Jared W. Smith

So as we know from my rants on June 23, I am NOT a big fan of the Windows Vista Performance Rating. I’ve since re-rated my machine again and – wouldn’t you know it – it re-rated me as a 3. That’s good, because since it rated my graphics as a 1, it disabled Aero Glass for all new users unless I explicitly turned it on! So not only does the Performance Rating possibly mislead people on what’s wrong with their machine, it also is the metric that determines which features should be shut off where in order to optimize Vista’s performance. Wow. A good idea in theory, but in practice…not working out very well so far. Microsoft is supposedly reworking this feature, so I’ll withhold judgement on it until the next build I see (presumably RC1), but I must say I’m not holding my breath.

As I’ve used Windows Vista Beta 2, I’ve been jotting some notes down about it. Continue reading Additional Windows Vista Beta 2 Observations »

Late Saturday night I reinstalled Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 and moved to immediately begin grabbing planes like a madman, the first being the FSFrance Concorde, which is going through a bit of a transitional phase (i.e. you may have some issues with it). I also got a Tupolev Tu-144 (the Concordski), the Boeing 2707 SST prototype, a F-22 Raptor, a F-14 Tomcat, a F-111 Aardvark, and the WP-3 Orion Hurricane Hunter prop plane, among others. Yes, this list indicates an obsession with supersonic flight, for the most part. :) I quickly found that the Tu-144 is impossible to control, the Boeing SST struggled past Mach 1.96 and cannot maintain stable level flight shortly after crossing FL530 (the prototype was supposedly rated with a 64,000′ operational ceiling at Mach 2.7), and the F-22 simply cannot land, for it has no braking mechanism other than hitting the runway and turning the controls sharply enough to where it does a cartwheel. It’ll stop that way. :) I love the Orion. I flew it into a few simulated thunderstorms and was very impressed by its stability.

Nevertheless, this was the absolute worst time for me to pick that old habit back up. That is all.