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April 14, 2006 10:25 AM PDT

Vista: it ain't pretty

by Molly Wood
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Microsoft has instituted a scary new antipiracy policy on the forthcoming Windows Vista: if you steal it, it won't look pretty. The OS includes a new graphics display engine called Aero, which performs such mission-critical tricks as creating translucent windows, animating flips between open programs, and displaying "live icons" that show a graphical representation of a file.

But if a piracy check shows that you haven't purchased Vista, you won't get the fancy-pants graphics action. Oh, and if you buy the cheapest version of Windows Vista, you won't get Aero either. Oh, and if you don't have a fast enough PC or one of the, like, nine graphics cards that meet the Vista requirements, or you don't have enough memory bandwidth (what, now?), you won't get Aero, either. And hopefully, assuming you buy the OS legally and have the properly mystical configuration of technology to run it, there'll be a button that lets you turn off all that Aero junk, so you don't have to live with what sounds like a supremely irritating collection of resource-sucking whirligigs.

(Wow. Is it wrong to have this much anger toward an operating system that barely even exists yet?)

Originally posted at ComingSoon
As host of the Buzz Report video series, Molly provides a fresh and funny perspective on the latest consumer electronic products to hit the market, as well as commentary on the stories and development that she thinks are truly buzz-worthy. She is also co-host of Buzz Out Loud, CNET's "podcast of indeterminate length," which entertains listeners with a funny and skeptical take on the day's technology news. Her other podcast, Gadgettes, is proof that girls can be geeks too.
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