MICROSOFT RELEASES VISTA 2006 BETA 1 (FORMERLY "LONGHORN")

Here are the key features:

For complete details and screen shots go to our Windows Vista page: http://www.commodore.ca/windows/vista/windows_vista.htm

1. GUI: New interface called Aero which appears to be me to be little more than a simple new skin.
2. DEPLOYMENT: Windows Imaging Format (WIM) which stores images (like Ghost and RIS, including the Windows CD image) as files rather than copies of sectors. This results in different images sharing files thereby dramatically reducing image sizes. For example, if file “A.EXE” is in images 1, 2 and 3, it will only be stored once and the other two images will simply point to that file. You can also load these images offline and adjust them! This elliminates the current RIS restrictions like having to apply images to drives that are larger than the one the image was created on.
3. IE7: Internet Explorer 7 introduces new security restrictions, tabbed browsing, inline search, and shrink-to-fit printing.
4. HARDWARE ENCRYPTION: The entire hard drive can be keyed to a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 chip. This eliminates the ability of thieves to take a hard drive from stollen machine and read the data off of it by installing it in a different machine.
5. ANTI-MALWARE: Integrated AntiSpyware software will block and clean this modern day epidemic.
6. NETWORK ACCESS PROTECTION: If machines (i.e. laptops) do not meet minimum security standards (i.e. out of date antivirus signature files, missing critical security updates…) then it will not be allowed to connect to you corporate LAN. This feature likely will require the server version of VISTA currently scheduled for 2007 but who knows… MS may release it in Windows 2003 RC2.
7. BUILT IN DIAGNOSTIC FOR SELF HEALING: a diagnostic framework that enables intelligent event tracing and data retention, as well as automatic problem detection, diagnosis, and resolution. If self-healing is not possible, Windows Vista guides you through manual resolution.
8. REMOTE ASSISTANCE IMPROVEMENTS: The re-written RA code allows both the remote controller and host to work on the same desktop at the same time (like terminal server), will traverse NAT’s and can even reconnect after a remote boot.
9. SAFEDOCS: perform scheduled incremental backups of your data.
10. SHADOW COPY: Just like Windows 2003 Server, the new Vista can restore files back to previous versions
11. FOLDER REDIRECTION: Like the Exchange / Outlook 2003 arrangement, files that are from redirected sources (i.e. My Documents is often redirected to a server) will be edited using their local cached versions. Only differentials will be pushed to the server, and this re-syncing will occur in the background. This means users can work when servers go down and the performance hit from redirection is all but elliminated
12. PARENTAL CONTROLS: Just like it sounds. I am sure your 8 year old will figure out a way around these but it will keep the kids who don’t want to see offensive content safer.
13. VIRTUAL FOLDERS: This is simply a saved search that is instantly run when you open the folder.
14. METRO DOCUMENTS: This format can be created directly from any application, and is simply a page-by-page view of content as it would have been rendered by a printer. Metro documents retain all of the fidelity of the original source material and all the necessary resources such as fonts and images for rendering. In Windows Vista Beta 1, Metro documents do not require you to have the original authoring application to be viewed, but are instead viewable within the included Metro Viewer. Microsoft is freely licensing Metro, which means that the format can be created and consumed on many different platforms and classes of devices, ensuring that Metro documents will integrate well.
15. VISTA EMAIL: This Outlook Express replacement will have spam detection algorythms to sort the junk mail into a Spam folder.
16. AUXILLARY DISPLAY: On the outside of your laptop, on remote controls, or perhaps on a keyboard will be a small LCD display that lets you access common information stored on your computer, even the machine is turned off. So if your laptop is running low on power but you really need a phone number stored in Outlook, you can get to it using that small, low power, display. Obviously, the OEMs of the world need to redisign their hardware to support this interesting new feature.
17. FASTER START: This is accomplished by running startup scripts and tasks in the background so you can start working right away