Windows Vista - All About All

Windows Vista

Windows Vista (also referred to as WinVI) is Microsoft's next version of its Windows operating system, superseding Windows XP. It was previously known by its codename Longhorn (see the other Microsoft codenames). The name "Vista" was unveiled on July 22, 2005. Longhorn Server, the successor of Windows Server 2003, is yet to be named. Windows Vista will carry the version number 6.0 (Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 being Windows NT versions 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2, respectively). The scheduled release date for Windows Vista is December 7, 2006.

Windows Vista has several planned new features such as an entirely new user-interface called Aero, improved searching technology dubbed Search, and an XML specification designed for document formats and similar in many ways to Adobe's PDF entitled XPS. Windows Vista also has an entirely new development API, WinFX, along with several other key technologies. In addition, current speculation points to several different editions of Windows Vista being released, including starter, home, and professional editions. The new operating system had several previously scheduled features that are currently not planned to go into the operating system such as WinFS and the new command shell MSH. System requirements of the new software are also higher than previous versions of Windows.

Overview

Windows Vista was originally expected to ship sometime late in 2003 as a minor step between Windows XP and Windows Blackcomb. Gradually, Vista assimilated many important new features and technologies of Blackcomb, and so the date of release was pushed back to early 2006. In August 2004, Microsoft announced that it was making changes to what was then only known as "Longhorn". Microsoft basically started development afresh, building on the Windows Server 2003 codebase. This decision was reached in the wake of Windows XP Service Pack 2. As part of this decision, Microsoft announced that it is delaying the release of WinFS so that Vista could be released in "a reasonable timeframe". Due to this, WinFS will not be included in Windows Vista.

Two beta versions of Windows Vista are planned; the first was released on July 27, 2005, and beta 2 somewhere between November 2005 to February 2006 with release candidates to be released throughout 2006. The currently scheduled release of the full version of Windows Vista is December 7 2006. The projected release date is five years after the release of Windows XP, making this the longest time span between releases of desktop versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

Vista Beta 1 (build 5112) is currently available to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers as well as a select group of Microsoft Beta testers and at select Microsoft developer conferences such as the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) and WinHEC. The preview release is classified as a beta version at the moment, although its feature set is not representative of the release product. Like many other products (including all Windows releases since Windows 98), it has since been leaked onto popular networks (file sharing or otherwise) such as IRC, BitTorrent and various newsgroups. However, most of these instances are viruses going by the Vista name in order to draw in victims. It also has linux loading capabilities.

A beta refresh is being given to 2005 PDC attendees and has been released to Microsoft Beta testers (and now also to MSDN subscribers) with the build number 5219. This refresh contains the Windows Sidebar, which had been removed from previous builds due to a memory leak.

Although Microsoft have stated that WinFS will not make its wide reaching debut in Windows Vista, users of the current 5219 build have noticed that in fact WinFS is included in that version. Several Windows 'rumour' sites and newsgroups such as Neowin and Paul Thurrott's Windows SuperSite have made speculation that WinFS will in fact be ready on time for Windows Vista's release.

About a week after build 5219, build 5231 was released, which includes a new version of Windows Media Player (version 11). The build has leaked onto bit torrent networks, but many of the links are dead. It has now been named the October CTP.

Editions

It is rumored (http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_editions.asp) that Windows Vista will ship in nine editions; all of which excluding Starter Edition will be in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

• Windows Vista Starter Edition: (Only available in emerging markets) Much like the Windows XP Starter Edition, this edition will be limited to emerging markets mainly to offer a legal alternative to piracy. It will be severely limited, for example only allowing a user to launch at most three applications at once. This is the only edition that will not support 64-bit processors.
• Windows Vista Home Basic Edition: Similar to Windows XP Home Edition for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use.
• Windows Vista Home Basic Edition N: (Only available in Europe) Identical to Windows Vista Home Basic Edition except Windows Media Player is not included. This edition is mandated by European law, to allow more competitiveness among media applications available for Windows.
• Windows Vista Home Premium Edition: Based on the Windows Vista Home Basic Edition, this edition will additionally support more advanced features aimed for the home market segment, such as HDTV support and DVD authoring. This edition will be comparable to a Windows XP Home edition combined with features from the Windows XP Media Center Edition and some additional features.
• Windows Vista Professional Edition: Comparable to Windows XP Professional, and aimed at the business market. Adding support for Windows Server domains, which all Home editions will lack. This edition will also come with the Internet Information Services web server in a new version.
• Windows Vista Professional Edition N: (Only available in Europe) Identical to Windows Vista Professional Edition except Windows Media Player is not included, for the same reason as with Home Basic Edition N.
• Windows Vista Small Business Edition: This edition is aimed for small businesses lacking an IT staff, and therefore comes with a number of integrated system maintenance features, although not necessarily enough to be comparable to a full fledged server. It will support backup and shadow copies, and also come with fax and scanning utilities, and a special version of Microsoft's upcoming antivirus tool Windows OneCare. It may also come with a pre-paid Microsoft Office Live! subscription.
• Windows Vista Enterprise Edition: (Only available through enterprise agreements) Aimed for the enterprise segment, and functionally like a superset of the Professional Edition, this edition will among other things ship with Microsoft's Virtual PC system virtualization software, and a multilingual user interface. This edition will not be available through retail or OEMs.
• Windows Vista Ultimate Edition: This edition will work as a superset of the Home and Professional editions and additionally come with podcasting support - which Microsoft has renamed "blogcasting" - a game performance tweaker, rumored DVD ripping capabilities, and possibly supporting special online services for e.g. downloadable media. The Ultimate Edition is aimed to be the most impressive edition of Vista, aimed for high-end PC users, gamers, and multimedia professionals.

Technologies

Microsoft labels the new key technologies in the new Windows version as "The Pillars of Vista".

• Fundamentals: new developments to the basic structure of the operating system including the .NET framework, a new audio framework, further support for digital rights management (DRM), an application deployment engine ("ClickOnce"), improvements to the installation of applications (Windows Installer/MSI 4.0), and the controversial Trustworthy Computing initiative previously known as Palladium (see also trusted computing).
• Windows Presentation Foundation or WPF, formerly code named Avalon: a new user interface subsystem and API based on XML, .NET, and vector graphics, which will make use of 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technologies. See Windows Graphics Foundation.
• Windows Communication Foundation or WCF, formerly code named Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system to allow programs to interoperate locally or remotely similar to web services.
• WinFX (not to be confused with "WinFS"): a new API to allow access to these new features.

WPF, WCF, and WinFX are technologies that Microsoft is hoping to make available to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as well, and are therefore not technologies exclusive to Vista, but rather developed in time for the Vista release. However, Aero will still be exclusive to Vista. The reason for backporting these technologies is to allow an easier introduction to these technologies to developers and end users. On March 26th Microsoft released a Community Preview for both WPF and WCF to enable developers to experiment with the new technologies without running the Alpha version of Vista. Later, due to a proliferation of requests the preview was made available to the general public at Microsoft's website.

Features

Several new features have been planned for Vista. Neither the final feature set nor the extent to which the different editions would contain different features has been fully clarified as of September 2005. Some features have been cut since Longhorn was initially announced in 2003.

Aero

AERO is an acronym (or backronym) for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open.

Vista will include a re-designed user interface, code-named Aero. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows, including new transparencies, animations and eye candy implemented similarly to Mac OS X's Quartz Compositor, which originally shipped in 2001. As of yet, little or nothing has been shown of Aero in public/leaked builds. However, Microsoft makes it clear that the changes are by no means superficial. The previous UI was Plex, which was featured in Longhorn versions 4008-4051.

Search

Vista will feature a new search engine that will allow for instant display of results for a given search, in a manner similar to Google Desktop, Apple's Spotlight, and Microsoft's Windows Desktop Search. This is in contrast to the search engine of Windows XP, which can take several minutes to display results. The Vista search will allow users to add multiple filters to continually refine search results (Such as "File contains the word 'example'"). There will also be saved searches that will act as virtual folders (rather like the smart folders of Mac OS X Tiger), where opening a folder will execute a specific search automatically and display the results as a normal folder. These virtual folders are also distributable via RSS. Unlike Tiger's smart folders or Microsoft Outlook 2003, however, users will not be able to open the files directly from the virtual folder in the same way as through the Windows Explorer. The Vista search is built on an expanded and improved version of the Indexing Service from previous versions of Windows. Searching in Vista will also allow users to search across RSS and Atom feeds, straight from Explorer.

Also like Apple's Spotlight, programs specifically developed for Vista can also add search to their own programs. Vista will use also IFilters [2] (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/indexsrv/html/ixrefint_9sfm.asp) that are used today by Windows Desktop Search. The IFilter interface can be implemented by software makers so that files created by their applications can be better integrated with search and indexing programs.

The search functionality will be upgraded again when WinFS is released.

XML Paper Specification (XPS)

XPS was formerly known as "Metro", and is Microsoft's next generation document format, which is based on XML. It is similar in many ways to Adobe Systems' PDF. XPS is intended to allow users to view, print, and archive files without the original program that created them. The name XPS also refers to one of the print paths in Windows Vista. With XPS, documents can remain in the same format from the time they are created to the time they are printed. Microsoft states that XPS will provide better fidelity to the original document by using a consistent format for both screen and print output.

While some suspect XPS is intended to be a "PDF-killer", Microsoft insists that they are not attempting to duplicate all the functionality of the PDF. For example, at the time of this writing, XPS is not planned to have the capabilities for dynamic documents.

XPS is a subset of Windows Presentation Foundation, allowing it to incorporate rich vector-graphic elements in documents. The elements used are taken to a lower level (i.e. described in terms of paths) to allow for portability across platforms. In effect, it consists of XAML files, with necessary fonts, zipped in a package.

Shell

The new shell is a significant change from previous versions of Windows. Combined with the new desktop searching feature, the shell gives users the ability to find and organize their files in new ways. Apart from the typical file organization practice of using folders to contain files, a new collection known as Lists lets users organize files from multiple locations in a single place.

A new type of folder known as a Shadow Folder has the ability to revert its entire contents to any arbitrary point in the past. Shadow Folders utilize a transactional storage feature in the newest NTFS release.

Additionally, the shell contains significant advancements in the visualization of files on a computer. Previous versions of the Windows Shell would display thumbnails to represent different files on the computer. In Windows Vista the thumbnail concept is taken further by overlaying different imagery to communicate more information about the particular file such as a picture frame around the thumbnail of an image file, or a filmstrip on a video file. Windows Vista helps the user identify the file easily by more intelligently generating the thumbnails. Using algorithmic analysis, images are cropped around their likely subject, and interesting key frames are automatically chosen from a video file. Also, the ability to zoom the thumbnails in the shell greatly increases their usefulness.

Networking

Windows Vista is expected to have a brand new networking stack. A significant and much needed change is a more complete implementation of IPv6 which is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. Vista also takes advantage of peer-to-peer technology to provide a new type of domain-like networking setup known as a Castle. Castles make it possible for user credentials to propagate across networked computers without a centralized server, making them more suitable for a home network.

The ability to assist the user in diagnosing a network problem is expected to be a major new networking feature. Using technologies such as UPnP, Windows Vista has a greater awareness of the network topology the host computer is in. With this new network awareness technology it can provide help to the user in fixing network issues or simply provide a graphical view of the perceived network configuration.

Other features and changes

• Full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors. This feature, present as NX in AMD's K8 processors and as XD (EDB) in Intel's processors, can flag certain parts of memory as containing data instead of executable code, which prevents overflow errors from resulting in arbitrary code execution. This should not be confused with trusted computing facilities provided by a so-called Fritz-chip.
• Built-in DVD recording capabilities, including Mt. Rainier support.
• A file-based disk imaging technology called XImage (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/expert/ximage.mspx), that will install Vista in about 15 minutes rather than the 40 minutes taken by the current file-by-file copying method (XImage has been present since alpha build 4074).
• Native raw image support (a variety of formats used by professional digital cameras).
• Native, embedded RSS support, with developer API.
• File encryption support superior to that available in Windows XP, which will make it easier and more automatic to prevent unauthorized viewing of files on stolen laptops or hard drives.
• The "My" prefixes will be dropped, so "My Documents" will just be "Documents", "My Computer" will just be "Computer", etc.
• The long "Documents and Settings" folder is now just "Users".
• Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSat), a built in benchmarking tool which analyzes the different subsystems (graphics, memory, etc), and uses the results to allow for comparison to other Vista systems, and for software optimizations. The optimizations can be made by both windows and third-party software. Tom's Hardware Overview (http://www.tomshardware.com/column/20050711/index.html)
• File virtualization, a feature that automatically creates private copies of files that an application can use when it does not have permission to access the original files. This facilitates stronger file security and helps applications not written with security in mind to run under stronger restrictions.
• Transactional File Transfers, prevents a half updated set of files from being created during updates for example, which can cause stability problems.
• InfoCard, a user interface to the Identity Metasystem (http://www.identityblog.com/stories/2005/07/05/IdentityMetasystem.htm).
• SafeDocs Restore Service, a Windows Backup tool allowing automatic backup of files, recovery of specific files and folders, recovery of specific file types, or recovery all files.
• New Japanese font called Meiryo, supporting the new and modified characters of the JIS X 0213:2004 standard.[3] (http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2005/0729/ms.htm)
• Volume Shadow Copy (read-only snapshots of a disk volume at an earlier point in time) fully supported on local volumes
• Support of UNIX-style symbolic links. [4] (http://blakeross.com/index.php?p=161)
• Support for condition variables and reader-writer locks
• Support for mandatory access control
• Early builds of Longhorn featured a red screen of death in addition to the blue one. It is thought unlikely that this will be reinstated in the public releases of Vista.
• All new Audio stack and APIs. Old audio code has been thrown away and rewritten by Larry Osterman's team.
• Rolodex: Windows can be stacked and rotated in 3D to provide views of all of them simultaneously (PC Magazine - Windows Vista Update (http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=25696&a=159919&po=3,00.asp))

Features and technologies delayed until future releases

• WinFS (short for Windows File Storage): is a relational database layer built on top of NTFS, and is loosely based on the next version of SQL Server (codenamed Yukon). 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 will instead release WinFS in 2007 as an update. Microsoft has been working on this technology since the mid 1990s.
• Due to scheduling issues, the Microsoft command shell MSH will not be included in Windows Vista. However, it will likely be available for download by the time Vista is available.

Graphics hardware requirements

Vista's graphics requirements are defined in relation to the different desktop experiences.

Aero Diamond

A graphics mode customized for the Windows Vista Home Premium Edition and Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, which will have Windows Media Center included. Not much information is currently available, but it appears that it will be the most advanced level of graphics in Vista, requiring hardware at the same level or greater than the Aero Glass visual style.

Aero Glass

This graphics mode adds support for 3D graphics, animation and visual special effects in addition to the features offered by Aero Express.

• Intended for mainstream and high-end graphics cards.
• At least 64 MB of graphics memory, 128 MB recommended, or 256 MB for 1600x1200+.
• At least 32 bits per pixel.
• 3D hardware acceleration with capabilities equal to DirectX 9.
• A memory bandwidth of 2 GB/s, and as much 8 GB/s can be supported.
• Capable of drawing ~1.5 M triangles / second, one window being ~150 triangles.
• A graphics card that uses AGP 4X or PCI Express 8-lane bus.
• DirectX 9.0
• WVDDM Drivers

It is likely that such a configuration will be entry-level or lower by Vista's release in 2006. During Vista's early alpha testing stages, the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and the nVidia fx5900 were the only cards compatible with Aero Glass. Since, support has been extended to most DirectX 9 Graphics cards.

Aero Express

The lesser Aero visual experience offering only the basic visual improvements introduced by Vista, such as composition based DPI scaling.

• Intended for mainstream or lower-end graphics cards.
• Uses the Avalon Desktop Composition window manager.
• A Vista Driver Display Model (WVDDM) driver is a requirement.

Some graphics cards already support WVDDM. In some Vista builds (4074 (WinHEC 2004 Build), 5048 (WinHEC 2005 Build),5112 (Beta 1), 5219 (PDC 2005 Build)), WVDDM is already supported to run Aero Glass.

To Go (Luna, Windows XP)

The new Vista look & feel without any visual special effects, similar to the visual style Luna of Windows XP in that it resembles merely an application skin. As with Luna, no additional hardware requirements compared to the classic Windows interface.

• A simple option for consumer upgrades, and mobile / low-cost devices.
• No additional requirements compared to the lesser Classic mode.
• Fallback mode in case the hardware requirements for Aero aren't met.

Classic (Windows 2000)

The most basic user interface offered by Vista, which is also seen in Windows 2000, or Windows XP with its visual style Luna deactivated.

• An option for corporate deployments and upgrades.
• Requires Windows XP Display Driver Model (XPDM) or WVDDM drivers.
• No graphics card hardware requirements exceeding those of Windows XP.

Hardware requirements

Microsoft has not released specific details of Windows Vista's hardware requirements; however, Microsoft has released some general Windows Vista Ready PC Hardware Guidelines (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/evaluate/hardware/vistarpc.mspx) for those wishing to upgrade to Windows Vista and have the full Aero Glass experience.

• CPU: PC systems with a modern CPU.
• RAM: PC systems with 512MB of RAM or more.
• GPU: PC systems with a DirectX9 GPU that is capable of supporting Windows Vista Display Driver Model.

Summary of Builds

• Build 3663-First Known Build, incorporated Plex theme.
• Build 4008-Evolutionary release, many small improvements
• Build 4051-Introduced new Slate theme
• Build 4074-Introduced new Jade theme; last of the 32-bit XP-based builds
• Build 4083-Last of the 64-bit XP-based builds
• Build 5048-Introduced new Aero Glass interface; Windows Server 2003 SP1 Codebase
• Build 5112-Initial Beta Build
• Build 5219-First "Ultimate Edition" build, includes Smart Fetch
• Build 5231-Newest leaked build and October CTP

Official Screenshots

Most of these images were published at Windows Vista Virtual Pressroom (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windowsvista/default.mspx) on July 27 2005

Control Panel	All Documents	Pictures and Video	Search Results
Start Menu	Start Menu and Search Results	Virtual Folders	Windows Media Player 11 (build 5231)

See Also

• Windows Calendar
• Windows Firewall
• Windows Mail
• Microsoft Office 12, Microsoft's next release due from its Office range. Will ship simultaneously or almost simultaneously to Windows Vista.
• Aero (user interface)
• Desktop Window Manager

References

• Graphics Hardware and Drivers for "Vista" (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/graphics-reqs.mspx) – Version as of April, 2004; retrieved June 10 2004
• Microsoft (August 27 2004). Microsoft Announces 2006 Target Date for Availability Of "Vista" (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/Aug04/08-27Target2006PR.asp). Press Release. Retrieved November 30 2004.

External links

• Microsoft
  • Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.mspx) - 'Microsoft Windows Vista homepage'
  • Microsoft Technet (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/) - 'Windows Vista Resources for IT Professionals'
  • MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/) - 'Microsoft Vista Developer Center'
  • MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/) - 'The Pillars of Vista'
  • MSDN (http://winfx.msdn.microsoft.com/library/) - 'Documentation for Microsoft WinFX SDK (new Vista APIs)'
  • Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/WDK/default.mspx) - 'Windows Longhorn Driver Development (and hardware device support)'

• Reviews
  • MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8814766/) - 'Early look at Windows Vista shows promise (review by Matthew Fordahl for the Associated Press)'

• Critical articles
  • CNET (http://news.com.com/Hollywood,%20Microsoft%20align%20on%20new%20Windows/2100-1025_3-5844393.html?part=rss&tag=5844393&subj=news) 'Hollywood, Microsoft align on new Windows'
  • Technology Review (http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/09/wo/wo_091905patrizio.asp) 'Will Windows Upgrade Hand Power To Big Media?'

• General
  • Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows (http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/vista.asp) - ' Windows Vista FAQ'
  • WinVistaSecrets.com (http://www.winvistasecrets.com/) - 'Windows Vista Online Community'
  • Windows Vista information from The PC Doctor (http://vista.pcdoctor-guide.com) - 'Windows Vista information'
  • PC Magazine[5] (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1840730,00.asp) [6] (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1872067,00.asp) - 'Hands On with Windows Vista Beta 1 and Build 5231 (review of Vista Beta 1 by Michael J. Miller)'
  • Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows (http://www.winsupersite.com/vista/) - 'Detailed information regarding Vista, including screenshots.'
  • GUIdebook (http://www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/interfaces/windows/Longhorn) - 'Windows Vista Gallery'
  • LonghornBlogs.com (http://www.longhornblogs.com/) - 'Non-corporate, community-based initiative of Microsoft's next version of Windows'