Data Danger
 |
Data reliability is the most critical area of concern for any PC user, yet there are significant flaws in the way Vista handles data. These flaws range from the highly confusing design and layout out of data-related screens, through the even more confusing and utterly crazy ability to use File Open and File Save As dialog boxes as actual Explorer windows, all the way through to potentially critical bugs in critical data-related components. |
|
|
In the opinion of kadaitcha.cx, the backup and restore tools available in Vista are so bug-riddled and so utterly confusing for even very experienced users that nobody in their right mind would use them. |
|
|
On an earlier page you saw two pictures relating to apparent lockups and general unresponsiveness in Windows Briefcase. No doubt some readers might ask themselves "So what? Nobody uses Briefcase these days." Well, I'm afraid to tell you that the Microsoft Borg may have other ideas entirely. |
| One of the major features touted for Vista is data backup and recovery. The main components in Vista's backup/recovery toolset are the Backup And Restore Centre, the Sync Centre, and "previous versions". | |
|
|
From the Help and Support Centre: "Briefcase is included in this version of Windows for people who have used it in earlier versions of Windows and want to continue using it to sync their files. Use Briefcase if you need to keep files in sync between two computers. Use Sync Centre if you want to keep files in sync between a computer and a mobile device or folder on a network server." Microsoft seem to have missed the obvious fact that synchronising files between a computer and a server is, to all intents and purposes, the very same logical thing as synchronising files between two computers. So, with Microsoft having drawn a distinction between the Sync Centre and Briefcase, what purpose would there be for that distinction? The Sync Centre only works with servers; it does not support local file synchronisation. Apart from using the bug-riddled and dangerously confusing Backup And Restore Centre, Vista provides no easy way to backup files from one hard disk on a machine to another hard disk on the very same machine (or from one machine to a laptop) and keep the files in sync. That's where Briefcase comes in. Of course, you could always use Microsoft's SyncToy, but it's entirely unsupported and is not a part of Vista. SyncToy also chokes down hard when you have a lot of files so it is far from a solution. Starting on the next page you will see some incredibly scary data-related bugs in Briefcase. Data actually disappears and appears before your very eyes. The bugs are so severe that one might wonder if Briefcase was ever tested, or even wonder what sort of utterly lacking Software Quality Assurance processes at Microsoft ever allowed Briefcase into the final RTM product at all. |
| << Prev | Continued on next page >> |