This is the Windows Vista update thread. I will be posting regular updates on the new operating system, due out in October 2006. Remember that even though Windows Vista was built on the Windows Server 2003 code base, many applications now running under Windows XP will be compatible. Some applications will meet the same fate as when a user upgraded from Windows Millenium Edition to XP.

Windows Vista's code base is much less complex that XP's, which removes a ton of bug issues. Microsoft threw out all of the old Longhorn Code and started over using the under-pinnings of the highly stable and secure Windows Server 2003. The new GUI, Aero, will give Vista a whole new look... sleek, sharp and sophisticated. No doubt, the hardware requirements will be more than that of a PC running XP. There are several different sources providing different minimum system requirements, but I will confirm the final system requirements in the updates to come.

Beta 2 is due out in a few months, but there will be issues with Beta 1 as we progress.

This thread, as well as others I have posted, are a result of heavily increased competition between software conglomerates and open source communities waging a war over the best computing features, all to attract a loyal following. So far, as I concerned, the battle is head to head, with the "BIG THREE" using the weapons of 'security', 'reliability', 'stability', 'best gaming', 'best productivity' and the largest install base.

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Are you in the Beta 1 testing program? I'm looking forward to playing with the new file system (when it comes out). I think you will see many features cross over to the other OSes as they become popular (i.e. Aero = The new Mac look), but Windows has a huge installed base that will be difficult to overcome.

Unfortunately, I am not in the Beta program, though it would be nice. However, I do know of someone who is, so I periodically get updates from him. Beta 2 will have plenty of differences from Beta 1, and although Microsoft has vowed a stable operating system, some IT professionals say they'll believe it when they see it, weary from a constantly corrupted Windows XP registry.

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It is clear now that all applications will run at the user level in Windows Vista. This is where Linux and Mac have had a head start for quite some time. Some applications currently run at the kernel level in XP, and when those applications crash, it brings the operating system with it. That includes XP's notorious freeze. No one likes a frozen operating system, and Microsoft is finally jumping on the bandwagon with Vista.

Any applications that run at the user level which crash will be closed immediately or will give you the option to restart the application. This leaves the OS and all other running programs uninterrupted. So for now, it seems Bill Gates is nailing down stability and reliability. But the next big question is integration. Previously, some software applications used dynamic link library files from other applications. When you uninstall a program, you are asked whether a certian file should be kept or deleted since "some other programs may not work properly". PC Magazine has indicated all new dll's and drivers, but time will only tell if this gets addressed before the final release.

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I just got my hands on a Vista DVD. I'll have to check it out, but it does look interesting from what I've been reading.

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Too many security issues with Windows. I will be using Linux.

Linux isn't perfect either, but to each his own.

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flyingcowz, what version of linux do you plan to use? MadMonk, please feel free to let us know your experiences with Vista.

It appears that Microsoft will be addressing security issues with Vista by bundling security features in a OneCare subscription package rather than integrating it with the operating system. If this is the case, Microsoft will doom istelf to failure, while Mac OS X and Linux have these features integrated. It should be a no brainer.

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Windows Vista may be ahead of schedule, as was mentioned by Paul Thurrott of Windows IT Pro. The Vista code should be ready by August 31st, giving Microsoft a chance to beat its shipping date by a month or so.

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Microsoft recently held a briefing concerning the Vista OS. The software giant confirmed that the code for Beta 2 will be finished by the end of the year, verifying the Beta 2 release early next year.

To counteract the falling market share of Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft is speeding up IE 7, especially after Mozilla released Firefox 1.5.

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Here is another Vista update...

Microsoft has done away with the 'Start' button in favor of a simple button with the Windows logo. This is in my opinion very similar to the Linux KDE desktop look. All Linux distros have their own logo button that serves as the start menu. In SUSE Linux 10, the start button is the Iguana face, which is the SUSE logo.

It's a very good idea to make that kind of change, especially since the start button has been present since Windows 3.1, and that makes a huge difference to the interface itself.

Microsoft has also rebuilt the networking stack for better security, known to us techies as the OSI model. Each of the seven layers have been redesigned from the ground up that will ease security problems and make Vista Server OS more attractive to corporate customers. So far, the Vista schedule is on track, as Microsoft is pushing for a second-half of 2006 release of the new operating system.

Minimum system requirements include the following:

256 MB of RAM
Video card with 64 MB of RAM
Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon or later CPU
5 GB of Hard Disk Space
DVD-ROM drive or later

Recommended memory and video memory to take full advantage of the Aero GUI:
512 MB of RAM
A video card with 128 of RAM or greater

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I wish I could pipe in here with an intellegent answer, but I dont know all that much about all the different systems. I have Windows xp and do experience some problems with connectivity and security issues, I also get about 20 spam mails a day, and I dont know how to stop that.

"Minimum system requirements include the following:

256 MB of RAM
Video card with 64 MB of RAM
Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon or later CPU
5 GB of Hard Disk Space
DVD-ROM drive or later

Recommended memory and video memory to take full advantage of the Aero GUI:
512 MB of RAM
A video card with 128 of RAM or greater "

Wow the pc requirements have just gone up hugely. I wonder if that 5gb of HD space vista takes up, includes office lol

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Mariner62, what do you use for email? Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Webmail, Other?

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Microsoft Outlook, you know it may be my server???? because when I go to get my mail from the comcast site the spams are there as well.

There is a really good application that scans your incoming mail messages from Outlook, and tosses junk stuff into a junkmail folder and suspects into a suspect folder. I've used this on a corporate level and it works very well. The best part is it learns what you consider junk mail, versus good mail. http://spambayes.sourceforge.net/ You may give it a try.

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Thank you, I will check into that. I think what this thing really needs is a good cleaning and reloading.

PC's need vacation too Nothing like a nice relaxing tune up, and overhaul to get a pc running like a champ again.

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I totally agree, I'll have to take this thing in and have that done.

Can't wait to slap an AMD FX-53 processor in my system. That and a new motherboard with a PCI-Express slot and Corsair DDR400 RAM with heatspreaders.

I need all the muscle I can get to speed up my non-linear video editing and rendering.

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Microsoft is doing away with the Boot.ini text file that controls the boot configuration of Windows operating systems on a PC. Boot.ini will be replaced with a command-line utility called bcdedit.exe. According to Information Weekly, trojans executing scripts is presumably one reason Microsoft is giving boot.ini the boot.

"With Vista's new way of managing the multiboot script — which has been in place since the October CTP — Windows XP's boot.ini file can't control Vista at all. The Vista way of doing this trumps the XP way of doing it. Even if you entirely delete the Vista volume, as I described in the previous paragraph, you'll still see the Vista version of the multiboot screen when you boot your machine, and your Windows XP boot.ini file goes totally ignored.

How is that possible? Simple. Microsoft has placed a new "boot" folder on your root drive. The bcdedit utility stores data in this folder. As of the December CTP, in order to solve the problem of uninstalling a Vista build and returning to the Windows XP default boot configuration, I added a simple step. I started by editing the Windows XP boot.ini file, making XP the default entry (and deleting the Vista entry). Then I simply deleted the c:\boot directory added by Vista, and followed the steps above, deleting, recreating, and reformatting the Vista partition.

Overall, the new way of managing boot script data seems overly complex and not particularly secure. Hey, utility programmers! I see an opportunity for a GUI program that makes the Vista boot data as easy to edit as it was under previous versions of Windows. (Perhaps you could add some encryption too?)" - Information Weekly

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FYI, Microsoft has a site up with Vista screenshots and information:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.aspx

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I won't be upgrading to Vista on any of my existing computer systems at home or work.

However, I will be in the market for a new desktop computer around year's end. Choices are a bit murky. But I am wondering if Windows Vista will support Intel's new Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI). This is an advancement above the clunky BIOS chips on current PC motherboards. The first system on the market using it is Apple's new Intel-based iMac.

In lacking a traditional BIOS chip the new iMac and MacBook Pro will not run any current version of Windows since all of them are BIOS-dependent. Perhaps Vista may be different.

I have quite a lot of money invested in Windows-based graphics applications. But there are certain things in video, motion graphics and multimedia authoring that give the Mac platform the edge. Currently Apple's Final Cut Studio is the best mainstream video authoring suite on the market. To find something equivalent, you have to spend double for one of Avid's offerings on the PC side.

Still, I may stay on the PC side of things depending on the nature of hardware and software offerings by year's end. But it would be nice to have the option of being able to run Windows and the software I already have natively on a Mac while gracefully making a transition to that platform if I decide to do so. It is a lot more difficult to just throw out everything and start over, which is the current situation if you want to switch platforms.

Bobby, Windows Vista will support Extensible Firmware Interface. Microsoft has not commented on Windows XP being able to support Intel's EFI, however it's safe to assume that XP SP2 will not. Another service pack is in the works for Windows XP, to be released around the same time Vista will hit store shelves. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has reassured the tech industry that Mac will not run on PC, but Apple has siad it has no plans to block Windows Vista from running on Macs.

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Bobby, AViD is a beautiful program if you can just get the damned thing to talk to all of your hardware. That was always my problem.

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