I deliberately took a few days out to spend some extra time with Windows Vista build 5456 before posting any reactions. I wanted to take the time to give it a reasonable chance rather than posting some knee-jerk reactions, as well as submit bugs before raising issues in a public forum.
As I mentioned previously, the Beta 2 build was buggy and it's a shame that this was the build released for public consumption. Build 5456 clears up a number of issues experienced within Beta 2 and has improved my opinion of the OS considerably.
Build 5456 is the first build that plays nicely with all of the hardware buttons on my Acer C110 Tablet - even the 'press and hold' functionality works which, essentially, gives an extra 6 actions that can be triggered without having to flip the screen and dive for the keyboard or follow a convoluted series of taps with the pen. Once the Acer Program launcher, Hardware Button drivers and wireless device control are all installed everything works as expected which is a big relief after the numerous frustrations of previous builds.
The Windows Mobile Device Center will now connect to my SmartPhone but only using the Quick Connect Option which is a real shame. The Center has been altered since Beta 2 so it automatically checks for softwar updates when opened. After the check, however, it reports that the software which would allow me to create a partnership is not available. Perhaps it's just because I have a WM2003 phone and not WM5 and the full driver set is not yet available.
I hav always thought that the new Network Center is overly complicated and also had a number of issues with it in Beta 2. Build 5456 has made me re-think this position. In this build I find it much easier to manage my connections, especially wireless. Whether it is just because the performance has improved considerably or that bugs have been ironed out I don't know, but the build makes it 'feel' much simpler to use that in previous builds. I don't think ther has been any change to the layout and functionality.
My posts in the past have highlighted a number of ways the UI has been improved which help navigation with a pen (selection via checkboxes, TIP auto-complete) etc. but I will always argue that Microsoft should have done much more to integrate Ink directly in to the operating system. Rob also takes a stand in his other Vista post here:
Vista and Ink - a missed opportunity.
UPDATE: according to the
Connect website, the Network Center in build 5456 "
has some brand new UI and bug fixes" which may well explain the differences in my perception of how it operates.