Windows Vista -- what is it and what's in it for you?

[JDArt]

Here's what I know about Vista:

If you use Windows, your next operating system will be called Windows Vista.

With its recent announcement that it was removing the code-name "Longhorn" from the Windows XP successor that's been in development for over two years now and unveiling the name Windows Vista, Microsoft has moved one important step closer to preparing its massive user base for the release of the world's next major operating system.

Vista, which is being released in beta form now to early testers, is in many ways a major overhaul of Windows XP, which raises major questions about what users should expect and what they'll need to do to prepare for the new operating system before its release sometime in 2006. How will the interface be different? Will today's applications run with the new operating system? And will your computer need to be upgraded?

What's new: Looks and features

The Start menu has been revamped. Responding to concerns of Windows users that having a lot of programs installed can cause the Start menu to take up too much screen space when opened, Microsoft has radically changed how programs are displayed within the start menu.

By default in Windows Vista, the Start menu never needs to expand beyond its original size, thanks to a new method of displaying shortcuts to installed applications. When you click the All Programs link to show the programs you've installed, the contents of the left half of the Start menu disappear, replaced by a list of programs currently installed on your machine. If the list grows too long, a scrollbar appears, allowing you to scroll through the list of programs.

Individual programs are also nested within folders in the Start menu. Clicking a folder expands it, much the same way that clicking a folder within the Windows Explorer file manager expands to show the files beneath it. So clicking Microsoft Office, for example, displays the individual applications of Microsoft Office that are installed.

To make finding programs even easier, Microsoft has incorporated a search box within the Start menu. You can use the Search box to type the first letter or two of the program you want to start. The list of installed programs immediately moves to programs beginning with the letter or letters that you type. This will be a boon to those with dozens or even hundreds of programs installed on their Windows machines.

The entire desktop, too, has been enhanced to appear more three-dimensional. A new display technology dubbed Aero utilizes the rendering power of 3-D graphics cards, when present, to give the borders of application windows and dialog boxes a smoked glass-like transparency. This transparency, when activated, actually works to give you more usable desktop real estate, as it allows you to see background tasks and programs that would have been completely obscured in Windows XP.

Graphics prowess is also utilized effectively in the new Windows Explorer. Instead of seeing generic-looking icons representing your files, Vista's Explorer shows you thumbnail views of the actual documents or graphics themselves. This is a technology Microsoft refers to as "live icons."

Vista looks enough like Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows so that current users of the operating system will not be overwhelmed with changes. Interface enhancements can be grasped easily, and users will find plenty of pleasant surprises as they navigate the new Windows Vista.

There are myriad other changes, as well, including a new Games Center, with new games and an interface all its own, as well as enhancements to the new Internet Explorer 7, such as a tabbed interface that allows you to open multiple web pages without spawning multiple browsers.

There's also speech-recognition built into Windows Vista. Formally available only as an add-on to Microsoft Office users, speech recognition will now be available platform-wide. The first time you run speech-recognition, a wizard will step you through the process of training the feature to recognize your voice.

Microsoft will also introduce a new sleep mode with Windows Vista that puts the computer into a sleep mode out of which it can resume normal operation quickly. The sleep mode uses very little electricity, making it a viable alternative to turning your PC off during those periods when you know you'll want quick accessibility to your PC.

Compatibility

You can't move the world to a new operating system if it's not fully compatible with what came before it. So you should expect few hassles once Windows Vista is released officially. But users of the first public beta version have noted problems with any application that checks the Windows version number before opening.

The good news on compatibility is that any application that was written to specification to run under Windows XP will automatically adopt the interface enhancements of Windows Vista.

Your hardware

Microsoft claims that many computers built today are fully able to run the operating system adequately, and testers of the first beta release have generally been pleased with the performance of the operating system on current computers. One of Vista's notable performance improvements, in fact, comes when starting the operating system. Start up has been sped up considerably, thanks to Microsoft's forcing tasks loaded at startup to load in the background, after the desktop is functional.

The one component that many may need to upgrade is their graphics card. Most importantly, PC users will need to make sure that their computers are outfitted with a good-quality graphics card that supports 3-D rendering and has at least 64 megabytes of RAM installed. 128 megabytes is recommended.

Availability

Microsoft has not committed to a release date, but sometime late in 2006 is rumored to be the target. A second beta of the product is due early in 2006. There's currently no word on pricing, although if the past is any indication, there is likely to be more than one edition of the product and pricing plans available for those upgrading from a previous version of the operating system.

[Jetsprinter]

That's a great rundown thanks Jay. I have been using IE7 Beta 1 for a few weeks now and have grown to like the "Tab" feature. These changes take a bit of getting used to but once the benefits can be seen it is well worth while.