Windows Vista

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Windows Vista
Part of the Microsoft Windows family
Screenshot of Windows Vista Ultimate
Developer
Microsoft
Website Official website
Releases
Release date RTM: November 8, 2006;
Vol. Lic.: November 30, 2006;
Retail: January 30, 2007 (info)
Current version 6.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) (Build 6001)
(6001.18063.080425-1930[1]) (
2008-04-25; 347 days ago) (info)
Preview version 6002.16670.090130-1715 [2]) (2009-01-30; 67 days ago) (info)
Source model Closed source / Shared source[3]
License MS-EULA
Kernel type Hybrid
Update method Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, SCCM
Platform support x86, x86-64
Support status
Mainstream support
Further reading

Windows Vista is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename "Longhorn."[4] 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,[5] and was made available for purchase and download from Microsoft's website.[6] The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems.

Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and 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 to simplify sharing files and digital media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for software 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.[7] 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.[8]

While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted its high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista had seen initial adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.[9] However, as of January 2009, it has been announced that Vista usage had surpassed Microsoft’s pre-launch two-year-out expectations of achieving 200 million users by an estimated 150 million.[10][11][12]

Contents

[edit] Development

Main article: Development of Windows Vista
The Windows Vista Codename (Longhorn) logo

Microsoft began work on Windows Vista, known at the time by its codename Longhorn in May 2001,[13] five months before the release of Windows XP. It was originally expected to ship sometime late in 2003 as a minor step between Windows XP and Blackcomb, which was planned to be the company's next major operating system release. 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 to build updates to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to strengthen security.[8] Faced with ongoing delays and concerns about feature creep, Microsoft announced on August 27, 2004 that it had revised its plans. The original Longhorn, based on the Windows XP source code, was scrapped, and Longhorn's development started anew, building on the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 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.[14]

After Longhorn was named Windows Vista in July 2005, an unprecedented beta-test program was started, involving hundreds of thousands of volunteers and companies. In September of that year, 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.[15]

While Microsoft had originally hoped to have the consumer versions of 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. With the November 8, 2006 announcement of the completion of Windows Vista, Microsoft's lengthiest operating system development project came to an end.[16] Windows Vista ended up costing Microsoft 6 billion dollars to develop.[17]

[edit] New or changed features

Main article: Features new to Windows Vista

[edit] Major end-user additions

Windows Explorer in Windows Vista
  • Windows Aero: The new hardware-based graphical user interface is named Windows Aero, which Jim Allchin has said is an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open.[18] The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than those of previous Windows versions, including new transparencies, live thumbnails, live icons, and animations, thus providing a new level of eye candy.
  • 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.
  • 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 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.
  • Windows Mail: A replacement for Outlook Express that includes a new mail store that improves stability,[19] 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.[20]
  • Games and Games Explorer: The original games included with Windows have been revamped to showcase Vista's graphics capabilities. The new games that are bundled with Windows Vista are Chess Titans, Mahjong Titans and Purble Place. A new Games Explorer folder contains shortcuts and information to all games on the user's computer.
  • 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.
  • 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.[21]
  • Windows Ultimate Extras: The Ultimate edition of Windows Vista provides, via Windows Update, access to some additional features. These are a collection of additional MUI language packs, Texas Hold 'Em (a Poker game) and Microsoft Tinker (a strategy game where the character is a robot), BitLocker and EFS enhancements which allow users to back up their encryption key online in a Digital Locker, and Windows Dreamscene, which enables the use of videos in MPEG and WMV formats as the desktop background. On April 21, 2008, Microsoft launched two more Ultimate Extras; three new Windows sound schemes, and a content pack for Dreamscene. Various DreamScene Content Packs have been released since the final version of DreamScene was released.

[edit] Underlying core technologies

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Main article: Technical features new to Windows Vista

Windows Vista is intended to be a technology-based release, to provide a base to include advanced technologies, many of which are related to how the system functions and thus not readily visible to the user. An example is the complete restructuring of the architecture of the audio, print, display, and networking subsystems; although the results of this work are 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) 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 be spun down when not in use. Another new technology called SuperFetch utilizes machine learning techniques to analyze usage patterns to allow Windows Vista to make intelligent decisions about what content should be present in system memory at any given time. It uses almost all the extra RAM as disk cache. In conjunction with SuperFetch, an automatic built-in Windows Disk Defragmenter makes sure that those applications are strategically positioned on the hard disk where they can be loaded into memory very quickly with the least amount of physical movement of the hard disk’s read-write heads. [22]

As part of the redesign of the networking architecture, IPv6 has been fully incorporated into the operating system and a number of performance improvements have been introduced, such as TCP window scaling. Earlier versions of Windows typically needed third-party wireless networking software to work properly, but this is not the case with Vista, which includes more comprehensive wireless networking support.

For graphics, Vista introduces a new Windows Display Driver Model and a major revision 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. Direct3D 10, developed in conjunction with major graphics card 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.[23]

At the core of the operating system, many improvements have been made to the memory manager, process scheduler and I/O scheduler. The Heap Manager implements additional features such as integrity checking in order to improve robustness and defend against buffer overflow security exploits, although this comes at the price of breaking backward compatibility with some legacy applications.[24] A Kernel Transaction Manager has been implemented that enables applications to work with the file system and Registry using atomic transaction operations.

[edit] Security-related technologies

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Main article: Security and safety features new to Windows Vista
A User Account Control consent dialog

Improved security was a primary design goal for Vista.[7] 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, or UAC is perhaps the most significant and visible of these changes. UAC is a security technology that makes it possible for users to use their computer with fewer privileges by default, with a view to stopping malware from making unauthorized changes to the system. 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—such as installing/uninstalling software or making system-wide configuration changes—is performed, the user is 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. Regular use of the computer such as running programs, printing, or surfing the Internet does not trigger UAC prompts. User Account Control asks for credentials in a Secure Desktop mode, in which the entire screen is dimmed, and only the authorization window is active and highlighted. The intent is to stop a malicious program misleading the user by interfering with the authorization window, and to hint to the user the importance of the prompt.

Internet Explorer 7's new security and safety features include a phishing filter and integration with system-wide parental controls. For added security, ActiveX controls are not allowed to automatically run by default. Internet Explorer also operates in a protected mode, which operates with lower permissions than the user and runs in isolation from other applications in the operating system, preventing it from accessing or modifying anything besides the Temporary Internet Files directory.[25]

Microsoft's anti-spyware product, Windows Defender, has been incorporated into Windows Vista, providing protection against various types of malware. Changes to system configuration settings (such as new auto-starting applications) may be blocked unless the user gives consent.

Whereas prior releases of Windows supported per-file encryption using Encrypting File System, the Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Vista include BitLocker Drive Encryption which can protect entire volumes, notably the operating system volume. However, BitLocker requires approximately a 1.5-gigabyte partition to be permanently unencrypted and to contain system files in order for Windows to boot. In normal circumstances, the only time this partition is accessed is when the computer is booting, or when there is a Windows update that changes files in this area which is a legitimate reason to access this section of the drive. The area can be a potential security issue, because a hexadecimal editor (such as dskprobe.exe), or malicious software running with administrator and/or kernel level privileges would be able to write to this "Ghost Partition" and allow a piece of malicious software to compromise the system, or disable the encryption. BitLocker can work in conjunction with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) cryptoprocessor (version 1.2) embedded in a computer's motherboard, or with a USB key.[26]

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.

The 64-bit versions of Vista require that all device drivers be digitally signed, so that the creator of the driver can be identified.[27]

[edit] Removed 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, NTBackup, 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 also been removed, along with support for older motherboard technologies like the EISA bus, APM and Game port support (though on the 32-bit version game port support can be enabled by applying an older driver).[28] IP over FireWire (TCP/IP over IEEE 1394) has been removed as well.[29] The IPX/SPX Protocol has also been removed, although it can be enabled by a third-party plugin.[30]

[edit] Editions

Main article: Windows Vista editions

Windows Vista ships in six editions.[31] These 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 developed countries. Windows Vista Starter edition 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, and contains applications for creating and using multimedia. The home editions cannot join a Windows Server domain. For businesses, there are two editions. Windows Vista Business is specifically designed for small and medium-sized businesses,[32] while Windows Vista Enterprise[33] is only available to customers participating in Microsoft's Software Assurance program. Windows Vista Ultimate contains the complete feature-set of both the Home and Business (combination of both Home Premium and Enterprise) editions, as well as a set of Windows Ultimate Extras, and is aimed at enthusiasts.

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 are also available. These come without Windows Media Player, due to EU sanctions brought against Microsoft for violating anti-trust laws. Similar sanctions exist in South Korea.

[edit] Visual styles

A comparison of the five different visual styles available with Vista.

Windows Vista has five distinct visual styles:

  • Windows Aero: Vista's premier visual style, Windows Aero, 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 higher-end video cards. As such, Windows Aero has significantly higher hardware requirements than its predecessors.[34] Windows Aero (including Windows Flip 3D) is not included in the Starter and Home Basic editions.
  • Windows Vista Standard: This style 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 mode is only included in the Windows Vista Home Basic Edition as a replacement of Windows Aero style.
  • Windows Vista Basic: This style has aspects that are similar to Windows XP's visual style with the addition of subtle animations. The Basic mode does not require the new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) for display drivers, and has similar video card requirements to Windows XP. For computers with video cards that are not powerful enough to support Windows Aero, this is the default graphics mode.
  • Windows Standard: Windows Standard resembles Windows 2000 and Me. As with previous versions of Windows, this visual style supports color schemes, which are collections of color settings.
  • Windows Classic: Windows Classic resembles the default color scheme of Windows 95 and 98. It is similar to Windows Standard, but uses darker gray tones and a different font by default.

[edit] Hardware requirements

Computers capable of running Windows Vista are classified as Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready.[35] A Vista Capable or equivalent PC is 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 can take advantage of Vista's higher-end features.[36]

Windows Vista system requirements[34]
Vista Capable Vista Premium Ready
Processor 800 MHz[37] 1 GHz
Memory 512 MB 1 GB
Graphics card DirectX 9.0 capable DirectX 9.0 capable and WDDM 1.0 driver support
Graphics memory 32 MB 128 MB
HDD capacity 20 GB 40 GB
HDD free space 15 GB
Other drives DVD-ROM

[edit] Service packs

Microsoft occasionally releases service packs for its Windows operating systems to fix bugs and add new features.

[edit] Service Pack 1

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released on February 4, 2008 alongside Windows Server 2008 to OEM partners, after a five-month beta test period. The initial deployment of the service pack caused a number of machines to continually reboot, rendering the machines unusable.[38] This caused Microsoft to temporarily suspend automatic deployment of the service pack until the problem was resolved. The synchronized release date of the two operating systems reflected the merging of the workstation and server kernels back into a single code base for the first time since Windows 2000. MSDN subscribers were able to download SP1 on February 15, 2008. SP1 became available to current Windows Vista users on Windows Update and the Download Center on March 18, 2008.[39][40][41] One area that has improved with SP1 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,[42] and Windows Disk Defragmenter.[43] 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 the exFAT file system,[40] 802.11n wireless networking,[44] IPv6 over VPN connections,[44] and the Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol. 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.

An update to DirectX 10, named DirectX 10.1,[40] makes mandatory several features which were previously optional in Direct3D 10 hardware. Graphics cards will be required to support DirectX 10.1.[45] SP1 includes a kernel (6001) that matches the version shipped with Windows Server 2008.

[edit] Service Pack 2

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

Service Pack 2 is currently in final Release Candidate testing stages.[46] Initial testing releases were released to Technology Adoption Program customers on 29 October 2008; a public "Customer Preview Program" release followed on December 4.[47]

In addition to a number of security and other fixes, the following new features will also be added:[48][49]

  • Windows Search 4.0 (currently available for SP1 systems as a standalone update)
  • Feature Pack for Wireless adds support for Bluetooth 2.1
  • Windows Feature Pack for Storage enables the data recording onto Blu-ray media
  • Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi configuration
  • Improved support for resuming with active Wi-Fi connections
  • Enables the exFAT file system to support UTC timestamps, which allows correct file synchronization across time zones
  • Support for ICCD/CCID smart cards
  • Support for VIA 64-bit CPUs
  • Improves audio and video performance for streaming high-definition content
  • Improves Windows Media Center (WMC) in content protection for TV[50]
  • Provides an improved power management policy that is up to 10% more efficient than the original in some configurations

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 will share a single service pack binary, reflecting the fact that their code bases were joined with the release of Server 2008.[48]

Unlike prior Service Pack releases of both Windows Vista and Windows XP, Microsoft has decided to release Service Pack 2 in the form of an OEM Preinstallation Kit to OEM partners 60 days after the date of Windows 7 General Availability.[51]

[edit] Reception

Initially it was thought that the adoption of Vista has been generally low, due to largely poor reviews and harsh criticism, but a later Gartner research report predicted that Vista business adoption in 2008 will actually beat that of XP during the same time frame (21.3% vs. 16.9%)[52] while IDC had indicated that the launch of Windows Server 2008 served as a catalyst for the stronger adoption rates.[53][54] As of January 2009, Forrester Research had indicated that almost one third of North American and European corporations have started deploying Vista.[55] Earlier, PC World rated it as the biggest tech disappointment of 2007,[56] and it was rated by InfoWorld as #2 of Tech's all-time 25 flops.[57] The internet-usage market share for Windows Vista, taking the latest statistic, was 22.48% as of January 2009.[58] This figure combined with World Internet Users and Population Stats yields a user base of roughly 350 million[12] which exceeded Microsoft's two-year post launch expectations by 150 million.[10]

Within its first month, 20 million copies of Vista were sold, double the amount of Windows XP sales within its first month in October 2001, five years earlier.[59] However, PC World indicated that the visitor base of Windows Vista was increasing at a much slower rate than what was originally predicted compared to that of Windows XP. [60] Due to Vista's relatively low adoption rates and continued demand for Windows XP, Microsoft continued to sell Windows XP until June 30, 2008 instead of the previously planned date of January 31, 2008.[61] There were reports of Vista users downgrading their operating systems, as well as reports of businesses planning to skip Vista.[62] A study conducted by ChangeWave in March 2008 showed that the percentage of corporate users who are "very satisfied" with Vista was dramatically lower than other operating systems, with Vista at 8%, compared to the 40% who said they were "very satisfied" with Windows XP.[9]

Amid the negative reviews and reception, there have also been significant positive reviews of Vista, most notable among PC gamers and the advantages brought about with DirectX 10, which allows for better gaming performance and more realistic graphics, as well as support for many new capabilities brought about in new video cards and GPUs.[63] However, many DirectX 9 games showed a drop in frame rate compared to that experienced in Windows XP.[64][65][66] These results were largely the consequence of Vista's immature graphics processing units drivers, and higher system requirements for Vista itself.[67][68] Recent benchmarks suggest that, as of mid-2008, Vista SP1 is now on par with Windows XP in terms of game performance.[69] A February 2009 survey by Valve Corporation indicated that 36.01% of gamers are running Windows Vista (26.49% 32-bit, 9.52% 64-bit).[70]

[edit] Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Windows Vista

Windows Vista has received a number of negative assessments. Criticism targets include protracted development time, more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media,[71] and the usability of the new User Account Control security technology. Some concerns have been raised[who?] about many PCs meeting "Vista Premium Ready" hardware requirements and Vista's pricing.

[edit] Hardware requirements

While Microsoft claimed "nearly all PCs on the market today [2005] will run Windows Vista",[72] the higher requirements of some of the "premium" features, such as the Aero interface, have impacted many upgraders. According to the UK newspaper The Times in May 2006, the full set of features "would be available to less than 5 percent of Britain’s PC market", however, this prediction was made several months before Vista was released.[73] This continuing lack of clarity eventually led to a class action against Microsoft as people found themselves with new computers that were unable to use the new software to its full potential despite the assurance of "Vista Capable" designations.[74] The court case has made public internal Microsoft communications that indicate that senior executives have also had difficulty with this issue. For example, his laptop's lack of an appropriate graphics chip so hobbled Vista features that vice president Mike Nash (Corporate Vice President, Windows Product Management) commented "I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine."[75]

[edit] Cost

The cost of Windows Vista has 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.[76] 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."[77]

[edit] Digital rights management

Windows Vista supports additional forms of digital rights management protections. One aspect of this is the Protected Video Path, which is designed so that "premium content" from HD DVD or Blu-ray Discs may mandate that the connections between PC components be encrypted.[78] 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 (the "tilt bit" being a particular worry; if triggered, the entire graphic subsystem performs a reset) and vulnerable to denial-of-service attacks.[79] However despite several requests [80] for evidence supporting such claims Peter Gutman has never supported his claims with any researched evidence. 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;[81][82] 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).[83]

[edit] User Account Control

Although UAC is considered an important part of Vista's security infrastructure, as it blocks software from silently gaining administrator privileges without the user's knowledge, it has been widely criticized for being an unnecessary annoyance. This has led many Vista UAC users to consider turning it off or simply clicking a button without reading the prompt.[84] Responding to this criticism, Microsoft altered the implementation to reduce the number of prompts with SP1.[85]

On April 2, 2009 The Texas state senate agreed to ban Windows Vista. Senator Juan Hinojosa said shortly after "And the XP operating system is working very well." A Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to ComputerWorld, "We're surprised that the Texas Senate Finance Committee adopted a rider which, in effect, singles out a specific corporation and product for unequal treatment. We hope as the budget continues to go through the process, this language will be removed."

[edit] The Mojave Experiment

Main article: The Mojave Experiment

In July 2008, Microsoft introduced a web-based advertising campaign called the "Mojave Experiment", that depicts a group of people who are asked to evaluate the newest operating system from Microsoft, calling it Windows 'Mojave'. Participants are first asked about Vista, if they have used it, and their overall satisfaction with Vista on a scale of 1 to 10. They are then shown a demo of some of the new operating system's features, and asked their opinion and satisfaction with it on the same 1 to 10 scale. After respondents rate "Mojave", they are then told that they were really shown a demo of Windows Vista. The object was to test "A theory: If people could see Windows Vista firsthand, they would like it." According to Microsoft, the initial sample of respondents rated Vista an average of 4.4 out of 10, and Mojave received an average of 8.5, with no respondents rating Mojave lower than they originally rated Windows Vista before the demo.[86][87]

[edit] See also

Microsoft portal

[edit] References

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  2. ^ "Download Windows Vista and Server 2008 SP2 RC (KB948465 Build 6002.16670.090130-1715 v.286)". http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/02/21/download-windows-vista-and-server-2008-sp2-rc-kb948465-build-600216670090130-1715-v286/. Retrieved on 2009-02-21. 
  3. ^ "Windows Licensing Programs". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/windowslp.mspx. Retrieved on 2008-09-21. 
  4. ^ Microsoft (2005-07-22). "Media Alert: Microsoft Unveils Official Name for "Longhorn" and Sets Date for First Beta Targeted at Developers and IT Professionals". http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/jul05/07-22LHMA.mspx. Retrieved on 2007-01-02. 
  5. ^ "Microsoft Launches Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System to Consumers". PressCentre. Microsoft New Zealand. 2007-01-30. http://www.microsoft.com/nz/presscentre/articles/2007/jan07_windowsvistalaunch.mspx. Retrieved on 2007-01-30. 
  6. ^ "Windows Marketplace: Windows Vista Upgrade Editions: Get Started". Windows Marketplace. Microsoft. 2007-01-30. http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/content.aspx?ctId=390&tabid=1. Retrieved on 2007-01-30. 
  7. ^ a b Ricadela, Aaron (2006-02-14). "Gates Says Security Is Job One For Vista". InformationWeek News. http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=180201580. Retrieved on 2006-08-13. 
  8. ^ a b Ricciuti, Mike (2004-06-01). "Microsoft: Longhorn beta unlikely this year". CNet News. http://news.com.com/Microsoft+Longhorn+beta+unlikely+this+year/2100-1008_3-5183385.html. Retrieved on 2006-08-12. 
  9. ^ a b Leopard drubs Vista in corporate satisfaction
  10. ^ a b Thurrott, Paul (2006-09-16). "Allchin: 200 Million Windows Vista Users in 24 Months". WindowsITPro. http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/93552/allchin-200-million-windows-vista-users-in-24-months.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-03. 
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  19. ^ Windows Mail Features Explained, See Reliability Section Windows Mail.
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  25. ^ 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.
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