to do with the OS itself, but okay. What artypes of apps are 'real' computing but Mac users can't use? They have office applications, scientific calculating apps, diagnostic apps, database and server apps... I'm not sure what 'real' computing app doesn't exist for them.
Oh, I get it, somehow iTunes sucking on Windows makes another OS suck. That's good logic. I guess iTunes must be one of those 'real' computer applications!
Eh, anyway, I'd be fine if anyone wanted to laugh at my 'overpriced' hardware, whether it was my computer, my digital camera, my TV and sound system... somehow I managed to afford them all, with Windows and Mac OS-running systems. Imagine that.

[matt @ Jan 29th 2007 3:53PM]

Iv installed it and im running it right now. its pretty, but thats about it. Im glad i got it free from my school cuz im reinstalling xp, at least everything i want(tv tuners, peerguardian2) runs on it. but i could see switching back in a few months once more companies have made

[Mrfreezie @ Jan 29th 2007 3:56PM]

I'm a little disappointed in you, Ryan. You didn't choose the kitten as your user picture, what's up with that?

[Andrew Fong @ Jan 29th 2007 4:29PM]

No one forces you to do anything. But while we're at it:

- Dashboard was a copy of Konfabulator (now Yahoo Widgets).
- Windows's search functinality was planned long before Spotlight came out, and Google Desktop (still not available on OS X) was out before Tiger.
- Leopard's Spaces have been implemented on just about every Unix System.
- Time Machine functionality is available through Vista's Shadow Copy and Imaging ability.

Everyone copies in this field. What matters is how well they're implemented. Apple's strength has never been introducing cool new features not available for Windows users, but refining these techniques and making them look cool and easy to use.

Vista is trying to the same now, with mixed success. While there are some things that OS X outclasses Windows (security, for starters), there are some things that I think Vista actually pulls off quite well.

For example, the "crappy shuffle card" thing may actually be superior in some circumstances. The purpose of Expose is to allow you to quickly select another window. This is fine with a small number of windows. As the number of windows increases however, it becomes difficult to locate a window once everything is sprawled out all over the screen. The card system turns out to be more effective here since it's easier to scan through a stack of cards in one dimension than to try to look through several windows arranged in two dimensions. Basically, if you're trying for someone in a stack of business cards, is it faster to randomly scatter the cards all across your desk, or to arrange them in a stack and thumb through them?

As for the windows being covered, you're still able to see 30 to 50% of the window, so for the purpose of quickly identifying and selecting a window, that should be sufficient.

The other example I would use is Window's implementation of search. Spotlight came out first, but I think Vista does it a little better. By integrating it with the Start menu, it's a lot easier to quickly find and launch programs. Spotlight is good for finding files, but not so much for launching programs -- it doesn't integrate with the Dock, which is pretty but flawed from a usability perspective (takes up too much space, gives insufficient information about each item). To get equivalent (actually, better) functionality, you'd need to get Quicksilver for OS X.

[LMAO @ Jan 29th 2007 3:58PM]

Hmm...I'm not seeing it. Where's the "OSX rip-off" everyone is claiming? It looks like XP with things rearranged and some graphical effects. Sorry it still feels like Windows and not Mac. I'm not saying it's worth the upgrade from XP.

Oh and one way to make yourself feel better about overpaying for hardware is to to make yourself believe that the software is superior and more stable - ahem...

And for those who plans to install Windows on your Mac using Boot Camp. Geezus, WHY? Microsoft doesn't care about the hardware, you're still buying/using their OS. They don't care if you use AMD, Intel, or whatever hardware you use. You are using their OS and that's all that matters. Idiots.

[Adam OK @ Jan 29th 2007 4:02PM]

Can see a lot of Mac fans green with envy. Can't wait to get my hands on the new Windows.

[Steve @ Jan 29th 2007 3:28PM]

I'm a Mac user/fan, and I'll be getting vista tonight. I'm not envious, since I can just run it right on my Mac. OS X and Windows Vista are both great operating systems that we should all be able to enjoy without stupid arguments.

[Anthony @ Jan 29th 2007 4:23PM]

I can see a lot of Windows fanboys getting Blue with SOD...

[Javaflash @ Jan 29th 2007 4:03PM]

I have this deja vu feeling flipping through screenshots.

Vista = XP with a different lipstick.

Why it takes 5+ years to develop?

[martin @ Jan 29th 2007 4:03PM]

I used it and hated the UI with a passion. Why are they using checkboxes like radio buttons all of the sudden? That pissed me off so much, I love the radio button.

It's just not intuitive. Too little, too late.

That said I'm going to get it...

[Will @ Jan 29th 2007 4:06PM]

You can try to fight it all you want but the fact remains all the 'cool' stuff about Vista has been in OSX for years. Also in case you forgot, OSX is built on top of a BSD back end. Virtually any program you can run on BSD (or and linux/unix flavor for that matter) you can port to OSX. You're not a 'real computer user' unless you use windows? WTF? You're not a 'real computer user' unless you use linux/unix. OSX just happens to be one of the best flavors, with some of the best creative software money can buy. Yes they're more expensive, you're pay a premium for a product that works. As anyone who uses OSX can tell you, it works. Vista has already crashed on me several times, for a myriad of different reasons. You should only use Windows because you have to. I can't think of a single compelling reason to use windows other than everyone else is doing it.