So, as most of you all know Microsoft is releasing its first Operating System since the 2001 release of Microsoft Windows XP. Is it going to be a success on a similar level to the its previous and very popular Operating System?

Opinions are obviously widespread and vary greatly but there are some fundamental issues that may cause sales to struggle.

Firstly, the current Operating System, Microsoft Windows XP is very popular and Vista doesn’t really have anything major that will cause people to be eager to switch. When Windows 98 was replaced by XP it had many aspects which made it easier to persuade people to upgrade such as the ability for plug and play hardware for ease of installation. Such advances in computing are not seen within Vista.

There are changes which many a computer professional will find useful such as easier and more secure networking features and also Windows Superfetch, which is able to get more out of the Random Access Memory (RAM) your machine has. However, these improvements may not be seen as valuable enough to prompt a change in Operating System for the less technical home user.

As for Businesses, many will hold back for at least the initial six months to one year period for a number of reasons. Microsoft Windows XP has had some security problems which Microsoft has been addressing and a new Operating System could potentially have some security faults and loopholes which you can guarantee will be very tempting to hackers mainly to have a laugh at the expense of Microsoft.

Many businesses have, believe it or not, only changed over from Windows 98 to Windows XP in the last year or two and another change over which will be time consuming and costly is unlikely to happen initially.

Whilst Microsoft currently has the lion share of the market other Operating Systems such as Linux and Mac OS are becoming more and more popular as a valid alternative to the Windows Operating System. Microsoft needs to be careful not to alienate or confuse its users to avoid increasing the number of users using other alternatives. Other Operating Systems are also less susceptible to hackers and viruses due to the fact hackers mainly target Windows simply because most people use it.

Another issue would be regarding the cost. Many expect Vista to be cheaper than Windows XP was when it was first released to encourage people to switch. However, will users be willing to pay out when XP is still a very usable Operating System?

The majority of new users is likely to be buyers of new PC’s which will come with Vista as the pre-installed Operating System.

Of course Microsoft Windows Vista will eventually take over Windows XP given time and I fully expect it to be a better Operating System once any teething problems are resolved. I personally will be upgrading without any doubt, but only after I know it has been tried and tested to make it worthwhile for me to make the change and I’m sure many others will follow suit.

About The Author

Andrew Peers is owner and founder of http://www.freeithelpdesk.com which helps users with their IT related problems. Andrew has also studied and been working in the IT field for a number of years.

What is Windows Vista? I have been getting this a lot lately with all of the buzz and hype on the Internet. Windows Vista is the newest PC Operating System to be launched in November 2006. The system has already been sent out to over 2 million users for beta testing and has got huge reviews!

Windows Vista improves application quality, enables developers to create richer, easier-to-use applications, and adds comprehensive APIs for accessing connectivity infrastructure.

1. Find and Use Information - Increasing user productivity by making it easier to find and use information.
2. Enable Mobile Workforce - Enabling a better connected more collaborative and more secure mobile workforce.
3. Improve Security and Compliance - Helping protect your data, secure your environment, and make it easier to achieve compliance with regulations and policies.
4. Optimize Desktop Infrastructure - Reducing cost and complexity of deploying, managing, and supporting your company PCs.

With the advances in Windows Vista™, Microsoft enables the Windows platform to deliver on three key essentials:

• Helping people to be more confident by making the operating system safer, more reliable, and more responsive
• Helping people gain clarity by removing clutter and improving organization
• Helping people connect with others easily and securely by improving network security and integration collaboration

Windows Vista empowers developers to create software that embodies these three essentials.

Windows Vista makes it easy to connect to information, connect to systems, and connect to customers. Using the Windows Communication Foundation Web services infrastructure, developers can create applications that communicate seamlessly across a wide range of hardware and software. Additionally, Windows Vista provides RSS support to enable developers to create experiences that aggregate information from multiple sources.

About The Author

Amanda Bode is Co-Owner and Managing Director of Select Networks, LLC, which specializes in Computer Network Support for the small-medium business located in the metro Kansas City area, other services include Website/email hosting and Website design solutions. http://www.selectkc.com.

Perhaps you have heard about the next new version of Microsoft Windows, called Vista? The Vista operating system has many promises to one great, stable and dynamic operating system. Not only will this operating system have the .Net framework built into the core of the operating system it will also feature some other key communications, user interface and security breakthroughs.

For instance Vista will utilize the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) which will greatly increase the aesthetic value of each application. Perhaps you may be familiar with a website developed with Flash animation software. Now picture the same type of functionality and aesthetics however instead of being restricted to a website format having the freedom to develop the interface so it is a true Windows application. Further, this WPF will allow for much easier and faster deployments of these applications through the use of “one click deployment” technology. If you are familiar with the updater application block and the BITS service then you are already familiar with innovation. However, instead of being some cumbersome application block you will be able to easily deploy these applications with just a few clicks from your development environment.

Secondly the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) will provide a secure and reliable messaging platform which will allow for a new era in the creativity of application developers. This WCF will bring in a new time when true service oriented applications will become commonplace. This will make it much easier to connect businesses to each other and their customers.

The in built security mechanisms will make for a much more secure platform as well. Since this operating system is built around the .Net framework Code Access Security will be much easier to enforce and maintain. Code access security is when the author of the program can specify exactly what the program is allowed to do based upon the role of the user who is accessing the software. This will allow for a much finer grained security mechanism which will make software much more trustworthy by the end user.

Another feature of Vista is called SuperFetch. SuperFetch seems to be a caching mechanism for frequently used files so that the end user experiences fast response times and is not hindered by the background tasks that the operating system is performing. This will greatly speed up and perhaps cause less system crashes thereby making the OS much more stable.

One other great feature of Vista is its use of the sidebar and gadgets. Gadgets are small programs that either you or someone else has created that performs some frequently used task such as viewing the latest weather or traffic information from your desktop. Now this might seem to be a small feature but I am sure the general public will eat this feature up and it is one place where some new innovative software inventions might take place. It might even make managing your life that much easier.

Perhaps the best feature of Vista is its new ability to easily search through and organize your files for later retrieval. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to search my own hard drive for a file that I knew I created but could not remember where I stored it.

Let’s face it Windows XP and Windows 2000 are by now old fashioned. The public needs a new operating system simply because the other’s are beginning to show their age. It is time for an upgrade.

About The Author

Richard Callaby is a Independent Computer Consultant, Writer, Author, Speaker and Instructor. More articles from this author can be reached at his blog at http://blog.richard-callaby.net.

Microsoft Windows Vista, the next version of Windows, is scheduled to arrive in H2 2006. Vista is loaded with new technologies, the most visible being an enhanced graphical user interface. Vista’s user interface improves rendering of text, allows smooth, eye-pleasing window transition effects, and utilizes high-resolution icons.

Icon in Windows Vista Explorer

Windows Vista Explorer makes use of high-resolution 256×256 icons. While 256×256 pixels seem to be too much for current displays, Vista is able to dynamically downscale images to any size. By using large icons, Vista Explorer is already prepared for future displays with higher resolution [DPI].

The image size is controlled by a slider control in Windows Explorer. This slider replaces the discrete view modes in Windows XP. Vista makes it possible to assign different view mode and different icons sizes to each folder.

Support for high resolution icon is not limited to system icons. Our test showed that a custom icon with a large image is accepted and used by Windows Explorer without problems.

PNG Compressed Vista Icons

A typical Vista icon contains 12 images:

• 16×16 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha
• 32×32 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha
• 48×48 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha
• 256×256 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha

The ability to put 256×256 pixels image inside an icon is not new. This feature was available in Windows XP and in previous systems. The problem is that an icon with all 12 formats requires more than 400kB. This is considerably more than a typical Windows XP icon needs (approx. 25kB). Microsoft solved this problem by extending the icon format.

Vista icons store the images in icons using PNG compression. With PNG compression, the size of an icon is reduced. Because PNG is loss-less and supports 8bit alpha channel, the quality of icon is maintained.

Current Vista icons use compression for the large 256×256 formats only. This makes the icons backwards compatible with previous systems. Windows XP will ignore the high resolution images and load the standard 48×48 pixels images.

It is possible to compress all images in an icon. Such icons will occupy even less space and they will work without problems in Vista. They will of course fail under Windows XP.

Creating and Converting Compressed Icons

Vista compatible icon editor ( http://www.rw-designer.com/vista-icon-editor ) is needed to work with Vista icons. Icon editor authors are adopting the Vista enhancements to the icon format and some of them have already managed to release an updated version of their software. A Vista icon is created by simply adding a high resolution images and by selecting the Vista format when saving an icon.

Some editors also allow extracting Vista icons from executable files and converting them to XP icons (e.g. saving them without compression).

Conclusion

Microsoft improved the visuals of Windows delivered a future-proof solution compatible with high-end system as well as with lower definition screens. The 256×256 icon images allow icon authors to add more details and make the icons more appealing under wide range of conditions.

The information in this article is relevant for Windows Vista Beta 1. Vista icons specifications are preliminary and subject to change.

About The Author

Vlastimil Miler is a software developer and icon designer at RealWorld Graphics ( http://www.rw-designer.com ).

Microsoft Corp. says that the next version of its Windows operating system will have built-in support for RSS, an increasingly popular way to get news and other information channeled straight to a computer.

RSS, short for Really Simple Syndication, hasn’t broken into widespread use yet, but the world’s largest software maker believes it will become a mainstay.

“We really believe that RSS is key to how people will be using the Internet in the future,” said Megan Kidd, a Windows product manager.

In the long-delayed Windows upgrade, code-named Vista and expected to be released late next year, an RSS icon will appear in the Internet Explorer Web browser to make it easy for people to find, much like Apple Computer Inc. has done with its Safari browser.

Vista will store all data downloaded to a computer via RSS in a single place. It will maintain a central list of all of a computer user’s RSS subscriptions, from Web log entries to photos pulled from an online family picture gallery.

It will include a feature called simple list extensions that will let Web sites use RSS to publish lists of content that users can subscribe to, like a weekly run-down of chart-topping songs or an online gift registry.

Microsoft will make the list extensions technology available for free through a “creative commons” license, which lets the company retain some intellectual property rights while encouraging broader use of the technology.

Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research, said Microsoft’s foray into RSS is reminiscent of its rush to capture its share of the burgeoning Web browser market in the mid-1990s.

“With the World Wide Web, we had this vast informational system that came along where Windows was not required,” Wilcox said. “That posed a potentially serious threat to Microsoft’s Windows franchise. They responded by making Internet Explorer part of the operating system.”

Microsoft may argue that its RSS push is about improving technology for developers, content providers and consumers, Wilcox said, but “it’s also, I believe, responding to a potential competitive threat.”

Having RSS built into Vista could pose a serious threat to companies that sell RSS readers that siphon data from the Internet. But Kidd contends that Microsoft isn’t out to put anyone out of business.

About The Author

Ken Savage is a Webmaster employee who writes about what is going on in the Tech industry usually days before it breaks to the rest of the world. He can be found at http://www.kensavage.com.