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First we will want to look into the different versions of Vista in order to decide which one is relevant to you.
There are currently 5 versions of Vista.
- Vista Home Basic
- Vista Home Premium
- Vista Business
- Vista Ultimate
- Vista Enterprise
As Microsoft breakdown the features of Vista into four sections, for the purpose of this article, we will as well.
Ease of Use
Microsoft has made the Graphical User Interface (GUI) easier to use. The entire display has had a major face-lift in comparison to previous versions of Windows. Navigation through the folder structure is much easier and it is customisable to fit your needs. Files and folders are much easier to navigate as Microsoft has included very good thumbnail view of documents or pictures. This simplifies trying to find the right document or picture.
The graphics and icons have been changed and improved. Microsoft has embedded DirectX 10 into the operating system, which provides enhanced graphic support for applications and software developers; DirectX 10 isn’t available on XP. The inclusion of DirectX 10 will improve any application that is graphically intensive, such as games, drawing packages, photo manipulation application and image-based software. Another major enhancement is the 3D display. With the touch of a button all your open windows are turned into 3D files and displayed on the screen so you can navigate them easier. The other display change is the Aero interface which uses the DirectX abilities, this does require a good graphics card of at least 256MB of onboard RAM.
Safety/Security
This is where Microsoft has made the biggest internal changes. Backup is a hot topic these days, with an ever-increasing amount of data and reliance on it. Microsoft have included some form of backup ability out of the box in 4 of the Vista versions, except for Vista Home Basic. The Business and Ultimate versions have the ability to perform backups to devices not directly attached to the computer via a network attached drive or remote storage, plus full image or cloned backups of the whole disk.
Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate versions have file/folder encryption. Ultimate and Enterprise versions ship with something called Bitlocker, which is a utility that is used for securing and encrypting the computers hard disk. Launching an application within Vista now has an added security feature - restricting application installation without the user’s approval. This can be a headache, but it is there to protect the user. This also has a side benefit in that it provides companies with greater control over their employees computers by restricting what people can install on their machines themselves. Another aspect that might be of importance is parental control, which is now included with greater controls in all versions.
Entertainment
The Home Premium and Ultimate versions have new entertainment functionalities, as they have the ability to turn your computer into a media centre. This is similar to XP media centre, which allows the connection of an Xbox to the computer in extended mode. Also, any music that is stored on the computer can be managed through a single interface. Finally, if a TV card is installed, it enables the computer to be turned in to a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) and TV via the media centre.
Connected
Vista enhances the way in which computers communicate with the outside world. These enhancements include the ability to run IP version 6, improved wireless access using the latest standards, and improved remote access capabilities.
Conclusion
Windows Vista has many improvements over its predecessor. From enhanced security to a streamlined user interface, Vista offers a number of reasons why businesses and home users may consider the upgrade.
To ensure however that Vista runs at its optimum, you should consider the hardware requirements needed for this operating system to run as smoothly and effectively as possible.