Microsoft Windows Vista Pre-Beta 2 5259

Microsoft has released a new build of Windows Vista to Vendors and Beta Testers. The build is 5259, and was compiled on November 17 2005. Screenshots of 5259 started appearing on forums yesterday. 5259 contains new versions of Media Center, Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11, but little new when it comes to GUI. Mcft Antispyware has also been fully integrated in this build.
Interface: Nothing much has changed since the 5129 build, as the UI appears to be more or less set in pattern, though we do hope that Microsoft makes the color scheme a bit more cheery than a hybrid of translucent colors.
New Features and Applications: Even though Microsoft has not made any graphical changes to the interface, there are a lot of new features and updated applications that have made their way into 5259
Windows Media Player 11: This is possibly the only application with more anticipation surrounding it than Internet Explorer 7, if not Vista itself. We wonder if Microsoft would bundle Windows Media Player 11 with Vista exclusively or would it be available for download separately for Windows XP as well. It most certainly will end up looking a lot better (graphically) than most music players out there, iTunes included. Although it appears to look pretty straightforward, the interface has changed drastically, which makes it far more attractive than Windows Media Player 10 as well as competing applications. The main control buttons are centrally aligned at the bottom, as the viewing pane is split into three joints. The left pane acts as a navigation pane while the right pane manages your playlist. The Media Library is impressive as well and now displays songs, artists, titles, genres and much more, but before you disregard this as being a stale feature ported from WMP 10, let us mention that WMP 11 is where you will really appreciate the tremendously powerful hardware to run Vista smoothly.
We have never seen any WMP run this smooth especially on a beta release. While this might not mean much to anybody, it’s a step in the right direction for Microsoft. Only thing we need to check now is how smoothly it runs while running a plethora of other applications in the end.Meanwhile, the top menu bar from WMP 10 is gone and has been replaced with a new ultra sleek looking contextual menu system (an interesting take on the Office 11 system perhaps?). Staying traditional in every way, clicking the buttons does give you the trusted drop down menu, which will let you configure the myriad of settings that not very many of us would touch often.
There’s nothing new or interesting in the options menu either, but maybe a more detailed analysis might reveal something worthwhile. The only thing we notice at the moment is the missing guide (perhaps it has been removed) and there’s a new button labeled "Windows Media Player", but it doesn’t seem to be working. One thing we would like to mention is that our library had 1000+ songs, but there were no hiccups while scrolling through the list. It was almost like scrolling down Google’s search results, which is very smooth and hassle-free. This could be due to implementation of Microsoft’s new graphics technologies, namely XAML and WGF 2.0. Needless to say, this is definitely something to get excited about, since we can clearly remember the times when we launched WMP 10 and it would get stuck at the guide page, thereby making the user experience terrible."After years of silence and doubts, Microsoft's Windows Vista project is finally moving ahead with confidence. In September, Microsoft released its first Community Technical Preview (CTP) version of Windows Vista (see my review), a post-Beta 1 (or, depending on your perspective, a pre-Beta 2) interim build of the next Windows version. But the company also announced that it would be releasing monthly CTP builds going forward. Today, Microsoft delivered the second CTP build, also called the October 2005 CTP, or build 5259.
Like its predecessor, build 5259 doesn't feature the fit and finish or build quality one might expect from a true beta release. It's seriously performance challenged, and has issues with many hardware devices and applications. But it does come with a number of new features, including--for the first time--a fully functioning version of Windows Media Player (WMP) 11, the Vista version of Media Center, a new Network Center, and other features that weren't available in previous builds. For this reason, build 5259 is eminently interesting, and a marked improvement over build 5219, despite its many flaws. No, you won't want to run this puppy as your full-time OS. But it's still worth a look."
Microsoft is right on schedule with this month’s Windows Vista CTP (Community Technology Preview). We had to really pull some strings to get this release slightly ahead of schedule, but we managed it and it’s our pleasure to bring you our initial analysis of the new build, titled 5259. We’ll publish a follow-up piece once we’ve had the chance to analyze it in greater detail.