Mum Tries out Windows Longhorn Build 4074

[12padams]

Well we all know about the famous build 4074 of Windows Longhorn before the development reset in 2004 but if this operating system was released would have people liked it? I put my mum to the test and got her to attempt performing a few tasks using Windows Longhorn 4074. I filmed her reactions to the operating system and allowed her to use windows xp and windows vista on laptops side by side to compare those operating systems to longhorn. Before letting her try longhorn I give her a history lesson with screenshots of various builds from the beginning to the end of Longhorns/Vistas development.

Here's the video capturing it all: http://youtu.be/iB7B_Lz4jzY

I hope you enjoy the video and don't forget to rate the best OS in the Poll of this topic

[Andy]

Kudos to your mum for being a good sport! You definitely have some good videos there

[BAV0]

Andy is right, your videos are great, in fact, they have been going around the forums for some time now.

[Melcher]

I like your videos very much. However I noticed that you said that with 4074 they got rid of the transperency, not true. 4074 is the most complete build when it comes to aero (I think). You just need an old 2003 era computer so the video drivers support the aero look.

Here is a picture I made in vmware 1.6 (IIRC) for your convience.

[12padams]

I like your videos very much. However I noticed that you said that with 4074 they got rid of the transperency, not true. 4074 is the most complete build when it comes to aero (I think). You just need an old 2003 era computer so the video drivers support the aero look.

Was it activated by default though? Because I noticed only build 4039 and 4042 seemed to have online screenshots with transparency...

From wikipedia:
"Build 4039 (build date of August 27, 2003) was leaked on August 22, 2007. This build includes Phodeo, a 3D view of displaying photos, and full DWM and glass. This was the last build to contain the Plex visual style.

Build 4042 (build date of September 9, 2003) was probably the earliest build to have the Slate theme (Lab06) instead of the Plex theme (winmain) seen in the previous builds. However, the Aero glass from Build 4039 was still present."

[Rob Jansen]

The standard aero without modications is greenish, it isn't fully transparent but just a bit.

[Melcher]

The standard aero without modications is greenish, it isn't fully transparent but just a bit.

Yeah in those screenshots I used a modified aero theme from BOFH

standard greenish aero

[cantasan99]

I think these systems are modified.

[AlphaBeta]

I think these systems are modified.

How did you mean it?

[Pwned]

The sidebar in 4074 is like the most appealing and useful thing. If it was possible to take something to Vista, I would take the sidebar.

[DeFacto]

Your videos are really nice and interesting. Keep them coming...

[Nightsteed]

Great videos, keep them coming!

[The Distractor]

Ohai.

Been enjoying your videos ever since one of them got randomly recommended on youtube to me, and then I posted a topic on BA about them

Keep more beta-related videos coming.. maybe a Neptune video would be interesting.

[12padams]

Ohai.

Been enjoying your videos ever since one of them got randomly recommended on youtube to me, and then I posted a topic on BA about them

Keep more beta-related videos coming.. maybe a Neptune video would be interesting.

Did you watch the Chicago build 73 video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sldc18LxCFk

Btw the next video to the channel is gunna be testing a new theme. Instead of "mum tries out ..." It will be "Can ... Replace windows 7?" Basically it's like a normal mum tries out but instead of my mum it will be me trying tasks out and seeing if I can do everything with the specified operating system that I do on windows 7. Tasks will be much more advanced and less strict. The first task will always be to find a screen recorder which will then be used to record most of the video. The other parts where I want to talk to the camera or review the operating system will be filmed with a mounted camera.

It's just gunna be a test to see if the "can ... Replace windows 7" is a success or not. I'll do ubuntu 12.10 as the first one. The mum tries out videos will still keep going though. I'm probably only gunna do one of the advanced osfirsttimer videos once every 3 months or so.

P.S Ubuntu 12.10 is gunna be installed fully (not live USB/cd) to a 300 gig portable hard drive so I get the full ubuntu experience.

I hope you all continue to enjoy my videos

[The Distractor]

Ohai.

Been enjoying your videos ever since one of them got randomly recommended on youtube to me, and then I posted a topic on BA about them

Keep more beta-related videos coming.. maybe a Neptune video would be interesting.

Did you watch the Chicago build 73 video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sldc18LxCFk

Yes, Pwned linked me to the Chicago 73g video the day you uploaded it.

Funnily enough, I was the commenter who said it's build 73g.

[giantsteen]

Awesome videos! It was about a month or two ago when I discovered them. It's great to see you have joined our forum

[Battler]

I hope you all continue to enjoy my videos

I definitely do enjoy your videos.

Also, I'd really like to see your mum trying out TOWNS-OS for the Fujitsu FM-Towns, but it might be a problem that that OS only exists in Japanese. Then, having her try out Windows Neptune would be nice too.

[Melcher]

I like your videos very much. However I noticed that you said that with 4074 they got rid of the transperency, not true. 4074 is the most complete build when it comes to aero (I think). You just need an old 2003 era computer so the video drivers support the aero look.

Was it activated by default though? Because I noticed only build 4039 and 4042 seemed to have online screenshots with transparency...

From wikipedia:
"Build 4039 (build date of August 27, 2003) was leaked on August 22, 2007. This build includes Phodeo, a 3D view of displaying photos, and full DWM and glass. This was the last build to contain the Plex visual style.

Build 4042 (build date of September 9, 2003) was probably the earliest build to have the Slate theme (Lab06) instead of the Plex theme (winmain) seen in the previous builds. However, the Aero glass from Build 4039 was still present."

No it is not enabled by default. The aero in build 4039 and 4042 it's also not enabled by default. 4039 and 4042's aero is even harder to get working in comparison with 4074's aero (I installed 4074 on realhardware once, but I never got to install 4039 and 4042 to active their aero)

[milocarter]

Just checked this video out, good sport trying out the beta software. cheers!

[WinPC]

I hope you all continue to enjoy my videos

I definitely do enjoy your videos.

Also, I'd really like to see your mum trying out TOWNS-OS for the Fujitsu FM-Towns, but it might be a problem that that OS only exists in Japanese. Then, having her try out Windows Neptune would be nice too.

The only problem with Neptune is that it's essentially Windows 2000, with some of the features that later made it into Windows XP, so I don't think that it would really be any new to her.

What would be interesting, though, would be to have her try out an early version of Windows NT, possibly Windows NT 3.1/3.5/3.51 or Windows NT 4.0, as well as another operating system altogether, such as OS/2 or BeOS (that is, if you've not already done that).

Also, 12padams, in response to what you said about Microsoft going from the Program Manager to the Cabinet (later Explorer) shell in Chicago (later Windows 95), by the time that Windows for Workgroups 3.1 (NOT 3.11, but the original 3.1) was released in late 1992, Microsoft was already developing Chicago, and likewise, there were beta builds of it from late 1992 (before Build 34), April 1993 (Build 34), May 1993 (Build 40), and July/August 1993 (the controversial Build 56, as well as Build 58s), so they didn't suddenly develop the new shell in such a short time, but it was still an interesting question that you asked.

[12padams]

On the longhorn video there has been a bunch of arguments about the early builds of longhorn. We're the early builds based on xp? I have found many sources saying they were based on xp then a little after build 4074 they were based on server 2003. So was I right? Were the early builds based in xp and then Microsoft reset development in 2004 due to the memory leak and how longhorn had become unstable and the xp code base couldn't handle it so they switched to server 2003?

Oh and I noticed for people think longhorn was better than vista on this forum according to this topics poll... Very interesting

Funnily enough, I was the commenter who said it's build 73g.

Lol thanks, I forgot to update the title. It's now labeled as 73g on youtube

such as OS/2 or BeOS (that is, if you've not already done that).

Those have already been done

Also, I'd really like to see your mum trying out TOWNS-OS for the Fujitsu FM-Towns, but it might be a problem that that OS only exists in Japanese

Yea we stick to English and GUIs... Learnt that after she tried dos and arch linux

[WinPC]

The earlier Longhorn builds were based on Windows Server 2003, but the version of the Server 2003 codebase that was used originally was the .NET Server 2003 Release Candidate version, which was already outdated by mid-2004, and by that point, Longhorn was having a great deal of stability problems, so the codebase was replaced with a more recent version, which was also Windows Server 2003, but Service Pack 1 rather than Release Candidate.

Also, since you're looking for some more operating systems to try, why not have your mother try GeoWorks Ensemble/NewDeal Office/Breadbox Ensembler, or perhaps even Desqview/X? Those would be very interesting, I'm sure.

[marcoguy]

Yea we stick to English and GUIs... Learnt that after she tried dos and arch linux

Well, that's a shame. I was hoping for a Mum Tries Out CP/M video!

[Pwned]

No offense guys, but I think a mom shouldn't try tons of different CLI environments, they all will seem the same to her anyway.

It's much better to evaluate different OSes with different GUIs, logic, etc.

[The Distractor]

Yea we stick to English and GUIs... Learnt that after she tried dos and arch linux

TOWNS-OS is a GUI.

Btw, would also be nice if your mother tried out an early Whistler.. maybe 2419.