Microsoft started work on their plans for "Longhorn" in May 2001, some months before the release of Windows XP.Windows Vista has a long list of new features, changes, and improvements. While a complete list has not been published by Microsoft yet, recent development builds of Windows Vista, Microsoft employee blogs, and published documentation have collectively identified most of the features that Microsoft intends to include when the product is released.
* Windows Aero: a re-designed user interface, named Windows Aero â€" an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows, including new transparencies, animations and eye candy. * Windows Shell: The new Windows shell is significantly different from Windows XP, offering a new range of organization and search capabilities (it's possible using boolean operators like AND, OR and NOT). The Start menu has changed as well; it no longer uses ever-expanding boxes when navigating through Programs. Even the word "Start" itself has been removed in favor of a blue Windows "Pearl". * Instant Search (or search as you type): significantly faster and more thorough search capabilities, similar to what is offered by Microsoft's Windows Desktop Search and Apple Computer's Spotlight. Search boxes have been added to the Start menu, Windows Explorer, and several of the applications included with Vista. By default Instant Search indexes only a small amount of folders such as the start menu, the names of files opened, the Documents folder, and the e-mail messages when opened so it's not heavy but very light. * Windows Sidebar: A new panel on the right-hand side of the screen, similar to Apple Computer's Dashboard, where a user can place Desktop Gadgets, which are small applets designed for a specialized purpose (such as displaying the weather or sports scores). The gadgets can also be placed on other parts of the Desktop, if desired. * Internet Explorer 7, an upgrade of Microsoft's web browser, with support for tabbed browsing, RSS, a search box, a phishing filter, IDN with anti-spoofing technology and improved standards support. For added security, ActiveX controls are disabled by default. Also, Internet Explorer will operate in a "protected mode" sandbox which operates with lower permissions than the user, preventing it from accessing or modifying anything besides the Temporary Internet Files directory.Protected Mode IE has been described in detail at the Internet Explorer team blog: Protected Mode in Vista IE7 and More details on Protected Mode IE in Windows Vista. Also, for better security, Internet Explorer is no longer integrated with the explorer shell (local files typed in IE are opened using the explorer shell and Web sites typed in the explorer shell are opened using IE). * Windows Media Player 11, a major revamp of Microsoft's popular program for playing and organizing music, videos and also images. New features in this version include word wheeling (or "search as you type"), a completely new and highly graphical interface for the media library, photos display and organization, and the ability to share music libraries over a network with other Vista machines, the Xbox 360, and other Media Center Extenders. * Windows Firewall: Supports filtering both incoming and outgoing traffic. It's also possible to create advanced packet filter rules. Rules can be configured for services by its service name chosen by a list, without needing to specify the full path file name. * Windows Defender: Microsoft's Anti-spyware product has been incorporated into Windows, offering protection against spyware and other threats. Changes to various system configuration settings (such as new auto-starting applications) are blocked unless the user gives consent. The new version uses Windows Automatic Updates to receive definition updates, also works properly with standard user accounts, and has integration with IE so that downloads are scanned when they are downloaded, which reduces the risk of accidentally downloading malicious software. * Backup and Restore: A new 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 the disk usage. It also features CompletePC backup which backs up an entire computer as an image onto a hard disk or DVD. The CompletePC backup can automatically recreate a machine setup onto new hardware or hard disk in case of any hardware failures. * Windows Mail: A replacement for Outlook Express that includes a completely replaced mail store that improves stability, and enables real-time search. A number of features from Outlook 2003 are also included, most notably junk mail filtering.Windows Mail was demonstrated by the development team in this Channel 9 video.
Windows Update in Windows Vista build 5472 with new Basic interface
* Windows Update: Software and security updates have been simplified, now operating solely via a control panel instead of as a Web application. Mail's spam filter and Defender's definitions will also be automatically updated via Windows Update. * Parental Controls control which websites, programs, and games each person can use and install. * 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 fully integrated into Vista, which can be "trained" to understand a user's voice, to activate commands in any Windows application, and to enable voice dictation. It supports multiple languages. * Many new fonts, including several designed especially for screen reading, and a new high-quality Japanese font. See Windows Vista typefaces. ClearType has also been enhanced. * Games: Every game included with Windows has been rewritten to take advantage of Vista's new graphics capabilities. New games include Chess, Mahjong Titans and Purble Place. The Games section will also hold links and information to all games on the user's computer. One piece of information that will be shown is the game's ESRB rating. * Windows Calendar is a new calendar and task application. * Windows Photo Gallery, a photo and movie library management application. WPG 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, which provides the ability to create video DVDs based on a user's content. * Windows Meeting Space is the replacement for 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. * SuperFetch, which will speed up the loading of programs and windows by noting the common time of day you use certain programs, then loading the necessary binaries and files in RAM shortly before the set time, so that when you open the program at your usual time, the programs will load much quicker than they would otherwise. Optionally, SuperFetch can also be used in conjunction with ReadyBoost to boost system performance. * ReadyBoost makes PCs running Windows Vista more responsive by using flash memory on a USB 2.0 drive, SD Card, Compact Flash, or other form of flash memory, in order to boost system performance. It does this by caching pages moved out of conventional RAM to the USB/Flash drive before falling back to the slower conventional hard drive. This is optional, and the choice to utilize this feature is presented to the user during Autostart, when the drive is first plugged in.
Previous Versions
* ReadyDrive, enables Windows Vista PCs equipped with a hybrid drive to boot up faster, resume from hibernation in less time, and preserve battery power. Hybrid hard drives are a new type of hard disk that integrates non-volatileflash memory with a traditional hard drive. * Touchscreen support will be included. * Problem Reports and Solutions, a new control panel which allows users to see previously sent problems and any solutions or additional information that is available. * Improved Disk Managment allows to resize disk partitions without any data loss * Improved built-in disk defragmenter can be automatically scheduled to run and it runs at low priority so it doesn't interfere with other disk accesses. * Windows Task Manager has been improved with the ability to control Windows services, view file properties, view the full path and command line of the processes, and more clearly see how much physical memory and page file space is being used. * Improved task scheduler with a lot of new conditions and filters * Improved Audio allows controlling system-wide volume or volume of individual audio devices and even individual applications separately * Previous Versions automatically creates a backup copies of files and folders, with daily frequency. When the user right-clicks on a folder and selects "Restore previous versions", it shows multiple versions of a file throughout a limited history and allows the user to restore, delete, or copy those versions (this feature is available only in the Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista). * The Windows Mobility Center is a new control panel that centralizes the most relevant information related to mobile computing (e.g. brightness, sound, battery level / power scheme selection, wireless network, screen orientation, presentation settings, etc.)
Core technologies
Windows Vista is intended to be a technology-based release, to provide a solid base to include advanced technologies, many of which will be related to how the system functions, and hence not readily visible to the user. * Completely rearchitected audio, print, display and networking stacks. * User Account Control is a new security technology that allows Windows to operate effectively as a "standard" user with fewer privileges. This was often a difficult thing to do in previous versions of Windows, because the previous "limited" user accounts proved too restrictive and incompatible with a large proportion of application software. When an action requiring administrative rights is requested, the user will first be prompted to confirm their action (or be asked for an administrator password if they are not themselves an administrator). UAC asks for credentials in a Secure Desktop mode, where the entire screen is blacked out and temporarily disabled, to present only the elevation UI. This is to prevent spoofing of the UI or the mouse by the application requesting elevation. UAC also provides files and registry virtualization. * Native IPv6stack, which also works with IPv4, eliminating the need for dual-stack network architecture. Improved resistance to all known TCP/IP-based denial-of-service and other types of network attacks. Enable more modular components that can be dynamically inserted and removed. Reconfigure without having to restart the computer. Automatically senses the network environment and adjusts key performance settings, such as the TCP receive window * A number of new security measures including BitLocker Drive Encryption * Improved memory manager and processes scheduler. I/O has been enhanced with I/O asynchronous cancellation and I/O scheduling based on thread priority. Many kernel data structures and algorithms have been rewritten. A new improved Heap manager with better security and performances. * System services are in a separated and isolated session. User processes are in another session. * Windows Service Hardening prevents Windows Services from doing operations on file systems, registry or networks which they are not supposed to, thereby preventing entry of malware by piggybacking on system services * Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) to prevent Return-to-libc buffer overflow attacks. * The new Kernel Transaction Manager enables atomic transaction operations across different types of objects, most significantly file system (Transactional NTFS) and Registry operations. * Deadlock Detection Technology is a new technology that will include checking and solving for a deadlock condition. These conditions are also logged into Windows error reports. Also, according to a Microsoft Blog, there are two OpenGL paths under Vista. An application can use the default implementation, frozen at OpenGL version 1.4. An application can use an ICD as well, which comes in two flavors: legacy and Vista-compatible. A legacy ICD functions as specified above: the activation of one will turn off the desktop compositor. A Vista-compatible ICD, made by IHVs using a new internal API path provided by Microsoft, will be completely compatible with the desktop compositor. Given the statements made by the two primary OpenGL ICD vendors (ATi and nVidia), it would be reasonable to expect both to provide full Vista-compatible ICDs for Windows Vista."
Features dropped
Some notable Windows XP features and components have been replaced or removed in Windows Vista. Perhaps the most significant of these is the removal of Windows Messenger and MSN Explorer, and the replacement of NetMeeting with Windows Meeting Space. Windows Vista also does not include the Windows XP "Luna" visual theme. The "Hardware profiles" startup feature has been removed as well, along with support for older motherboard technologies like the EISA bus and APM.
WinFS was the codename for a planned relational database layer built on top of NTFS, and was loosely based on SQL Server 2005. In August 2004, Microsoft announced that WinFS would not be included in Windows Vista. This was due to time constraints in developing the technology. Microsoft has been working on this technology since the mid 1990s. For a time, Microsoft had said that WinFS would be released separately of Vista, but on June 232006, Microsoft announced that they decided to integrate some of the developed features into the next versions of ADO.NET and SQL Server, effectively cancelling the separate WinFS project. from its Web site to determine the ability of a PC to run Vista in its various guises. The utility only runs on Windows XP.
Vista Capable
Vista Premium Ready
Processor
800 MHz
1 GHz
Memory
512 MB RAM
1GB RAM
GPU
DirectX 9 capable
DirectX 9 capable GPU with Hardware Pixel Shader v2.0 and WDDM Driver support
GPU Memory
32 MB RAM
128 MB RAM up to 1280x1024 (256 MB+ for greater resolutions)
HDD
20GB
40GB
HDD free space
15GB
15GB
Other drives
CD-ROM
DVD-ROM
Graphics hardware requirements
While Windows Vista's "Basic" and "Classic" interfaces will work with virtually any graphics hardware that supports Windows XP or 2000; most discussion around Vista's graphics requirements centers on those for the Windows Aero interface.
During Vista's early testing stages, the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and the NVIDIAGeForce FX 5900 were the only cards compatible with Windows Aero. Since then, support has been extended to most DirectX 9 graphics cards; as of Vista Beta 2 the NVIDIA GeForce FX family and later, the ATI Radeon 9500 and later, Intel's GMA 950 integrated graphics, and a handful of VIA chipsets and S3 Graphics discrete chips are supported.http://www.msbetas.org/?page=vistareadygpus Though some XGI Technology Volari chips were DirectX 9 (including the Volari V3XT which was available in PCI cards), with XGI's exit from the graphics card business it appears none of its chips are supported as of Vista Beta 2.
Microsoft has not specifically stated whether an AGP or PCI Express (PCIe) video card is a requirement for Windows Aero, but they recommend PCIe video due to their greater bandwidth. There are still some PCI cards available that are compatible with Windows Vista: * According to NVIDIA, the GeForce FX 5200, FX 5500, FX 5700 LE, and 6200 (see below), all of which will work with Windows Aero, are available in PCI cards.http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=253 * BFG Technologies and its 3D Fuzion division state that their GeForce 6200 PCI cards, the only PCI cards with that GPU to date, are Vista-ready.http://www.bfgtech.com/6200_256_PCI.htmlhttp://www.3dfuzion.com/cards_6200_pci_128.asp * In June 2006 an ATI Radeon X1300-based PCI card was made available in Japan.http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20060630145245.html
On February 262006, Microsoft announced that Windows Vista will ship in six editions.Microsoft Unveils Windows Vista Product Lineup, Microsoft Presspass, February 262006. All versions will be available in both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x86-64) architectures, except Windows Vista Starter which will only be available for 32-bit architectures. A partial table of the features planned for each edition is also available at Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows.
; Windows Vista Starter: Much like the Windows XP Starter Edition, this edition will be limited to emerging markets, mainly to offer a legal alternative to using unauthorized copies. It will be severely limited, for example only allowing a user to launch at most three applications with a user interface at once, will not accept incoming network connections, and physical memory is limited to 2 GB. Additionally, only Celeron and Pentium III processors from Intel, and AMD's Duron, Sempron and Geode processors are supported.
; Windows Vista Home Basic: Similar to Windows XP Home Edition, Home Basic is intended for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use. The Windows Aero theme with translucent effects will not be included with this edition. Home Basic will support up to 8 GB of physical memory.
; Windows Vista Home Premium: Containing all features from Home Basic, this edition will additionally support more advanced features aimed for the home market segment, such as HDTV support and DVD authoring. Extra games, mobile and tablet computer support, file system encryption, and a photo management application are also included. This edition is comparable to Windows XP Media Center Edition and Tablet PC Edition. Home Premium will support up to 16 GB of physical memory.
; Windows Vista Business: Comparable to Windows XP Professional, and aimed at the business market. Does not include the Media Center features of Home Premium, but does include the IIS web server, fax support, offline files, dual physical processor support, Remote Desktop, ad-hoc P2P collaboration capabilities, and support for 128 GB of memory. Product activation is not present in this edition.
; Windows Vista Enterprise: This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and is a superset of the Business edition. Additional features include a single-session version of Virtual PC, support, BitLocker Drive Encryption, and UNIX application support. This edition will not be available through retail or OEM channels, but through Microsoft Software Assurance.The full list of Software Assurance benefits, including Vista features specific to Enterprise, are outlined at Microsoft's Software Assurance web page for Windows Vista.
; Windows Vista Ultimate: This edition combines all the features of Home Premium and Enterprise editions, and additionally comes with podcast creation support, a game performance tweaker (WinSAT), DVD ripping capabilities, and special online services for downloadable media, as well as additional customer service options. The Ultimate edition is aimed to be the most impressive edition of Vista, aimed at high-end PC users, gamers, multimedia professionals, and PC enthusiasts."Home Basic N" and "Business N" editions of Windows Vista will additionally be available in the European Union. These editions will ship without Windows Media Player, as required by sanctions brought against Microsoft for violating anti-trust laws.Microsoft and EU reach agreement, from BBC World News.
The three retail editions (Home Basic, Home Premium, and Ultimate) of Windows Vista will ship on the same DVD. The features of the Home Premium and Ultimate editions may be "unlocked" at any time by purchasing a one-time upgrade license through a Control Panel tool called Windows Anytime Upgrade. The Business edition will also be upgradable to Ultimate. Such licenses will be sold by Microsoft's partners and OEMs, but not directly by Microsoft.
A number of criticisms have been placed upon Windows Vista, including concern about the security implications of the large amounts of new code, the inclusion of a number of technologies aimed at restricting the copying of digital media and the usability of the new User Account Control security technology. Reviewers have also noted similarities between the Vista interface and that of Apple's Mac OS X operating system.
Security: In a July 2006 report,Symantec Corp, Windows Vista Network Attack Surface Analysis: A Broad Overview[1], July 2006 security software vendor (and recently a competitor to Microsoft's OneCare) Symantec's Advanced Threat Research Team said that the large amount of new and untested code in Vista, especially the new implementation of the network stack, could cause instability and new security flaws. The report claims that "Microsoft has removed a large body of tried and tested code and replaced it with freshly written code, complete with new corner cases and defects." Microsoft responded that they "believe the claims are ... unsubstantiated," and Symantec admits that all of the bugs Symantec found were fixed by the time Beta 2 was released, but adds that "While it is reassuring that Microsoft is finding and fixing these defects, we expect that vulnerabilities will continue to be discovered for some time. A networking stack is a complex piece of software that takes many years to mature." IPv6tunnelling and peer-to-peer collaboration technologies were identified as additional potential problem areas.
Firewall maker Agnitum has argued that the Kernel Patch Protection feature can be circumvented by hackers and that some security software makers must use similar methods. Video cards supporting HDCP did not become available until June 2006. All HD DVD and Blu-ray players must follow AACS guidelines and restrict the resolution for outputs without HDCP to 960×540 provided an ICT flag is given. The decision to set the flag to restrict output ("down-convert") is left to the content provider. The criticism against HDCP may be misplaced, however, as it is still unclear as to whether all high definition media will be subject to HDCP protection, and even if it is, Microsoft will not be the only vendor enforcing support, as Digital Rights Management is largely decided by content providers, not platform providers. Movie studios are apparently in agreement to not include the ICT flag on any HD DVDs or Blu-ray Discs until at least 2010, or possibly even 2012.
User Account Control: The new User Account Control (UAC) security technology also causes concern among reviewers. While Yankee Group analyst Andrew Jaquith believes that critical security vulnerabilities may be "reduced by as much as 80 percent", he also noted that "while the new security system shows promise, it is far too chatty and annoying". Veteran Microsoft reporter Paul Thurrott agrees, contending that the implementation of UAC in Vista build 5342 is a "sad, sad joke" given the number of dialog boxes that one must wade through to do simple tasks. Paul Thurrott of WindowsITPro made similar comments in his review of build 5308, while also suggesting that some of the new applications "appear to be directly, ahem, influenced by similar applications in OS X." John Rizzo of eWeek has noted that Vista is incorporating features which OS X has had for some time, such as fast searching and Smart Folders functionality. This has led some to the conclusion that Aero is a deliberate imitation of Aqua. Apple themselves picked up on the theme during the keynote presentation at the Worldwide Developers Conference in August 2006, with Bertrand Serlet showing screenshots of Vista and OS X side-by-side in an attempt to demonstrate how similar Vista looks to Mac OS X v10.4.
Microsoft
*Microsoft — 'Microsoft Windows Vista homepage' *Microsoft — 'Official Windows Vista Help and Support' *Microsoft — 'Windows Vista Upgrade planning' *Microsoft — 'Hardware Design for Windows Vista — News for Driver Developers and Hardware Engineers' *Microsoft Technet — 'Windows Vista Resources for IT Professionals' *MSDN — 'Windows Vista Developer Center on MSDN' *Windows Communities — 'Windows Vista Newsgroups'
*CNET — 'Hollywood, Microsoft align on new Windows' *Technology Review — 'Will Windows Upgrade Hand Power To Big Media?' *PC Stats — 'Windows Vista, HDCP and Digital Rights Management' *Yahoo News — 'Ten Reasons to Buy Windows Vista (and "five things that will give you pause")' *Paul Thurrott — 'Where Vista Fails'
Communities and blogs
*channel9.msdn.com — 'All the Vista videos on Channel9' *LonghornBlogs.com — 'Non-corporate, community-based initiative of Microsoft's next version of Windows' *NVIDIA's Windows Vista Podcast — 'The latest news and information on Windows Vista Capable GPUs' *Australian Media Center Community — 'Vista MCE & MCE 2005 Community Website' *AeroXperience — 'Windows Vista developers community which focuses on .net 3.0 and Windows Sidebar development, among other things.' *WinVistaSecrets.com — 'Windows Vista Online community' *Iexbeta.com — 'Software Compatibility list wiki and links to sites with old longhorn leaks' *thehotfix.net — 'News on Vista and links to places to download new builds of vista' *Tech 2 Blog — 'Microsoft Challenges Hackers On Vista' *Start64! - Start on 64 — 'Information about Windows Vista x64'
