Windows Vista

src: www.windowscentral.com

Windows Vista (code name Longhorn ) is an operating system by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and PC media center. Development was completed on November 8, 2006, and over the next three months, gradually released to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide and made available for purchase and download from the Windows Marketplace. The launch of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest span of time between the successive releases of the Microsoft Windows desktop operating system.

The new features of Windows Vista include an updated graphical user interface and visual styles dubbed Aero, a new search component called Windows Search, redesigned networks, audio sub-systems, print and display, and new multimedia tools like Windows DVD Maker. Vista aims to improve the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing of files and media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the.NET Framework, allowing software developers to write applications without the traditional Windows API.

Microsoft's main goal states with Windows Vista is to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system. One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessor is their frequently exploited security vulnerabilities and overall vulnerability to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a "Computing Trustworthy Computing" throughout the company, which aims to incorporate security into every aspect of enterprise software development. Microsoft states that it prioritizes improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above completing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.

While these new features and security enhancements are getting positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Critics of Windows Vista have targeted high system requirements, tighter licensing requirements, inclusion of a number, then, new DRM technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre-Vista hardware and software, more boot time old and number of authorizations requested for User Account Control. As a result of these and other problems, Windows Vista has seen earlier adoption rates and lower initial satisfaction than Windows XP. However, with an estimated 330 million Internet users as of January 2009, it has been announced that Vista's use has exceeded expectations two years before Microsoft's launch to reach 200 million users. In the release of Windows 7 (October 2009), Windows Vista (with around 400 million Internet users) is the second most widely used operating system on the Internet with a market share of about 19%, the most widely used is Windows XP with about 63% market share. As of May 2010, Windows Vista's market share is estimated to range between 15% to 26%. On October 22, 2010, Microsoft stopped selling Windows Vista retail copies, and OEM sales for Vista stopped a year later. In January 2018, Vista's market share was 0.61%.

Microsoft stopped providing extended support for Windows Vista on April 11, 2017.

Video Windows Vista

Development

Sebagai Longhorn

Microsoft began working on Windows Vista, known at the time with the codename Longhorn, in May 2001, five months before the release of Windows XP. Initially expected to submit some late 2003 as a small step between Windows XP and Blackcomb, which is planned to be the release of the company's next major operating system. Gradually, "Longhorn" assimilated many new features and technologies that were important to Blackcomb, which resulted in the release date being pushed back several times in 3 years. In some build of Longhorn, their license agreement says "For a Microsoft product codenamed" Whistler "". Many Microsoft developers are also tasked with making updates to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to strengthen security. Faced with ongoing delays and concerns about the creep feature, Microsoft announced on August 27, 2004, that it had revised its plans. For this reason, Longhorn is reset to start working on componentizing Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 codebase, and over time re-incorporates features that will be intended for the actual operating system release. However, some of the previously announced features such as WinFS were dropped or delayed, and a new software development methodology called the Security Development Lifecycle was incorporated in an attempt to address the security issues of the Windows code base, programmed in C, C and assembly. Longhorn was known as Vista in 2005.

The initial development phase of Longhorn is generally marked by additional enhancements and updates for Windows XP. During this period, Microsoft was pretty quiet about what was being done, as their marketing and public relations focus was more focused on Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, released in April 2003. Some of Longhorn's old builds leaked onto popular file-sharing networks such as IRC , BitTorrent, eDonkey and various newsgroups, and most of what is known about development before the first development release approved by Longhorn in May 2003, comes from this build.

After few months of relatively little news or activity from Microsoft with Longhorn, Microsoft released Build 4008, which has appeared on the Internet around February 28, 2003. It was also privately given to a group of preferred software developers. As an evolutionary release of build 3683, it contains a number of minor improvements, including a modified "Plex" theme theme and a new simplified Windows-based installer that operates in graphics mode right from the start, and completes the installation of system operations in about one-third of time Windows XP on hardware the same one. An optional "new taskbar" is introduced which is thinner than the previous build and displays the time differently.

The most prominent visual and functional differences, however, come with Windows Explorer. Merging the Plex theme makes the dominant blue color of the entire app. Windows XP-style task panes are almost completely replaced with large horizontal panels that appear under the toolbar. The new search interface allows to filter results, search for Windows help, and natural language queries that will be used to integrate with WinFS. Animated search characters are also deleted. "View mode" is also replaced by a single slider that will change the size of icons in real time, in lists, thumbnails, or in detail mode, depending on where the slider is. Metadata files are also made more visible and easier to edit, with a more active push to fill in missing pieces of information. Also to note is the conversion of Windows Explorer into a.NET application.

Most Longhorn and Vista buildings are identified by the always-displayed label in the lower-right corner of the desktop. Typical building labels will look like "Longhorn Build 3663.Lab06_N.020728-1728". Higher build numbers do not automatically mean that the latest features of each development team in Microsoft are included. Typically, teams working on a particular feature or subsystem will generate their own build builds that the developer will test, and when the code is deemed stable, all changes will be put back into the main development tree at once. At Microsoft, a number of "Build labs" exist where the overall compilation of Windows can be done by the team. The name of the lab where each given building is displayed as part of the build label, and the date and time of manufacture follow it. Some builds (like Beta 1 and Beta 2) only display the build label in the version information dialog (Winver). The icon used in this build comes from Windows XP.

At the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) in May 2003, Microsoft gave their first public demonstration of the new Desktop Window Manager and Aero. Demonstrations were made on the unreleased 4015 revision. A number of sessions for developers and hardware engineers at the conference focused on these new features, as well as the Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (formerly known as "Palladium"), which at the time was Microsoft's proposed solution for creating environmentally safe computing at which particular components of the system can be considered "trusted". Also at this conference, Microsoft reaffirmed their roadmap to deliver Longhorn, pointing to the "early 2005" release date.

Rebuild development

In 2004, it became clear to the Windows team at Microsoft that they lost what needed to be done to complete the next version of Windows and send it to customers. Internally, some of Microsoft's employees described the Longhorn project as "another Cairo" or "Kairo.NET", referring to the company's Cairo development project until the first half of the 1990s, which never produced a shipping operating system (although almost all technologies which was developed at that time ended in Windows 95 and Windows NT). Microsoft was shocked in 2005 by Mac Mac OS X Tiger release. It only offers a limited subset of features planned for Longhorn, especially fast file search and integrated graphics and voice processing, but it seems to have impressive reliability and performance compared to contemporary Longhorn builds. Most Longhorn builds have a major Explorer.exe system leak that prevents the OS from performing well, and adds more confusion to the development team in later builds with more and more code being developed that fails to achieve stability.

In a front-page article September 23, 2005 at The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin, who has overall responsibility for the development and delivery of Windows, explains how the development of Longhorn has "hit the ground" because in large part of the haphazard method introduced and integrated into the core operating system, without a clear focus on the final product. Allchin went on to explain how in December 2003 he sought the help of two other senior executives, Brian Valentine and Amitabh Srivastava, a former experienced with shipping software at Microsoft, notably Windows Server 2003, and the latter after spending his career at Microsoft researching and developing methods manufacture of high quality testing system. Srivastava employs a team of core architects to map visually the entire Windows operating system, and proactively work towards development processes that will enforce high code quality levels, reduce interdependencies between components, and in general, "does not make things worse with Vista". Since Microsoft decided that Longhorn needs to be further computerized, work begins on the Omega-13 build series where they will compose existing Windows Server 2003 source code, and as time adds back functionality as the development progresses. Future Longhorn build will start from Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and continue from there.

This change, announced internally to Microsoft employees on August 26, 2004, began in earnest in September, although it will take several more months before new development processes and build methodologies will be used by all development teams. A number of complaints come from each developer, and Bill Gates himself, that the new development process will be very difficult to do inside.

Like Windows Vista

Around November 2004, the company has considered several names for the final release, ranging from simple to fantastic and inventive. In the end, Microsoft chose Windows Vista as confirmed on July 22, 2005, believing it to be "a beautiful intersection of what the product actually does, what Windows means, and what that is in tune with customers, and needs. " Group Project Manager Greg Sullivan told Paul Thurrott "You want your PC to adapt to you and help you cut the mess to focus on what's important to you.That's what happens to Windows Vista: " brings clarity to your world. " (reference to three Vista marketing points - Clear, Connected, Confident), so you can focus on what's important to you." Microsoft co-president Jim Allchin also likes the name, saying that "Vista" creates the right image for new product capabilities and inspires imagination with all the possibilities of what Windows can do - making people passion for life. "

After Longhorn was named Windows Vista in November 2004, an unprecedented beta-test program began, involving hundreds of thousands of volunteers and companies. In September of that year, Microsoft began releasing regular Community Technology Previews (CTP) for beta testers from July 2005 to February 2006. The first was distributed at the Microsoft Developer Professional Developer 2005, and later released to beta testers and Microsoft Developer Network customers. The builds that followed included most of the features planned for the final product, as well as a number of changes to the user interface, largely based on feedback from beta testers. Windows Vista is considered a feature complete with the release of "CTP February," released on February 22, 2006, and much of the rest of the work between the build and the final release of the product focuses on stability, performance, application and driver compatibility, and documentation. Beta 2, released in late May, is the first build available to the general public through the Microsoft Customer Preview Program. It's downloaded by over five million people. Two release candidates followed in September and October, both available to a large number of users.

At the Intel Developer Forum on March 9, 2006, Microsoft announced a change in their plans to support EFI in Windows Vista. The UEFI 2.0 specification (which replaces EFI 1.10) was not completed until early 2006, and at the time of Microsoft's announcement, no firmware manufacturer completed a production implementation that could be used for testing. As a result, the decision was made to delay the introduction of UEFI support to Windows; support for UEFI on 64-bit platforms is delayed until Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2008 and UEFI 32-bit will not be supported, as Microsoft does not expect many such systems to be built when the market moves to 64-bit processors.

While Microsoft originally hoped to have a consumer version of the operating system available worldwide in time for Christmas 2006, it announced in March 2006 that the release date would be pushed back to January 2007 to provide the company - and hardware and software companies that rely on Microsoft to provide device drivers - additional time to prepare. Since the build-to-build (RTM) build is the final version of the code sent to other resellers and distributors, the pre-RTM creation goal is to remove the last "show-stopper" bug that can prevent the code from being sent responsibly to the customer, as well as others that are considered disturbing by consumers. Thus, it is unlikely that the major new features will be introduced; on the contrary, the work will focus on "compatibility and completion" of Vista. In just a few days, developers managed to drop the Vista bug count from over 2470 on September 22 to over 1400 by the time RC2 was delivered in early October. However, they still have a way to go before Vista is ready for RTM. Microsoft's internal process required the number of Vista bugs to drop to 500 or less before the product could go into escrow for RTM. For most pre-RTM builds, the 32-bit edition is only released.

On June 14, 2006, Windows developer Philip Su posted a blog post denouncing the Windows Vista development process, stating that "The code is too complicated, and the coding speed is greatly slowed down by the arrogant process." The same post also describes Windows Vista has about 50 million lines of code, with around 2,000 developers working on the product. During a demonstration of the new voice recognition feature for Windows Vista at Microsoft Financial Analysts Meeting on July 27, 2006, the software recognizes the phrase "Dear mom" as "Dear Aunt" . After several failed attempts to correct the error, the sentence ends up being " Dearest Aunt, let's set it to double killer delete select all" . A developer with the Vista speech recognition team later explained that there was a bug with Vista development that caused the microphone amplification rate to be set so high that the audio received by the voice recognition software became "highly distorted".

Windows Vista build 5824 (October 17, 2006) should be an RTM release, but a bug, which destroys any system that is upgraded from Windows XP, prevents this, undermines development and lowers the likelihood that it will reach the January 2007 deadline.

Windows Vista development ended when Microsoft announced it was completed on November 8, 2006, and was concluded by co-president of Windows development, Jim Allchin. The build RTM number also jumped to 6000 to reflect the internal version number of Vista, NT 6.0. Jumping RTM build numbers is a common practice among consumer-oriented Windows versions, such as Windows 98 (build 1998), Windows 98 SE (build 2222), Windows Me (build 3000) or Windows XP (build 2600), compared to business- oriented versions like Windows 2000 (build 2195) or Server 2003 (build 3790). On November 16, 2006, Microsoft made a final build available to MSDN and Technet Plus customers. Business-oriented Enterprise Edition is made available to volume license customers on November 30th. Windows Vista was launched for general customer availability on January 30, 2007.

Maps Windows Vista

New or changed features

Vista includes technologies like ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive, which use fast flash memory (located on USB flash drives and hybrid hard disk drives) to improve system performance with commonly used programming and data caching. It manifests itself in better battery life on notebook computers as well, because hybrid drives can spin when not in use. Another new technology called SuperFetch uses machine learning techniques to analyze usage patterns to allow Windows Vista to make smart decisions about what content should exist in the system memory at any given time. It uses almost any extra RAM as a disk cache. Along with SuperFetch, the built-in Windows Automatic Defragmenter Disk ensures that the app is strategically positioned on the hard disk where they can be loaded into memory very quickly with the least physical movement of the hard disk read-write head.

As part of the redesign of network 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 require third-party wireless networking software to work properly, but this is not the case with Vista, which includes more comprehensive wireless network support.

For graphics, Vista introduced a new Windows Display Driver Model and a major revision to Direct3D. The new drive model facilitates the new Desktop Window Manager, which provides desktop free drag and special effects that are the cornerstone of Windows Aero. Direct3D 10, developed jointly with major graphics card manufacturers, is a new architecture with more sophisticated shader support, and allows graphics processing units to create more complex scenes without help from the CPU. It features increased load balancing between CPU and GPU and also optimizes data transfer between them. WDDM also provides video content playback that rivals typical consumer electronic devices. This is done by making it easy to connect to an external monitor, providing for protected HD video playback and improving the overall video playback quality. For the first time in Windows, a multitasking graphics processing unit (GPU) is possible, allowing users to run more than one GPU-compliant application simultaneously.

At the core of the operating system, many improvements have been made to memory managers, process schedulers and I/O schedulers. Heap Manager implements additional features such as integrity checking to improve resilience and survive buffer overflow security exploits, even if this happens at prices that violate backwards compatibility with some legacy apps. The Kernel Transaction Manager has been implemented that allows the application to work with the file system and the Registry using atomic transaction operations.

Related security

Increased security is the ultimate design goal for Vista. Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Initiative, which aims to increase public confidence in its products, has had a direct effect on its development. This effort has resulted in a number of new security and safety features and ratings of the Level of Guarantee Evaluation 4.

User Account Control, or UAC may be the most significant and visible from this change. UAC is a security technology that allows users to use their computers with fewer privileges by default, with a view to stopping malware from making unauthorized changes to the system. This is often difficult on previous versions of Windows, as previous "restricted" user accounts proved to be too tight and incompatible with most application software, and even prevent some basic operations such as viewing calendars from the notification tray. In Windows Vista, when an action is performed that requires administrative rights (such as installing/uninstalling software or making system-wide configuration changes), the first user is prompted for an administrator name and password; in cases where the user is already an administrator, the user is still required to confirm the pending privilege action. Regular use of computers such as running a program, printing, or surfing the Internet does not trigger UAC requests. User Account Control requests credentials in Secure Desktop mode, where the entire screen is dimmed, and only the authorization window is active and highlighted. The goal is to stop malicious programs that mislead users by disrupting the authorization window, and hinting to the user the importance of prompts.

Testing by Symantec Corporation has proven the effectiveness of UAC. Symantec uses more than 2,000 active malware samples, consisting of backdoors, keyloggers, rootkits, bulk mailers, trojan horses, spyware, adware, and various other samples. Each is executed on a default Windows Vista installation in a standard user account. UAC effectively blocks more than 50 percent of every threat, excluding rootkits. 5 percent or less of malware that avoids UAC surviving the reboot.

New security and security features of Internet Explorer 7 include phishing filters, IDN with anti-spoofing capabilities, and integration with parental controls throughout the system. For added security, ActiveX controls are disabled by default. Also, Internet Explorer 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 changing anything other than the Temporary Internet Files directory. Microsoft's anti-spyware product, Windows Defender , has been incorporated into Windows, providing protection against malware and other threats. Changes to various system configuration settings (such as a new auto-start application) are blocked unless the user gives consent.

While previous releases of Windows supported encryption per file using Encrypting File System, Enterprise and Ultimate Vista editions include BitLocker Drive Encryption, which can protect all volume, especially operating system volume. However, BitLocker requires about 1.5-gigabyte of partition permanently unencrypted and contains system files for Windows to boot. Under normal circumstances, the only time this partition is accessed is when the computer is booted, or when there is a Windows update that changes the files in this area, which is a legitimate reason to access this part of the drive. This area may be a potential security issue, because a hexadecimal editor (such as dskprobe.exe), or malicious software executed with administrators and/or kernel-level privileges will be able to write to this "Ghost Partition" and allow a malicious piece of software to damage the system, or disable encryption. BitLocker works with the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) cryptoprocessor (version 1.2) embedded on the computer motherboard, or with a USB key. However, like other full-disk encryption technologies, BitLocker is vulnerable to cold boot attacks, especially where TPM is used as a key protector without the need for a boot PIN.

Various other privilege-restriction techniques are also built into Vista. An example is the concept of "integrity level" in the user process, where processes with lower levels of integrity can not interact with higher integrity level processes and can not initiate DLL injection into higher integrity processes. The restrictions on Windows service security are smoother, so services (especially those listening on the network) do not have the ability to interact with parts of the operating system they do not need to do. Obfuscation techniques such as randomizing address space spacing are used to increase the amount of effort required from malware before a successful infiltration system. Code integrity verifies that the system binaries have not been tampered with by malicious code.

As part of the redesign of the network stack, Windows Firewall has been upgraded, with new support for filtering incoming and outbound traffic. Advanced package filter rules can be created that can grant or deny communications to certain services.

The 64-bit version of Vista requires that all device drivers be digitally signed, so the driver's builder can be identified.

System management

While much of the focus of Vista's new capabilities highlights new user interfaces, security technologies, and improvements to core operating systems, Microsoft also added new deployment and maintenance features:

• Windows Imaging Format (WIM) provides the foundation for Microsoft's new deployment and packaging system. The WIM file, which contains a Windows Vista HAL-independent image, can be preserved and patched without having to rebuild a new image. Windows images can be sent via System Management Server or Business Desktop Deployment technology. Images can be customized and configured with the application and then deployed to the client's personal computers using little or no touch by the system administrator. ImageX is a Microsoft tool used to create and customize images.
• Windows Deployment Services replaces the Remote Installation Service to deploy Vista and earlier versions of Windows.
• Around 700 new Group Policy settings have been added, covering most aspects of the new features in the operating system, as well as significantly expanding the configuration of wireless networks, removable storage devices, and user desktop experience. Vista also introduced the XML-based format (ADMX) to display registry-based policy settings, making it easier to manage networks that reach different geographical locations and languages.
• Services for UNIX, renamed "Subsystems for UNIX-Based Applications", come with Enterprise and Ultimate Vista editions. Network File System (NFS) support is also included.
• Multilingual User Interface-Unlike previous Windows versions (requiring loading of language packs to provide local language support), Windows Vista Ultimate and Enterprise editions support the ability to dynamically change languages ​​based on incoming user preferences.
• Wireless Projector Support

Developer

Windows Vista includes a large number of new application programming interfaces. Chief among them is the inclusion of version 3.0 of the.NET Framework, which consists of class libraries and Common Language Runtime and OS/2 environments such as NT predecessors. Version 3.0 includes four new key components:

• Windows Presentation Foundation is a framework-based user interface and vector graphics subsystem, utilizing 3D computer graphics hardware and Direct3D technology. It provides the foundation for building applications and combining shared application UIs, documents, and media content. This is the successor of the Windows Form.
• Windows Communication Foundation is a service-oriented messaging subsystem that allows applications and systems to operate locally or remotely using Web services.
• Windows Workflow Foundation provides task automation and integrated transactions using workflow. This is a programming model, engine, and tool for building applications that support workflow in Windows.
• Windows CardSpace is a component that securely stores a person's digital identity, and provides an integrated interface for selecting identity for a particular transaction, such as logging in to a website.

This technology is also available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 to facilitate their introduction and use by developers and end users.

There is also a significant new development API in the core of the operating system, especially fully redesigned audio, network, print and video interfaces, major changes to the security infrastructure, improvements to deployment and deployment of applications ("ClickOnce" and Windows Installer 4.0), models development of new device drivers ("Windows Driver Foundation"), Transactional NTFS, mobile computing advances (power management, Ink PC Tablet support, SideShow) and major updates for (or complete replacement) many core subsystems like Winlogon and CAPI.

There are some issues for software developers using some graphical APIs in Vista. Games or programs built only on Windows Vista-exclusive version of DirectX, version 10, can not work on previous versions of Windows, because DirectX 10 is not available for previous versions of Windows. In addition, games that require the D3D9Ex feature, the latest DirectX 9 implementation in Windows Vista is also not compatible with previous versions of Windows. According to Microsoft's blog, there are three options for OpenGL implementation in Vista. Applications can use the standard implementation, which translates OpenGL calls to Direct3D API and is frozen in OpenGL version 1.4, or the app can use the Installable Client Driver (ICD), which comes in two options: inheritance and Vista-compatible. The legacy ICD disables Desktop Window Manager, a Vista-compatible ICD utilizing the new API, and is fully compatible with Desktop Window Manager. At least two major vendors, ATI and NVIDIA provide ICD compatible with Vista. However, hardware overlay is not supported, as it is considered an obsolete feature in Vista. ATI and NVIDIA strongly recommend the use of Compositing Desktop/Framebuffer Objects for the same functionality.

Installation

Windows Vista is the first Microsoft operating system:

• to use DVD-ROM media for installation
• that can be installed only on partitions formatted with the NTFS file system
• which provides support for loading drivers for SCSI, SATA, and RAID controllers from any source other than floppy disks prior to installation.

src: www.wikihow.com

Deleted features

Some of the well-known features and components of Windows XP have been replaced or removed in Windows Vista, including some shell and Windows Explorer features, multimedia features, network-related functionality, Windows Messenger, NTBackup, Windows Messenger service network, HyperTerminal, MSN Explorer, Active Desktop, and replacement of NetMeeting with Windows Meeting Space. Windows Vista also does not include the visual theme of Windows XP "Luna", or most of the classic color schemes that have been part of Windows since the Windows 3.x era. The startup features of "Hardware profiles" have also been removed, along with support for older motherboard technologies such as EISA bus, APM and Game port support (though on 32-bit version game port support can be enabled by applying older drivers). IP over FireWire (TCP/IP via IEEE 1394) has been removed as well. The IPX/SPX protocol has also been deleted, although it can be enabled by third-party plug-ins.

src: www.pcmech.com

Issue

Windows Vista is shipped in six different editions. It is roughly divided into two target markets, consumers and businesses, with varied editions to serve specific sub-markets. For consumers, there are three editions, with two available to more economically advanced countries. Windows Vista Starter edition is intended for low-powered computers with availability only in emerging markets. Windows Vista Home Basic is intended for budget users. Windows Vista Home Premium covers most of the consumer market, and contains applications for creating and using multimedia. The home edition can not join the Windows Server domain. For business, there are three editions as well. Windows Vista Business is specifically designed for small and medium enterprises, while Windows Vista Enterprise is only available to customers who participate in Microsoft's Software Assurance program. Windows Vista Ultimate contains a full-featured set of Home and Business editions (a combination of both Home Premium and Enterprise), as well as a set of Windows Ultimate Extras, and is intended for fans.

All editions except Windows Vista Starter support 32-bit (x32) and 64-bit (x64) processor architectures.

In the European Union, Home Basic N and Business N versions are also available. It came without Windows Media Player, because EU sanctions were brought against Microsoft for violating anti-trust laws. Similar sanctions exist in South Korea.

src: i.ytimg.com

Visual styles

Windows Vista has four different visual styles.

Windows Aero

Vista's default visual style, Windows Aero, is built on a new desktop composition machine called Desktop Window Manager. Windows Aero introduces support for translucent effects (Glass), direct thumbnails, window animations, and other visual effects (eg Windows Flip 3D), and is intended for mainstream and high-end video cards. To enable these features, the contents of each open window are stored in the video memory to facilitate the movement of windows that are free of wobble. Thus, Windows Aero has much higher hardware requirements than its predecessor. The minimum requirement is for 128 MB of graphics memory, depending on the resolution used. 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 glass effects, window animation, and other sophisticated graphical effects like Windows Flip 3D. Like Windows Aero, it uses Desktop Window Manager, and generally has the same video hardware requirements as Windows Aero. This visual style is included with the Home Basic edition just as a substitute for the "cheap" Windows Aero style.

Windows Vista Basic

This style has aspects similar to the "Luna" visual style of Windows XP with the addition of subtle animations like those found on the progress bar. It does not use Desktop Window Manager, therefore, does not display transparency or translucency, window animation, Windows Flip 3D or any of the functions provided by DWM. Basic Mode does not require a new Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) for display drivers, and has video card requirements similar to Windows XP. For computers with video cards that are not strong enough to support Windows Aero, this is the default graphics mode. Prior to Service Pack 1, engines that failed Windows Genuine Advantage validation would also be the default for this visual style.

Standard Windows

The visual style of Windows Standard (or Windows Classic) is similar to Windows 9x, Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows operating system lines. It does not use Desktop Window Manager, and does not require a WDDM driver. Like previous versions of Windows, this visual style supports the color scheme, which is a collection of color settings. Windows Vista includes six color schemes: four high contrast color schemes and the default color scheme of Windows 98 (titled "Windows Classic") and Windows 2000/Windows Me (titled "Windows Standard").

src: www.myce.com

Hardware requirements

Computers that are capable of running Windows Vista are classified as Vista Capable and Vista Premium Ready . A Flawed Vista or equivalent PC is capable of running all editions of Windows Vista even though some special features and high-end graphics options may require additional or more advanced hardware. PC Vista Premium Ready can take advantage of Vista's high-end features.

The Basic and Classic Interface Windows Vista works with almost any graphics hardware that supports Windows XP or 2000; therefore, most of the discussion around Vista graphics needs centered on them for the Windows Aero interface. In Windows Vista Beta 2, NVIDIA GeForce 6 series and later, ATI Radeon 9500 and later, Intel GMA 950 and later integrated graphics, and some VIA chipsets and S3 discrete Graphics chipsets are supported. Although originally supported, the GeForce FX 5 series has been derived from newer drivers from NVIDIA. The last driver from NVIDIA to support GeForce FX series on Vista is 96.85. Microsoft offers a tool called Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Physical memory restrictions

The maximum amount of RAM that can be supported by Windows Vista varies, depending on the edition and processor architecture, as shown in the table.

Processor limit

The maximum number of logical processors on a Windows Vista supported PC is: 32 for 32-bit; 64 for 64-bit.

The maximum number of physical processors on a PC supported by Windows Vista are: 2 for Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate, and 1 for Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium.

src: www.auslogics.com

Update

Microsoft occasionally releases updates such as service packs for its Windows operating system to fix bugs, improve performance, and add new features.

Service Pack 1

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released on February 4, 2008, with Windows Server 2008 to OEM partners, after a five month beta testing period. The initial deployment of the service pack causes a number of machines to continue to reboot, leaving the machine unusable. This causes Microsoft to temporarily suspend the automatic deployment of the service pack until the issue is resolved. The synced release date of the two operating systems reflects the merging of the workstation and the server kernel back to the single codebase for the first time since Windows 2000. MSDN customers can download SP1 on February 15, 2008. SP1 becomes available for Windows Vista users at Windows and Central Updates Download on March 18, 2008. Initially, the service pack only supports five languages ​​- English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese. Support for the remaining 31 languages ​​was released on April 14, 2008.

A white paper, published by Microsoft on August 29, 2007, outlines the scope and purpose of the service pack, identifies three key areas of improvement: reliability and performance, administrative experience, and support for newer hardware and standards.

One area of ​​special note is performance. Repair areas include file copy operation, hibernation, logging on machines joining domains, parsing JavaScript in Internet Explorer, file sharing network explorer, Windows Explorer ZIP file handling, and Windows Disk Defragmenter. The ability to select individual drives for defragment is being reintroduced as well.

Service Pack 1 introduces support for several new hardware and software standards, especially the exFAT file system, 802.11n wireless network, IPv6 connection via VPN, and Secure Socket Tunnel Protocol.

Booting system using Extensible Firmware Interface on x64 system also introduced; This feature was originally scheduled for early release of Vista but was delayed due to lack of compatible hardware at the time. Boot from a hard drive based GUID Partition Table larger than 2.19 TB is supported (x64 only).

Two fields have seen SP1 changes coming as a result of concerns from software vendors. One is desktop search; users will be able to change the default desktop search program to one provided by third parties, not Microsoft's desktop search program that comes with Windows Vista, and the desktop search program will be able to connect their services into the operating system. This change comes in part due to a complaint from Google, whose Google Desktop Search app is hindered by Vista's built-in desktop search presence. In June 2007, Google claimed that the change introduced for SP1 "is a step in the right direction, but they need to be further improved to give users greater access to alternative desktop search providers." Another part of the record is a set of new security APIs introduced for the benefit of antivirus software that currently relies on unsupported practices of patching the kernel ( see Kernel Patch Protection ).

An update to DirectX 10, named DirectX 10.1, is marked as mandatory for some features previously optional in Direct3D 10 hardware. Graphics cards will be required to support DirectX 10.1. SP1 includes a kernel (6001.18000) that matches the version that shipped with Windows Server 2008.

The Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) is replaced by Group Policy Object Editor. Upgraded updates that can be downloaded from the Group Policy Management Console are released immediately after the service pack.

SP1 allows support for hotpatching, a reboot-reboot service technology designed to maximize working time. It works by allowing Windows components to be updated (or "patched") when they are still in use by the running process. An update package with hotpatch support is installed via the same method as the traditional update package, and will not trigger a system reboot.

Service Pack 2

Service Pack 2 for Windows Vista was released to manufacturing on April 28, 2009, and released to Microsoft Download Center and Windows Update on May 26, 2009. In addition to a number of other security and other improvements, a number of new features have been added. However, it does not include Internet Explorer 8. The Windows Vista Service Pack 2 build number is 6002.18005.090410-1830.

• Windows Search 4 (available for SP1 systems as stand-alone updates)
• The Feature Package for Wireless adds support for Bluetooth 2.1
• Windows Feature Pack for Storage allows recording data to Blu-ray media
• Windows Connect Now (WCN) to simplify Wi-Fi configuration
• Enhanced support to continue with an active Wi-Fi connection
• Enhanced support for eSATA drives
• The limit of 10 half-open and outgoing TCP connections introduced in Windows XP SP2 has been deleted
• Enables the exFAT file system to support UTC time stamp, which allows correct file sync across all time zones
• Support for ICCD/CCID smart cards
• Support for 64-bit VIA CPU
• Improved performance and responsiveness with the RSS feed sidebar
• Improve audio and video performance for high definition content streaming
• Boost Windows Media Center (WMC) in content protection for TV
• Provides an enhanced power management policy that is approximately 10% more efficient than the original with default policy

Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 share a single binary service pack, reflecting the fact that their codebase merges with the release of Server 2008. Service Pack 2 is not a cumulative update which means that Service Pack 1 must be installed first.

Platform Update

The Platform Update for Windows Vista was released on October 27, 2009. It includes a major new component that ships with Windows 7, as well as an updated runtime library. Service Pack 2 is required from Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 and is registered with Windows Update as a Recommended download.

Platform update allows application developers to target Windows Vista and Windows 7. It consists of the following components:

• Windows Graphics runtime: Direct2D, DirectWrite, Direct3D 11, DXGI 1.1, and WARP
• Windows Imaging Component Update
• Update for XPS Print API, XPS Document API, and XPS Rasterization Service
• Windows Automation API (update for MSAA and UI Automation)
• Windows Portable Device Platform (add support for MTP via Bluetooth and MTP Device Service)
• Windows Ribbon API
• Windows Animation Manager Library

Some updates are available as separate releases for Windows XP and Windows Vista:

• Windows Management Framework : Windows PowerShell 2.0, Windows Remote Management 2.0, BITS 4.0
• Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 (RDP7) client

Although extensive, Platform Update does not bring Windows Vista to the level of features and performance offered by Windows 7. For example, although the Direct3D 11 runtime will be able to run on D3D9 class hardware and WDDM drivers using "feature level" first introduced in Direct3D 10.1, Desktop Window Manager has not been updated to use Direct3D 10.1.

In July 2011, Microsoft released Platform Update for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, which contains some bug fixes and performance improvements.

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Marketing campaign

Mojave experiment

In July 2008, Microsoft introduced a web-based advertising campaign called "Mojave Experiment", which depicts a group of people who were asked to evaluate Microsoft's latest operating system, calling it Windows 'Mojave'. Participants were first asked about Vista, if they had used it, and their overall satisfaction with Vista on a scale of 1 to 10. They were then shown demos of some new operating system features, and asked their opinions and satisfaction with it on a scale of 1 to 10 same. After the respondents rated "Mojave", they were then told that they actually showed a demo of Windows Vista. The goal is to test "Theory: If people can see Windows Vista directly, they'll love it." According to Microsoft, the initial sample of respondents rated Vista 4.4 out of 10, and the Mojave received an average of 8.5, with no Mojave respondents rating lower than they originally rated Windows Vista before the demo. "Experiment" has been criticized for deliberate selection of positive statements and does not address all aspects of Vista.

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Reception

In the midst of negative reviews and acceptance, there are also positive reviews about Vista, especially among PC gamers and the benefits brought by DirectX 10, which enables better gaming performance and more realistic graphics, as well as support for many new capabilities generated. on video card and new GPU. However, many DirectX 9 games initially showed a decrease in image frequency compared to that experienced in Windows XP. In mid 2008, the benchmark showed that Vista SP1 is equivalent to (or better than) Windows XP in terms of game performance. Peter Bright of Ars Technica writes that, regardless of delays and feature blackouts, Windows Vista is "a major evolution in the history of the NT platform [...] The fundamental change to the platform is a scale not seen since the NT release. "In the continuation of the previous assessment, Bright will continue by stating that" Vista is not just XP with new skin, the core part of the OS has been radically overhauled, and almost every area has seen significant improvements. "In terms of the magnitude and extent of this change, Vista represents the greatest leap possibility ever seen by the NT platform.No significant subsystems have been damaged and replaced by their way in Vista. "

Windows Vista received the "Best of CES" award at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2007.

In its first year of availability, PC World rated it as the biggest technological disappointment of 2007, and it was rated by InfoWorld as No. 2 from Tech's all-time 25 flop. Microsoft then Apple's much smaller competitors noted that, although Vista's sales are much larger, itself does not seem to suffer after its release, and will then invest in ads mocking Vista's unpopularity with users.

Computer manufacturers such as Dell, Lenovo, and Hewlett-Packard released their latest computer with Windows Vista pre-installed; However, after negative reception of the operating system, they also started selling their computers with Windows XP CDs including due to a decrease in sales.

Sales

A Gartner research report estimates that Vista's business adoption in 2008 will overtake XP for the same time span (21.3% vs. 16.9%) while IDC has indicated that the release of Windows Server 2008 serves as a catalyst for more adoption rates strong. In January 2009, Forrester Research has indicated that nearly a third of North American and European companies have started deploying Vista. On co May 2009

Source of the article : Wikipedia