XP or Vista

5. Network and Sharing Center
The Windows Vista Network and Sharing Center is at the heart of all your networking activity. You will be able to easily access all the machines and devices connected to the network, to set up a new connection in addition to managing existing ones, to connect to the various networks available, to configure the Internet and Windows Firewall options and to diagnose and repair existing issues. If you want to set up a wireless or a peer-to-peer network, or if you want to try your hands at ad hoc networking then Network and Sharing Center is the way to go. Additionally, you can perform network troubleshooting, via an automated process designed to assist users in resolving eventual problems. Are there limitations to what the Network and Sharing Center can do? Well, of course there are. One of the most frustrating issues is when Vista’s Network Diagnostics Framework will stubbornly claim that there is nothing wrong when obviously this is not the case. Microsoft needs to address this caveat.

6. The Windows Vista Installation
Installing Windows Vista is nothing like deploying Windows XP. With its latest operating system, Microsoft introduced not only an overhauled boot architecture, but it also revamped the user experience. In this regard, the old Windows XP text based installation is out the door. Vista features its welcoming graphical user interface from the get go enabling even average users to effortlessly deploy the operating system. Although installing Windows XP was not too much of a challenge, it did present some issues. By comparison, Vista makes users feel relaxed as they select the installation options much in the same manner as deploying a usual application. Getting Vista from the media to your machine is no longer the advanced process with XP. And by streamlining the installation, Microsoft made another step closer to making Vista extensively user friendly.

7. Security
I don’t know if it’s the additional mitigations introduced into the operating system or the obscurity of the market share, but Vista simply makes me feel safe. Microsoft has continually touted the operating system as the most secure Windows platform available on the market, and results, at least in terms of the volume of vulnerabilities impacting Vista, seem to speak for themselves. “Windows Vista is the most secure operating system we’ve ever released. In the first 180 days we’ve had far fewer high-severity vulnerabilities than XP. We’ve had 12 in Vista. We had 25 in XP. And think about the sophistication level of the people that create the vulnerabilities today versus what it was when XP released. It’s a far different opportunity today than it was then. Over that same time period, I think you should also note that Windows Vista had far fewer than Apple, as well as any major desktop Linux distributor. And that’s something, again, we feel very good about from a security and reliability standpoint. But we’re not resting on our laurels; that is something we’re going to continue to stay focused on. This is the first operating system we’ve ever launched with security built in on the front end from a foundation standpoint. And, again, we’re going to continue to work on that and improve it as we go forward,” Kevin Turner explained.

8. Extensive Personalization
Windows Vista indeed supports an extensive level of user personalization. You will be able to customize the operating system to the point where Vista will look absurd and ridiculous. But such a scenario only underscores the flexibility Microsoft introduced to users with its latest operating system. There is a good reason why right-clicking on the desktop will allow you to access the Personalization option in the contextual menu displayed on the desktop. And there is little limit to the state in which you can render Windows Aero. Of course in this context, although there is a healthy line between customization and deformity, Vista allows you to easily pass to the point of making the user interface virtually unusable.

9. Tuning, Healing and Diagnostics Technologies
“When you think about reliability, Windows Vista has got the built-in tools for diagnostics, backups, self-healing capabilities. Again, it helps increase uptime and lower support costs. And one of the metrics that I wanted to share with you today around this area from a reliability standpoint is that we’ve had 21 percent fewer support calls per unit shipped than we’ve had in XP—21 percent. And that’s a big improvement for us as it relates to improving that reliability,” Turner added during his address at the Financial Analyst Meeting 2007. And the reasons for the improved reliability of Windows Vista are all the performance, self-healing and diagnostics technologies built in the operating system. Vista will permit you to enhance performance via a USB drive and Ready Boost, or to go back in time and recover a lost file with Shadow Copy. Additionally, users can create back ups of files, folders, entire partitions or even Vista. The Backup and Restore Center is a lifesaver, just as System Restore is. You can troubleshoot memory and network problems, keep an eye on the performance metrics of your hardware and make Vista work for you to diagnose and resolve functionality problems.

10. Windows Sidebar as a Preview of Windows Seven Ribbon
And last but definitely not least… Windows Sidebar. Now Windows Sidebar, complete with a pleiad of gadgets, is by no means an apex of user interface evolution for Microsoft. In fact, the concept has been around for a while and it’s used by both Apple in Tiger and the Google desktop. Still, the Sidebar in Vista is just a preview of what is to come in Windows Seven in 2010. Leading the development for the graphical user interface of Windows Seven is Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President, Windows Experience Program Management. Together with Sinofsky, Larson-Green is responsible with the excellent GUI redesign of the Office 2007 System. A Ribbon remake could very well be in the works for Windows Seven, Vista’s successor.

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Tags: aero, aqua, device_compatibility, Operating system, Windows, windows vista, windows xp

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 11:21 am and is filed under Windows XP, windows vista. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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