Windows Vista, the newest operating system from Microsoft, was released for public use in January 2007. With a host of new features, this new operating system has completely awed users worldwide. It opened to a lot of speculation and has not disappointed the users. It doesn't come as a surprise because since its inception to its release, Windows Vista took more than five years and the designers and programmers at Microsoft made sure that they looked into every aspect of this version on Windows to satisfy even the most demanding of users.
The first thing that users will see in Windows Vista is the look of it. It has a much better graphical user interface to improve the look and feel and also a visual style called Windows Aero that has improved the search function using "Instant Search." Added to all this is various multimedia tools and a P2P technology to ease the sharing of files and other media. Additionally, with Windows Vista, users also get Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Media Player 11. The concept of Outlook Express has been changed to Windows Mail that is more stable and has an integrated search.
Windows Mail also has a robust phishing filter and junk mail handling capabilities. Apart from all these new features, there are applications like Windows Mobility Center, Windows DVD Maker, NetMeeting Windows Media Center, Games and Games Explorer and Parental Control. It also has a device called Speech Recognition that can be used with various applications. Windows Vista also has a solid Backup and Restore Center that uses intelligent backup system to optimally use disc space.
Unlike the previous versions of Windows , Windows Vista had a rather long gap before it was released. According to Bill Gates, the primary focus when creating this version of Windows was to make sure that the security issues of Windows XP were resolved. However, in doing so, Microsoft has received a lot of flak from users across the world. One major issue with Windows Vista is that its licensing terms are very stringent and it goes a little overboard when users try to download new software. Moreover, it is not always compatible with hardware and software that were in use before it was released.
However, since it was made clear in the beginning that Windows Vista is all about security, Microsoft decided to stick to that decision. The most important security feature in Windows Vista is User Account Control that has broadened the scope of the user's administrative privileges and thereby reduces the chances of any unauthorized system to tinker with the computer. This has been achieved by testing done through Symantec Corporation. Internet Explorer 7, the in-built browser, has also got additional security features that prevent unwanted software and applications to get into the system. The Windows Firewall has also been upgraded.
Despite all these complaints and apparent issues, Windows Vista has surpassed Microsoft's sales targets in the first two years. With more than 200 million users, Vista is the second most popular operating system after the hugely popular Windows XP.
Source by
Samy Roberts
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