Information about Windows Vista

Windows Vista
(Part of the Microsoft Windows family)
Screenshot
Screenshot of Windows Vista Ultimate
Developer
Microsoft
Web site: Windows Vista: Homepage
Release information
Release date:	November 8 2006 info
Current version:	6.0 (Build 6000), Retail: January 30 2007, RTM: November 8, 2006, Vol. Lic.: November 30, 2006 info
Source model:	Closed source / Shared source
License:	MS-EULA
Kernel type:	Hybrid kernel
Support status
Current
Further reading
Development of Windows Vista Features new to Windows Vista Management features new to Windows Vista Security and safety features new to Windows Vista Technical features new to Windows Vista Windows Vista I/O technologies Windows Vista networking technologies Features removed from Windows Vista Windows Vista editions and pricing Criticism of Windows Vista

Windows Vista (IPA: /ˈvɪs.tə/) is a line of graphical operating systems used on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, Tablet PCs, and media centers. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn".^[1] Development was completed on November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide to the general public,^[2] and was made available for purchase and downloading from Microsoft's web site.^[3] The release of Windows Vista comes more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, making it the longest time span between two releases of Microsoft Windows.

Windows Vista contains hundreds of new and reworked features; some of the most significant include an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and completely redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network using peer-to-peer technology, making it easier to share files and digital media between computers and devices. For developers, Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for developers to write applications than with the traditional Windows API.

Microsoft's primary stated objective with Windows Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system.^[4] One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors has been their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide 'Trustworthy Computing initiative' which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.^[5]

Windows Vista is the target of a number of negative assessments by various groups. Criticism of Windows Vista includes protracted development time, more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new Digital Rights Management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, and the usability of other new features such as User Account Control.

Development

Main article: Development of Windows Vista

Microsoft started work on their plans for Windows Vista ("Longhorn") in 2001,^[6] prior to the release of Windows XP. It was originally expected to ship sometime late in 2003 as a minor step between Windows XP (codenamed "Whistler") and "Blackcomb" (now known as Windows 7). Gradually, "Longhorn" assimilated many of the important new features and technologies slated for "Blackcomb", resulting in the release date being pushed back several times. Many of Microsoft's developers were also re-tasked with improving the security of Windows XP.^[5] Faced with ongoing delays and concerns about feature creep, Microsoft announced on August 27 2004 that it was making changes. The original "Longhorn", based on the Windows XP source code, was scrapped, and Vista development started anew, building on the Windows Server 2003 codebase, and re-incorporating only the features that would be intended for an actual operating system release. Some previously announced features such as WinFS were dropped or postponed, and a new software development methodology called the "Security Development Lifecycle" was incorporated in an effort to address concerns with the security of the Windows codebase.^[7]

After "Longhorn" was named Windows Vista, an unprecedented beta-test program was started, involving hundreds of thousands of volunteers and companies. In September 2005, Microsoft started releasing regular Community Technology Previews (CTP) to beta testers. The first of these was distributed at the 2005 Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, and was subsequently released to beta testers and Microsoft Developer Network subscribers. The builds that followed incorporated most of the planned features for the final product, as well as a number of changes to the user interface, based largely on feedback from beta testers. Windows Vista was deemed feature-complete with the release of the "February CTP", released on February 22 2006, and much of the remainder of work between that build and the final release of the product focused on stability, performance, application and driver compatibility, and documentation. Beta 2, released in late May, was the first build to be made available to the general public through Microsoft's Customer Preview Program. It was downloaded by over five million people. Two release candidates followed in September and October, both of which were made available to a large number of users.

While Microsoft had originally hoped to have the operating system available worldwide in time for Christmas 2006, it was announced in March 2006 that the release date would be pushed back to January 2007, in order to give the company – and the hardware and software companies which Microsoft depends on for providing device drivers – additional time to prepare. Through much of 2006, analysts and bloggers had speculated that Windows Vista would be delayed further, owing to anti-trust concerns raised by the European Commission and South Korea, and due to a perceived lack of progress with the beta releases. However, with the November 8 2006 announcement of the completion of Windows Vista, Microsoft's lengthiest operating system development project came to an end.

New or improved features

Main article: Features new to Windows Vista

End-user features

• Windows Aero: The new hardware-based graphical user interface, named Windows Aero  – 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, animations, and eye candy.
• Windows Shell: The new Windows shell is significantly different from Windows XP, offering a new range of organization, navigation, and search capabilities. Windows Explorer's task panel has been removed, integrating the relevant task options into the toolbar. A "Favorite links" panel has been added, enabling one-click access to common directories. The address bar has been replaced with a breadcrumb navigation system. The preview panel allows users to see thumbnails of various files and view the contents of documents. The details panel shows information such as file size and type, and allows viewing and editing of embedded tags in supported file formats. The Start menu has changed as well; it no longer uses ever-expanding boxes when navigating through Programs. The word "Start" itself has been removed in favor of a blue Windows Orb (also called "Pearl").
• 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.^[8]
• 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,^[9] 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 the 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,^[10] 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.^[11]
• 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. 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, InkBall 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, limiting previous 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.^[12]

• Windows Update: Software and security updates have been simplified,^[13] 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 that 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 available in Home Premium and Ultimate versions 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.^[14] 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. See . 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.^[15][16]
  • Windows Ultimate Extras: The Ultimate Edition of Windows Vista provides access to extra games and tools, available through Windows Update. This replaces the Microsoft Plus! software bundle that was sold alongside prior versions of Windows.
  • Disk Management: A utility to modify hard disk drive partitions, including shrinking, creating and formatting new partitions.
  • Performance Diagnostic Console 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.

  Core technologies

  Main article: Technical features new to Windows Vista

  Windows Vista is intended to be a technology-based release, to provide a solid base to include technologies, many of which will be related to how the system functions, and hence not readily visible to the user. An example of this is the restructuring of the architecture of the audio, print, display, and networking subsystems; while the results of this work will be visible to software developers, end-users will only see what appear to be evolutionary changes in the user interface.
  
  Vista includes technologies such as ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive which employ fast flash memory (located on USB drives and hybrid hard disk drives respectively) to improve system performance by caching commonly-used programs and data. This manifests itself in improved battery life on notebook computers as well, since a hybrid drive can use the Flash memory to cache the data currently in use by the OS and/or other applications, spinning down the disc platters until some fresh data is required. Another new technology called SuperFetch utilizes machine learning techniques to analyze usage patterns in order to allow Windows Vista to make decisions about what application and content should be present in system memory at any given time.
  
  As part of the redesign of the networking architecture, IPv6 has been incorporated into the operating system, and a number of performance improvements have been introduced, such as TCP window scaling. Windows Vista includes more comprehensive support for wireless networking, compared with previous versions of Windows.
  
  For graphics, Vista introduces a new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM), as well as major revisions to Direct3D. The new driver model facilitates the new Desktop Window Manager, which provides the tearing-free desktop and special effects that are the cornerstones of Windows Aero. WDDM's current version 1.0 is able to offload rudimentary tasks to the GPU, install drivers without requiring a system reboot and seamlessly recover from rare driver errors due to illegal application behavior. The next version is going to require an entirely new generation of GPUs, which NVIDIA and ATI are working on. Direct3D 10, developed in conjunction with major display driver manufacturers, is a new architecture with more advanced shader support, and allows the graphics processing unit to render more complex scenes without assistance from the CPU. It features improved load balancing between CPU and GPU and also optimizes data transfer between them.^[17]
  
  At the core of the operating system, many improvements have been made to the memory manager, process scheduler, heap manager, and I/O scheduler. A Kernel Transaction Manager has been implemented that gives applications the ability to work with the file system and registry using atomic transaction operations.

  Security-related technologies

  

  A User Account Control consent dialog.

  Main article: Security and safety features new to Windows Vista

  Improved security was a primary design goal for Vista.^[4] Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing initiative, which aims to improve public trust in its products, has had a direct effect on its development. This effort has resulted in a number of new security and safety features.
  
  User Account Control is perhaps the most significant and visible of these changes. User Account Control is a security technology that makes it possible for users to use their computer with fewer privileges by default. This was often difficult in previous versions of Windows, as the previous "limited" user accounts proved too restrictive and incompatible with a large proportion of application software, and even prevented some basic operations such as looking at the calendar from the notification tray. In Windows Vista, when an action requiring administrative rights is requested, the user will be first prompted for an administrator name and password; in cases where the user is already an administrator, the user is still prompted to confirm the pending privileged action. User Account Control asks for credentials in a Secure Desktop mode, where the entire screen is blacked out, temporarily disabled, and only the authorization window is active and highlighted. The intent is to stop a malicious program 'spoofing' the user interface, attempting to capture admin credentials.
  
  Internet Explorer 7's new security and safety features include a phishing filter, IDN with anti-spoofing capabilities, and integration with system-wide parental controls. For added security, ActiveX controls are disabled by default. Also, Internet Explorer operates in a "protected mode" which operates with lower permissions than the user and it runs in isolation from other applications in the operating system, preventing it from accessing or modifying anything besides the Temporary Internet Files directory.^[18] Microsoft's anti-spyware product, Windows Defender, has been incorporated into Windows, providing protection against malware and other threats. Changes to various system configuration settings (such as new auto-starting applications) are blocked unless the user gives consent.
  
  Another significant new feature is BitLocker Drive Encryption, a data protection technology included in the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista that provides encryption for the entire operating system volume. Bitlocker can work in conjunction with a Trusted Platform Module chip (version 1.2) that is on a computer's motherboard, or with a USB key.^[19]
  
  A variety of other privilege-restriction techniques are also built into Vista. An example is the concept of "integrity levels" in user processes, whereby a process with a lower integrity level cannot interact with processes of a higher integrity level and cannot perform DLL–injection to a processes of a higher integrity level. The security restrictions of Windows services are more fine-grained, so that services (especially those listening on the network) have no ability to interact with parts of the operating system they do not need to. Obfuscation techniques such as address space layout randomization are used to increase the amount of effort required of malware before successful infiltration of a system. Code Integrity verifies that system binaries haven’t been tampered with by malicious code.
  
  As part of the redesign of the network stack, Windows Firewall has been upgraded, with new support for filtering both incoming and outgoing traffic. Advanced packet filter rules can be created which can grant or deny communications to specific services.

  Business technologies

  Main article: Management features new to Windows Vista

  While much of the focus of Vista's new capabilities has been on the new user interface, security technologies, and improvements to the core operating system, Microsoft is also adding new deployment and maintenance features.
  • The WIM image format (Windows IMage) is the cornerstone of Microsoft's new deployment and packaging system. WIM files, which contain an image of Windows Vista, can be maintained and patched without having to rebuild new images. Windows Images can be delivered via Systems Management Server or Business Desktop Deployment technologies. Images can be customized and configured with applications then deployed to corporate client personal computers using little to no touch by a system administrator. ImageX is the Microsoft tool used to create and customize images.
  • Windows Deployment Services replaces Remote Installation Services for deploying Vista and prior versions of Windows.
  • Approximately 700 new Group Policy settings have been added, covering most aspects of the new features in the operating system, as well as significantly expanding the configurability of wireless networks, removable storage devices, and user desktop experience. Vista also introduced an XML based format (ADMX) to display registry-based policy settings, making it easier to manage networks that span geographic locations and different languages. ^[20]
  • Services for UNIX has been renamed "Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications," and is included with the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista. Network File System (NFS) client support is also included.
  • Multilingual User Interface - Unlike previous version of Windows which required language packs to be loaded to provide local language support, Windows Vista Ultimate and Enterprise editions support the ability to dynamically change languages based on the logged on user's preference.
  • Wireless Projector support
  Business customers who are enrolled in the Microsoft Software Assurance program are offered a set of additional tools and services collectively known as the "Desktop Optimization Pack". This includes the Microsoft SoftGrid application virtualization platform, an asset inventory service, and additional tools for maintaining Group Policy settings in a fashion similar to a revision control system.

  Developer technologies

  Windows Vista includes a large number of new application programming interfaces. Chief among them is the inclusion of version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which consists of a class library and Common Language Runtime. Version 3.0 includes four new major components:^[21]
  • Windows Presentation Foundation is a user interface subsystem and framework based vector graphics, which will make use of 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technologies. It provides the foundation for building applications and blending together application UI, documents, and media content. It is the successor to Windows Forms.
  • Windows Communication Foundation is a service-oriented messaging subsystem which will enable applications and systems to interoperate locally or remotely using Web services.
  • Windows Workflow Foundation provides task automation and integrated transactions using workflows. It is the programming model, engine and tools for building workflow-enabled applications on Windows.
  • Windows CardSpace is a component which securely stores digital identities of a person, and provides a unified interface for choosing the identity for a particular transaction, such as logging into a website.
  These technologies will also be available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to facilitate their introduction to and usage by developers and end users.
  
  There are also significant new development APIs in the core of the operating system, notably the completely re-architected audio, networking, print, and video interfaces, major changes to the security infrastructure, improvements to the deployment and installation of applications ("ClickOnce" and Windows Installer 4.0), new device driver development model ("Windows Driver Foundation"), Transactional NTFS, mobile computing API advancements (power management, Tablet PC Ink support, SideShow) and major updates to (or complete replacements of) many core subsystems such as Winlogon and CAPI.
  
  There are some issues for software developers using some of the graphics APIs in Vista. Games or programs which are built solely on Vista's version of DirectX, 10, will not work on prior versions of Windows, as DirectX 10 is not backwards-compatible at any level.^[22] According to a Microsoft blog, there are three choices for OpenGL implementation on Vista. An application can use the default implementation, which translates OpenGL calls into the Direct3D API and is frozen at OpenGL version 1.4, or an application can use an Installable Client Driver (ICD), which comes in two flavors: legacy and Vista-compatible. A legacy ICD, the kind already provided by independent hardware vendors targeting Windows XP, will disable the Desktop Window Manager, noticeably degrading user experience under Windows Aero. A Vista-compatible ICD takes advantage of a new API, and will be fully compatible with the Desktop Window Manager.^[23] At least two primary vendors, ATI and NVIDIA, are expected to provide full Vista-compatible ICDs in the near future.^[24] However, hardware overlay is not supported, because it is considered as an obsolete feature in Vista. ATI and NVIDIA strongly recommend using compositing desktop/FBOs for same functionality.^[25]

  Deprecated features

  Main article: Features removed from Windows Vista

  Some notable Windows XP features and components have been replaced or removed in Windows Vista, including Windows Messenger, the network Messenger Service, HyperTerminal, MSN Explorer, Active Desktop, and the replacement of NetMeeting with Windows Meeting Space. Windows Vista also does not include the Windows XP "Luna" visual theme, or most of the classic color schemes which have been part of Windows since the Windows 3.x era. The "Hardware profiles" startup feature has been removed as well, along with support for older motherboard technologies like the EISA bus, APM and Game port support. There is a way to enable Game port support on Vista by applying an older driver.^[26] IP over FireWire (TCP/IP over IEEE 1394) has been removed as well.^[27]
  
  WinHlp32.exe, used to display 32-bit .hlp files (help pages), is no longer included in Windows Vista as Microsoft considers it obsolete,^[28] though it is available as a separate download. Microsoft prohibits software manufacturers from re-introducing the .hlp help system with their products.
  
  Telnet.exe is no longer installed by default, but is still included as an installable feature.^[29]

  Editions and pricing

  Main article: Windows Vista editions and pricing

  Windows Vista ships in six editions.^[30] These editions are roughly divided into two target markets, consumer and business, with editions varying to cater for specific sub-markets. For consumers, there are four editions, with three available for Western countries; Windows Vista Starter is limited to emerging markets. Windows Vista Home Basic is intended for budget users with low needs. Windows Vista Home Premium covers the majority of the consumer market. Windows Vista Ultimate contains the complete feature-set and is aimed at enthusiasts. For businesses, there are two versions. Windows Vista Business covers organizations of all sizes, while Windows Vista Enterprise is only available to customers participating in Microsoft's Software Assurance program.
  
  All editions except Windows Vista Starter support both 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) processor architectures.
  
  In the European Union, Home Basic N and Business N versions will also be available. These versions come without Windows Media Player, due to EU sanctions brought against Microsoft for violating anti-trust laws. Similar sanctions exist in South Korea.

  Visual styles

  Windows Vista has four distinct visual styles.^[31]
  
  
  

  Windows Flip 3D (Win+Tab keys)
  

  Windows Flip (Alt+Tab keys)
  

  Live Thumbnails (Win+T keys)

  Windows Aero: Windows Vista's premier visual style is built on a new desktop composition engine called Desktop Window Manager. Windows Aero introduces support for 3D graphics (Windows Flip 3D), translucency effects (Glass), live thumbnails, window animations, and other visual effects, and is intended for mainstream and high-end graphics cards. To enable these features, the contents of every open window is stored in video memory to facilitate tearing-free movement of windows. As such, Windows Aero has significantly higher hardware requirements than its predecessors. 128 MB of graphics memory is the minimum requirement, depending on resolution used.^[32] Windows Aero (including Windows Flip 3D) is not included in the Starter and Home Basic editions.

  Windows Vista Standard: This mode is a variation of Windows Aero without the glass effects, window animations, and other advanced graphical effects such as Windows Flip 3D. Like Windows Aero, it uses the Desktop Window Manager, and has generally the same video hardware requirements as Windows Aero. This is the default mode for the Windows Vista Home Basic Edition. The Starter Edition does not support this mode.

  Windows Vista Basic: This mode has aspects that are similar to Windows XP's visual style with the addition of subtle animations such as those found on progress bars. It does not employ the Desktop Window Manager; as such, it does not feature transparency or translucency, window animation, Windows Flip 3D or any of the functions provided by the DWM. The Basic mode does not require the new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) for display drivers, and has similar graphics card requirements to Windows XP. For computers with graphics cards that are not powerful enough to support Windows Aero, this is the default graphics mode.

  Windows Classic: Windows Classic has the look and feel of Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, does not use the Desktop Window Manager, and does not require a WDDM driver. As with prior versions of Windows, this visual style supports "color schemes," which are a collection of color settings. Windows Vista includes six classic color schemes, comprised of four high-contrast color schemes and the default color schemes from Windows 98 and Windows 2000.

  
  
  
  

  "Windows Aero" visual style.

  "Windows Vista Basic" visual style.

  "Windows Classic" visual style.

  
  

  Hardware requirements

  Computers capable of running Windows Vista are classified as Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready.^[33] A Vista Capable or equivalent PC will be capable of running all editions of Windows Vista although some of the special features and high end graphics options may require additional or more advanced hardware. A Vista Premium Ready PC will take advantage of Vista's "high-end" features.^[34]
  
  Windows Vista's "Basic" and "Classic" interfaces will work with virtually any graphics hardware that supports Windows XP or 2000; accordingly, most discussion around Vista's graphics requirements centers on those for the Windows Aero interface. As of Windows Vista Beta 2, the NVIDIA GeForce 6 series 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. Although originally supported, the GeForce FX 5 series has been dropped from newer drivers from NVIDIA. The last driver from NVIDIA to support the GeForce FX series on Vista was 96.85. [1] ^[35] Microsoft offers a tool called the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor^[36] to assist XP and Vista users in determining what versions of Windows their machine is capable of running. Although the installation media included in retail packages is a 32-bit DVD, customers without a DVD-ROM or customers who wish for a 64-bit install media are able to acquire this media through the Windows Vista Alternate Media program.^[37]

  Windows Vista system requirements

  	Vista Capable[32]	Vista Premium Ready[32]
  Processor	800 MHz	1.0 GHz
  Memory	512 MB RAM	1 GB RAM
  Graphics card	DirectX 9 capable	DirectX 9 capable GPU with Hardware Pixel Shader v2.0 and WDDM 1.0 driver support
  Graphics memory	N/A	128 MB RAM supports up to 2,756,000 total pixels (e.g. 1920 × 1200) or 512 MB+ for greater resolutions such as 2560x1600[38]
  HDD capacity	20 GB	40 GB
  HDD free space	15 GB	15 GB
  Other drives	CD-ROM	DVD-ROM

  Service Pack 1

  This article or section contains information about computer software currently in development. The content may change as the software development progresses.

  Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is currently in development. Microsoft is planning to release SP1 alongside Windows Server 2008 in the first quarter of 2008.^[39][40][41] The first beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, build 16659, was released on September 24 2007 and is currently being tested by TechBeta participants in the Windows Vista SP1 Beta Program as well as TechNet and MSDN subscribers.^[42]
  
  A whitepaper published by Microsoft near the end of August 2007 outlined the scope and intent of the service pack, identifying three major areas of improvement: reliability and performance, administration experience, and support for newer hardware and standards. A detailed analysis of a leaked beta of Vista SP1 was undertaken by APCmag.com, which examined the changes to the Vista code base and registry entries. It listed out several hundred installation packages included in the beta, which appear to target back-end features rather than front-end functionality. However the journalist observed that there was a significant performance increase when comparing SP1 to the originally released version of Vista.^[43]
  
  One area of particular note is performance. Areas of improvement include file copy operations, hibernation, logging off on domain-joined machines, Javascript parsing in Internet Explorer, network file share browsing,^[40], Windows Explorer ZIP file handling,^[44] and Windows Disk Defragmenter.^[45] The ability to choose individual drives to defragment is being reintroduced as well.^[40]
  
  Service Pack 1 introduces support for some new hardware and software standards, notably for the exFAT file system,^[40] 802.11n wireless networking,^[46], IPv6 over VPN connections,^[46] and the Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol. An updated version of Windows Installer (version 4.5) is included that provides support for multi-package transactions and embedding the user interface of a child Windows Installer package inside a parent installation session.^[47] Booting a system using Extensible Firmware Interface on x64 systems is also being introduced;^[40] this feature had originally been slated for the initial release of Vista but was delayed due to a lack of compatible hardware at the time.
  
  Two areas which have seen changes in Service Pack 1 that have come as the result of concerns from software vendors. One of these is desktop search; users will be able to change the default desktop search program to one provided by a third party instead of the Microsoft desktop search program that comes with Windows Vista. Third-party desktop search programs will be able to seamlessly tie in their services into the operating system.^[41] These changes come in part due to complaints from Google, whose Google Desktop Search application was hindered by the presence of Vista's built-in desktop search. In June 2007, Google claimed that the changes being introduced for Service Pack 1 "are a step in the right direction, but they should be improved further to give consumers greater access to alternate desktop search providers."^[48] The other area of note are a set of new security APIs being introduced for the benefit of antivirus software that currently relies on the unsupported practice of patching the kernel (see Kernel Patch Protection).^[49][50]
  
  An update to Direct3D, 10.1, is planned for inclusion,^[40] which is expected to make mandatory several features which were previously optional in Direct3D 10 hardware.^[51] The whitepaper also notes that Service Pack 1 will include a kernel that will be up-to-date with the version to be shipped with Windows Server 2008.
  
  Support for the Group Policy Management Console is being removed; a replacement is planned for release the same time frame as the release of the service pack.^[40]

  Criticism

  Main article: Criticism of Windows Vista

  Windows Vista has been the target of a number of negative assessments by various groups. Criticisms of Windows Vista include protracted development time, more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media,^[52] and the usability of the new User Account Control security technology. Reviewers have also noted some similarities between Vista's Aero interface and that of Apple's Aqua interface for the Mac OS X operating system. Moreover, some concerns have been raised about many PCs meeting "Vista Premium Ready" hardware requirements and Vista's pricing.
  
  

  Compatibility:Some programs that ran properly on Windows XP, especially the games, have been reported to behave unexpectedly with Windows Vista.^[53] Due to the new Kernel Patch Protection, some Anti-virus programs are found to cause problems.

  
  
  

  Slow file operations:When released, Vista performed file operations such as copying and deletion more slowly than other operating systems. Large copies required when migrating from one computer to another seemed difficult or impossible without workarounds such as using the command line. This inability to perform basic file operations efficiently attracted strong criticism.^[54] After six months, Microsoft confirmed the existence of these problems by releasing a special performance and reliability update,^[55] which was later disseminated through Windows Update, and will be included in SP1.^[56]

  
  
  

  Licensing and cost:The introduction of additional licensing restrictions has been criticized. Criticism of upgrade licenses pertaining to Windows Vista Starter through Home Premium was expressed by Ars Technica's Ken Fisher, who noted that the new requirement of having a prior operating system already installed was going to cause irritation for users who reinstall Windows on a regular basis.^[57] It has been revealed that an Upgrade copy Windows Vista can be installed clean without first installing a previous version of Windows. On the first install, Windows will refuse to activate. The user must then reinstall that same copy of Vista. Vista will then activate on the reinstall, thus allowing a user to install an Upgrade of Windows Vista without owning a previous operating system.^[58] As with Windows XP, separate rules still apply to OEM versions of Vista installed on new PCs; these are not legally transferrable.^[59] The cost of Windows Vista has also been a source of concern and commentary. A majority of users in a poll said that the prices of various Windows Vista editions posted on the Microsoft Canada website in August 2006 make the product too expensive.^[60] A BBC News report on the day of Vista's release suggested that, "there may be a backlash from consumers over its pricing plans - with the cost of Vista versions in the US roughly half the price of equivalent versions in the UK."^[61]

  
  
  

  Digital rights management:Another common criticism concerns the integration of new forms of digital rights management into the operating system, specifically the introduction of the Protected Video Path. This architecture is designed such that "premium content" from HD DVD or Blu-ray discs may mandate that the connections between PC components be encrypted. Devices such as graphic cards must be approved by Microsoft. Depending on what the content demands, the devices may not pass premium content over non-encrypted outputs, or they must artificially degrade the quality of the signal on such outputs or not display it all. There is also a revocation mechanism that allows Microsoft to disable drivers of compromised devices in end-user PCs over the Internet.^[62] Peter Gutmann, security researcher and author of the open source cryptlib library, claims that these mechanisms violate fundamental rights of the user (such as fair use), unnecessarily increase the cost of hardware, and make systems less reliable and vulnerable to denial-of-service attacks.^[63] Proponents have claimed that Microsoft had no choice but to follow the demands of the movie studios, and that the technology will not actually be enabled until after 2010;^[64][65] Microsoft also noted that content protection mechanisms have existed in Windows as far back as Windows Me, and that the new protections will not apply to any existing content (only future content).^[66]

  
  
  

  User Account Control: Concerns have been raised about the new User Account Control (UAC) security technology. While Yankee Group analyst Andrew Jaquith believes that critical security vulnerabilities may be "reduced by as much as 80%," he also noted that "while the new security system shows promise, it is far too chatty and annoying."^[67] However, this statement was made over six months before Vista was actually released (even before Beta 2 was released). By the time Windows Vista was released in November 2006, Microsoft had drastically reduced the number of operating system tasks that triggered UAC prompts, and added file and registry virtualization to reduce the number of legacy applications that trigger UAC prompts.^[68] Despite reductions in UAC prompts the feature is still triggered by many third party programs not properly designed for Windows Vista.

  
  
  

  Hardware requirements: Some controversy and concerns have arisen over how the increase in hardware specifications required to take advantage of many of Vista's new features may have an impact on both personal and business users.^[69][70]

  
  
  

  Software Protection Platform: Vista includes an enhanced set of anti-piracy technologies, based on Windows XP's WGA, called Software Protection Platform (SPP).^[71] A major component of this is a new reduced functionality mode, which Vista enters when it detects that the user has "failed product activation or of that copy being identified as counterfeit or non-genuine",^[72] which is described in a Microsoft white paper as follows: "The default Web browser will be started and the user will be presented with an option to purchase a new product key. There is no start menu, no desktop icons, and the desktop background is changed to black. [...] After one hour, the system will log the user out without warning".^[73] This has been criticised for being overly draconian,^[74][75] especially given an imperfect false-positive record on behalf of SPP's predecessor,^[76] and at least one temporary validation server outage.^[77][78]

  See also

  • History of Microsoft Windows
  • Comparison of Microsoft Windows versions
  • List of games with DirectX 10 support
  • Microsoft Office 2007 — the current release of Microsoft Office that shipped simultaneously with Windows Vista.
  • Windows Server 2008 — the successor to Windows Server 2003 and based on the same codebase as Windows Vista.
  • Windows 7 — the next major release of the Windows operating system planned for release during the 2009–2011 time period
  • BadVista

  Notes and references

  1. ^ Microsoft (2005-07-22). Media Alert: Microsoft Unveils Official Name for “Longhorn” and Sets Date for First Beta Targeted at Developers and IT Professionals. Retrieved on 2007-01-02.
  2. ^ Microsoft Launches Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System to Consumers. PressCentre. Microsoft New Zealand (2007-01-30). Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
  3. ^ Windows Marketplace: Windows Vista Upgrade Editions: Get Started. Windows Marketplace. Microsoft (2007-01-30). Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
  4. ^ Ricadela, Aaron (2006-02-14). Gates Says Security Is Job One For Vista. InformationWeek News. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
  5. ^ Ricciuti, Mike (2004-06-01). Microsoft: Longhorn beta unlikely this year. CNet News. Retrieved on 2006-08-12.
  6. ^ Galli, Peter (2001-07-30). Pushing Forward - the next version of Windows. eWeek. Retrieved on 2006-07-07.
  7. ^ Steve Lipner, Michael Howard (March 2005). The Trustworthy Computing Security Development Lifecycle. Microsoft Developer Network. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
  8. ^ A Closer Look at Windows Vista Part II: Enhanced Search. National Instruments (2006).
  9. ^ Windows Internet Explorer, Printing Advances Printing in IE7.
  10. ^ Windows Mail Features Explained, See Reliability Section Windows Mail.
  11. ^ Windows Mail was demonstrated by the development team in this Channel 9 video.
  12. ^ Selected Scenarios for Maintaining Data Integrity with Windows Vista. Microsoft (2006). Retrieved on 2006-08-24.
  13. ^ Windows Update, Easier and Less Distruptive Windows Update in Windows Vista.
  14. ^ Windows Vista, SAPI

Talking Windows
15. ^ TWAR05002_WinHEC05.ppt at download.microsoft.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
16. ^ Windows Vista, The System Assesment Tool WinSat.
17. ^ blogs.technet.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
18. ^ 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.
19. ^ BitLocker Drive Encryption: Executive Overview. Microsoft (2006-04-05). Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
20. ^ What's New in Group Policy in Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn". TechNet. Microsoft. Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
21. ^ .NET Framework 3.0 Technologies, Microsoft
22. ^ Booker, Logan (2005-09-15). DirectX 10: More harm than good for graphics?. Maximum Power Computing Atomic. Retrieved on 2006-05-28.
23. ^ VedBrat, Kam (2006-02-22). more comments.... MSDN Blogs. Retrieved on 2006-05-28.
24. ^ Trevett, Neil (2006). OpenGL on Vista. Khronos Group. Retrieved on 2006-11-09.
25. ^ Nguyen, Tuan. OpenGL Now Natively Supported in Windows Vista. Retrieved on 2007-01-25.
26. ^ Enable Game port on vista. Creative (2004-12-08). Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
27. ^ Discontinued Support for IP over 1394. Microsoft (2004-12-08). Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
28. ^ Microsoft Removes WinHlp32.exe from Vista. Microsoft (2006-06-27). Retrieved on 2006-08-31.
29. ^ Tekmaven (2006-05-02). Windows Vista does not include Telnet...or does it?. Retrieved on 2007-06-22.
30. ^ Microsoft (2006-02-26). Microsoft Unveils Windows Vista Product Lineup. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
31. ^ VedBrat, Kam. Desktop And Presentation Impact On Hardware Design (Powerpoint presentation). Microsoft. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
32. ^ Windows Vista Enterprise Hardware Planning Guidance. TechNet. Microsoft (2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
33. ^ Microsoft and PC Manufacturers Make It Easier for Customers to Get Ready for Windows Vista. PressPass. Microsoft (2006-05-18). Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
34. ^ Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
35. ^ . Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
36. ^ Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor. Retrieved on 2006-06-25.
37. ^ Windows Vista Alternate Media. Retrieved on 2007-08-20.
38. ^ 64 MB RAM supports Aero with up to 1,310,720 total pixels (e.g. 1280 × 1024) but is not Premium Ready [2]
39. ^ "Announcing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta", Microsoft, 2007-08-29. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.Microsoft&rft.date=2007-08-29"> 
40. ^ "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper", Microsoft, 2007-08-29, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.Microsoft&rft.pages=1&rft.date=2007-08-29"> 
41. ^ Fried, Ina. "Microsoft agrees to change Vista desktop search", ZDNet News, 2007-06-19. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.ZDNet%20News&rft.date=2007-06-19"> 
42. ^ Taraso, David. "Vista SP1 Beta Released to Testers", JCXP, 2007-09-24. Retrieved on 2007-09-24. 
43. ^ "LEAKED: Vista SP1 analysed in depth", APCmag.com, 2007-08-12, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-08-12.APCmag.com&rft.pages=1&rft.date=2007-08-12"> 
44. ^ Mark Russinovich (August 7 2007). The Case of the Failed File Compression. Mark's Blog. MSDN Blogs.
45. ^ Don’t judge a book by its cover – why Windows Vista Defrag is cool. The Filing Cabinet. MSDN Blogs (January 26 2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-06.
46. ^ Zheng, Long (2007-07-22). Collection of published Vista SP1 API changes from MSDN. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
47. ^ Windows Installer. MSDN (2007-06-01). Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
48. ^ Ken Fisher (June 21 2007). Google says Vista search changes not enough. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
49. ^ Fulton, Scott M., III. "Vista SP1 to Include Common Security APIs for Partners", BetaNews, 2006-10-19. Retrieved on 2007-06-12. 
50. ^ Kernel Patch Protection Criteria Evaluation Document. Microsoft (2006-12-19). Retrieved on 2007-06-12.
51. ^ Hruska, Joel (2007-08-09). Microsoft releases information on upcoming D3D 10.1 update. Retrieved on 2008-08-10.
52. ^ Sullivan, John (2007-03-06). What's wrong with Microsoft Windows Vista?. Bad Vista. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
53. ^ [3]
54. ^ calculating time remaining moving, deleting, copying files very slow.
55. ^ An update is available that improves the performance and reliability of Windows Vista.
56. ^ Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper. (See 'Performance' section)
57. ^ Fisher, Ken (2007-01-28). Vista "upgrade" drops compliance checking, requires old OS to install. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2007-01-28.
58. ^ Thurrott, Paul (2007-02-03). How to Clean Install Windows Vista with Upgrade Media. Paul Thurrott. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
59. ^ Fried, Ina (2006-10-16). Microsoft limits Vista transfers. CNET News.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
60. ^ Beer, Stan (2006-08-30). Windows Vista too expensive says users. ITWire.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
61. ^ Microsoft starts Vista hard sell. Technology. BBC News (2007-01-30). Retrieved on 2007-01-30.
62. ^ Output Content Protection and Windows Vista. WHDC. Microsoft (2005-04-27). Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
63. ^ Gutmann, Peter (2007-01-27). A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection. Retrieved on 2007-01-27. Also available:
64. ^ Smith, Paul (2006-12-31). Windows Vista DRM nonsense. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
65. ^ Fisher, Ken (2006-05-21). Hollywood reportedly in agreement to delay forced quality downgrades for Blu-ray, HD DVD. Ars Technica. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
66. ^ Marsh, Dave (2007-01-20). Windows Vista Content Protection - Twenty Questions (and Answers). Windows Vista team blog. Microsoft. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
67. ^ Evers, Joris (2006-05-07). Report: Vista to hit anti-spyware, firewall markets. ZDNet News. CNet. Retrieved on 2007-01-21.
68. ^ Charles (2007-03-05). UAC - What. How. Why. (video). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
69. ^ Wagner, Mitch (2006-03-01). Microsoft Will Stumble On Windows Vista And Office 2007. Informationweek.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-16.
70. ^ Judge, Elizabeth (2006-05-20). Windows revamp 'too advanced for most PCs'. The Times. Retrieved on 2006-08-15.
71. ^ Computerworld. The Skinny on Windows SPP and Reduced Functionality in Vista.
72. ^ Microsoft PressPass. Microsoft’s Software Protection Platform: Protecting Software and Customers from Counterfeiter.
73. ^ White Paper: Microsoft’s Software Protection Platform: Innovations for Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn” (DOC). Microsoft PressPass (2006-10-03).
74. ^ Hands On: A Hard Look at Windows Vista (2006-11-10). Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
75. ^ Bott, Ed (2006-10-04). For Vista, WGA gets tougher. Ed Bott's Microsoft Report. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
76. ^ Ed Bott (2006-10-04). WGA failures Another wave of WGA failures. Ed Bott's Microsoft Report. Retrieved on 2007-07-19.
77. ^ Windows Genuine Advantage suffers worldwide outage, problems galore (updated). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
78. ^ Update on Validation Issues Update on Validation Issues. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.