[h1]Vista Heralds Bold New Era in Solitaire, Minesweeper[/h1] [h3][img]http://www.ridiculopathy.com/stock/vista_solitaire.jpg" valign="top" align="left"] [p style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal;"] REDMOND, WASHINGTON- With the launch of their newest solitaire engine, Vista, Microsoft hopes to bring the art of single player card games to a whole new level. Gone is the flat green background, replaced by a seductive green-to-dark-green gradient. The "play" and "quit" buttons are pleasantly shiny like beads of glass, softly inviting you to click them. Even the diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs all have a sexy updated look. After poking around Vista for a few hours, it's difficult to imagine stacking sequential cards of alternating suits with anything less. [/p][p style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal;"]Even harder to believe is the steady stream of bad reviews for Vista. After five years of waiting, it would be understandable if some members of the press felt that Vista should represent a bigger jump from its predecessor than it does. For instance, they point to Microsoft's original promise that all versions of Vista would feature a common 64-bit architecture- but that makes no sense at all since the game only has 52 cards. It seems fairly clear that anyone talking trash about Vista just hasn't played it. [/p][p style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal;"]The new drag and drop interface is very intuitive. Although this feature has existed since the very first version (as I'm told), it somehow seems draggier-and-droppier in Vista. The snapping of one set of cards atop another is so much more satisfying than with XP. Unlike the emptiness and wasted time experienced with previous versions, winning a game in Vista feels like actually accomplishing something. The sequence when the game automatically pulls all your cards up to the top row of sorted suits is a transcendent experience, described by some as not unlike being assumed into heaven. [/p][p style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal;"]With all these features, it's no wonder Vista requires a leading-edge processor, a bigger hard drive, and a full gigabyte of RAM to operate. Some in the media, of course, complain that the system requirements are too steep for many solitaire fans. These folks seem to think they can shell out $400 for Vista with its intense graphics, glassy buttons and new age "clicky" sounds, and that their sluggish two-year-old computers would somehow magically handle the load.
[/p][/h3][h3 style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal;"] Put simply, they want something for nothing- well, something for "something" but not nearly enough of that "something" to justify the incredible benefits and incalculable worth of the aforementioned something- or something like that. [/p]If enjoying Vista requires having to buy a new computer, even if it means buying two, it would certainly be worth it. Don't take my word for it, either. New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, insists that it is amazing, absolutely indispensable. As his credentials attest, Pogue is not only an expert on the subject but also just wrote a new how-to book for new Vista users (currently ranked #720 on Amazon)- so he clearly has no incentive to lie or to exaggerate Vista's benefits. [/p]In truth, people won't just be buying a whole new system for solitaire. Vista comes bundled with Minesweeper, too. This new version even supports Xbox controllers and rumblepack mice for an extra level of realism. [/p]In their unquenchable desire to find something to complain about, however, some reviewers have actually criticized Vista for being too good. With its slick look and elegant design, they argue that Vista is too much like Apple's OS X and that if users are going to have to buy new computers and all new applications, they might as well spring for a Macintosh. Once again, they're missing the whole point. [/p] In the interests of due diligence, I visited a local Apple store. After clicking around that Vista-like interface for more than fifteen minutes, I could not find anything I needed. As it turns out, Macs do not even support solitaire without major modifications. [/p] Thanks for the "tip," but I think I'll take my chances with something that actually works. [/p][/h3]
