Question to vista beta users.

What file system is being used in the beta release?

I remember back when vista was code named "longhorn" it was planned that it will use a new file system, at the time called "winfs". Is this still the case?

Any other remarks on the performance of the file system used in the current vista beta release?

 

Vista uses NTFS, with WinFS allegedly supposed to be released as an add-on at a later date.

I've found the performance of Vista in general to be decidedly lacking.

 

Add-on??? How are they even planning a new file system support as an add-on?!

I guess this means no WinFS. Or maybe wait until a later service pack.

I don't get MS. WinFS was one of the main features set at the time when work started on the longhorn project. They drop it, yet adopt useless features like the 3D transparency interface, which is disasterous to say the least. If I want cool 3D effects I would play a game, or watch an animated movie, not buy a new OS!

 

qwester, you're so right! they just get prettier and prettier! supposedly vista is supposed to have some stunning media qualities to it.... hopefully its true..i love movies and such

 

Seems MS has dropped a lot of things they touted a few years ago when they first started pimping Vista. Here are Paul Thurrott's thoughts on Microsoft's broken promises. Interesting read (or at least I thought so).

 

mach_zero, the link is broken. I get page not found.

What I find weird in that WinFS was one of those things that were actually developed. I remember tom's hardware even had screenshots when they previewed the it years ago. So its not like they ran out of time, or who ever dremt of it initially never came through to developing it.

BUT from what I found since I read Pulp's initial reply is that this "add-on" style will allow for WinFS to be added to WinXP, which could be good news, IF the "add-on" style works.

 

Microsoft cut WinFS out of Vista (then called Longhorn for both client and server products) way back in '04, but are still not sure when/how to distribute.

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1640454,00.asp

 

I was also saddened at the fact that MS is dropping WinFS - I don't know how they'd get it to everyone in a SP (I would think that it would take quite a while to convert your NTFS HD into a WinFS one), so if they don't include it with the initial versions of Vista, the prospects of them including it in a SP are pretty bleak.

MS's AeroGlass, IMO, is just an attempt to keep Windows updated with a prettier, "Mac-like" look almost (with the transparency/transition effects). Hopefully though, 64-bit Vista will bring some real performance gains once software is written to take advantage of it.

 

I found the transparent look to be annoying as it made things difficult to read. I didn't notice anything hugely different in Vista. Microsoft usually promises a lot and delivers less.

 

That's strange. Just tried it and it worked. Perhaps the server was down for a bit? If it still doesn't work let me know and I'll try and repost it. If you still can't get it, it is an article dated 19 April entitled "Where Vista Fails" on his Supersite for Windows.

 

His site was down for upgrades. I tried his main page and got the message. Site up now.

 

Hello,

I suppose WinFS to be a really ineresting one structure. I've searched over to find more info on it and came upon this source http://www.ntfs.com/ If you wish, you might also give it a glance.

 

WinFS is based on NTFS, so NTFS is not actually replaced.

 

It's actually possible to tell which window is the active one. The close and minimize buttons are colored orange. THe rest that aren't active are colorless.

 

By the way I got to ask a Microsoft representative about WinFS last week at session that I attended. His answer was not too promissing. He had no info on how they intend to have it as an "add-on" at a later stage. And when I asked if it would take a service pack to get it in, the answer was, at this stage there is no official word!

But just as a bit of a marketing gimmick, he said that the search features that were supossed to be part of WinFS are there in Vista. BUT that is not what WinFS was all about, although based on NTFS it was supposed to offer performance improvement in addition to feature improvement.