Microsoft Windows Vista, beta 2

Having written the article "Why You Want Vista Now!" in our May 9 issue, I held my breath when I installed beta 2, fearing that after the OS gets hammered by as many as 2 million users beyond the usual set of testers, I'd have to eat my words. To my relief, this release largely lives up to my expectations. Sure, it's still beta code and not something to run on a production system. There are bugs and nuisances, it blue-screens sometimes when resuming from sleep, and compatibility isn't perfect. But there's a lot that's enticing, and increasingly, there are features I miss when I'm using XP.

The Aero user interface strikes a comfortable balance between looking good and being useful. The new Windows Explorer, with its live icons, reading pane, and directory breadcrumbs, is particularly appealing.

The new Start menu is a winner. Its integrated search box lets me easily find programs, files, and documents including e-mails—I haven't yet needed to download the desktop-search tools I consider essential for XP. And I'm becoming accustomed to pressing the Windows key, typing a destination (like C:\users\john or www.pcmag.com), and immediately jumping there without explicitly launching an app.

Security, although sometimes intrusive, is improved. I can do most of my work in a standard account without administrative privileges—nearly impossible in XP. Unfortunately, when you perform a task that requires admin rights, the secure desktop that appears—even if you're logged in as an administrator—is disruptive, particularly when it commandeers the shell while you're doing something else.

New versions of bundled applications—including IE7, Windows Media Player 11, Windows Mail (formerly Outlook Express), Windows Photo Gallery, and Windows Movie Maker—improve on those in XP. They're among the flakier parts of the OS, though; WMP in particular misbehaves and hangs with surprising frequency. Lots of third-party software balks under Vista, and some of my PC Magazine colleagues report difficulty with hardware drivers.

Vista is far less than Microsoft originally promised and has taken longer to develop than anyone would like. Nonetheless, it's a substantial improvement over Windows XP—I see it as a glass half-full. If the coders can polish the rough spots in the user experience, fix compatibility problems, and resolve the more worrisome bugs, Vista's debut—in November for enterprises and January 2007 for consumers—could be strong.

Spec Data: Available as a 3.5GB (32-bit version) or 4.4GB (64-bit version) download in English, German, Japanese. Minimum requirements: 1-GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) CPU, 1GB system RAM, graphics processor capable of running Windows Aero interface, 128MB graphics RAM, 40GB hard drive (15GB free), DVD-ROM drive, audio output, Internet access. Recommended: 2GB system RAM, 256MB graphics RAM. Download is free; DVD costs $6.

For extensive information on Windows Vista, see our special section, Windows Vista, What You Need to Know.