It looks like many notebook and early UMPC owners will get blocked out of an unspecified amount of Vista software due to Microsoft’s definition of a capable PC.
The man of few words but many images, videos and lots of very good UMPC/Vista info, jkkmobile, has highlighted something very significant. Vista doesn’t let you run Movie Maker or DVD Maker on a ultra mobile PC when the hardware doesn’t meet Microsoft’s required specification. After testing it with jkk and others on four different UMPCs I now assume that if you don’t have WDDM drivers to achieve Premium Capable status, you don’t get the apps. This is what you will get if you run Movie Maker and DVD Maker on most UMPCs today.
Click to enlarge.
“Some features available in the premium editions of Windows Vista—like the new Windows Aero user experience—may require advanced or additional hardware.” [Microsoft. ref]
It looks like WMM and DVD maker have been designed for Vista Premium Capable PCs. [definition] and MS isn’t telling anyone. What a load of old &@##$. Just because there are some 3D effects in there it doesn’t mean everyone is going to want to use them. My last video was edited with Windows Movie Maker on a 533Mhz Geode processor with no DirectX support at all. Why do I suddenly need a certified DX9-capable graphics co-processor to do exactly the same thing? You can run the XP version of Movie Maker under Vista as a workaround but that’s not really the point is it. The problem applies to DVD maker too. When you dock the OQO Model 02 into its DVD dock and try to make and burn a short home video, you probably won’t be able to.
How many other programs will get blocked because a PC is not Vista Premium ready?
Do I still have to pay full price for Vista when there are disabled features in it? Is there a list of disabled features? I’m not asking for much to be honest. I run an Internet portal. I need a browser, ssh terminal, photo editor and a simple video production app. I’d also like to use media center and the excellent looking Origami Experience when i’m not working. The i7210 ultra mobile PC that I used daily as my only PC now won’t be able to process my videos after I upgrade. From the choice of 35 or so Ultra Mobile PCs I had yesterday, I’m now reduced to about 3. The Sony UX which I don’t like or the Fuji P1610 and Flybook V33i/V5. All of those options will cost cost me over $1500 and in fact none of them really fit my other ultra mobile PC requirements. I’m left with a choice of NONE. Not even the ASUS R2H, which looks to be running Vista quite nicely, will get the all-clear by MS so software will be blocked.
What’s even more annoying is that the chipset used on many of the Intel based UMPCs, the 915 with GMA900 graphics, supports Direct X 9 which satisfies the standard set by Microsoft. The problem here is that Intel obviously want people to move on and up (slightly) to the 945 chipset. The 915 has been end-of-lifed and what Intel says here pretty much confirms that they’re not going to create the drivers. OK, Intel want to move things on but they seem to have forgotten that the 915 chipset is part of Origami 2006 and still being used in new UMPCs. One of them was even announced at CES 2007. The new Samsung Q1P-SSD appears to come with Vista and an Intel 915 chipset (as far as I can tell.) Is this true? Will they release a new ultra mobile PC based on old hardware?
The issue of WDDM drivers was mentioned by Kevin Tofel way back when I had no real interest in Vista and it looks like he will never get his driver and will be blocked out of Aero, DVD Maker and Movie Maker. He’s spent many many hours testing Vista and getting it to work on his UMPC. I wonder how he feels.
The only ray of hope I’ve seen so far is a report on Mobility site from Oct ’06 that says the Q1 was seen running Aero Glass. I wonder what chipset was in it. 945 perhaps? That already has WDDM drivers. Even Aero glass will work.
Lets not forget VIA in this matter. VIA chipsets are also in an unknown state. They don’t support DX9 in hardware at all so we can assume that they will never get WDDM drivers. It also looks like the Vista drivers and Media Center/Player software still don’t support the hardware acceleration of MEPG2/4 and WMV9 that’s in the VIA chipset. This is still to be confirmed by VIA so we’ll talk about that issue another time.
I was really happy to see the ASUS R2H running Vista today but this issue is really taking the shine off it. There is no other OS solution that has the UMPC-support that Vista does but I’m now reluctant to upgrade because I’ll loose apps and risk getting blocked from others. What’s the answer?
Steve.
Hopefully there’s a registry setting or something to allow the apps to run regardless.
I was surprised my laptop wasn’t able to run Moviemaker as well. It’s a 2+ Ghz machine with 1GB of RAM but it uses the same Intel graphics chipset used in the Q1.
I doubt a lot of people will be adopting Vista right away because of all these requirements.
It also seems silly to me that gamers will be forced to upgrade to Vista to play DirectX 10 games as well.
I’m not sure about this, but I’ve been hearing a lot about how Windows Vista has huge overhead dedicated to insuring that no one can copy protected premium content (HD-DVDs). It would seem that the issue is not the actual capability of the UMPCs you’re using but rather their use of hardware that does not “adequately” protect premium content. See Leo Laporte’s Security Now Podcasts for lots of detail on this (@ Twit.tv).
Simple, don’t upgrade. I know I won’t. I’m still running Win2K, and will be putting it on my UMPC once I decide which one I want. Vista is simply a waste of limited processor power, and offers nothing new feature wise that hasn’t been done before. It’s a complete waste.
Actually I don’t think Vista is a waste of processing power. Memory and disk – definately.
Its interesting with the R2H though. Vista is a much cleaner install than what you get out of the box so if its free, its definitely worth making the upgrade.
Regarding touchscreens. I want all the nice touch elements which you don’t get with XP or 2k. I even want all the nice extras you get with a HID-compatabile tablet device. (Pen flicks, nicer handwriting experience, etc etc etc)
So if you’ve got the memory and disk space, Vista is the only choice in my opinion. This is coming from a man than spent 4 years using a Linux laptop and only recently switched when he realised that for mobile touchscreen devices, MS has the only set of solutions. Vista is the best of those solutions.
Steve.
Maybe the PepperPad isn’t looking all that bad now. Just needs a few more programs like Open Office, NVU, and Skype….
I agree. the pepper and maemo options will benefit.
skype comes in 2 months for both platforms.
steve
Well, to be fair, you can’t compare a pre-loaded install of XP to a clean install of Vista. The first thing I ALWAYS do when buying/building a computer is wipe whatever crap they’ve put on there and reinstall the OS. And probably any touch screen stuff that you want in Vista has been done before with third party software, though honestly I’m not sure. I’d be happy with it just as a mouse personally.