Microsoft's mantra (or advertising line) for its new operating
system, Windows Vista (formerly
Windows Longhorn) is "Confidence, clarity, and connection."
For you and me, that means a promise of greater stability and security within the OS, better graphics throughout, and an enhanced ability to share documents and files, including built-in P2P services. The software giant has followed the release of its Beta 1 with monthly interim builds that use coding intended for a future Beta 2 release. Specific features seen in these interim builds may or may not appear in the large-scale Beta 2 release or in the final version of Windows Vista (expected in late 2006). Here's a look at what we've seen thus far:
October 2005
During our hands-on testing of interim version build 5231, which
Microsoft officially released to developers on October 17, 2005,
we noticed several enhancements in Vista's network connectivity
and system integrity, overall audio and multimedia capabilities,
a major face-lift for Internet Explorer 7, another preview of
Windows Media Player 11, and several overall improvements. As
with last month's build 5219, which expanded on the "clarity"
theme, this release expands on the "confidence and connection"
themes.
Diagnostics
Under "confidence," Microsoft is touting Vista's ability to ward
off potential problems in the future as well as recover quickly
from disasters. Windows Vista Memory Diagnostics, a collection of
tools, can detect and automatically resolve problems associated
with defective physical memory. Windows Vista Disk Diagnostics,
another collection of tools, monitors the health of the hard
drive and can proactively warn users of impending disk drive
failure, allowing users to backup their data and replace
defective hardware before the situation turns critical. Network
diagnostics tools will analyse connectivity and network access
issues and either resolve the issues or provide the end user with
the next steps to resolve the situation. A new Windows Vista
Network Center replaces My Network Places and My Network
Neighborhood with a hub for managing computers and devices on a
local network. And in this release, we saw increased reliability
in the transition in and out of sleep on our laptop, giving us
greater confidence when we closed our laptop lid. According to
Microsoft, this was accomplished by eliminating the chance for
applications, services and drivers to veto or block changes in
system power states.
Collaboration
For the "connection" part of the Windows Vista motto, Microsoft
wants to make connecting to a variety of devices faster, easier
and more secure and the synchronisation of data among devices
simpler. Toward that end, this build of Windows Vista includes a
new Windows Mobility Center, including the tools to adjust
display brightness, power plans, volume control among
applications, wireless status, synchronisation status and
presentation status. Sharing files and folder contents
(peer-to-peer technology) is easier in this build of Windows
Vista, including the ability to create e-mail with embedded links
pointing to shared content. And this build of Vista includes the
Microsoft XPS Document Writer, allowing you to convert any
onscreen document into XPS documents, which can be digitally
signed to ensure that no one has tampered with the contents in
transit.
Internet Explorer for Windows Vista
Although we got a taste of the new IE in last month's build,
Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Vista includes new security
and interface features. IE 7 for Windows Vista includes a
Phishing Filter to protect against malicious Web sites; ActiveX
Opt-In, reducing the likelihood of potential ActiveX attacks; and
a new Protected Mode, to protect users against the silent
installation of malicious code. There are also new parental
controls and a redesigned Favorites Center to provide quick
access to History, RSS and saved Favorites. The interface changes
include Quick Tabs, thumbnails of each open tab for quick
reference; Tab Groups, the ability to save groups of tabs; Page
Zoom, which magnifies any part of any Web page; and Advanced
Printing, which shrinks output to fit on your printer's chosen
paper size.
Features previewed but not yet ready in build
5231
Within this build is a new Windows Media Player with program
controls placed front and center, à la QuickTime, with the
right-hand margin providing additional information about the
track currently playing. We also saw a new Migration Wizard, for
transferring the data from one hard drive to another; a new Power
Management Center, for better laptop control; and even a new
Windows calendar.
September 2005
It was apparent from the moment we launched this build, released
on September 16, 2005, to coincide with the Microsoft
Professional Developer Conference, that graphics lay at its
heart. In this version, Microsoft showed off its new Windows
Presentation Foundation (formerly known as Avalon) and previewed
some features of the new WinFS file system, although it wasn't
the full file system update we were expecting.
Windows Presentation Foundation
Microsoft has greatly improved the look and feel of its Windows
operating system. Formerly called Avalon, the Windows
Presentation Foundation utilises 3D capabilities, allowing
applications to appear out of nowhere, then appear to fall back
into the desktop when they are closed. There's also more
standardisation across the OS, with each app sporting new
translucent window bars so that you can see what apps are open
behind a current app, along with multicoloured options in the
upper-right corner of each window so that you can tell at a
glance the difference between minimise, restore size and
close.
User Account Protection
With this build, Microsoft tackles the issue of providing greater
security by separating administrator privileges from user
privileges. In other words, you can log in with your set of
preferences and extend guest accounts to others on your system.
When it comes time to make changes to the system registry,
however, you'll need a password to access the administrator
account. This should significantly reduce the number of rogue
apps that install without your permission.
WinFS
Although a full-blown version of a new Windows file system won't
be ready for Windows Vista's release in late 2006 (instead it
will ship with an unnamed version of a "Longhorn-based" server in
2007), a limited version of WinFS will be included with Vista and
offers a look at what's to come. Basically, WinFS frees you from
having to remember the arcane file structure on your hard drive.
Now files can be linked dynamically by metatag content, such as
author, content, and keyword. Thus, without physically moving a
file on your hard drive, you can create virtual stacks of
files.
July 2005
On July 27, 2005, Microsoft released Windows Vista Beta 1 to
about 500,000 software developers worldwide. Microsoft wants to
make sure that developers know how the new OS works before they
put the finishing touches on the overall look and feel of Windows
Vista.
After installing Beta 1 on our laptop, we were struck with a subtle déjà vu. Borrowing from Linux, Windows Vista runs all users at a Standard user level and creates a separate Administrator login, so even if you are the only user of the OS, you will still need to log in with Administrator privileges to do high-level work, such as changing the status of hidden or read-only files. Standard users should still be able to install and uninstall applications, provided they know the password for Administrator privileges. This extra effort should minimise the occurrence of spyware installing without your knowledge and remote-access exploits from taking control of your computer.
Borrowing from Apple Mac Tiger OS 10.4, Windows Vista incorporates enhanced desktop-search features throughout its new OS. You can search from the Windows Start menu or within applications, and you can also search within the new version of Internet Explorer 7. Also borrowing from Apple, Windows Vista does away with traditional file folders and allows you to "stack" related documents together. These virtual files can exist independent of where the actual file resides on the hard drive.
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