A Vista for All Occasions
I’m not proud of this, so I don’t really bring it up much, but I’m a Windows junkie. Been using it since Windows 3.0. I’ve messed special boot configuration in Windows ‘95 to make my DOS games run. I’ve developed about two dozen different books on various versions of the OS from beginner stuff, right on through to advanced command scripting texts. And I’ve dealt with more obsucre Blue Screen of Death errors than I care to think about. Despite all the warts, put me in the camp that thinks Windows, Windows XP in particular, is a solid and underrated OS.
So you might have noticed that yesterday Microsoft finally released package information for the next Windows OS (Vista). Most of the references just listed the titles and a very small amount of baseline info, but for those who might be interested, there’s a slightly deeper look at Paul Thurrot’s Windows Super Site (there’s also a ton of Vista screenshots at Thurrot’s site if you poke around a bit).
We’ve got a beta version of Vista here at work and I’m editing a book being written on the feature set and functionality in the beta versions. I’m not sure if it’s as big a leap as from Windows 9x to Windows 2000/XP, but it’s certainly close. A lot of the improvements are under the hood or seem like little things and I think the initial response may be a bit ho-hum from the peanut gallery, but I think this is a legit and thorough upgrade that shouldn’t be overlooked just because the UI doesn’t look completely revamped at first glance. This is more than Windows XP with a different color scheme.
Some of the stuff that comes to mind includes:
- Better user account security options (you no longer have to choose between running a crippled limited account or a “let a hacker do anything he wants because I’m logged in as a full admin” account). For example, if you’re logged in on a regular user account and you want to execute a protected action (maybe install a new program), instead of having to log out and log back in as an admin you’re simply prompted to provide an admin password in order to process that action. An extra step maybe, but it also ensures that other programs can’t take similar actions on your PC without your knowledge. (I don’t know if this would block stuff like the infamous Sony rootkit, but it would certainly be nice if it did.)
- You can attach all sorts of metadeta (like MP3 tags) to virtually every kind of file, which makes searching for said files both easier and faster (searching in general is *much* improved).
- I think (I’m not 100% positive) the built-in firewall now monitors inbound and outbound traffic, which is a huge shortcoming in the existing Windows XP Firewall.
- Hovering over taskbar buttons for active applications pulls up a small thumbnail showing a live image of that app. Alt+Tab is similar, but opens all windows in a 3D cascade view allowing you to scroll through each window via the mouse wheel to find the active app to which you want to switch. I always have a ton of open windows at work and at home and getting thumbnail previews without having to open the windows is immensly useful.
- Internet Explorer only gives web content access to the Temporary Internet Files folder, making it much harder for malicious sites to muck up your system.
- Tons of “real” parental controls that allow you to restrict your children’s access to the PC. Usually parental controls, in my mind, are completely and utterly useless, but I like what MS is doing in Vista. You can easily set permissions for what apps specific users can run, times and days of the week they’re allowed or not allowed to be logged in, etc. So if I don’t want little Ana playing Half-Life 2 I can simply deny her access to that specific application. Does she want to play hooky from school to stay home and play Lego Star Wars? Too bad she’s not allowed to be logged in Mon through Friday from 8am to 5pm. Granted, my kids aren’t to an age yet where this is a concern, but I still really like this feature.
- There’s some gaming-specific features added in, but it’s not clear to me yet how much these will improve Windows as an operating system for games.
- Graphically, it’s more Mac-like than ever (take that for what it’s worth, but I think it looks great). Hovering your mouse over a button causes said button to glow, so you really know what you’re going to click (I’m always clicking the wrong button when trying to minimize/maximize/close a window, for example). The title bar for apps is transparent (the extent of which is customizable) and moving windows around, opening and closing them, etc. all have unobtrusive, but visually appealing animations. Again, there’s just a lot of little things that added together just improve the experience of working in the user interface.
There’s actually a ton more (a new Calendar app, a replacement for Outlook Express, etc.), but I’m just going off the top of my head. I’m just generally very impressed with what I’ve seen of Vista so far and the announcement of the various editions in which it will be available gives me an opportunity to riff on it here for a bit. I do, however, tremble at the notion of how expensive the Vista Uber Edition (or whatever it’s called) might be. In the past I’ve managed to fenagle a free copy via one (legal) means or another, but I’m not sure this time around. If I’m spending hard-earned cash I may have to settle for the Home Premium Edition (which includes full Media Center functionality).
After years of coasting I think MS is finally really trying to innovate with their operating system again (and yes, also steal from the MacOS; as if Apple never stole a concept from anyone) , while also addressing existing shortcomings (particularly with regards to its many security problems). Windows XP was a good start after the Windows Me debacle (haven’t seen a hunk of junk like that since the tack-on app MS Bob), and I think Vista will take a few more big steps forward. Hopefully it’ll also improve the PC gaming experience and give that part of the industry some kind of shot in the arm, though I’m not holding my breath for that. (There is a new DirectX and some game profiling functionality, but I’ve seen nothing that makes it clear just how much better a gaming platform it will be. We’ll see)