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*Intended for mainstream and high-end graphics cards.
*Intended for mainstream and high-end graphics cards.
*64 MB of graphics memory recommended, 128 MB for 1600x1200+.
*64 MB of graphics memory minimum, 128 MB recomended,256mb for 1600x1200 or higher.
*At least 32 [[bits per pixel]].
*At least 32 [[bits per pixel]].
*3D hardware acceleration with capabilities equal to [[DirectX]] 9.0c.
*3D hardware acceleration with capabilities equal to [[DirectX]] 9.0.
*A memory bandwidth of 2 GB/s, and as much 8 GB/s can be supported.
*A memory bandwidth of 2 GB/s, and as much 8 GB/s can be supported.
*Capable of drawing ~1.5 M triangles / second, one window being ~150 triangles.
*Capable of drawing ~1.5 M triangles / second, one window being ~150 triangles.
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*Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WVDDM) Drivers
*Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WVDDM) Drivers


It is likely that such a configuration will be an average configuration by Vista's release in 2006. During Vista's early alpha testing stages, the [[ATI Radeon]] [[9800 Pro]] and the [[nVidia]] [[fx5900|GeForce FX 5900]] were the only cards compatible with Aero Glass. Since, support has been extended to most [[DirectX 9]] Graphics cards. At this point, the [[nVidia]] FX family and up, and [[ATI Radeon]] 9600 and up are supported.
It is likely that such a configuration will be an average configuration by Vista's release in 2006. During Vista's early alpha testing stages, the [[ATI Radeon]] [[9800 Pro]] and the [[nVidia]] [[fx5900|GeForce FX 5900]] were the only cards compatible with Aero Glass. Since, support has been extended to most [[DirectX 9]] Graphics cards. At this point, the [[nVidia]] FX family and up, and [[ATI Radeon]] 9550 and up are supported.
Some graphics cards already support WVDDM. In Vista builds 4074 (WinHEC 2004 Build), 5048 (WinHEC 2005 Build), 5112 (Beta 1), and 5219 (PDC 2005 Build), WVDDM is already supported to run Aero Glass.
Some graphics cards already support WVDDM. In Vista builds 4074 (WinHEC 2004 Build), 5048 (WinHEC 2005 Build), 5112 (Beta 1), and 5219 (PDC 2005 Build), WVDDM is already supported to run Aero Glass.

Revision as of 00:14, 11 December 2005

Template:Future product

Windows Vista
Windows® Vista logo
Windows® Vista logo
File:Vista-5268-3.jpg
Windows Vista Build 5268 Start Menu
DeveloperMicrosoft
OS familyWindows NT
Working stateBeta
Source modelClosed source
Kernel typeHybrid kernel
LicenseMicrosoft EULA
Official websiteWindows Vista

Windows Vista is the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, superseding Windows XP. It was previously known by its codename Longhorn (see the other Microsoft codenames). The name "Vista" was unveiled on July 22, 2005. Longhorn Server, the successor of Windows Server 2003, is yet to be named. According to sources, the scheduled release date for Windows Vista is July 23, 2006. That release date is only scheduled for PC vendors so that systems will be made Vista-ready before Christmas. The general public availability is projected to be after early September 2006.

Windows Vista will carry the version number 6.0 (Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 being Windows NT versions 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2, respectively). 'Windows Vista' is sometimes abbreviated as WinVI, since that matches both its version number in Roman numerals and the initial letters of its name.

Windows Vista has several planned new features such as an entirely new user-interface called Aero, improved searching technology dubbed Search, and an XML specification designed for document formats and similar in many ways to Adobe's PDF entitled XPS. Windows Vista also has an entirely new development API, WinFX, along with several other key technologies. In addition, current speculation points to several different editions of Windows Vista being released, including starter, home, and professional editions. The new operating system had several previously scheduled features that are currently not planned to go into the operating system such as WinFS and the new command shell Windows Command Shell, code-named MSH and Monad. System requirements of the new software are also higher than previous versions of Windows.

Overview

Windows Vista was originally expected to ship sometime late in 2003 as a minor step between Windows XP and Windows Blackcomb. Gradually, Vista assimilated many important new features and technologies of Blackcomb, and so the date of release was pushed back to early 2006. In August 2004, Microsoft announced that it was making changes to what was then only known as "Longhorn". Microsoft basically started development afresh, building on the Windows Server 2003 codebase. This decision was reached in the wake of Windows XP Service Pack 2. As part of this decision, Microsoft announced that it is delaying the release of WinFS so that Vista could be released in "a reasonable timeframe". Due to this, WinFS will not be included in Windows Vista.

Two beta versions of Windows Vista are planned; the first was released on July 27, 2005, the second has been delayed. Beta 2 is projected for January to February, 2006 with release candidates to be released throughout 2006. The currently scheduled release of the full version of Windows Vista is late 2006. The projected release date is five years after the release of Windows XP, making this the longest time span between releases of desktop versions of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

Vista Beta 1 (build 5112) is currently available to Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet subscribers as well as a select group of Microsoft Beta testers and at select Microsoft developer conferences such as the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) and WinHEC. The preview release is classified as a beta version at the moment, although its feature set is not representative of the release product. Like many other products (including all Windows releases since Windows 98), it has since been leaked onto popular networks (file sharing or otherwise) such as IRC, BitTorrent, eDonkey and various newsgroups.

With build 5219, Microsoft started releasing monthly Community Technical Previews (CTP) to beta testers. Build 5219 was distributed among 2005 PDC attendees, and has been released to Microsoft Beta testers and MSDN subscribers. It is also known as CTP1. Although not enabled by default, this refresh sees the return of the Windows Sidebar, which had been removed from previous builds due to a memory leak, and the introduction of Desktop Gadgets, both of which are part of Microsoft's Gadgets line of mini-applications. These are similar to Apple's widgets. Microsoft has stated that these Gadgets will be available at www.microsoftgadgets.com, and they will be available for Windows XP as well. It also sported a new version of Windows Media Center (previously only available in Windows XP Media Center Edition).

Although Microsoft has stated that WinFS will not make its wide reaching debut in Windows Vista, users of the 5219 build noticed that WinFS is in fact included in that version. Several Windows 'rumour' sites and newsgroups such as Neowin and Paul Thurrott's Windows SuperSite have made speculation that WinFS will in fact be ready on time for Windows Vista's release.

About two weeks before its intended release, and one week after build 5219 was released, build 5231 was leaked, unfortunately containing a number of critical bugs. On schedule, about two weeks later, Microsoft released 5231, also known as CTP2 or the October 2005 CTP, to MSDN subscribers and Microsoft Beta Testers. This "Ultimate" build introduced the next version of Windows Media Player (version 11).

On November 22, 2005, the Windows Vista TAP Preview (build 5259) was released to TAP members, four days after its originally announced release date of November 18th as a November CTP. Microsoft cancelled the November CTP due to the instability of that build, and decided to release it only to TAP members. Microsoft's plans on releasing additional monthly CTP builds is unclear. The December CTP, to be released before Christmas, will be very close to feature complete, since Microsoft is planning to lock all of Vista's features at the end of December. Beta 2 was originally slated for release in December, 2005, but has since been pushed back to February or March of 2006.

Windows Vista editions

It is rumored that Windows Vista will ship in nine editions; all of which except for Starter Edition will be in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Edition Description Availability Restriction
Starter Edition Much like the Windows XP Starter Edition, this edition will be limited to emerging markets mainly to offer a legal alternative to piracy. It will be severely limited, for example only allowing a user to launch at most three applications at once. This is the only edition that will not support 64-bit processors. Emerging markets
Home Basic Edition Similar to Windows XP Home Edition for budget users not requiring advanced media support for home use.
Home Basic Edition N Identical to Windows Vista Home Basic Edition except Windows Media Player is not included. This edition is mandated by European law, to allow more competitiveness among media applications available for Windows. Europe
Home Premium Edition Based on the Windows Vista Home Basic Edition, this edition will additionally support more advanced features aimed for the home market segment, such as HDTV support and DVD authoring. This edition will be comparable to a Windows XP Home edition combined with features from the Windows XP Media Center Edition and some additional features.
Professional Edition Comparable to Windows XP Professional, and aimed at the business market. Adding support for Windows Server domains, which all Home editions will lack. This edition will be bundled with a new version of the IIS (Internet Information Services) web server.
Professional Edition N Identical to Windows Vista Professional Edition except Windows Media Player is not included, for the same reason as with Home Basic Edition N. Europe
Small Business Edition This edition is aimed at small businesses lacking an IT staff. It will have a number of integrated system maintenance features, although not enough to be classified as a full fledged server. It will support backup and shadow copies, sport integrated fax and scanning utilities, sport a special version of Microsoft's upcoming antivirus tool Windows OneCare. It may also come with a pre-paid Microsoft Office Live! subscription.
Enterprise Edition This edition is aimed at the enterprise segment of the market, and functions like a superset of the Professional Edition, this edition will among other things ship with Microsoft's Virtual PC system virtualization software, and a multilingual user interface. This edition will not be available through retail or OEMs. Enterprise agreements
Ultimate Edition This edition will work as a superset of the Home and Professional editions and additionally come with podcasting support—which Microsoft has renamed "blogcasting"—a game performance tweaker (code-named WinSAT), DVD ripping capabilities, and possibly supporting special online services for downloadable media. The Ultimate Edition is aimed to be the most impressive edition of Vista, aimed for high-end PC users, gamers, multimedia professionals, or PC enthusiasts. This version is "the best choice" for people who want the best in their Windows Vista experience.

Technologies

Microsoft labels the new key technologies in the new Windows version as "The Pillars of Vista".

WPF, WCF, and WinFX are technologies that Microsoft is hoping to make available to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 as well, and are therefore not technologies exclusive to Vista, but rather developed in time for the Vista release. However, Aero will still be exclusive to Vista. The reason for backporting these technologies is to allow an easier introduction to these technologies to developers and end users. On March 26th Microsoft released a Community Preview for both WPF and WCF to enable developers to experiment with the new technologies without running the Alpha version of Vista. Later, due to a proliferation of requests the preview was made available to the general public at Microsoft's website.

Features

Several new features have been planned for Vista. Neither the final feature set nor the extent to which the different editions would contain different features has been fully clarified as of September 2005. Some features have been cut since Longhorn was initially announced in 2003.

Aero

Main article: Aero (user interface)

AERO is an acronym (or backronym) for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open.

Vista will include a re-designed user interface, code-named Aero. The new interface is intended to be cleaner and more aesthetically pleasing than previous Windows, including new transparencies, animations and eye candy implemented similarly to Mac OS X's Quartz Compositor, which originally shipped in 2001. Until build 5112, little or nothing has been shown of Aero in public/leaked builds. However, Microsoft makes it clear that the changes are by no means superficial. The previous UIs were Plex, which was featured in Longhorn builds 3683-4029; Slate, which was featured in build 4051 and was available until build 4083; and Jade (build 4074 and 4083, actually an early preview of Aero). Microsoft started using Aero in public builds since build 5048. The first build with full-featured Aero was build 5219. Aero has three levels available, one is code-named "To Go", which has the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) Composition Engine (previously known as DCE) disabled. The next is AeroExpress, lacking many features of the highest level code-named Aero Glass. These levels are provided so that the Aero interface (to some extent) can be used with a relatively low-end graphics card.

Vista will feature a search engine that will allow for instant display of results for a given search, in a manner similar to Google Desktop, Apple Computer's Spotlight, and Microsoft's Windows Desktop Search. This is in contrast to the search engine of Windows XP, which can take several minutes to display results. The Vista search will allow users to add multiple filters to continually refine search results (Such as "File contains the word 'example'"). There will also be saved searches that will act as virtual folders (rather like the smart folders of Mac OS X v10.4), where opening a folder will execute a specific search automatically and display the results as a normal folder. These virtual folders are also distributable via RSS. Previously there were rumors that unlike Tiger's smart folders or Microsoft Outlook 2003, users will not be able to open the files directly from the virtual folder in the same way as through the Windows Explorer, this was later found to be untrue. The Vista search is built on an expanded and improved version of the Indexing Service from previous versions of Windows. Searching in Vista will also allow users to search across RSS and Atom feeds, straight from Explorer.

Also like Apple's Spotlight, programs specifically developed for Vista can also add search to their own programs. Vista will also use IFilters [1] that are used today by Windows Desktop Search. The IFilter interface can be implemented by software makers so that files created by their applications can be better integrated with search and indexing programs.

The search functionality will be upgraded again when WinFS is released.

XML Paper Specification (XPS)

Main article: XML Paper Specification

XPS was formerly known as "Metro", and is Microsoft's upcoming document format, which is based on XML. It is similar in many ways to Adobe Systems' PDF. XPS is intended to allow users to view, print, and archive files without the original program that created them. The name XPS also refers to one of the print paths in Windows Vista. With XPS, documents can remain in the same format from the time they are created to the time they are printed. Microsoft states that XPS will provide better fidelity to the original document by using a consistent format for both screen and print output.

While some suspect XPS is intended to be a "PDF-killer", Microsoft insists that they are not attempting to duplicate all the functionality of the PDF. For example, at the time of this writing, XPS is not planned to have the capabilities for dynamic documents.

XPS is a subset of Windows Presentation Foundation, allowing it to incorporate rich vector-graphic elements in documents. The elements used are taken to a lower level (i.e. described in terms of paths) to allow for portability across platforms. In effect, it consists of XAML files, with necessary fonts, zipped in a package.

Shell

The new shell is a significant change from previous versions of Windows. Combined with the new desktop searching feature, the shell gives users the ability to find and organize their files in new ways. Apart from the typical file organization practice of using folders to contain files, a new collection known as Lists lets users organize files from multiple locations in a single place.

A new type of folder known as a Shadow Folder has the ability to revert its entire contents to any arbitrary point in the past. Shadow Folders utilize a transactional storage feature in the newest NTFS release.

Additionally, the shell contains significant advancements in the visualization of files on a computer. Previous versions of the Windows Shell would display thumbnails to represent different files on the computer. In Windows Vista the thumbnail concept is taken further by overlaying different imagery to communicate more information about the particular file such as a picture frame around the thumbnail of an image file, or a filmstrip on a video file. Windows Vista helps the user identify the file easily by more intelligently generating the thumbnails. Using algorithmic analysis, images are cropped around their likely subject, and interesting key frames are automatically chosen from a video file. Also, the ability to zoom the thumbnails in the shell greatly increases their usefulness.

Networking

Windows Vista is expected to have a brand new networking stack. A significant and much needed change is a more complete implementation of IPv6 which is now supported by all networking components, services, and the user interface. Vista also takes advantage of peer-to-peer technology to provide a new type of domain-like networking setup known as a Castle. Castles make it possible for user credentials to propagate across networked computers without a centralized server, making them more suitable for a home network.

The ability to assist the user in diagnosing a network problem is expected to be a major new networking feature. Using technologies such as UPnP, Windows Vista has a greater awareness of the network topology the host computer is in. With this new network awareness technology it can provide help to the user in fixing network issues or simply provide a graphical view of the perceived network configuration. Since build 5231, there is also a new "Network Center", allowing the administration of the network topology.

Windows Defender

Main article: Windows Defender

Apart from various improvements in security, Windows Vista will include Microsoft's anti-spyware utility, recently renamed Windows Defender. According to Microsoft, it was renamed from 'Windows Anti-Spyware' because it not only features scanning of the system for spyware, similar to other free products on the market, but also includes Real Time Security agents that monitor several common areas of Windows for changes which may be caused by spyware. It also includes the ability to easily remove ActiveX applications that are installed, and to delete the histories in almost all Microsoft programs, and a number of other common programs including Acrobat. Also included is a SpyNet™ network, that allows users to communicate with Microsoft, what they consider is spyware, and what are acceptable applications.

Other features and changes

  • Fully transactional file system (NTFS)
  • Full support for the "NX" (No-Execute) feature of processors. This feature, present as NX (EVP) in AMD's K8 processors and as XD (EDB) in Intel's processors, can flag certain parts of memory as containing data instead of executable code, which prevents overflow errors from resulting in arbitrary code execution. This should not be confused with trusted computing facilities provided by a so-called Trusted Platform Module.
  • Built-in DVD recording capabilities, including Mt. Rainier support.
  • A file-based disk imaging technology called xImage, that will install Vista in about 15 minutes rather than the 40 minutes taken by the current file-by-file copying method (xImage has been present since alpha build 4000).
  • Native raw image support (a variety of formats used by professional digital cameras).
  • Native, embedded RSS support, with developer API.
  • File encryption support superior to that available in Windows XP, which will make it easier and more automatic to prevent unauthorized viewing of files on stolen laptops or hard drives.
  • The "My" prefixes will be dropped, so "My Documents" will just be "Documents", "My Computer" will just be "Computer", etc.
  • The long "Documents and Settings" folder is now just "Users".
  • Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSat), a built in benchmarking tool which analyzes the different subsystems (graphics, memory, etc), and uses the results to allow for comparison to other Vista systems, and for software optimizations. The optimizations can be made by both Windows and third-party software. Tom's Hardware Overview
  • File virtualization, a feature that automatically creates private copies of files that an application can use when it does not have permission to access the original files. This facilitates stronger file security and helps applications not written with security in mind to run under stronger restrictions.
  • Transactional File Transfers, prevents a half updated set of files from being created during updates for example, which can cause stability problems.
  • InfoCard, a user interface to the Identity Metasystem.
  • Windows Backup (code-named SafeDocs) allowing automatic backup of files, recovery of specific files and folders, recovery of specific file types, or recovery all files.
  • New Japanese font called Meiryo, supporting the new and modified characters of the JIS X 0213:2004 standard.[2]
  • Volume Shadow Copy (read-only snapshots of a disk volume at an earlier point in time) fully supported on local volumes
  • Support of UNIX-style symbolic links. [3]
  • Support for condition variables and reader-writer locks
  • Support for mandatory access control
  • Build 5048 of Longhorn featured a red screen of death in addition to the blue one. It was dropped in Build 5112 of Windows Vista.
  • All new Audio stack and APIs. Old audio code has been thrown away and rewritten by Larry Osterman's team.
  • Flip 3D: Windows can be stacked and rotated in 3D to provide views of all of them simultaneously (PC Magazine - Windows Vista Update)
  • Windows Mail is going to replace Outlook Express, the well known email client in previous Windows versions.
  • Windows Calendar is the new calendar application that is included in Windows Vista.

Features and technologies delayed until future releases

  • WinFS (short for Windows File Storage Foundation) is a relational database layer built on top of NTFS, and is loosely based on the next version of SQL Server (codenamed Yukon). In August 2004, Microsoft announced that WinFS would not be included in Windows Vista. This was due to time constraints in developing the technology, Microsoft will probably release WinFS in 2007 as an update. Microsoft has been working on this technology since the mid 1990s.
  • Due to scheduling issues, the Windows Command Shell, code-named MSH/Monad will not be included in Windows Vista. However, it will likely be available for download by the time Vista is available.

Graphics hardware requirements

Vista's graphics requirements are defined in relation to the different desktop experiences.

Windows Vista Aero

This graphics mode adds support for 3D graphics, animation and visual special effects in addition to the features offered by Aero Express.

  • Intended for mainstream and high-end graphics cards.
  • 64 MB of graphics memory minimum, 128 MB recomended,256mb for 1600x1200 or higher.
  • At least 32 bits per pixel.
  • 3D hardware acceleration with capabilities equal to DirectX 9.0.
  • A memory bandwidth of 2 GB/s, and as much 8 GB/s can be supported.
  • Capable of drawing ~1.5 M triangles / second, one window being ~150 triangles.
  • A graphics card that uses AGP 8X or PCI Express 16X 8-lane bus.
  • DirectX 9.0c
  • Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WVDDM) Drivers

It is likely that such a configuration will be an average configuration by Vista's release in 2006. During Vista's early alpha testing stages, the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and the nVidia GeForce FX 5900 were the only cards compatible with Aero Glass. Since, support has been extended to most DirectX 9 Graphics cards. At this point, the nVidia FX family and up, and ATI Radeon 9550 and up are supported.

Some graphics cards already support WVDDM. In Vista builds 4074 (WinHEC 2004 Build), 5048 (WinHEC 2005 Build), 5112 (Beta 1), and 5219 (PDC 2005 Build), WVDDM is already supported to run Aero Glass.

Windows Vista Basic (Luna, Windows XP)

The new Vista look & feel without any visual special effects, similar to the visual style Luna of Windows XP in that it resembles merely an application skin. As with Luna, no additional hardware requirements compared to the classic Windows interface.

  • A simple option for consumer upgrades, and mobile / low-cost devices.
  • No additional requirements compared to the lesser Classic mode.
  • Fallback mode in case the hardware requirements for Aero aren't met.

Classic (Windows 2000)

The most basic user interface offered by Vista, which is also seen in Windows 2000, or Windows XP with its visual style Luna deactivated.

  • An option for corporate deployments and upgrades.
  • Requires Windows XP Display Driver Model (XPDM) or WVDDM drivers.
  • No graphics card hardware requirements exceeding those of Windows XP.

Previously, an experience called "Aero Diamond" was rumored, but later it was found to be untrue. A previous version of this article described it as "A graphics mode customized for the Windows Vista Home Premium Edition and Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, which will have Windows Media Center included. Not much information is currently available, but it appears that it will be the most advanced level of graphics in Vista, requiring hardware at the same level or greater than the Aero Glass visual style."

Also, the "Aero Express" experience was recently dropped. However, the same experience can be achieved by turning off transparency effects while running "Windows Vista Aero".

System hardware requirements

Microsoft has not released specific details of Windows Vista's hardware requirements; however, Microsoft has released some general Windows Vista Ready PC Hardware Guidelines for those wishing to upgrade to Windows Vista and have the full Aero Glass experience.

  • CPU: Intel x86-compatible 32-bit or AMD64-compatible 64-bit microprocessor(s)
  • Memory: At least 512 megabytes for 32-bit systems, probably more for 64-bit systems
  • Graphics Card: A DirectX 9–compatible GPU that is capable of supporting Windows Vista Display Driver Model (WVDDM) and has at least 128 megabytes of VRAM
  • Hard Drive space: At least 1.5 gigabytes for installation files, possibly more, depending on the version of Windows Vista
  • A DVD-ROM drive might be required (Windows Vista installation package may be burned into a single DVD)

Summary of builds

This is an incomplete list of Windows Vista builds and their compilation dates, and mostly includes information on either officially released or unofficially leaked builds. Some build dates, mostly for official releases, are out of line with the build number (e.g. Windows Vista Beta 1), due to Microsoft branching some builds off the main tree to make additional stability work, taking them more time to compile the final version. While this is intended as a summary, there are more complete build lists available elsewhere. [4]

  • Milestone 1:
    • Build 3646 (built on 2002-06-12) - The first known build. Labelled "Lab01_N(portbld).020612-1346", so likely a very early porting build.
  • Milestone 2:
    • Build 3663 (2002-07-28) - The first known build with leaked screenshots. Incorporated the Plex theme, a new skin running on the XP style engine with only minor enhancements.
  • Milestone 3:
    • Build 3683 (2002-09-23) - The first leaked build.
    • Build 3718 (2002-11-19) - The first build to have Aero effects. Programs literally flipped into the taskbar and twisted as you closed them. This was leaked to the Internet a week before build 4074, so it was two years old at this time.
  • Milestone 4:
    • Build 4008 (2003-02-19) - Evolutionary release with many small improvements, including a modified Plex theme and a new installer.
  • Milestone 5:
    • Build 4015 (2003-03-28) - Introduced a large memory leak related to Windows Sidebar.
    • Build 4029 (2003-06-19) - Windows Explorer was redesigned and the memory leak was fixed partially. This may actually be a Milestone 6 build.
  • Milestone 6:
    • Build 4051 (2003-10-01) - Official PDC 2003 build. Not released, but it did leak in October 20, 2005. Introduced a new Slate theme.
    • Build 4053 (2003-10-29) - Minor changes.
  • Milestone 7:
    • Build 4074 (2004-04-25) - Official WinHEC 2004 preview build. Introduced a new Jade theme; the last leaked 32-bit XP-based build, and (possibly) the last build containing WinFS.
    • Build 4083 (2004-05-16) - The last leaked 64-bit XP-based build. Sidebar and WinFS was dropped.
  • Milestone 8 and 9:
    Build 5000 made in early to mid September 2004 was notable, as a lot of former code was discarded from the Windows Vista codebase, and work restarted basically from scratch on the Windows Server 2003 SP1 codebase. Some features have later been reintroduced again, such as the popular Windows sidebar. Many former Windows Longhorn features will never see the light again in the final version of Windows Vista though, and even Microsoft's actual vision with Vista changed, in many ways to be less ambitious, as testers had started to see already with WinFS being dropped. The huge loss of features in the builds closely following this change, led to an OS closely reminding testers of Windows XP again. It even led to well-known Windows enthusiast Paul Thurrott saying build 5048 having the "makings of a train wreck" [5], something he is no longer believing in the more recent builds.
    • Build 5048 (2005-04-01) - Official WinHEC 2005 preview build. Introduced a new Aero Glass interface.
  • Beta 1 fork:
    • Build 5112 (2005-07-20) - Windows Vista Beta 1. Released July 27, 2005.
  • Beta 2 fork:
    • Build 5203 (2005-07-02) - Evolutionary release with many small improvements (shown-off before Beta 1).
    • Build 5219 (2005-08-30) - Windows Vista September CTP. Released September 13, 2005. The first Community Tech Preview build, as part of their new more open beta initiative for monthly "snapshot" builds, with less stability work made to them than actual betas. This was also the first public "Ultimate Edition" build, including Smart Fetch, and had a new version of the Windows sidebar.
    • Build 5231 (2005-10-04) - Windows Vista October CTP. Released October 17, 2005. Two versions are known, a leaked unofficial Winmain build (built at 2005-09-12) and a released IDX03 version with additional stability work made to it.
    • Build 5259 (2005-11-17) - Windows Vista TAP Preview. Released November 22, 2005. Sidebar temporarily removed until Beta 2, a few new UI changes, including the ability to change the color and clarity of the UI, Windows Antispyware (soon to be "Windows Defender") integrated, new Windows Mail. A specific, small group of partners received access to 5259. It is an IDW build and therefore had not gone through the CTP testing process. There will not be a November CTP due to the instability of this build.
    • Build 5268 (Unknown) - Windows Vista OEM Preview. An OEM WinMain build (released to some partners). It is said to be nearly feature complete, because Microsoft is planning to lock Windows Vista features by the end of December.
    • Build 5276±1 (TBA) - Windows Vista December CTP.

Windows Vista official screenshots

The earliest of these images were published at Windows Vista Virtual Pressroom on July 27 2005

See also

References

  • Graphics Hardware and Drivers for "Vista" – Version as of April, 2004; retrieved June 10 2004
  • ^ Stanimir Stoyanov (2005-11-25). "Windows Longhorn Builds List".
  • Microsoft
    • Microsoft - 'Microsoft Windows Vista homepage'
    • Microsoft Technet - 'Windows Vista Resources for IT Professionals'
    • MSDN - 'Microsoft Vista Developer Center'
    • MSDN - 'The Pillars of Vista'
    • MSDN - 'Documentation for Microsoft WinFX SDK (new Vista APIs)'
    • Microsoft - 'Windows Longhorn Driver Development (and hardware device support)'
    • Microsoft - 'Microsoft beta webiste '


  • Reviews
    • MSNBC - 'Early look at Windows Vista shows promise (review by Matthew Fordahl for the Associated Press)'
  • Critical articles
    • CNET 'Hollywood, Microsoft align on new Windows'
    • Technology Review 'Will Windows Upgrade Hand Power To Big Media?'
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