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The client O/S of the new Microsoft Longhorn generation of operating systems is finally almost here. Following the XP/2003 tradition, the client is to be released before the server family is shipped and will have its own distinguished name. The current release time is mid-2006, and the new client name is Vista. It is expected that the server is going to be released about three months after Windows Vista. The server is probably going to be called Windows Server 2007.
That said, it may be interesting to know that both Microsoft Windows Vista? and the server are using Windows 2003 SP1 as code base. Initially, it was believed that that client was going to be built using XP as code base.
As expected, Microsoft demonstrated build 5219 (Community Technical Preview CTP 1) of Windows Vista to attendees of the Professional Developers Conference in September 2005. The October CTP, or build 5231, is already here. That means we can expect monthly builds from here on, with public monthly builds beginning probably in December 2005.
So it looks like there will be a new client O/S by the end of next year and maybe even sooner.
How Many Vistas Are There Anyway?
The simple days of having one or two flavors of the same client O/S are gone. MS is now talking about no less than seven different editions in two categories: home and business. And this is just the client O/S. It seems that the Longhorn family is going to be quite large.
The Home category will include four products: Windows Vista Starter Edition; Windows Vista Home Basic Edition; Windows Vista Home Premium Edition; and Windows Vista Ultimate Edition.
In the Business category, there will be three editions: Windows Vista Small Business Edition; Windows Vista Professional Edition; and Windows Vista Enterprise Edition.
The sheer number of client editions will almost certainly lead to consumer confusion. Many of us are still trying to explain the difference between Windows XP and Office XP.
Hardware Requirements
One possible explanation for the multitude of client O/S to be offered is that MS is trying to ensure that people who cannot afford to upgrade their hardware will still be willing to upgrade the O/S.
Microsoft Is Talking about Windows Vista Ready vs. Windows Capable Systems.
A Windows Vista Ready System has a modern CPU, at least 512 MB of RAM, and a GPU that supports the Windows Vista Display Driver Model.
Clients that do not meet the Vista Ready hardware requirements will not be able to enjoy all new Vista features and benefits.
Vista is going to be the first O/S from MS that is really graphics focused. MS went from bitmap images to vector graphics, which means that there will be a shift in the CPU to the GPU. It will also require a high-end display card to be included in the machine. A 128 megabyte display card will be good, but a 256+ megabyte will be better.
According to MS, Vista would work best on a video card with more than 256MB RAM, 2GB of DDR3 memory, and a S-ATA 2 hard drive.
Another issue still to be addressed by the industry is the inability of current monitors to handle the copy protection in high-definition DVDs. To date, very few PC monitors support High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) technology. That?s what you need in order to enjoy DVDs in high definition. This is something the industry needs to catch up with before the public release of Windows Vista next year.
To summarize - hardware requirements for Windows Vista allow your current system to run it but your future system will run it properly. Sounds pretty much like any other previous release of MS O/S.
What?s all the Marketing Hype About?
Corporation. Microsoft from permission with Reprinted
The marketing strategy around Vista features the "triple-C" campaign - Confident, Clear, and Connected.
It?s yet to be seen how successful this marketing strategy is going to be, but the good news is that the triple Cs are actually supported by some very interesting new features.
Connected
There is a pervasive-device synchronization feature, which will allow users to synchronize information across multiple PCs, servers, cell phones, and PDAs.
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