Windows Vista / IE 7

[Elanor]

I just got a new Sony Vaio laptop with Windows Vista on it. It's different, superficially at least, from previous Windows incarnations. It has a more streamlined appearance, instead of the old grey boxes. The start menu is different, and there is more security. There are definitely some Mac influences - the sidebar reminiscent of iMac's Dashboard, for instance. Weirdly enough, the main "File Edit View Tools Help, etc" toolbar is by default hidden in every program. You have to push Alt to get it, and then it goes away again automatically. Not sure yet if I like this or not. Also, it has IE 7, which I haven't used before, and it seems to be integrated well with Vista. I like how you can add any search engine to the built-in search box, which makes it now preferable to me over Firefox, which was my previous favorite.

One annoying thing is all the trial software that came with it, and which I have been systematically uninstalling. I don't mind (as much) having permanent programs pre-installed, and then deciding whether to uninstall them, but trial stuff? If I want that, I'll go download it myself.

Anyone else have Vista, or have any opinions on it?

[Nurvingiel]

I like IE7 because it has tabs. Finally. Firefox and Opera have only been doing that for years, but hey, IE7 is a good browser.

(Except for that it's IE so I will assume that it's totally insecure until proven otherwise*.)

* Not that I can talk, because I'm using IE6.0 right now. (Not my own computer.)