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The Vision 
This version, aimed at developers & IT Solution providers, lacks many features that the final version, still over a year away will have. But it has all the basic foundations of the OS and displays Microsoft’s new emphasis on making a system that will be more stable and secure, as well as giving users greater clarity as regards their files. This “clear vision” is what Microsoft says is reflected in the Vista name. The early version of Beta1 we tested shows a focus on the basic structure of the OS- in particular, a lot of changes to the things that users don’t think about that often but that turn out to be very important. When Microsoft discuss the goals for Windows Vista they talk first about efficiency and reducing the number of defects; then about increasing the “confidence” people have in their PCs (including better security); and lastly about improving the user experience, such as changes to the user interface.
A Promising debut
We installed the OS on a standard 2-GHz PC with 512MB of RAM that formerly ran Microsoft XP professional. The installation process was the simplest of all the Windows Operating Systems and certainly one of the quickest. All that is required to complete the install is the Windows Key, type of Install(standard,custom) and Computer name, the rest is done for you. Our first impression was that with Vista, the response time to operate and activate programs seemed quicker than XP.
Looking at the overall interface, it is much easier and more intuitive to navigate. The huge cluttered mess of most people’s desktops could become a thing of the past. You no longer have to create dedicated folders to hold your files. You can simply group related files together in virtual folders regardless of where the file exists on your hard drive.
For many users this idea of virtual folders may be confusing, but after a short amount of time using these, the concept is very easy to understand.
What else is New?
On top of this deep change are new features that are much more visible to users. The OS has a new Search panel that can—quickly, finally!—search files by author, date, keyword, file types, text within, or other kinds of metadata. Of course, there are plenty of search utilities, but the goal here is to make the Search panel of the operating system accessible by any application. Innovations, such as "virtual folders," could change the way we organize our information.
The full user interface isn't finished, but Beta 1 shows the "Aero" interface, which looks more modern than the traditional XP interface and takes advantage of the new "Avalon" graphics. Among the innovative new options here is one that lets you see your documents stacked together and to see thumbnails of your documents. PCs that have the appropriate graphics hardware will gain visual effects that simplify use; many of these involve transparent icons in a system known as "Glass." Running Aero Glass will require moderately beefy hardware, including a 3D graphics accelerator that supports DirextX9.
Privileges, and which programs, services, and users get to execute have been rethought, You’ll see a big push toward User Account Protection, meaning that users normally won’t run with Administrator privileges or need to. In fact, administrators will also run with limited privileges most of the time. In addition Microsoft promises, Internet Explorer 7 in Vista will run in an even more locked-down state. All these things mean that spyware will no longer find such easy entry.
Internet Explorer 7 is improved, with tabbed browsing, and a new display engine. Several other enhancements to IE 7 will be issued in the Beta2 release.
Other new elements in the OS include mainstream support for 64-bit computing (though we tested the 32-bit version), a number of new connectivity and mobility options, and tools designed to help large organizations deploy and manage Vista with greater ease.
At present, many of the new user "experiences" are absent, waiting Beta 2. These include a new Windows Media Player, new photo-management features, updates to the Media Center and Tablet PC software, and a lot of the final visual look.
The Upside
In Windows Vista, Microsoft borrows a lot of clever ideas from its competitors.
Borrowing from Linux, Windows Vista runs all users at a Standard user level and creates a separate Administrator login, so even if you are the only user of the OS, you will still need to log in with Administrator privileges to do high-level work, such as changing the status of hidden or read-only files. Standard users should still be able to install and uninstall applications, provided they know the password for Administrator privileges. This extra effort should minimize the occurrence of spyware installing without your knowledge and remote-access exploits from taking control of your computer.
Borrowing from Apple Mac Tiger OS 10.4, Windows Vista incorporates enhanced desktop search features throughout its new OS. You can search from the Windows Start menu or within applications, and you can also search within the new version of Internet Explorer 7. Also borrowing from Apple, Windows Vista does away with traditional file folders and allows you to "stack" related documents together. These virtual files can exist independent of where the actual file resides on the hard drive.
We especially like the fact that you can both see and alter a file's metadata whenever you open or save a document. The metadata is important because Windows Vista uses metadata to index files. Better yet, say you want to drag and drop a file from one stack (pictures of France) to another (pictures of me); the metadata is automatically changed once the file is relocated.
Addressing its own past mistakes, Microsoft has changed the way some drivers operate within the new OS. For example, a leading cause of the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (system crash) is printer drivers, which have historically been installed at the kernel level of the OS. With Windows Vista, printers will be installed only at the user level--thus, if a printer driver has a problem, you will be informed, but the system won't crash as a result.
The Downside
We'd like to see several interface changes, as well. For example, right now, if you have more than two apps open on the desktop, the status bar shows only one, with up and down arrows. Instead of chaining icons for the various open apps across the bottom of the desktop, you'll have to scroll. In informal testing, we found ourselves opening several instances of Internet Explorer and Notepad because it was easy to forget they were already open.
We anticipate that to take advantage of some of the new and enhanced features in Vista many users will have to upgrade the average desktop machine, particularly memory, and 3D enabled graphics cards.
In summary
It's too early to say how successful Microsoft Windows Vista will be. It is not yet time to install Windows Vista as your primary operating system. Microsoft have a lot of compatibility issues that need to be solved. Also it is still heavy and sometimes Windows stops responding when you open a simple folder.
Of course, we must not forget that we are still at Beta1. Hopefully in the next release Microsoft will resolve some of the compatibility issues. Vista certainly has more of a MAC and Linux feel, which many average Microsoft users will find strange to start with, but as many of us know Microsoft’s way of doing things is not always the best! Vista will certainly be the best Microsoft OS to date, and if Microsoft continues the good job, then Windows Vista will win a lot of new users. We will see ……….
Check back at the end of 2005 to read about how the second beta performs!
