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Well the background looks like Mt. Rainer, which only makes sense because Microsofts main headquarters are in Seattle.

Not sure on the location in the pic but I just got the beta this evening and I love it already.

So far everything has gone without a hitch and although I can't use the aero interface (my pc isn't good enough to even try) it's still great looking.

the actual download page is at http://download.windowsvista.com/preview/beta2/en/x86/download.htm
you will need a DVD burner or some emulation software to install it as well as at least a 20GB empty partition.

The installer does most of the work by itself and the whole thing has been really simple so far. I even decided to start blogging about it earlier on today. It's on the website in my sig.

Vista will work on most PCs and although mine it low end by today's standards, it is workign fine on the standard interface.

Good luck to anyone who gets it because it's a 3gb download and all one file. If anyoen wants help installing they can Email me at londondude89@googlemail.com and I will be happy to try and help.

Damn I sound like a MS Rep

Thanks
Mitchel

I read that some people had problems with their graphics drivers but mine has been working ok. no problems at all.
I would recommend starting the install in XP first though because if you are connected to the internet, it looks for updates or something before copying the files to your hard drive.

One last piece of friendly advice... With Vista comes a whole new realm of software security and monitoring...

Make SURE you do not have anything illegal on your system or install anything illegal onto Vista.

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Well I'm f***ed then looks like I have to say goodbye to CS2

Cheers
Cameron

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Vista is different than XP when it comes to verifying... all WGA in XP does is verify your XP key. Vista takes it quite a bit further than that. Also, being BETA, it does not fall under the same privacy laws as released software and you agreed to those terms when you installed it. There will be even more snooping in the final release. What you are reading ARE rumors. It is ILLEGAL for a software company to access your drive for an uninstall. It will NOT be illegal for the software to be disabled without internet access or a manual code, NOR, with new laws coming into effect, will it be illegal for the software to send any personal information and computer information to them if you are running the software illegally. Your ISP can then be court ordered to turn over your address to the software company for legal action.


@ Cameron, I do not condone unlicensed software but as long as you do not install CS2 into THIS release of Vista, it wont be a problem.

The days of free software are coming to an end

Actually, you are right. you do still need to get a product key however you can get these free by following the links from the windows vista website. it's a long trail though

http://www.microsoft.com/Windowsvista/

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I need to re-pave my drive. I pay my road tax, so by that rational, I own the road, so I can dig a bit up and take it home, or FS9 was so expensive that I use a pirate copy. MS have not lost anything because I would have never bought it in the first place at that price. Not quite sure that the judge would see it the same way.

Matt

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What is the error meessage?

Your not overclocked, are you?

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I was googling around, and found [quote[I recieved this message before. It wasnt the DVDs fault at all though. It
turned out that If you have a Motherboard with SATA + PATA drives, and you
have Native Mode selected in the BIOS (Not the compatibility mode) your
install will fail [quote].

Perhaps that will help?

P.S: I'm installing Vista on seperate partition in a few days

Overclock wasn't the problem (however it did become one later, and was quickly fixed). It was infact a bad ISO. Redownloaded, and ran via Dameon.

Works great, and am posting a vid on youTUBE now.

Cheers
Cameron

Your going to want to switch back to the PC after seeing this Ramos. Its very OSXish, but running off windows, so you can actually game.

Basically Mac is going to be quite shut down with all of their new "I'm great out of the box" commercials. I booted up vista, and the only two drivers I actually had to install were my Audio (Vista's is buggy) and Video (I wanted CCC). Also Vista has many of the features that Mac users like (dummed down menus, glass, widgets, etc).

I love this OS, but its still one of those things where its a little too impractical to run as a main OS.

Cheers
Cameron

I don't know where you got 15GB from, Vista only took up about 8GB on my drive. XP only took 4GB, but after all the stuff ive done to it, it now uses 6GB. So say what you like. And if I remember right, OSX Tiger takes 6GB? and thats with Frontrow and iLife installed. So that base size is almost the same. However the extra 2GB is because it comes with Media Center, and a Live beta. Also office 2007 is vurry sexy if I do say so.

Cheers
Cameron

Hmmm looks very good CT.... I may get it and try it out on this computer and see how it performs..... Cheers, Gunny

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Well, no one recognised the location ?

It's across the river from Chelan, Washington I believe.     (See Mt. Ranier in the background? )

I thought you Seattle area natives would have figured it out  

It was one of the first soaring locations in a MSFS.


I've messed about with the Vista Beta2 for about 20 hours and so far I've been mainly attempting to see how many services can safely be shut down in an attempt to reduce some of the system overhead.

There are considerably more services in Vista than WinXP and many are inter-dependent making safe shutdowns a tad tricky.

Some 400mb of ram is used just booting into Vista. This is by far the most complex piece of bloatware I've ever witnessed, and surpassed my wildest expectations!

I've managed to disable many of the inbuilt security measures and keep the system running. I also believe that many of the services I've seen are capable of, or even soley designed to report back to MS or whoever.
Attempting to disable some of these services is either completely locked or results in fairly strong warnings that the system will be rendered disfunctional.

I attempted to install three third party firewalls so far and they won't work on Vista, so no security is available to block the reporting functions within Vista or protect me from other threats if I choose to not use or trust the inbuilt Vista firewall.

The good news is that the interface itself can be tweaked back to a Win'98 style and performance can be improved markedly by doing so.

The bad news is that simple maintenance such as uninstalling a program can be daunting at first until you get to know your way around.

I always maintained that WinXP was responsible for keeping people ignorant of learning the PC file system by introducing an interface that shows "virtual" locations on the PC while the physical data is in hidden directories. Vista has taken this approach even further, deepening the mystique of our PC's. I had feared this would be the case.

The novice Vista owner will be learning to use the complexities of a huge operating system and it is unlikely they will learn much about file handling and actual locations of data on their PC's.

I understand that Windows must be everything to all users, but Win Vista is a diabolical piece of overkill for the average PC user. If Vista cannot be de-automated on an internet connection so that it does NOT report my activities, personal data, software installations or anything else to third parties, then on principal, I do not wish to have it installed on my personal computer.

Call me what you like, from old school to a software pirate, a fool or a stubborn idealist, I do not believe that anyone has the right to pry into my business on a continual basis. I don't pry into anyone else's affairs and I don't want anyone watching me. I have nothing to hide at all, (I bought and use only two online games), it's simply a matter of principal. If Win Vista (in a similar form to the build I recieved) becomes the mainstream online platform, I will be seriously looking for an alternative Op Sys.

Currently, I'm using WinXP and I've never been happier with any software product, I've learned to optimise XP into a secure and extremely stable, high performance platform. Microsoft finally got it right with XP, but I fear the worst for the future of personal online computing if Vista takes over from XP and there is no alternative from such an overwhelming and intrusive Op Sys.

Perhaps a "light" version of a MS op sys could be made available without all the inbuilt spy crap? I would pay "more" for "less" if they would just let me compute without looking over my shoulder. The monitoring of the public is really not needed or desirable over our PC's.

Are we going to give up our privacy for a gimmicky desktop? Come on people, let Microsoft know that this BS is not on.

As for software piracy, surely there are ways to write software so it can't be pirated, there is no need to monitor every PC in the world to "catch" someone with a pirated piece of software. It's just an excuse to spy on everyone with no basis in reality. What are they gonna do,........ hunt you down across the globe for running a  $100 program you didn't pay for? GET REAL  

To whom it may concern:
There is no doubt that Vista is shaping up to be a wonderful OS, and it's a credit to the developers. The spy functions are unnecessary and immoral in the commercial release, please leave them out or give users the option to opt out. Also, we need a basic op sys for internet communication, gaming and email. It can't be THAT difficult or complex can it?

A simple choice would be nice at the installation screen:

(  )  Install Vista with full PC monitoring and secure business functionality

(  )  Install Vista with complete privacy and secure internet functionality for home use


I know Vista will be released in several versions, any chance of a really basic personal version you think?  
Something akin to a stable Win'98SE with basic drivers just to get me on the net so I can download my own?  Don't worry about security either, I'll download a free firewall, that should make it easy for you.  

Such an OS should install on today's PC's in about 3 minutes, that would be sweet thanks.   

So yeah, with all the PC's in the world today obviously M$ are going to keep close tabs on every single one to make sure you're not stealing their, or anyone elses software.