Microsoft Ships Vista Beta 2 Preview to Testers

Several beta testers reported to me early Saturday morning that Microsoft had issued 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista build 5381.1, which is a preview of the Beta 2 version of Vista the company intends to ship later this month to millions of testers. I first reported that Microsoft would ship a variant of build 5381 as Beta 2 earlier this week when rumors surfaced that the software giant would delay Vista further into 2007.

Windows users who are eager to test Vista won't have much longer to wait: Currently, the company still plans to ship Beta 2 on May 22, and the company will eventually allow millions of consumers to obtain this release at little or no cost. You can find a screenshot gallery on the SuperSite for Windows. My next Vista review will coincide with the Beta 2 release.

SuperSite for Windows

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Soundsa that they are on the right time for Vista. I also wanna know when the Windows Media Player 11 beta for Xp will come (May 22?)

Billy Gun May 06, 2006 (Article Rating:

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Thanks, just noticed my link waiting for me on connect. :)

Downloading now at a mier 100kbs. Looks like the only server up is USA atm and its getting hammered.

war59312 May 06, 2006 (Article Rating:

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want download vista

freeman_bc May 06, 2006 (Article Rating:

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Very much looking forward to getting my hands on this. I've used a couple of the previous releases, and have liked what I've seen. Now looking forward to playing with this in anger, running some proper applications and leisure time stuff on it, and seeing how it really performs.

alanm999 May 07, 2006 (Article Rating:

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been looking forward to that beta. I've used the feb CTP for too long and want something fresh. I expect this beta to be the first that lets you use it as a full time OS.

guruguru May 08, 2006 (Article Rating:

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Paul has criticized UAP in Windows Vista and feels it's "not a good user experience." He also alleges that UAP is done right in OS X and Linux. There have been several other criticisms of the way UAP has been implemented in vista (some are mentioned here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/index.php?p=209). While I don't disagree with any of them, I'd rather that instead of ridiculing it, they'd come up with suggestions to make it better. It makes me wonder if these people really have any idea of how it could have been done differently and in a less irritating manner. If they do and if they want users to have a good experience with Vista, they should let MS know ASAP, instead of waiting for the final release.

shark47 May 08, 2006 (Article Rating:

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I will be the first to say that UAP is annoying.

About ideas for fixing it...

One idea is to be able to mark programs as "safe." Regarding changing system settings, maybe Microsoft could add an option to temporarily disable UAP for a specified period of time, like 5 min., 30 min, etc. Any other ideas?

NateB2 May 08, 2006 (Article Rating:

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I wonder if it would make sense to create shortcuts to configure each application to a "Configuration Center" icon in the Control Panel - similar to Security Center.

Then if a user wanted to configure anything, it would be a one-stop-shop.

I found that the Feb CTP to be slower than the previous Beta.

KingBuzzo May 08, 2006 (Article Rating:

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NateB2 - You couldn't just mark programs as "safe", because then what would stop malware from executing that program and wreaking havoc?

With UAP, if some email virus or exploited buffer overflow tries to start that program, the UAP prompt would appear and (ideally) the user would say, "hmm, I didn't tell it to ____" and click Cancel.

A time interval is an interesting option, for scenarios where you know you're going to be doing a lot of administrative stuff (e.g. new PC setup).

PatriotB6007 May 08, 2006 (Article Rating:

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I was talking about older programs that require admin. priviledges to run. If Windows detected that the program changed, i.e. it was updated, then UAP would prompt you again.

With an email virus, wouldn't UAP prompt you to run the virus?

The problem with the current version of UAP, especially if a program requires admin priviledges, clicking "allow" becomes second nature, and when an attack comes, the user will tend to click "allow" out of habit. It may get to the point where the user just looks for the "continue" or "allow" button without determining if the program is legit or not.

NateB2 May 09, 2006 (Article Rating:

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