Irfan’s Corner on the Web On Mac, Linux, Grid, Virtualization and Software Technology

3Mar/0714

Vista’s “Open With” Dialog a MAJOR step back!

[digg=http://digg.com/microsoft/Vista_s_open_with_dialgo_a_step_back]

I often require to open a file in one viewer or another for example, in this case I wanted to open a VMware configuration file in an editor to change a setting. Previously in Windows XP, even in Windows 98, when you used to select the "Open With" option you used to see a number of programs to choose from, and if it was a configuration file, a unix one, I simply selected Wordpad, since Notepad didn't interpret the newline characters correctly, and life was easy!

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In Windows 98:

openwith-win98.jpg

But no longer in Windows Vista! When going to the open with option, I was greeted with the following dialog:

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The only program to choose from is the officially associated program. I went on to click "Browse", and I was greeted with the following window, where I had to manually search for Wordpad to open the configuration file! Leading to wastage of seconds from my life, just because Microsoft changed something that didn't need any change at all.

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