A Machead in the land of Vista: a not-entire-slam on MS

BY STEVE SAFRAN
MANAGING EDITOR
LOST REMOTE

I got a Vista PC recently. I’ve been playing with it, and that alone could explain my absence from LR for the past two weeks. (Well, that and vacation). I’m not going to spend a lot of time Vista-bashing. First, as a known Machead, I’m biased. Second, the “Hey — Vista is almost like a Mac!” shtick has been done. Third, there is no third, but you’re supposed to write in threes.

In consulting, you’re supposed to start off with what you like. And I like the Windows Media Center. I like it better than the Mac equivalent for one reason — the deals that Microsoft has cut with online video suppliers. Through the very easy interface, you can punch up Comedy Central “Motherload” or the many VH1 offerings or a bunch of other channels and start watching online video. This subverts the traditional “go to our website” model (not to mention the entire cable model) nicely. I support any changes that turn old models on their fat, comfortable, dated heads. The Windows Media Center accomplishes this, and lets you truly watch video via the web from your couch. I imagine Microsoft will be adding more channels, and if they’re smart it will only be a matter of time before they start doing deals with locals.

As for the other changes in Vista, they’re nice. Everything you’ve read is true. It’s Mac-ish. It’s remarkable that it took five years to get to this point. It still has maddening quirks.

Again – this is not a Vista review. There are plenty of software reviewers more qualified and more boring to do that. This is just my overall experience. I purchased the lenovo T60p — a high-powered laptop. It is not intuitive. It comes with its own separate layer of “protection.” In order to login to my web-based Outlook mail, I had to go through FOUR LAYERS of variations on the “are you sure you want to do this” question. The IE7 browser is overprotective, too. Yes, I know, you can set permissions once you visit sites. Yes, I know, these are all security problems because of hackers. Still — bah. Vista feels like an overprotective Soccer Mom. “Put on your shinguards, Kyle! Stay away from the attackers! Don’t get too close to the ball!”

As for Bluetooth… I recall seeing a demo of the technology in 1999 and thinking it was cool. They still don’t have it right. The lenovo machine (and the Vista interface) did not make it apparent how to turn on Bluetooth. In fact, the messages I got seemed to indicate I didn’t even have the capability. So much so that I even doubted I purchased a machine with Bluetooth, despite recalling I had checked off the option in my order. I consider myself on the savvy side of computing, but I had to call tech support.

Cheers to lenovo tech support. A very nice guy helped me. But talk about a baffling answer. Turns out that, in order to turn on Bluetooth, you have to hit Function-F5. That’s right. Function-F5. Maybe, as a PC person, you’re thinking “Duh. That’s the international Bluetooth combo.” But in Macland, we go to the wireless icon and click the dropdown for Bluetooth. Function-F5 be damned.

I won’t get into the sync problems with my Pocket PC. I thought it would be easy to sync, now that I was Windows compatible. Verizon has the last laugh. They don’t support Office 2007. I’ll continue to sync via my Mac.

Design-wise, at least on my laptop, I will say I much prefer the plastic construction and the heat output on the side to the MacBook Pro’s metal “Turn it on and burn your groin within 30 seconds” concept. As for looks – fuggetaboutit. The lenovo T60p has the charm of a Soviet industrialist tractor. I suppose there’s a functionality to this — it’s supposed to take a fall pretty well, and that’s useful for road warriors. But it’s basic black. And as we know, people like color options. And damn this thing has a loud hard drive.

None of which has anything to do with Vista, mind you. And as for Vista, it’s a fine upgrade. But that’s what it is — an upgrade. It’s a pretty new interface, with upgraded programs and tons of features I will never understand. But I’m a dumb Machead. I don’t understand Function-F5.