Petalite and Windows Vista: Difference between pages

Windows Vista

File:Vista 5270 Desktop.jpg Windows Vista December CTP (Build 5270) Desktop
Developer	Microsoft
OS family	Windows NT
Working state	Beta
Source model	Closed source
Kernel type	Hybrid kernel
Default user interface	Graphical User Interface
License	Microsoft EULA
Official website	Windows Vista

Windows Vista is the next version of Microsoft Windows operating system, superseding Windows XP. It was previously known by its codename Longhorn, after the Longhorn Saloon, a popular bar in Whistler, British Columbia (see the other Microsoft codenames). The name "Vista" was unveiled on July 22, 2005. According to sources, the scheduled release date for Windows Vista is currently July 23, 2006. That release date is only scheduled for PC vendors so that systems will be made Vista-ready before Christmas. The general public availability is projected to be around late September to early October 2006, 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.

Windows Vista has many new features such as an updated graphical user interface called Aero, improved searching technology, a number of new security features, and completely new networking, audio, print, and display engines. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network using Peer-to-peer technology, making it easy to share files, password settings, and digital media between computers and devices. Windows Vista also has an entirely new development API, called WinFX, based on the .NET framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for developers to write high-quality applications than with WinFX's predecessor, Win32.

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).

Windows Server "Longhorn", the successor to Windows Server 2003, is also under development, and will be based on the Windows Vista codebase. It is expected to be released in the first half of 2007.

Overview

Windows Vista was originally expected to ship sometime late in 2003 as a minor step between Windows XP and Windows "Vienna". Gradually, Vista assimilated many important new features and technologies of "Vienna", and so the date of release was pushed back to first quarter of 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".

Vista Beta 1 (build 5112) is currently available to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet 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, eDonkey and various newsgroups.

With build 5219, Microsoft started releasing monthly Community Technical Previews (CTP) to beta testers. Build 5219 was distributed among 2005 PDC attendees, and has been released to Microsoft Beta testers and MSDN subscribers. It is also known as CTP1. Although not enabled by default, this refresh sees the return of the Windows Sidebar, which had been removed from previous builds due to a memory leak, and the introduction of Desktop Gadgets, both of which are part of Microsoft gadgets line of mini-applications. These are similar to Apple's widgets. Microsoft has stated that these Gadgets will be available at www.microsoftgadgets.com, and they will be available for Windows XP as well. It also supported a new version of Windows Media Center code-named "Diamond" (previously only available in Windows XP Media Center Edition).

Although Microsoft has stated that WinFS will not make its wide reaching debut in Windows Vista, users of the 5219 build noticed that WinFS is in fact included in that version. Several Windows 'rumor' 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 two weeks before its intended release, and one week after build 5219 was released, build 5231 was leaked, unfortunately containing a number of critical bugs. On schedule, about two weeks later, Microsoft released 5231, also known as CTP2 or the October 2005 CTP, to MSDN subscribers and Microsoft Beta Testers. This "Ultimate" build introduced the next version of Windows Media Player (version 11).

On November 22, 2005, the Windows Vista TAP Preview (build 5259) was released to TAP members, four days after its originally announced release date of November 18th as a November CTP. Microsoft cancelled the November CTP due to the instability of that build, and decided to release it only to TAP members. Microsoft's plans for releasing additional monthly CTP builds are unclear. The December CTP (build 5270), which was released to testers and MSDN on December 19, is very close to feature complete. The first feature-complete CTP is expected to be the upcoming February CTP, due out February 21.

Following that, Microsoft will release another CTP on April 12th. This will be the next CTP on the Beta 2 track, and will be available through Microsoft's Customer Preview Program — essentially a free download. According to Jim Allchin, the co-President at Microsoft responsible for Windows Vista, there will be no "Release Candidates" as with previous versions of Windows; they will instead continue shipping CTP's until the product is ready.

Editions

It is rumored that Windows Vista will ship in nine editions; all of which except for Starter Edition will be in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It was suggested that all editions of Windows Vista will be printed on a single DVD, but this turned out to be untrue, mainly due to timing constraints. There will, however, be a simple way of upgrading an existing copy of Windows Vista to take advantage of higher-end features. Microsoft has called this "Windows Anytime Upgrade".

Microsoft has not made any official statement on product versions or price points, but some of the product names have appeared in Vista builds and online documentation.

Edition	Description	Availability Restriction
Starter Edition	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.	Emerging markets
Home Basic Edition	Similar to Windows XP Home Edition for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use.
Home Basic Edition N	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.	Europe
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.
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 be bundled with a new version of the IIS (Internet Information Services) web server.
Professional Edition N	Identical to Windows Vista Professional Edition except Windows Media Player is not included, for the same reason as with Home Basic Edition N.	Europe
Small Business Edition	This edition is aimed at small businesses lacking an IT staff. It will have a number of integrated system maintenance features, although not enough to be classified as a full fledged server. It will support backup and shadow copies, integrated fax and scanning utilities, and a special version of Microsoft's upcoming antivirus tool, Windows OneCare Live. It may also come with a pre-paid Microsoft Office Live! subscription.
Enterprise Edition	This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and functions 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.[1]	Software Assurance
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 (code-named WinSAT), DVD ripping capabilities, and possibly supporting 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 for high-end PC users, gamers, multimedia professionals, or PC enthusiasts. This version is "the best choice" for people who want the best in their Windows Vista experience.

Technologies

Microsoft labels the new key technologies in this version of Windows 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).
• Presentation: the 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.
• Communications: the Windows Communication Foundation or WCF, formerly code named Indigo: a service-oriented messaging system which allows programs to interoperate locally or remotely similar to web services.
• Data: 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. Allowing an easier introduction of these technologies to developers and end users may be a reason for backporting them. However, Aero will still be exclusive to Vista. On March 26, 2005, 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.

New features

Further information: Features new to Windows Vista

Windows Vista has a long list of new features, changes, and improvements. Neither the final feature set nor the extent to which the different editions would contain different features has been fully clarified as of January 2006.

End-user features

• Aero: a re-designed user interface, code-named Aero – an acronym (or backronym) 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.
• Search: significantly faster and more thorough search capabilities, similar to what is offered by Windows Desktop Search, Copernic, and Apple Computer's Spotlight. Search boxes have been added to the Start menu and Windows Explorer.
• Windows shell: The new Windows shell is significantly different from Windows XP, offering a new range of organization and search capabilities. 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 favour of a blue Windows "orb".
• Windows Sidebar: A new panel on the right-hand side of the screen where a user can place desktop gadgets.
• 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.
• Windows Mail: A replacement for Outlook Express that includes a new transactional database for better stability and performances in real-time searching and a number of features from Outlook 2003, most notably spam filtering and the right-hand reading pane. [2]
• Windows Update: Software and security updates has 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.
• Vista includes a range of parental controls to limit when accounts may be used, what programs and web sites are blocked, and monitoring capabilities.
• Speech recognition allows Vista to be "trained" to understand a user's voice, to activate commands, and enable voice dictation.
• Internet Explorer is upgraded with support for tabbed browsing, RSS, a search box, a phishing filter, and improved standards support. 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 anything on the user's account. [3]
• User Account Control is a new security technology that allows Windows to operate effectively as a "standard" user, which was often a difficult thing to do in previous versions of Windows. [4]
• Many new fonts, including several designed especially for screen reading, and a new high-quality Japanese font. See Windows Vista typefaces.
• The "My" prefix on folder names has been dropped, and "Documents and Settings" has been renamed to "Users". The "Pictures", "Movies", "Music" etc. folders now reside in the user's main directory, not under "Documents" as in previous versions of Windows.
• 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.
• 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, presumed to be a DVD creation application.
• Windows Collaboration is the replacement for NetMeeting. Users can share applications (or their entire desktop) with other users on the local network, or over the Internet.
• Games: Every game included with Windows has been rewritten to take advantage of Vista's new graphics capabilities. New games include Chess, Mahjong solitaire, and Purble Place.
• Touch-screen support will be included.

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 too much visible to the user.

• Completely rearchitected audio, print, display, and networking stacks.
• Native IPv6 stack, which also works with IPv4, eliminating the need for dual stack network architecture.
• A number of new security measures including "BitLocker" full-drive encryption.

Business technologies

While much of the focus of Vista's new capabilities will be centered on the new user interface, Microsoft is also adding a large number of new features to make a compelling case for businesses still running Windows NT, 2000, and XP desktops.

Features and technologies delayed

• WinFS (short for Windows File Storage Foundation) 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 probably release WinFS in 2007 as an update. Microsoft has been working on this technology since the mid 1990s.
• Due to scheduling issues, the Windows Command Shell (MSH), code-named Monad will not be included in Windows Vista. However, it will likely be available for download by the time Vista is available.

Hardware requirements

System hardware requirements

Microsoft has not released final details of Windows Vista's hardware requirements; however, Microsoft has released some preliminary Windows Vista Ready PC Hardware requirements for those wishing to upgrade to Windows Vista and have the full Aero Glass experience. These requirements apply to Beta 1, and are subject to change.

• CPU: Intel x86-compatible 32-bit or x64-compatible 64-bit microprocessor(s) (Dual Core systems will be supported)

• Motherboard: ACPI-compatible firmware is required.

• Memory: At least 512 megabytes (Encouraged to use ECC memory [5])

• Graphics Card: A DirectX 9–compatible GPU that is capable of supporting Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WVDDM) and has 64 megabytes of VRAM

• Hard Drive space: At least 1.5 gigabytes for installation files, possibly more, depending on the version of Windows Vista

The following requirement is not applicable to beta 1, but has widely been reported to be applicable to the final version.

• Display: Protected high-definition digital content, such as next-generation HD DVD movies, are intentionally displayed fuzzy unless it is viewed on a High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP)-compatible monitor. Very few existing monitors are compliant with this standard.[6][7]

Graphics hardware requirements

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

Aero Glass

Aero Glass is the full Windows Vista desktop experience. Built on the new Desktop Compositing Engine, it adds support for 3D graphics, translucency, animation and other visual effects.

• Intended for mainstream and high-end graphics cards.
• 64 MB of graphics memory recommended for 1024x768, 128 MB for 1600x1200+.
• At least 32 bits per pixel.
• 3D hardware acceleration with capabilities equal to DirectX 9.0c.
• 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 8X or PCI Express 16X 8-lane bus.
• Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WVDDM) Drivers.

It is likely that such a configuration will be an average configuration by Vista's release in 2006. During Vista's early alpha testing stages, the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and the nVidia GeForce FX 5900 were the only cards compatible with Aero Glass. Since, support has been extended to most DirectX 9 Graphics cards. At this point, the nVidia FX family and up, and ATI Radeon 9500 and up are supported.

It is possible to disable the Glass translucency effects to improve performance with slower graphics cards.

Windows Classic

File:Vista-5270-desktop-classic.png

Windows Vista December CTP 5270 in "Windows Classic" mode

The most basic user interface offered by Vista, which is very similar to the appearance of Windows 2000, and Windows XP with its "Luna" visual style deactivated.

• Does not use the new Desktop Compositing Engine; Flip 3D, live window previews, and tearing-free window dragging are therefore not supported.
• Requires Windows XP Display Driver Model (XPDM) or WVDDM drivers.
• Graphics card requirements are the same as Windows 2000.
• An option for corporate deployments and upgrades.

As of build 5270, the Luna visual style does not appear to be present in Windows Vista.

Summary of builds

This is an incomplete list of Windows Vista builds and their compilation dates, and mostly includes information on either officially released or unofficially leaked builds. Some build dates, mostly for official releases, are out of line with the build number (e.g. Windows Vista Beta 1), due to Microsoft branching some builds off the main tree to make additional stability work, taking them more time to compile the final version. While this is intended a summary, there are more complete build lists available elsewhere.

• Milestone 1:
  • Build 3646 (built on 2002-06-12) - The first known build. Labelled "Lab01_N(portbld).020612-1346", so likely a very early porting build.
• Milestone 2:
  • Build 3663 (2002-07-28) - The first known build with leaked screenshots. Incorporated the Plex theme, a new skin running on the XP style engine with only minor enhancements.
• Milestone 3:
  • Build 3683 (2002-09-23) - The first leaked build.
  • Build 3718 (2002-11-19) - The first build to have Aero effects. Programs literally flipped into the taskbar and twisted as you closed them. This was leaked to the Internet a week before build 4074, so it was two years old at this time.
• Milestone 4:
  • Build 4008 (2003-02-19) - Evolutionary release with many small improvements, including a modified Plex theme and a new installer.
• Milestone 5:
  • Build 4015 (2003-03-28) - Introduced a large memory leak related to Windows Sidebar.
  • Build 4029 (2003-06-19) - Windows Explorer was redesigned and the memory leak was fixed partially. This may actually be a Milestone 6 build.
• Milestone 6:
  • Build 4051 (2003-10-01) - Official PDC 2003 build. Not released, but it did leak in October 20, 2005. Introduced a new Slate theme.
  • Build 4053 (2003-10-29) - Minor changes.
• Milestone 7:
  • Build 4074 (2004-04-25) - Official WinHEC 2004 preview build. Introduced a new Jade theme; the last leaked 32-bit XP-based build, and (possibly) the last build containing WinFS.
  • Build 4083 (2004-05-16) - The last leaked 64-bit XP-based build. Both Sidebar and WinFS were dropped.
• Milestone 8 and 9:
  • Build 5000 made in early to mid September 2004 was notable, as a lot of former code was discarded from the Windows Vista codebase, and work restarted basically from scratch on the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 codebase. Some features have later been reintroduced again, such as the popular Windows sidebar. Many former Windows Longhorn features will never see the light again in the final version of Windows Vista though, and even Microsoft's actual vision with Vista changed, in many ways to be less ambitious, as testers had started to see already with WinFS being dropped. The huge loss of features in the builds closely following this change, led to an OS closely reminding testers of Windows XP again. These turn of events led well-known Windows enthusiast Paul Thurrott to say the Longhorn development process had the "makings of a train wreck" [8], something from which he now says the Vista development process has recovered in the more recent builds.
  • Build 5048 (2005-04-01) - Official WinHEC 2005 preview build. Introduced a new Aero Glass interface.
• Beta 1 fork:
  • Build 5203 (2005-07-02) - Evolutionary release with many small improvements (shown-off before Beta 1).
  • Build 5112 (2005-07-20) - Windows Vista Beta 1. Released July 27, 2005. [9]
  • Build 5219 (2005-08-30) - Windows Vista September CTP. Released September 13, 2005. The first Community Tech Preview build, as part of their new more open beta initiative for monthly "snapshot" builds, with less stability work made to them than actual betas. This was also the first public "Ultimate Edition" build, including Smart Fetch, and had a new version of the Windows sidebar.
  • Build 5231 (2005-10-04) - Windows Vista October CTP. Released October 17, 2005. Two versions are known, a leaked unofficial Winmain build (built at 2005-09-12) and a released IDX03 version with additional stability work made to it. [10]
• Beta 2 fork:
  • Build 5259 (2005-11-17) - Windows Vista TAP Preview. Released November 22, 2005. The first build in the Beta 2 fork, Microsoft refused to release this build to CTP because it was not stable. Sidebar temporarily removed, a few new UI changes, including the ability to change the color and clarity of the UI, Windows Antispyware (soon to be "Windows Defender") integrated, new Windows Mail. A specific, small group of partners received access to 5259. It is an IDW build and therefore had not gone through the CTP testing process. There was not a November CTP due to the instability of this build.
  • Build 5268 (2005-12-05) - Windows Vista OEM Preview. An OEM WinMain build (released to some partners). Windows Antispyware is now Windows Defender, and IE7 has a new icon/logo. There are some minor UI changes.
  • Build 5270 (2005-12-14) - Windows Vista December CTP. Released December 19, 2005. This build is said to be nearly feature complete, because Microsoft was planning to lock Windows Vista features by the end of December. Since then, the feature complete build was delayed until late January, 2006. [11]
  • Build 5276 (2005-12-23) - This build was released internally and previewed at CES 2006.
  • Build 5300 (2006-01-27) - Jim Allchin demonstrated the PC-to-PC synchronization functionality in this version to Paul Thurrott. This is the first version that should be feature complete.
  • Windows Vista February CTP - planned for release on February 21, 2006

See also

• Features new to Windows Vista
• Windows Firewall
• Microsoft Office 12, Microsoft's next release due from its Office range. Will ship simultaneously or almost simultaneously to Windows Vista.
• Sidebar

External links

Microsoft

• Microsoft - 'Microsoft Windows Vista homepage'
• Microsoft - 'Microsoft Beta Website'
• Microsoft PDC05 - 'Archive of PDC 2005 Presentations'
• Microsoft - 'Windows Longhorn Driver Development (and hardware device support)'
  • Microsoft Technet - 'Windows Vista Resources for IT Professionals'
• MSDN - 'Documentation for Microsoft WinFX SDK (new Vista APIs)'
• MSDN - 'Microsoft Vista Developer Center'
• WHDC - 'Hardware Design for Windows Vista - News for Driver Developers and Hardware Engineers'

Reviews and screenshots

• BentUser - 'Early Windows XP and Vista b5270 Side-by-Side'
• Vista Lounge - 'Blog of Complete Vista Experience from original beta installations to present. Includes Screen Shots, Image Gallery and Video clips of Media Center Features (review by Jef Gray for TwistedVista.com)'
• Microsoft 'Windows Vista Virtual Pressroom'
• MSNBC - 'Early look at Windows Vista shows promise (review by Matthew Fordahl for the Associated Press)'
• PC Magazine[12] [13] [14] - 'Hands On with Windows Vista Beta 1, Build 5231, and Build 5270 (review of Vista Beta 1 by Michael J. Miller)'
• GameSpot - 'Windows Vista features overview, multi-part series'

Critical articles

• 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'

Communities and blogs

• channel9.msdn.com - All the Vista videos on Channel9
• Bink.nu - 'Vista related news, blog, and forums'
• LonghornBlogs.com - 'Non-corporate, community-based initiative of Microsoft's next version of Windows'
• MsBetas.org - 'Online community of official and unofficial Microsoft beta testers"
• WinVistaSecrets.com - 'Windows Vista Online community"
• Windows Vista Geeks - A new blog published in January 2006 that is starting to get involved with Windows Vista and other new products by Microsoft like Office 12 and IE7
• Windows Connected - Windows Vista community featuring original content and interviews with various Vista product teams.