A Closer Look at Windows Vista Build 5472 x64

I want to say I am sorry for taking so long to update my Preview of Vista, but every time Microsoft came out with a new build I had to restructure it. I didn't want to test Vista like most reviewers who do it in a way like it's their only source of income or putting food on the table. I had to use it on a daily basis to get a genuine reflection of the product and where it is going. Thanks for your patience and thanks for reading!

Introduction

Starting in early 2007, Microsoft will launch the release of Windows Vista, its first major operating system upgrade since Windows XP (2001). The BETA 2 release of the OS I tested has shown tremendous improvements in areas such as stability, allowing for the ability to use it on a daily basis. Like its predecessor Windows XP, Vista has improved deployment options and device driver detection; these options have proven to be very user friendly and reduced the time it takes to get Windows up and running.

Of course, Windows Vista is still rough around the edges and there is a lot to be said about the performance which is no where near that of Windows XP. A new feature User Access Control is sure to cause more annoyance than its intended purpose which is to protect users; Windows Vista will be available in six editions.

Microsoft plans to release Windows Vista in six editions, they include: Starter Edition, Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate. Each SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) has specific features targeting a melting pot of audiences, from emerging markets, enterprise customers to life style computer users. Some of the features include, improved Search, wireless/networking and authentication, collaboration, improved security, enhanced multimedia, improved group policy editor, file management, 64-bit computing and support for the latest hardware on the market.

Figure 1.1: Improved Welcome Screen. A new horizontal layout for user accounts in Vista gives users more options such as Joining Domain's with the ability to switch into local accounts.

The system requirements for Windows Vista are in some ways welcome and difficult to comprehend especially for someone who might be coming from a P3 500 MHz with 16 MBs of video ram. Performance will ultimately depend on your system specifications, the two main hardware components that matter the most to Windows Vista are RAM and Graphics memory. Microsoft has recommended that a Vista capable system should have the following: an 800 MHz processor (or better), 512 MBs of RAM or more (128 GBs of RAM maximum depending on the edition and platform), 15 GBs of free hard disk space. As for Graphics memory, your satisfaction will depend on your desire, whether you want the new Windows AERO Glass theme or settle for one of the less graphically intense options such as the familiar Windows Classic or stripped down Windows AERO Basic. Windows AERO Glass which is the ultimate experience requires a minimum of 64 MBs of video RAM, 1 GB of dual channel RAM required if you are using onboard graphics. Of course, if you want the best performance and experience, a dedicated graphics card is recommended, 128 MBs or higher. The other themes are in the same category with Windows XP and will run just fine with onboard graphics or slower cards.

It will be interesting to see how this affects consumer buying decisions when the time to buy a new PC arrives. Of course, not all Windows Vista Editions utilize Windows AERO Glass, these include Starter Edition and Home Basic which are considered to be introductory versions of the OS for first time PC buyers and one PC homes.

The user interface in Windows Vista remains' consistent but has been extremely updated to feature a much sleeker/professional look and feel that presents a more mature color palette called Windows AERO. Some elements of this new theme include semi-translucent window frames and high resolution icons that are more life like and easier to understand. The Start menu panel has also been radically overhauled to provide a productive, logical layout when accessed. To best summarize Vista's user interface, it's an earthy, human touch that creates a deeper connection with the user. One of the Start menu's most notable features is the Search box, which is probably best described as the gateway to accessing all your programs, stored files, which includes, documents, music, photos or favorite webpage's just to name a few.

Figure 1.A5 Say goodbye to cascading menus, Windows Vista introduces a new menu concept based on Windows Explorer's hierarchical tree structure.

The Search feature in Vista is very impressive; just start typing a few key words, for example "win" and a list of entries that start with "Win" appear on the menu. Type more letters or a specific part of the file name and it will be filtered further down to that specific file. This is all made possible by the new Indexing Engine, which continually indexes the name and contents of your files. This is also made possible by Metadata which is information about data contained within a file, for example, brand camera used to take a digital photo, date taken, author and file type. Getting accustomed to the new Start menu is no effort and users will welcome the many changes that have taken place for the better. Most notable is the panel links such as My Documents; My Pictures have removed their familiar prefixes to just being listed as Documents, Pictures and Music. Two new links included are the Games Explorer and User Folder, Games folder which is a link of the Games group added to the main panel, stores all your installed Games and Windows Games.

A lot of traditional Windows Games have been updated with stunning graphics and effects to give the user an attractive look and feel. Three new games included are Chess Titans, Purble Place and Mahjong Titans which will provide an alternative to the better known titles that Windows users have been playing for years. Unfortunately one of my favorites Pin Ball has been removed, the reason for this is a bit cloudy but it has something to do with compatibility and Windows Vista. User Folder located at the top of Start Panel is a centralized location to access all of the common Explorers, some of these folders include: Downloads, Saved Searches, Videos, Saved Games in additions to the default Explorer links on the Start Menu.

Windows Vista's new Start menu and Taskbar offers strong visual cues that will make using the OS daily more productive, fun and friendly. One of these new features is the Thumbnail preview of open applications, simply hover your mouse pointer over an application window button on the Taskbar and you will see a miniature preview of the window. Each window stacked in a Group also displays a preview when the mouse pointer hovered over each button within the group.

Clock might not look different, but when you click it, a Date and Time Settings floating dialog is revealed with quick access to a monthly calendar and stunning full size clock. Click the Date and Time Settings and an separate dialogue will reveal additional Date and Time settings, which includes options for configuring your Time Zone, Setting up additional clocks (for persons who travel a lot and work in multiple time zones, this will definitely provide a handy way to keep track of time in multiple locations). A new feature for cycling through lots of windows, called Flip 3D displays a rolodex preview of stacked windows, a fun, easy way to find and switch between applications. The traditional "Alt-tab" has also been improved to provide a preview of each open window, one thing I must note, and all these effects are only available if Windows Aero Glass is enabled.

Setup

Installing Windows Vista has been greatly streamlined to get users up and running with the operating system much quicker and easier. One of the targets is for IT Professionals to have greater control and management over how systems are deployed and managed. The new imaged based deployment tools make it easier for multi-national corporations/institutions to maintain one image of Windows regardless of the machine or user languages. This provides IT Professionals with deeper customization options, making it easy to add components/services as needed. Please note, some of these features are specific to certain editions of Windows Vista, for example the image based deployment tools are only available in the Enterprise editions (Enterprise Agreements). The installation process is very unique in this release of Windows for consumers. Basically, a preconfigured image is copied to the hard disk, it is then decompressed, this is based on Microsoft's existing tools for deployment, Windows Imaging Format (WIM). The only drawback to this new method is the hard disk space required to store and decompress the image itself.

For me, installing the operating system has been a varied experience depending on the hardware, I tried different machines, all which successfully installed a combination of x86 and x64 platforms. The BETA 2 build released in May installed in approximately 35 to 40 minutes on both 32 and 64 bit hardware. Microsoft has since released updated builds (5456, 5472) otherwise known as interim releases. I recently installed 5472; the install time on my desktop and laptop were 59 minutes (x86) and 54 minutes (x86) respectively. A significant drop in performance there compared to build (5384 - BETA 2). Although we should take into consideration 5472 is an interim release and does not reflect the same quality as a milestone release such as BETA 1 or 2/RC1. Hopefully I will see changes to this area as development progresses, but fluctuation in performance has been a number one factor since BETA 1.

Hardware detection I would say is very much superior to Windows XP, although a number of insignificant hardware devices were not installed out of the box such as my modem and HP scanner. In the beta 2 release, my 3COM 3C920 Ethernet adapter was not detected which was my only gateway to my LAN or the Internet. This was resolved though in the latest build and I was able to successfully connect to the Internet and obtain drivers for missing hardware.

Daily Usage

The Welcome Screen which first debuted in XP has been enhanced to incorporate elements of the Classic log on of NT 4/2000 based computers while maintaining the simplicity of the XP Style interface adding new elements such as dynamic profile images of each user account now listed in a horizontal layout. The tube appearances of these profiles are not as interesting as I would want them to be but are a change none the less that fits the updated look of Windows Vista. The flexibility of being able to log into a Domain and at the same time Fast User Switch to access files in a local account will give users a more flexible experience that does not limit them to one environment.

Figure 1.2 Explorer Detail's Pane provides the user with more information with less need to open the properties of a File.

Speaking of Fast User Switching, my experiences so far has been disappointing, on my main desktop configured with 2.6 GBs of RAM, switching between accounts took a considerable amount of time compared to XP. Vista took about 10 to 15 seconds, while XP on the other hand took only 3 seconds.

Please note that RAM was recently changed in the Dell c840, so I was unable able to get accurate information on the Startup and Log in times for this particular machine.

Also, this comparison table uses commercially released products, Windows Vista is still in development, so things can change considerably by RTM, so I will excuse Vista for the time being.

Connectivity/Networking

Networking has improved in several areas; there is a lot to say about it especially since 2001 with advances in areas such as Wireless and Bluetooth. My experiences lie mostly in the basic network interface card and good old CAT-5 Cable. Connecting two PC's is very simple, whether both are running Vista or a combination of XP/Vista. The new networking wizard has been simplified to provide a wide range of choices, and to get users connected either to a corporate network, share a high speed network connection, its also easy to setup a Virtual Private network, Wireless Network, and share/restrict users from accessing files on your computer. Security is of course an integral part of the networking experience in Windows Vista, with many attacks that have plagued Windows over the years; Microsoft has really made a concerted effort to improve the safety for users on Windows. By default, certain features are turned off, in the new Networking and Sharing explorer under Sharing and Discovery: Network discovery, File sharing, Public folder sharing, Password protected sharing, Media library sharing - are all turned off. So, if you are unable to access a computer or a shared location you will know why.

I love the centralization of Network and Sharing Center, in prior builds I was badly disappointed by Networking overall in Vista, here is what I had to say about it:

The networking wizard looks and feels clumsy. Common links are all over the place making the layout difficult for users to understand. You have these wizards with huge title bars that make you wonder why? It's just not well thought out, and I wish there was more focus on consistency and ironically simplicity. I believe most of the functions first introduced in XP could remain the same and some could be slightly improved. For example, the Local Area Connection properties should be an Explorer instead of this same old dialog I have been seeing since Windows 95. Its just too much clicking, I had to open Network Center then click Manage Network Connections, right click the connection, click Properties, its a chore really.

The primary focus has been lost and I think networking in Windows Vista has taken a definite step back. Come on, five to six windows for networking? Networking is still possible in Windows Vista and it can be accomplished with careful thought and planning. I was able to join a domain and network both my laptop and desktop using the traditional methods that we have known since prior versions of Windows dating back to Windows 95. I hope to see a miracle between now and Release Candidate 1 for areas such as this in Windows Vista, I just hope it's not wishful thinking or even too late.

User Access Control improves security in Windows by preventing malware and malicious attacks from compromising your system.

Figure 1.4 Updated Start Menu Panel with built in Search and a refreshing layout makes finding your files literally at your finger tips.

Some of this is still true, and I think Network should be one location, consolidation is very important, I want to see everything the first time I click Network on the Start menu or Desktop.

The new account setup, which only allows users with Administrative privileges or a limited account to all operate as a Standard user with a set of specific privileges and a deeper awareness of the actions a user takes while performing task throughout the operating system. You might wonder what the deeper awareness is; well it's a new improvement to the security model in Windows known as User Access Control, borrowing from other operating systems such as UNIX, Mac OS X and Linux, the aim is to really provide a secured environment from top to bottom. A bit intrusive, the aim of User Access Control from the get-go is to enable a lock on certain administrative privileges throughout the OS, making it more difficult for users to expose areas of the operating system that are most vulnerable to attack or user accidents. So far, the status from the public on UAC is, it seems like a highly annoying feature, trust me, it is at times, no matter how much the Windows Team say they are improving the experience.

Internet Explorer 7+

Everybody knows Internet Explorer, whether you hate it or love it, it's the most popular web browser around the world. Apart from the new user interface which seems a bit squeezed, Internet Explorer 7+ biggest features are Security and Really Simple Syndication. RSS allows the user to subscribe to their favorite website's and receive notifications of updates to those subscribed sites without the need to individually browse each to check for new information. It's a new take on accessing information and will take some getting used to; the pervasiveness of this innovation will certainly be assisted and promoted by the popularity of the Internet Explorer platform providing users a more efficient and faster way to get the information they need whenever they want. If you have been using IE 7 on either XP or Vista, one of the first things you might notice is the disintegration between it and Explorer, for example, if you type a URL in the folder's address bar, the IE window will be launched separately, compared to IE 6 on XP, the Explorer was automatically utilized. It seems Microsoft is realizing that tying the browser to Windows wasn't such a good idea after all. As for security, IE 7+ includes some advanced technologies; Protected Mode allows users to have a safe browsing experience on the web, so things such as malicious software will have greater difficulty getting installed onto the system. It also provides Standard users with the flexibility of installing software without the need for administrative privileges. Another part of the secure browsing experience in IE 7+ is Phishing Filter which prevents the user from revealing personal or critical data to sites that pretend to be legitimate, such as your bank or a reputable merchant. The improvements to these areas of IE make experiences such as e-commerce less risky and provide a more confident, trust worthy browsing experience for the user.

The interface is a drastic departure from past versions, but it's definitely a change for survival. The navigation buttons back/forward and the Address Bar have been merged to provide a more simplified navigation layout, but another reason could also be attributed to Tabbed browsing which is finally now a part of the IE interface. Common interface elements, buttons such as Home, Print, Feeds and Favorites are spread across, Stop and Refresh button are now also a part of the Address bar which in a sense is more logical integration when you think about it. It's almost difficult to describe the new layout as I sit here, you could best summarize it as one toolbar that contains everything. Integrated Search is also visible in the upper right corner of the IE window, which defaults to Windows Live but provides users the option of choosing another Search provider if they wish. Tabbed browsing is a very convenient way to reduce Taskbar clutter and provide a centralized way to keep all of your open sites accessible from one IE window. Some nice features include a Gallery view which displays a thumbnail preview of all your open windows, other notable features include drag and rearranging of Tabs. The Favorites Center represented by a star, host your favorite websites, Feeds and History. A new Print Preview and fit to print feature finally allows for text be printed as seen on screen without chunks being cut off.

For almost 6 years now, Internet Explorer has been long in the tooth when it comes to new releases because of Microsoft's previous stance on releasing major new versions of the browser with major new versions of Windows, but the trade off was major and it was called innovation and FireFox which dawned on users with features such as tabbed browsing, enhanced security and a grass roots following that has since propelled the browser to over 100 million downloads. The question now is can IE 7 catch up? Well, I would say yes of course, since the popularity of Windows plus the bundling with it will definitely give it a secured opportunity to continue its dominance way into the future. IE has just as much or even more of a cult following than many of the browsers out there, plus the millions of businesses that have tied specialty applications to the platform will further ensure that there is a secure moat around the Enterprise, keeping FireFox at bay for a long time.

Figure 1.6A The new Address Bar adds a bread crumb navigation structure, featuring drop down menus along the current navigation path, making it possible to easily backtrack or navigate forward, anywhere along an address location.

Multimedia

Windows Vista is all about multimedia, the interface reflects it and the new Windows applications plus the updated ones ensure that users embrace it in a whole new exciting way. Some of the new features in this area include, built in DVD Burning (Windows Movie Maker with DVD burning capabilities), Photo Management, Media Center and Windows Media Player with built in support for watching DVD movies.

It's not a spectacular feature, but more of a logical step that has found its place in Windows Vista, DVD burning capabilities is a welcome feature that will provide more storage opportunities when it comes to backing up data. When Windows XP first introduced CD burning capabilities, it was seen as an about time feature, with DVD burning being an integrated part of the OS, there is also no need for third party drivers which provides a great out of the box experience. Next up is Photo Management, as far back as Windows 2000; users had the My Pictures folder as their only form of storage management for Photos. With Vista, things have changed for the better, included is a new application based on Microsoft's commercial offering Digital Image Pro.

Photo Gallery offers photography aficionados a convenient way to manage and share their digital memories, with additional basic tools for editing and creating. The first time you launch the application, you basically see a bunch of sample media content. There are a couple of ways to get your personal photos into Photo Gallery. If you have photos backed up on media such as DVD or CD and copy them into the User > Pictures folder, they will be automatically be populated into the Windows Photo Gallery. If you have photos stored on your digital camera, you simply import them by clicking File > Import from Camera or Scanner, select the device and click import.

It's not Photoshop, it's not Photoshop Elements, but it's good enough for what most persons might want to do with their images. Photo Gallery presents photo editing in a light hearted, fun way, that doesn't turn the process into a chore, which is probably how I would describe some of the more popular, professional offerings on the market.

Photo Gallery is really a hallmark application in Windows Vista, bringing new life to the user experiences first introduced in Windows XP, advancing those capabilities and giving you new avenues that can help you further enjoy and share the memories you create. The Management capabilities are awesome, integration with additional Windows applications is definitely a winner. The integrated experience will really make this a trademark of the Windows Vista built in applications. I love it and learning new and exciting things everyday. The more I use it, the more I enjoy it.

Media Center for me is considered as the front end to the digital media experience in both the two feet and 10 feet environments. The interface has evolved since BETA 1 and continues to be refined to provide a more natural, simplistic approach to accessing your media. I see Media Center as an opportunity to escape the complexity of the Windows interface and provide an alternative experience that's more friendly, easy to use and navigate. Common locations store your music, photos and videos, you can even watch DVD's from within the Media Center Interface. I love the slide show effects, pretty much similar to the slide show tool in Explorer. The navigation controls are really nice; it blends in with the image to provide a natural look and feel that's just awesome. I was not able to use some of the advanced features since Media Center is not really a supported product here in Jamaica, so features such as recording TV shows or just watching TV was not available for me to review. But it still doesn't mean that the software is useless, like I said its cool alternative to managing and viewing your multimedia and lessens the complexity that is typical of the Windows interface at times.

The navigation in Media Center is a bit different, using a horizontal approach, it should provide a more logical and easier to "get a hang of" response by users who use it on large televisions. I must note though, it's a resource hog, launching and importing media into the program is very slow. Some of the categories take too long to open when clicked; I counted to ten when opening the Photo Gallery, its even worst when it comes to Video, all I see is a black screen and an hour glass. I know I am not testing this on the latest and greatest, but I at least was expecting to see some respectable performance out of the application especially this far in development. Comparing Media Center to prior versions, I would flatly say performance makes the Vista version a looser so far. I am still not giving up though and I hope to see some changes by RC1 before I make a final decision.

Figure 1.A AERO's Jewels, some of the exclusive features of the AERO Glass Theme, cool animations and visual cues will definitely put Windows on par with Mac OS's Aqua.

Media Player 11 I have to say is a major stand out in this release, featuring a superb semi- translucent user interface; this update is all about enjoying your music in style. Apart from the new UI, the productiveness of Media Player has improved very much, with Gallery view for your entire music collection. This provides a visually stunning way to interact and manage your music. You can view by genre, artiste, alphabetical or year which displays your album in stacks which is pretty cool; I definitely am in with love that. In prior builds I had issues though selecting folders on another partition with audio files, the folder would just not import, this has been resolved since and is functioning just fine. Next up is legible text on the translucent background, especially if the window is on top of a white background, which made it difficult to make out the text has also been fixed, all that was needed to be done here was to improve the intensity of the outer glow making the text more legible. In Windows x64, its also native 64-bit, users of the 64-bit platform should be happy to hear that, but I won't be so quick to jump for joy until I start seeing the native 64-bit codec's. A 32-bit version of the player is still available in the Program Files (x86) folder, but when I opened it, it would not respond, and I had to close it from the Task Manager Processes (tab). Media Player 11 also includes a codec for watching DVD movies, which is really nice; I can watch in full screen or player mode and select different chapters.

The biggest feature though is probably the new URGE music service which was first announced at CES in January 2006. Unfortunately, I was not able to fully use the Service since it is not localized for the Caribbean (English Jamaica), presently it supports only English Canada and US. URGE is a culmination of multiple music channels incorporating their endless libraries of music, from MTV, VH1 and MTV networks, surprisingly BET is not one of these, since the parent company for all four are VIACOM. The word that would best describe URGE is WOW to the third power, the collection is enormous and just mind boggling. You get an extensive collection of music that's available right there along with your own personal music collection. Setting up an account is relatively easy, you are asked to use your e-mail address and a password to sign in, the URGE logo will then appear on the menu bar in the player interface for you to access at anytime. It's the seamless integration that's really amazing, blurring the gap between your collection of music and URGE music library.

Figure 1.A3 Parental Controls, makes managing your kids time on the PC cinch, you can schedule times when they can and cannot use the computer, a familiar feature available in Windows Server's Active Directory Users and Groups.

You might wonder why I designate the Sidebar as a part of multimedia, well, it's not an out of the box business feature to be honest and you could have it turned off and never notice a difference about your Vista experience.

The Sidebar in Windows Vista 5308 came with only 5 Gadgets; these are Feed Viewer, Launcher, Recycle, Slide Show and World Clock. In Windows Vista BETA 2, included are a total of 11 Gadgets, I expect to see more as future builds are released; you can also acquire a few available ones from http://www.microsoftgadgets.com. The new ones included are Calculator, Clock, CPU Meter, Currency Converter, Feed Viewer, Feed Watcher, Notes, Picture Puzzle, Recycle Bin, Slide Show and Stocks. Instead of tiles, the Sidebar now uses small individual applications known as Gadgets. According to Brandon Leblanc of Longhorn Blogs, Gadgets are developed using a combination of XML, Java Script, HTML and CSS. If you want to learn more about developing your own Gadgets, or download some, check out the following URL:

http://microsoftgadgets.com/Sidebar/DevelopmentOverview.aspx

You can easily add them by clicking the Plus sign button at the top of the Sidebar. A dialogue will pop up showing a gallery of all the Gadgets available for you to use. Simply select a Gadget, drag it onto the Sidebar and release. Each Gadget has personalized settings for you to configure, simply hover your mouse pointer over one, and click the Check Mark that appears and a dialogue will pop out from under the Gadget revealing options for personalizing it, you can also right click and choose Settings if that's easier for you. For example, I hovered over the Slide Show Gadget, clicked the Check Mark, I wanted to set the location of my images so the slide show could start.

It's hard to see the current value of the Sidebar, I want Gadgets that encourage and inspire me to use them and I also want a more reliable experience, since some of these Gadgets seem to not be working properly or don't look right on the Sidebar. The load time on log in is not good either; three Gadgets, Slide Viewer, Clock and Notes took about 15 seconds to load.

Advanced Features

Some of the more technical features of Vista are what I would consider to be ready for the mainstream. For instance, all Editions of the OS except for Starter Edition will be available in 64-bit flavours. The advantages of a 64 bit Windows for consumers is not immediately seen, but power hungry power users such as scientist, number crunching business intelligence users will see the deep benefits of being able to handle up to 128 GBs of RAM, although there aren't any Workstation's that can hold that amount of memory, its comforting knowing the capability is there I guess. Driver support is still an issue for 64-bit Windows, but with the aim of making 64-bit computing mainstream through Windows Vista, developers will support the platform more readily I believe. Microsoft has also announced that all kernel mode drivers for Vista x64 are required to be signed before they can be installed. This will ultimately be a benefit for the consumer to provide a more reliable experience, the essential aim which is to reduce system failure as a result of device drivers and have confidence in the source of your drivers for your devices, you can't go wrong there.

Figure 1.5 Improved Explorer Layout A new Explorer makes it easier for your manage and find your files, you create saved searches, get quick information about a file from within the UI without the need to check the properties of a file.

Figure 1.6 Cool Look the interface in Windows Vista is sexy no doubt about it, new icons that are life like, smooth rounded edges of windows provides users with a visually stunning experience.

A new backup utility is included with support for DVD media, partition's and external hard disk. I consider this to be an essential feature, that makes it very simple for users to keep their data safe in a number of ways, its easy to restore your files since the Backup process creates an image of the data, so its pretty much pre-configured and requires only a few mouse clicks. I notice a minor delay when Backup and Restore Center was detecting the hardware I was planning on using for backing up the data. It's not critical, but it almost seems like the program had hanged.

Windows Meeting Space is a new collaboration feature that allows users to setup Ad Hoc Based meetings. You can invite users to a presentation and share handouts; it's almost like a virtual meeting room. Of course doing this over dial up is not recommended or probably not even possible, using the app stressed by DSL connection but worked perfectly over my LAN. It's a very easy application to use and I am sure the benefits will be quickly realized in today's world of high speed/wireless world.

Windows Performance Diagnostic Console provides monitoring of performance and reliability using Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. From a single console you can monitor system performance in real time, customize what data you want to collect in logs, define thresholds for alerts and automatic actions, generate reports, and view past performance data in a variety of ways.

Figure 1.7 Internet Explorer 7+, RSS, Security some of the cool new and improved technologies in this release, features such as built in Tabbed browsing will provide users with a convenient browsing experience.

Disk Defragmenter has changed in Vista, instead of being activated by the user, the program runs in the background at all times to maintain the performance of your computer. Compared to prior versions, Defragmenter looks and feels dumbed down and does not offer the graphs real time monitoring that users were accustomed to. Familiar features such as Scheduling and Defrag now are available but that's about it. The ultimate aim is to keep the performance of Windows in tip top shape over time. XP and prior versions of Windows have always been known for their bit rot excellence over time; hopefully Vista puts an end to that.

Help & Support

Figure 1.A4

I don't know about you, but XP's Help and Support looked much richer to me. I don't like the layout that much such as the centered Search field and the back/forward navigation button positioning. Apart from the visual inconsistence's Support Services provides new video based tutorial training content to give users an overview of features in the OS.

Figure 1.8 Windows Media Player 11 includes built in support for watching DVDs, new management features for your music library and a new online music Service URGE that includes an endless music collection.

A new Personalization Explorer is included which is the equivalent to Display Properties, from here you can change your Desktop background, Themes, Screensavers, Sounds, Mouse Pointers, Icons, Display Settings. I am not all that pleased with this new layout, I was hoping the Windows Team would used collapsible panels instead of having to open and close a separate dialog every time. I think it's only added more mouse clicks to something that was already doing just fine.

Conclusion

So this has been my experience with Windows Vista, "so far". The question for many persons is, whether the upgrade will be worth it. I wish there was an easy answer. Vista I would say is an improvement over XP in areas such as Security, but it becomes a bit hard to justify the upgrade knowing so many of the things in Vista could be easily had on XP today with a simple click of the download button. IE 7 will be made available as a free download for XP users, so the RSS and some of the security issue's are already taken care of. You can run as a limited user if you want stay secure, Windows Defender will also be free for Windows XP users. Features such as MCE are pretty much useless to me regardless of how cool it is, but I am not fully using the product because of its lack of support here. I don't own a Tablet PC; I have Digital Image Pro, which gives me all the features of Photo Gallery. Gadgets so far have been uninspiring; the effects such as the AERO Glass theme are stressful on the system. It's so hard justifying it right now, but some users will, the question is how many users are willing.

Enterprise customers will see a greater benefit though, features such as the new image based deployment, Unix Subsystem, Encryption and Virtual PC Express will make managing Vista systems and transitioning to them much easier. Developers will also see an increased benefit, Windows Vista will definitely carry the Windows Platform forward, with new opportunities in areas such as the new communications and presentation subsystem and the .NET Framework 3.0 will give developers a set of tools to create connected, secure, beautiful (hopefully) applications. Its a long way coming from the first few public Alpha builds, but all was not lost, much of what Microsoft promised has been delivered, the lost of WinFS has not impacted Vista as much as the reset that took place in August 2004. No doubt about it, Windows Vista is friendly and makes Windows easier than ever to use. A much simplified interface will definitely be a boon to users. The big question is can Microsoft communicate the benefits to the awaiting audience in January?

System Specs

Some of the new in Windows Vista

Resources and related links:

Additional Screenshots of Windows Vista 5472 x64

Windows Connected Getting Ready for Windows Vista BETA 2 - QuickStarter-FAQ [UPDATED]

Windows Vista 5270 - A Look At Some of the Progress So Far
Windows Vista 5231 - Testing, Testing...

Windows Vista 5219 (September CTP) – The Inspection

Windows Vista Beta 1 (Build 5112) - The Inspection
Longhorn Build 5048 - The Inspection
Longhorn - A Very Delicate Subject
The Progress of Windows Longhorn
Longhorn Build 5203 - An Analysis
Vista: A Scenic View Into The Future of Windows

Windows Vista 5308 - A Mature Release (ActiveWin - Part I)