What is Windows Vista

So, what is Windows Vista?

Windows Vista is the next major version of Microsoft Windows, the proprietary operating system developed by Microsoft. Prior to the announcement of the Vista name on July 22, 2005, it was known by its codename Longhorn, after the Longhorn Saloon, a popular bar in Whistler, British Columbia.

According to Microsoft, the scheduled release date for Windows Vista is currently November 2006 for business editions, and January 2007 for consumer editions.

These release dates come more than five years after the release of Windows XP, Microsoft's current consumer and business operating system, making this the longest time span between releases of Windows.

Vista will be one of the most substantial updates in the history of Windows in terms of new features and under-the-hood changes, and is thought to be the largest and most costly software development project in the history of computing.

Windows Vista has many new features, such as an updated graphical user interface dubbed Aero, improved searching technology, a number of new security features, and completely redesigned networking, audio, print and display sub-systems.

Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network using peer-to-peer technology, making it easy to share files, password settings, and digital media between computers and devices.

For developers, Vista also has an entirely new development API, called WinFX, based on the .NET framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for developers to write high-quality applications than with WinFX's predecessor, Win32.

The Enterprise edition of Vista is expected to include Microsoft's Virtual PC technology, so that line-of-business applications that are incompatible with Vista can still be used in a fashion similar to how Mac OS X's "Classic" mode supported older Macintosh applications.

According to Jim Allchin, the co-President at Microsoft responsible for Windows Vista, there are over one thousand new features and technologies being introduced.

In many ways, as Bill Gates has said, Windows Vista is the broadest and biggest update since Windows 95, which was released twelve years prior to the expected release date of Vista.

Vista is currently in Beta form right now and here at Windows-Vista-Update.com, we continue to await the release of the final product so that we can bring you the latest updates, screenshots, reviews etc of Windows Vista.