Microsoft Windows Vista Build 5219 (Community Technical Preview 1) Review

[Sihmar_Online]

The data visualization and organization features from Beta 1 appear to have moved forward unchanged in build 5219, which is fine, since they worked quite well previously. There are still a few display issues with stacks--for example, album stacks in Music still display incorrectly (with stock Windows Media Player icons), though differently than they did in Beta 1 (where the album art used was almost always incorrect). Again, since we're seeing a snapshot of Vista development that isn't guaranteed to pass certain quality bars, this is not an issue at all.

The Start Menu and Control Panel appear to have not changed. The build still includes Windows Media Player 10, and Sync Center is still completely dysfunctional, as it was in Beta 1. The Recycle Bin still displays wadded up paper balls even after you empty it, though you can hit F5 to refresh the desktop and fix the icon to appear empty (just like Beta 1).

The power management pop-ups, which confusingly offer decidedly different views depending on whether you mouse-over the tray icon (Figure), single-click it (Figure), or right-click it (Figure), doesn't appear to have changed.

Software compatibility is as woeful in build 5219 as it was in Beta 1. In fact, software compatibility on the 32-bit version of build 5219 is roughly comparable to software compatibility on the 64-bit version of Windows XP Professional (x64 Edition). That's a cute way of saying that it sucks. I tried to install my expansive list of gotta-have-it applications on this build with mixed results. Standard, well-written applications like Microsoft Office 2003 installed without question, and even updated themselves through Microsoft Update. I was also able to install Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Adobe Reader 7, Google Desktop, Apple iTunes, Microsoft AntiSpyware, Microsoft Digital Image Suite 10, Mozilla Firefox 1.0.6, Napster, Nero 6.6, Google Picasa 2, Apple QuickTime Player Pro 7, SecureZIP 8, and SnagIt 6 without any issues.

The list of applications that wouldn't install, however, is quite long as well. Diskeeper 9 was missing in action, as were the Microsoft PowerToys TweakUI and Command Line Here, Microsoft Virtual PC 2004, and ZoneAlarm Security Suite. Some of these, obviously, are pretty crucial. Your mileage may vary, depending on which apps you use.

[Raj_2006]

The download of Vista Beta 5219 is now available , may i post down the links? (Sep)

[Sihmar_Online]

No!!! We don't want to give any illegel download's for windows.

However if anyone need it he can search net. There is lots of torrents out there and Vista will out every month now so it is waste to download it.