Windows Vista

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By Colin Ramsden, April 2008.

Microsoft Vista comes in four versions, each providing additional features and functionality:

• Basic — Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, Instant Search, Internet Explorer 7, Network and Sharing Center;
• Home Premium — Vista Basic features plus Windows Aero desktop experience, Windows Mobility Center, Tablet PC support, Windows Meeting Space, Windows Side Show, Windows Media Center support, Media Center Extenders, Scheduled backup, Windows DVD Maker, premium games, HD Windows Movie Maker;
• Business — Vista Basic features plus a slightly different mix of features than that available with Vista Home Premium including Aero desktop experience, Windows Mobility Center, Tablet PC support, Windows Meeting Space, Windows Side Show, Scheduled backup, (not Windows Media Center support, Media Center Extenders, Windows DVD Maker, premium games, or HD Windows Movie Maker), plus including Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore, Windows Fax and Scan, and Remote Desktop Connection;
• Ultimate — including all features and functionality listed above for Vista Basic, Home Premium and Business.

For many users, the Windows Vista experience will begin with the purchase of a new PC. For others, the experience begins by upgrading their current PC, and for those it's important to understand the upgrade options. The choices depend on the version of Windows that is previously installed on the PC and the type of computer hardware being used. If you're planning the upgrade of an existing system to Windows Vista, you should (must?!?) visit the Microsoft Vista upgrade page to determine suitability of your current system. See Upgrade paths (www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradepaths.mspx).

If you are currently using Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional x64, you are eligible for an upgrade copy to a corresponding or better edition of Windows Vista, but a clean install is required. Upgrade copies are not available for versions of Windows earlier than Windows 2000. These earlier versions of Windows require you to install a full copy of Windows Vista. If the edition of Windows Vista that you choose to install will result in a loss of functionality over your current edition of Windows, you will need to do a clean install, or install Windows Vista to a new partition on your PC.

Some of the new features—such as the Aero desktop experience—require high speed processors, state-of-the-art video graphic capability, and consume great gobs of memory during use, so not all PCs are capable. Microsoft (MS) provide detailed minimum system requirements and an automated diagnostic tool with an extensive listing of known hardware issues. See Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor (www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/upgradeadvisor.mspx). The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor works with 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista, except Windows Vista Enterprise edition. It will not work with other editions of Windows.

Features new to Windows Vista

End-user features

• Windows Aero: The new hardware-based graphical user interface is named Windows Aero, which is an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than those of previous Windows, including new transparencies, live thumbnails, live icons, and animations, thus providing a new level of eye candy.
• Windows Shell: The Windows Start button has been made round and the hierarchical cascading menu structure has been flattened to a single level, changing its content with each category selection . The word "Start" itself has been removed in favour of a blue Windows Orb (also called "Pearl").
• Windows Explorer: The new Windows Explorer is significantly different from Windows XP, offering a new range of organization, navigation, and search capabilities. The task pane has been removed, integrating the relevant task options into the toolbar. A "Favorite links" pane has been added, enabling one-click access to common directories. The address bar has been replaced with a breadcrumb navigation system. The preview pane allows users to see thumbnails of various files and view the contents of documents. The details pane shows information such as file size and type, and allows viewing and editing of embedded tags in supported file formats. All columns are sortable.
• Instant Search (also known as search as you type) : Windows Vista features a new way of searching called Instant Search, which is significantly faster and more in-depth (content-based) than the search features found in any of the previous versions of Windows.

• Windows Sidebar: A transparent panel anchored to the side of the screen where a user can place Desktop Gadgets, which are small applets designed for a specialized purpose (such as displaying the weather or sports scores). Gadgets can also be placed on other parts of the desktop.
• Windows Internet Explorer 7: New user interface, tabbed browsing, RSS, a search box, improved printing,^[15] Page Zoom, Quick Tabs (thumbnails of all open tabs), Anti-Phishing filter, a number of new security protection features, Internationalized Domain Name support (IDN), and improved web standards support. IE7 in Windows Vista runs in isolation from other applications in the operating system (protected mode); exploits and malicious software are restricted from writing to any location beyond Temporary Internet Files without explicit user consent.

• Windows Media Player 11, a major revamp of Microsoft's program for playing and organizing music and video. New features in this version include word wheeling (or "search as you type"), a new GUI for the media library, photo display and organization, the ability to share music libraries over a network with other Vista machines, Xbox 360 integration, and support for other Media Center Extenders.
• Backup and Restore Center: Includes a backup and restore application that gives users the ability to schedule periodic backups of files on their computer, as well as recovery from previous backups. Backups are incremental, storing only the changes each time, minimizing disk usage. It also features Complete PC Backup (available only in Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise versions) which backs up an entire computer as an image onto a hard disk or DVD. Complete PC Backup can automatically recreate a machine setup onto new hardware or hard disk in case of any hardware failures. Complete PC Restore can be initiated from within Windows Vista or from the Windows Vista installation CD in the event the PC is so corrupt that it cannot start up normally from the hard disk.
• Windows Mail: A replacement for Outlook Express that includes a new mail store that improves stability,^[16] and features integrated Instant Search. It has the Phishing Filter like IE7 and Junk mail filtering that is enhanced through regular updates via Windows Update.^[17]
• Windows Calendar is a new calendar and task application.
• Windows Photo Gallery, a photo and movie library management application. It can import from digital cameras, tag and rate individual items, adjust colors and exposure, create and display slideshows (with pan and fade effects) and burn slideshows to DVD.
• Windows DVD Maker, a companion program to Windows Movie Maker that provides the ability to create video DVDs based on a user's content. Users can design a DVD with title, menu, video, soundtrack, pan and zoom motion effects on pictures or slides.
• Windows Media Center, which was previously exclusively bundled as a separate version of Windows XP, known as Windows XP Media Center Edition, has been incorporated into the Home Premium and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista.
• Games and Games Explorer: Games included with Windows have been modified to showcase Vista's graphics capabilities. New games are Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans and Purble Place. A new Games Explorer special folder holds shortcuts and information to all games on the user's computer.

• Windows Mobility Center is a control panel that centralizes the most relevant information related to mobile computing (brightness, sound, battery level / power scheme selection, wireless network, screen orientation, presentation settings, etc.).
• Windows Meeting Space replaces NetMeeting. Users can share applications (or their entire desktop) with other users on the local network, or over the Internet using peer-to-peer technology (higher versions than Starter and Home Basic can take advantage of hosting capabilities, Starter and Home Basic editions are limited to "join" mode only)
• Shadow Copy automatically creates daily backup copies of files and folders. Users can also create "shadow copies" by setting a System Protection Point using the System Protection tab in the System control panel. The user can be presented multiple versions of a file throughout a limited history and be allowed to restore, delete, or copy those versions. This feature is available only in the Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista and is inherited from Windows Server 2003.^[18]

• Windows Update: Software and security updates have been simplified,^[19] now operating solely via a control panel instead of as a web application. Windows Mail's spam filter and Windows Defender's definitions are updated automatically via Windows Update. Users who choose the recommended setting for Automatic Updates will have the latest drivers installed and available when they add a new device.
• Parental controls: Allows administrators to control which websites, programs and games each standard user can use and install. This feature is not included in the Business or Enterprise editions of Vista.
• Windows SideShow: Enables the auxiliary displays on newer laptops or on supported Windows Mobile devices. It is meant to be used to display device gadgets while the computer is on or off.
• Speech recognition is integrated into Vista.^[20] It features a redesigned user interface and configurable command-and-control commands. Unlike the Office 2003 version, which works only in Office and WordPad, Speech Recognition in Windows Vista works for any accessible application. In addition, it currently supports several languages: British and American English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) and Japanese.

• New fonts, including several designed for screen reading, and improved Chinese (Yahei, JhengHei), Japanese (Meiryo) and Korean (Malgun) fonts. ClearType has also been enhanced and enabled by default.
• Problem Reports and Solutions, a control panel which allows users to view previously sent problems and any solutions or additional information that is available.
• Improved audio controls allow the system-wide volume or volume of individual audio devices and even individual applications to be controlled separately. New audio functionalities such as Room Correction, Bass Management, Speaker Fill and Headphone virtualization have also been incorporated.
• Windows System Assessment Tool is a tool used to benchmark system performance. Software such as games can retrieve this rating and modify its own behavior at runtime to improve performance. The benchmark tests CPU, RAM, 2-D and 3-D graphics acceleration, Graphics Memory and Hard disk space.^[21][22]
• Windows Ultimate Extras: The Ultimate edition of Windows Vista provides, via Windows Update, access to some additional features. These are a collection of additional MUI language packs, Texas Hold 'Em (poker game), Bitlocker and EFS enhancements which allow users to backup their encryption key online in a Digital Locker, and Windows Dreamscene, which enables the use of videos in MPEG and WMV formats as the desktop background. As of March 2008, no future Ultimate Extras have been announced.
• Disk Management: The Logical Disk Manager in Windows Vista supports shrinking and expanding volumes on-the-fly.
• Reliability and Performance Monitor includes various tools for tuning and monitoring system performance and resources activities of CPU, disks, network, memory and other resources. It shows the operations on files, the opened connections, etc.

Windows Vista Aero Glass

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=228883 by Keith Combs Aug 23, 2006.

Surely by now you've heard of Windows Vista Aero Glass. It's the sexy new transparency stuff you see in the operating system. It's very noticeable in a variety of the core applications. However, transparency isn't the only user interface improvement you see in Windows Vista.

Of course the most visible change initially is the icon for the start menu, affectionately called the "Pearl". If someone sees an oyster coughing up Vista Pearls, please call me. The Start menu is now faster, more streamlined, and is more helpful than in previous versions of Windows. The Start menu features integrated desktop search through a new feature called Instant Search which can help you find and launch almost anything on your PC. Eliminating the cascading "All Programs" view, the new start menu can help you get something started more quickly than ever. You'll also notice some glass effects on the Start menu.

So why does glass matter?

In the case of Windows Vista, it gives us a better view of the activity in our system. Seeing outside the box has a number of benefits. When we demo Aero Glass, it's all too common to see a video or some other animation indicating activity. In my day-to-day activities, glass lets me see progress bars more quickly. Downloads or installation status can be seen at-a-glance through glass transparency or via the Aero thumbnails on the taskbar.

Sparkle

Another really subtle usability enhancement is the highlighting that takes place around the minimize, maximize, and exit buttons for all applications. This gives the user a better sense of interactivity with the application and system.

Fatter Frames

What I do know is that there are new fatter frames around the application window. They don't seem that phat because the glass transparency makes them seem lean and mean. I personally like the new thicker frame for re-sizing purposes. Easy to grab!

Taskimation

After you get past the sexy stuff, start looking at the context sensitivity of the new Windows Explorer shell. As you move in and out of the different folders for pictures, music, documents and other stuff you'll see different tasks show on the task bar just below the address bar.

 

 

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