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Windows Vista; behind the hype


Vista has arrived almost by stealth, compared with its older siblings. Is it the next evolutionary stage in PC operating systems, a resources black hole turning high-spec systems into doddery 386s, or just another vehicle for transporting your money to Redmond?

Time was when the release of a new Windows version carried the same sort of media attention as a royal wedding or the World Cup. Months of anticipation and rumour would build a frenzy of consumer interest, expressed through pre-orders and anticipatory hardware upgrades. Then, for additional months following the (usually delayed) release, the techie airwaves ran hot with praise and invective as the PC-using community gradually settled into ways of working that utilised the new environment in the most efficient way.

I remember being the first person in town to have a copy of NT 4.0 Desktop (on a shiny new P90 full-height tower system, no less); briefly, I enjoyed the sort of popularity usually reserved for Student Union free-beer-and-pizza parties.

Vista has arrived on our desktops differently. For the first time, the tone of the PC user base in the run-up to the release has been suspicious, almost resentful of the new arrival, with concerns over hardware hunger the most common topic.

The possibility that XP will face constructive redundancy through being starved of access to improved utilities such as DirectX 10 has increased the tension. Increasingly attractive versions of competitor operating systems, including Linux and Mac OS, are circling Windows in search of defectors. All in all, it has appeared that Vista could be the first Microsoft OS to face a real uphill struggle for acceptance.

So, is Vista the way forward or has the love affair with �new� Windows finally flagged?

Some facts about Vista. It is more secure than XP, by an order of magnitude. Used properly, its protective features make it not just the most secure version of Windows so far, but a differently secure version; an operating system designed with security as a core component of its architecture, not tacked on as an afterthought or left to the support of specialist providers.

On the surface, there are the improved-beyond-recognition Windows Firewall and Windows Defender, working in combination to track and identify potential malware activity within the system � a definite advance on older versions where Firewall concentrated almost exclusively on external threats.

More fundamentally, the �open door� philosophy that characterised Windows XP � access all areas for all users by default - is gone. Vista�s User Account Control feature denies access to the majority of administrative tasks for the �standard� user (and even restricts access by administrators), closing many of the commonly exploited loopholes.

Given the millions being spent on add-on tools to secure Windows XP boxes, without even considering the cost of recovering hacked or corrupted machines, it�s hard to overstate the importance of these enhancements.

The Vista Desktop, too, offers real improvements on earlier versions � improvements which, like the security features, have been achieved by taking the best features from third party add-ons to earlier Windows versions and embedding them in the OS.

Leaving to one side the whizzy visuals, new games and other superficial changes, additions such as Instant Search � an out-Googling-Google content management tool that indexes resources in real-time � and Search Folders � pre-defined and customisable filters giving immediate access to files sharing certain properties or characteristics � represent a huge improvement over the hopelessly out-of-date search facilities offered by Windows XP. Facilities that still represent the times when a 20GB disk was considered huge.

The downside of this enhanced capability is resource-hunger. There�s no getting around it: Vista requires a fat and up-to-date machine, though many horror stories about incompatibility with existing drivers and hardware remain unproven (and are anyway a fact of life with any new OS version � remember the dreaded NT Compatibility List?).

Early adoption is always a minefield, and many organisations will prefer to wait until service packs address any problems arising; there are already concerns over Vista hanging during file operations, and its kernel security. However, it�s my belief that the real improvements to the twin pillars of operating system architecture � efficiency and security � will eventually ensure Vista�s dominance over XP, even without the market pressure of the earlier system�s withdrawal and de-support.

Source:Windows Vista; behind the hype :: Contractor UK