Windows Vista
Posted on September 28, 2005
Filed Under Windows |
It’s hard to believe that Windows XP has been on the market for 4 years now. While Linux and Mac have gained some market share in the past few years, Microsoft Windows continues to dominate the market with an estimated 90% market penetration.
In July Microsoft released the first Beta release of Windows Vista, the next generation of the Windows family of operating systems. Windows Vista was formerly known as Longhorn.
Beta software is released for the purpose of testing. Users install and use the software free of charge and are asked to report back to the developer (Microsoft in this case) with any problems they encounter. Software can go through a number of beta releases before the final product is released.
Windows Vista promises to be as major a re-work of the operating system as Windows 2000 was. Windows 2000 was the first version of Windows to truly do away with MS-DOS and was a complete under the hood departure from Windows 98 and Windows Millennium.
Microsoft appears to be expanding the concept of versions of their Windows software based on its anticipated use. Today, Windows XP is offered in the “Home” version that, as the name suggests is meant for home use and the “Professional” version. Windows XP Professional has support for networking technologies that XP Home lacks and is intended to be used in business.
While things could well change before the final release, Windows Vista is slated to be offered in no less than 7 versions:
• Vista Starter Edition
• Vista Home Basic Edition
• Vista Home Premium Edition
• Vista Professional Edition
• Vista Small Business Edition
• Vista Enterprise Edition
• Vista Ultimate Edition
More details about the various versions can be found at http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_editions.asp
Among the enhancements slated for Windows Vista are an improved user interface named AERO (Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open), and a vastly improved search function that will allow searches based on a files author, description, version, and other criteria that is completely lacking in current Windows versions.
Windows Vista will also introduce “Virtual Folders”. These folders can be used to group files based on the same types of criteria as the search function uses or practically any other criteria no matter where the files are located and without moving them.
Taking a page from Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista will bring the “Volume Shadow Copy Service” to the desktop. VSS enables easy recovery of deleted, corrupted, or otherwise lost files. In addition, previous versions of a document can be recovered. While that may sound somewhat unexciting, these features are hugely useful once taken advantage of.
There are many new improvements slated for Windows Vista. To learn more, take a moment to visit the official site at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.mspx or the excellent overview at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Vista
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.