WBJ Talking Tech:
Are You Ready For Vista?
November, 2006
By
Have you heard? Windows Vista is coming (yes, perhaps a bit late, but coming nonetheless). For those that may have missed the early media hype and Microsoft’s countless press releases, Vista is the “next-generation” desktop operating system that will replace Windows XP. You might also have seen a little sticker on newer PCs denoting them as “Windows Vista Capable”. However, those words might not mean as much as you’d think.
First, a little background. As the dominant desktop operating system vendor, Microsoft sets the standard for software that is used on over 95% of the PCs in the world today. Along with that comes tremendous responsibility, as well as a significant source of their revenue. As is the nature with most software, the technology life cycle (as well as need for additional revenue) dictates that a vendor introduce a new release of their software on a semi-regular basis. Given that Windows’ last major release was years ago and much has changed since then (particularly with respect to internet usage), it has been long overdue for an upgrade. Originally slated to release in early 2006, Microsoft is now promising delivery of Vista to the consumer market in January, 2007. With that in mind, here’s a little primer on what to expect from Windows Vista:
What are the most significant feature changes?
Security, security, security. Windows XP and Internet Explorer have been routinely criticized for their sometimes glaring security vulnerabilities. With Windows Vista, Microsoft has clearly placed security as priority number one. While not all of the changes will be apparent to the casual user, there are a few that will be obvious. The first of these is referred to as “User Account Control” (UAC). Currently, most users access their PCs as administrators, giving them full access to all Windows features, but also creating security issues. With Vista, UAC will allow you to logon as a “standard” user, but perform certain tasks as the administrator, when prompted by Windows. In addition, Vista will include an antispyware utility and phishing and spoofing filters built into Internet Explorer 7 to help protect you from being directed to malicious websites.
In addition to security enhancements, Vista will include a number of new features. Searching across your entire computer will be made much easier with a greatly enhanced and more intuitive search tool. The user interface has also changed and, in most versions of Vista, includes a slick new component referred to as “Aero”. This feature gives each window a transparent, glass-like appearance so you can more easily see other parts of your desktop in the background.
What hardware will be required to run Vista?
As you might suspect, all of these features will require increase computing horse-power to operative effectively. Chances are the PC you’re using now won’t adequately run Vista. Even those PC’s denoted as “Vista Capable” will likely lag if upgraded to Vista. While Microsoft has published “minimum hardware requirements” for Vista, the reality is that those minimums are hardly adequate.
While a “Vista Capable” PCs will run at least the entry level of Vista (to be called “Home Basic”), it may not be able to take full advantage of the new graphical “Aero” interface or other enhanced features. For those planning to upgrade to Vista, plan to purchase the best PC that you can afford with a quality graphics card (that meets Aero’s requirements) and least 1 gb of RAM
Should I upgrade?
If your PC is more than six months old, upgrading to Vista is probably not a good choice as your performance will suffer. Regardless of the hardware, operating systems do best when they are installed from scratch. In-place upgrades are time consuming and often have undesirable results. Another consideration – unless you like to be on the “bleeding edge”, it makes sense to wait to upgrade until the dust has settled and the first service pack has been released.
If you’re buying a new PC, the choice isn’t as clear. In fact, if you wait until January, the choice will likely be made for you. Most business and consumer PCs that ship beginning in 2007 will have Vista pre-installed. While this means you’ll have to deal with the inevitable first release issues, you’ll at least be assured of getting a PC with a clean installation of Vista and hardware that is well matched with the installed version of Vista.
How much will it cost?
That depends… never able to keep things simple, Microsoft has promised at least five (yes, five!) different versions of Vista (more if you count versions that will be available for the European market and other countries). In between “Home Basic” for entry-level PCs and Vista “Ultimate” for those that want it all, will be “Home Premium” editions and Business and Enterprise versions. Earlier this year, Amazon listed these products for pre-order at prices that ranged from $100 - $399. Amazon has since removed prices and stopped taking pre-orders (perhaps because Microsoft is still not committed to prices or a release schedule).
And if you bought a “Vista Capable” PC… will that entitle you to a complimentary upgrade? Sorry, again the answer is no. All that “Vista Capable” sticker really means is that your PC meets at least the minimum hardware requirements for the entry level version of Vista. If you want to use Vista, you’ll still need to purchase an upgrade like everyone else.
Anything else I should know?
Microsoft is releasing a whole slew of products at nearly the same time and it can be easy to get them confused. Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is the latest version of Microsoft’s web browser. Although it will be included with Windows Vista, it will also work with other versions of Windows. In fact, by the time you read this, Microsoft is scheduled to have made IE7 available (for free) to all Windows XP users.
Similarly, Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc) is also being release within the next few months. As with IE7, you can use your existing version of Windows to run Office 2007; Vista is not required.
If all of this seems overwhelming to you, talk with an IT consultant or wait and see what others have to say about Vista as it becomes more widely available. Microsoft’s latest product releases promise to make 2007 a busy year, especially for those of us who are responsible for managing computer networks. Even if all you do is use PCs for basic tasks, expect to see some significant changes in the year ahead.