Learning Windows Vista : Part 2

Windows Aero

You’ll see a slick new look to objects and applications in Vista—if you have a version of
the operating system that supports it and hardware that’s modern enough to render it.
The new Aero interface gives translucency to the chrome that surrounds most application
windows. This enables you to see what lies beneath a window, whether the foreground
app is stationary or you’re dragging it to a new location.

Perhaps more important than translucency is the new live thumbnail effect that Aero adds
to the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. Hover your mouse over a button that represents
a minimized application, and you’ll see a miniature picture of what’s in the app at that
moment (see Figure 2). This can be helpful in deciding which of several minimized applications
to switch to.

You can see the Aero interface (formerly code-named Aero Glass) if you have Vista Home
Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate Edition, and your video board supports the
advanced features of Microsoft’s new Windows Driver Display Model.

Flip 3D

Many Windows users know about Alt+Tab. You can hold down the Alt key and press Tab
repeatedly to switch to any application that’s currently open.
The Aero user interface adds a powerful enhancement to task switching. Alt+Tab still
works—even better, in fact, because now thumbnails of each application are displayed,
not just titles. But you’ll probably abandon Alt+Tab in favor of Windows+Tab, called
Flip3D, which shows you a revolving set of windows at an angle so you can see exactly
what you’re switching to (see Figure 3).
One of the windows that’s shown in the Flip 3D view is always your Windows Desktop.
That makes it easy to minimize all of your applications. Simply hold down the Windows
key (either the left one or the right one), and then press Tab until the miniature window
that looks like your Desktop is uppermost

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Learn Vista in 15 Minutes :part 1

It’s impossible to cover all the new features of Vista in a single chapter. Many features
warrant their own chapters because there’s a lot to say about them or we found secret
information that isn’t in the Help text you get with Vista. Other new Vista features, although important, may be so straightforward that they don’t have any particular secrets. If not, we haven’t devoted any further space to them in this book. But even features that don’t have hidden features may be important for you to know about when you turn Vista on for the first time. Exposing those features to you is the purpose of the following overview.

The New Start Menu
In Vista, the Start button is no longer called Start, and the Start menu looks completely
different from the menu you may be used to in Windows XP. However, it’s still there at the
bottom of the screen, and you may find it a bit better organized. The old Start button has been replaced by a lighted sphere that displays the Windows flag logo. Instead of submenus that fly out to the right of the main menu, Vista displays your most recently used programs in a primary window. If you click All Programs, the Start menu switches to a display of collapsing folders. You can expand each folder to show you all available programs, but the Start menu keeps the list within the primary window

The Value of Windows Vista

We waited more than five years for Vista. As you may recall, Windows XP was released with much fanfare in October 2001. But instead of the next Windows version shipping in just a couple of years, as originally expected, Microsoft lost its way in the development process. Vista didn’t make it to consumers until early 2007. Was it worth the wait? The short answer is, “Yes.” We believe Vista is a major advance on Microsoft’s previous operating systems. If you’re buying a new PC today, we don’t hesitate to recommend that you get Vista rather than requesting XP or another, older operating system. (If you’re upgrading an older PC to Vista, by contrast, be sure to first read our tips in Chapter 3.) In 2001, Microsoft executives widely claimed that XP was “the most secure operating system we have ever delivered.” In fact, XP and its new Web browser, Internet Explorer 6.0, were full of maddening security holes that previous operating systems didn’t suffer from.
ActiveX exploits, drive-by downloads, and many other kinds of weaknesses were quickly exploited by black-hat hackers. Microsoft has been issuing patches for XP and IE 6.0 ever since. The Vista OS and the new IE 7.0 browser are welcome steps toward changing that. Will they never need patching? We’d hardly say that. But Microsoft has added “hardening” features to Vista that should make remote exploits more difficult for hackers to carry out. Besides improved security, XP users who switch to Vista will also find enhancements in desktop searching, Windows Sidebar access to applets called gadgets, PC-to-PC content transfers, and even new games—mahjong and (finally!) chess. Unlike the first chapters of most books—which are filled with boilerplate thank-you and personal musings—we really do want you to read this chapter. Instead of filling our first few pages with acknowledgements of names you’ve never heard of, we’ve moved the credits for our valued sources into the chapters they helped us with. In these pages, we aim to give you a crash course on Windows Vista. In other words, read on and you can learn the most important new features of Vista in the time it takes to sip a nice, hot cuppa Joe.

The Value of Windows Vista

We waited more than five years for Vista. As you may recall, Windows XP was released with much fanfare in October 2001. But instead of the next Windows version shipping in just a couple of years, as originally expected, Microsoft lost its way in the development process. Vista didn’t make it to consumers until early 2007. Was it worth the wait? The short answer is, “Yes.” We believe Vista is a major advance on Microsoft’s previous operating systems. If you’re buying a new PC today, we don’t hesitate to recommend that you get Vista rather than requesting XP or another, older operating system. (If you’re upgrading an older PC to Vista, by contrast, be sure to first read our tips in Chapter 3.) In 2001, Microsoft executives widely claimed that XP was “the most secure operating system we have ever delivered.” In fact, XP and its new Web browser, Internet Explorer 6.0, were full of maddening security holes that previous operating systems didn’t suffer from.
ActiveX exploits, drive-by downloads, and many other kinds of weaknesses were quickly exploited by black-hat hackers. Microsoft has been issuing patches for XP and IE 6.0 ever since. The Vista OS and the new IE 7.0 browser are welcome steps toward changing that. Will they never need patching? We’d hardly say that. But Microsoft has added “hardening” features to Vista that should make remote exploits more difficult for hackers to carry out. Besides improved security, XP users who switch to Vista will also find enhancements in desktop searching, Windows Sidebar access to applets called gadgets, PC-to-PC content transfers, and even new games—mahjong and (finally!) chess. Unlike the first chapters of most books—which are filled with boilerplate thank-you and personal musings—we really do want you to read this chapter. Instead of filling our first few pages with acknowledgements of names you’ve never heard of, we’ve moved the credits for our valued sources into the chapters they helped us with. In these pages, we aim to give you a crash course on Windows Vista. In other words, read on and you can learn the most important new features of Vista in the time it takes to sip a nice, hot cuppa Joe.

Microsoft set to unveil Vista’s successor, Windows 7

The last Windows upgrade cycle left a long time between drinks. Windows XP hit shelves in October 2001. Then it was more than five years before Windows Vista succeeded it in January 2007. Now, Microsoft seems ready to step back to its former upgrade pace, which saw it release a revision of Windows every couple of years in pre-XP times.

To wit, the company today announced it will unveil new details about Vista’s successor, codenamed Windows 7, at its WinHEC developer conference November 5 to 7 in LA. At the same time, Microsoft will release Windows 7 code to third-party software developers – a key phase in the development of a new OS that shows Windows 7 is strongly in train.

With many large organisations yet to upgrade from XP, the relatively early emergence of Windows 7 raises the possibility that many will simply skip a generation, ignoring Vista altogether while they wait for the new OS.

If so, they should take a look at history. An apparently near-finished version of Vista was first unveiled in July 2005. But endless last minute tweaks, and niggles from US and EU antitrust agencies, meant the final version took more than 18 further months to emerge.

And Vista’s first service pack – a milestone many companies wait for before they upgrade, since it irons out bugs that bedevil early adopters – was only released in February this year.

This time around, some insiders are saying the reverse pattern will hold true. Windows 7 is officially due in 2010, but Microsoft may actually push the date forward to next year, reacting to Google’s move to make its web browser, Chrome, a de facto Windows of the internet, housing its free, ad-supported Google Gears software (like Chrome, still in beta) which will compete against Microsoft’s Office cash cow.

While Vista is famously hardware-hungry, early, sketchy reports say Windows 7 will run on Vista-capable hardware. Support for a multi-touch touch-screen (similar to that used by the iPhone and Microsoft’s own table-top Surface computer, currently only available in the US) is another of the new features.

With compatible PC hardware, the technology will let a user draw onscreen with their fingers, or touch the screen to quickly flip through a slideshow, or push a map around a display.

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