Vista and music still chums
PR spin starts FUD about FUD
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Buried deep in the bumf for Microsoft's new Vista release is a line that says it handles sound very differently. This kind of jolly PR spin is enough to chill the blood of those who rely on Windows running their audio production software reliably.
Whenever a new version of Windows hits the street it tends to roil up the murky waters of the music and audio production world. Prospects of having to get new device drivers and new versions of otherwise perfectly reliable software is just a hassle most of us could do without. There has been some panic that it might be the case with Vista as well, but at first glance it doesn't appear to portend any major problems for music and audio software users.
For instance, Propellorhead Software (Reason, ReCycle et al) notes that its applications will work out of the box under Vista without modification. On the driver side, MOTU says all its Vista-compatible drivers also work under XP - which makes you wonder how deep the Vista make-over goes. It seems =the only problems that might arise are from the new, more secure, installation regime, which means that you might need to jump through a few hoops to get past Vista's new security requirements.
The crack about the way Vista handles sound is not complete moonshine, though. This refers to a new way of handling audio called "Media Foundation", which is clearly aimed at Media Centre type systems. This looks like it adds a lot of fancy audio processing stuff into the operating system. As most dedicated music production software avoids the operating system's built-in audio facilities, the impact of going "Vista" should be minimal for anyone working seriously with music.
In fact, there has been remarkably little FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Despair) associated with the announcement of this "radical new operating system" in the music/audio production world. Maybe it's just that the differences in Vista are more cosmetic than a redesign of the core of the OS.
Perhaps, in the same way that Windows 98 was simply a version of 95 that actually worked, Vista is just a version of XP that has a functioning set of corporate computing paraphernalia along with a few extra bells and whistles. ®
COMMENTS
new sound streams
Each app has it's own volume setting.
I think that's a sound feature worth mentioning.
Esp. as it means the expensive mixer on your expensive sound card isn't used for mixing any more.
Well, not FUD exactly...
I can tell you firsthand that at the (large, international) media company I work for, the changes to the Vista media handling system ARE a big deal and a subject of intense discussion.
Now this does not mean we're panicking - while Peter Gutman's analysis /is/ chilling, Vista simply hasn't been through enough scrutiny to warrant a great deal of fear, only studious concern. But rest assured we are watching with interest and making alternate plans just in case.
What I will say is that when we talk, Microsoft (unlike Apple, whose products we also use extensively) generally really listens and makes changes to satisfy our requirements. Therefore we're fairly confident that even though it will be a bumpy ride for a while (which we will do our best to avoid), MS will eventually see the light and give us what we need to continue to work with high-quality media.
Not so
"Maybe it's just that the differences in Vista are more cosmetic than a redesign of the core of the OS"
Not so. Vista is a major architectural overhaul of code.
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