TheInquirer takes a look at the MSDN version of the Windows Vista RTM build. Despite the polished feel and decent performance, Vista still has relatively little to offer. Windows Media Player 11 and Internet Explorer 7 are both dowloadable for Windows XP. The majority of useful features for Vista fell by the wayside sometime ago, Vista just feels like XP with a glorified pretty interface and a sidebar that eats up more of your precious memory.

Installation was smooth, far smoother than any of the betas. Seamless installation on a Nvidia based SATA RAID, was the first time Vista has picked the correct drivers automatically, with no user-provision necessary. Only the Audigy drivers on the test PC weren't found, and we had to resort to using RC1-compliant beta drivers from Creative, who are still struggling to provide the Soundblaster user base with any quality final drivers.

Start-up times are reminiscent of Windows XP, booting the test PC (Athlon64-3200, 1GB RAM) in under 30 seconds, as opposed to RC1/RC2 which took far longer. Some of the other caveats we've previously reported on, are still present. User interface inconsistencies, and the removal of useful 'up' navigation icons within folder views are incredibly irritating and somewhat counter-intuitive to what has been learnt from previous version of Windows. The smaller task tray and quick launch icons are still fairly basic, and don't provide users with any clue of what they might do. This really should of discovered within usability testing, and we're surprised these haven't been adjusted. The new Vista sounds are ok. Not too over-the-top or ridiculously long, and aren't nearly as annoying as previous Windows audio inclusions.