Additionally, Vista will include many other new features. Please note that not all of these features are guaranteed to be in the final Windows Vista release, these are simply features that have been mentioned as likely being part of Windows Vista but may be pulled due to development limitations. Also note that each specific version of Windows Vista will contain a slightly different feature set.
Aero
AERO is an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open.
Vista will include a re-designed user interface, code-named Aero. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows, including new transparencies, animations and eye candy implemented similarly to Mac OS X's Quartz Compositor. As of yet, little or nothing has been shown of Aero in public/leaked builds. However, Microsoft makes it clear that the changes are by no means superficial. An external design firm, Pentagram, are involved in developing the new interface, which includes the new Vista logo developed by a partner at the firm, Robert Brunner, who is known for leading the design team for Apple Computer's PowerBook 100 in 1991. [1]
Search
Vista will feature a new search engine that will allow for instant display of results for a given search. This is in contrast to the search engine of Windows XP, which can take several minutes to display results. The Vista search will allow you to add multiple filters to continually refine your search (Such as "File contains the word 'example'"). There will also be saved searches that will act as Virtual Folders, where opening a folder will execute a specific search automatically and display the results as a normal folder, as is currently offered in Microsoft Outlook 2003. These virtual folders are also distributable via RSS. The search will also feature other usability improvements. The Vista search is actually built on an expanded and improved version of the indexing service for the search in Windows XP. This feature is similar to the MSN Search Toolbar and Apple's Spotlight technology. Searching in Vista will also allow you to search across RSS/ATOM feeds, straight from explorer.
Windows Vista search will go beyond just finding files. Programs developed for Vista can easily add in search to their own programs making them much easier to use in file related tasks. Vista will use also IFilters [2] that are used today by Windows Desktop Search. The IFilter interface can be implemented by software makers so that files created by their applications can be better integrated with search and indexing programs.
Searching in Vista is planned to be refined when WinFS is finally released.
XML Paper Specification (XPS)
XPS was formerly known as "Metro", and is Microsoft's next generation document format, which is based on XML. It is similar in many ways to Adobe Systems' PDF. XPS is intended to allow users to view, print, and archive files without the original program that created them. The name XPS also refers to one of the print paths in Windows Vista. With XPS, documents can remain in the same format from the time they are created to the time they are printed. Microsoft states that XPS will provide better fidelity to the original document by using a consistent format for both screen and print output.
While many analysts suspect XPS is intended to be a "PDF-killer", Microsoft insists that they are not attempting to duplicate all the functionality of the PDF. For example, at the time of this writing, XPS is not planned to have the capabilities for dynamic documents.
XPS is a subset of Windows Presentation Foundation, allowing it to incorporate rich vector-graphic elements in documents. The elements used are taken to a lower level (i.e. described in terms of paths) to allow for portability across platforms. In effect, it consists of XAML files, with necessary fonts, zipped in a package.
Shell
The new shell is a significant change from previous versions of Windows. Combined with the new desktop searching feature, the shell gives users the ability to find and organize their files in new ways. Apart from the typical file organization practice of using folders to contain files, a new collection known as Lists let you organize files from multiple locations in a single place.
A new type of folder known as a Shadow Folder has the ability to revert its entire contents to any arbitrary point in the past.
Additionally, the shell contains significant advancements in the visualization of files on a computer. Previous versions of the Windows Shell would display thumbnails to represent different files on your computer. In Windows Vista the thumbnail concept is taken further by overlaying different imagery to communicate more information about the particular file such as a picture frame around the thumbnail of an image file, or a filmstrip on a video file. Windows Vista helps the user identify the file easily by more intelligently generating the thumbnails. Using algorithmic analysis, images are cropped around their likely subject, and interesting key frames are automatically chosen from a video file. Also, the ability to zoom the thumbnails in the shell greatly increases their usefulness.
Networking
Windows Vista is expected to have a brand new networking stack. A significant change is a more complete implementation of IPv6 which is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. Vista also takes advantage of peer-to-peer technology to provide a new type of domain-like networking setup known as a Castle. Castles make it possible for user credentials to propagate across networked computers without a centralized server, making them more suitable for a home network.
The ability to assist the user in diagnosing a network problem is expected to be a major new networking feature. Using technologies such as UPnP, Windows Vista has a greater awareness of the network topology the host computer is in. With this new network awareness technology it can provide help to the user in fixing network issues or simply provide a graphical view of the perceived network configuration.
Other features and changes
Aero
AERO is an acronym for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open.
Vista will include a re-designed user interface, code-named Aero. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows, including new transparencies, animations and eye candy implemented similarly to Mac OS X's Quartz Compositor. As of yet, little or nothing has been shown of Aero in public/leaked builds. However, Microsoft makes it clear that the changes are by no means superficial. An external design firm, Pentagram, are involved in developing the new interface, which includes the new Vista logo developed by a partner at the firm, Robert Brunner, who is known for leading the design team for Apple Computer's PowerBook 100 in 1991. [1]
Search
Vista will feature a new search engine that will allow for instant display of results for a given search. This is in contrast to the search engine of Windows XP, which can take several minutes to display results. The Vista search will allow you to add multiple filters to continually refine your search (Such as "File contains the word 'example'"). There will also be saved searches that will act as Virtual Folders, where opening a folder will execute a specific search automatically and display the results as a normal folder, as is currently offered in Microsoft Outlook 2003. These virtual folders are also distributable via RSS. The search will also feature other usability improvements. The Vista search is actually built on an expanded and improved version of the indexing service for the search in Windows XP. This feature is similar to the MSN Search Toolbar and Apple's Spotlight technology. Searching in Vista will also allow you to search across RSS/ATOM feeds, straight from explorer.
Windows Vista search will go beyond just finding files. Programs developed for Vista can easily add in search to their own programs making them much easier to use in file related tasks. Vista will use also IFilters [2] that are used today by Windows Desktop Search. The IFilter interface can be implemented by software makers so that files created by their applications can be better integrated with search and indexing programs.
Searching in Vista is planned to be refined when WinFS is finally released.
XML Paper Specification (XPS)
XPS was formerly known as "Metro", and is Microsoft's next generation document format, which is based on XML. It is similar in many ways to Adobe Systems' PDF. XPS is intended to allow users to view, print, and archive files without the original program that created them. The name XPS also refers to one of the print paths in Windows Vista. With XPS, documents can remain in the same format from the time they are created to the time they are printed. Microsoft states that XPS will provide better fidelity to the original document by using a consistent format for both screen and print output.
While many analysts suspect XPS is intended to be a "PDF-killer", Microsoft insists that they are not attempting to duplicate all the functionality of the PDF. For example, at the time of this writing, XPS is not planned to have the capabilities for dynamic documents.
XPS is a subset of Windows Presentation Foundation, allowing it to incorporate rich vector-graphic elements in documents. The elements used are taken to a lower level (i.e. described in terms of paths) to allow for portability across platforms. In effect, it consists of XAML files, with necessary fonts, zipped in a package.
Shell
The new shell is a significant change from previous versions of Windows. Combined with the new desktop searching feature, the shell gives users the ability to find and organize their files in new ways. Apart from the typical file organization practice of using folders to contain files, a new collection known as Lists let you organize files from multiple locations in a single place.
A new type of folder known as a Shadow Folder has the ability to revert its entire contents to any arbitrary point in the past.
Additionally, the shell contains significant advancements in the visualization of files on a computer. Previous versions of the Windows Shell would display thumbnails to represent different files on your computer. In Windows Vista the thumbnail concept is taken further by overlaying different imagery to communicate more information about the particular file such as a picture frame around the thumbnail of an image file, or a filmstrip on a video file. Windows Vista helps the user identify the file easily by more intelligently generating the thumbnails. Using algorithmic analysis, images are cropped around their likely subject, and interesting key frames are automatically chosen from a video file. Also, the ability to zoom the thumbnails in the shell greatly increases their usefulness.
Networking
Windows Vista is expected to have a brand new networking stack. A significant change is a more complete implementation of IPv6 which is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. Vista also takes advantage of peer-to-peer technology to provide a new type of domain-like networking setup known as a Castle. Castles make it possible for user credentials to propagate across networked computers without a centralized server, making them more suitable for a home network.
The ability to assist the user in diagnosing a network problem is expected to be a major new networking feature. Using technologies such as UPnP, Windows Vista has a greater awareness of the network topology the host computer is in. With this new network awareness technology it can provide help to the user in fixing network issues or simply provide a graphical view of the perceived network configuration.
Other features and changes
- Full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors. This feature, present as NX in AMD's K8 processors and as XD (EDB) in [Intel]]'s processors, can flag certain parts of memory as containing data instead of executable code, which prevents overflow errors from resulting in arbitrary code execution. This should not be confused with trusted computing facilities provided by a so-called Fritz-chip.
- Built-in DVD recording capabilities, including Mt. Rainier support.
- A file-based disk imaging technology called XImage, that will install Vista in about 15 minutes rather than the 40 minutes taken by the current file-by-file copying method (XImage has been present since alpha build 4074).
- Native Raw image support (a format used by most professional digital cameras).
- Native, embedded RSS support, with developer API.
- File encryption support superior to that available in Windows XP, which will make it easier and more automatic to prevent unauthorized viewing of files on stolen laptops or hard drives.
- The "My" prefixes will be dropped, so "My Documents" will just be "Documents", "My Computer" will just be "Computer", etc.
- The long "Documents and Settings" folder is now just "Users".
- 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. The optimizations can be made by both windows and third-party software. Tom's Hardware Overview
- File virtualization, a feature that automatically creates private copies of files that an application can use when it does not have permission to access the original files. This facilitates stronger file security and helps applications not written with security in mind to run under stronger restrictions.
- Transactional File Transfers, prevents a half updated set of files from being created during updates for example, which can cause stability problems.
- InfoCard, a user interface to the Identity Metasystem.
- SafeDocs Restore Service, a Windows Backup tool allowing automatic backup of files, recovery of specific files and folders, recovery of specific file types, or recovery all files.
- New Japanese font called Meiryo, supporting the new and modified characters of the JIS X 0213:2004 standard.[3]
- Support of UNIX-style symbolic links. [4]
- Red screen of death in addition to the blue one.
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