• Chart: New Windows Features by Platform
• Chart: New Windows APIs by Platform
• Illustration: Windows Vista Virtual Folders

The first Vista beta in July, combined with the technology preview release given to attendees of the Sept. 2005 Professional Developers Conference (PDC), gives customers and partners their first real glimpse at changes and new features in the next Windows client. Although Vista will change substantially before the final release, which is scheduled for the second half of 2006, customers need to begin evaluating Vista now to estimate its impact on their existing applications and determine whether they will want to deploy Vista when it is released.

Windows Vista Goals

Windows Vista is the successor to the current mainstream client version of Windows, Windows XP SP2. According to Microsoft, the vision for Windows Vista is "to bring clarity to your world, so that you can focus on what matters to you." To support this vision, Microsoft says Vista will provide the following:

• New levels of confidence in personal computers
• Clear ways to organize and use information
• Seamless connections between other people and computers.

In addition to these publicly stated goals, Vista must ship some key OS components for developers, provide a compelling reason for customers to upgrade, and restore Windows' position as the premier client OS.

Ship OS components. Windows Vista will be the first version of Windows to fully integrate new OS components, including the second version of the .NET Framework, the Windows Communication Foundation (formerly code-named Indigo), the Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named Avalon), and the Windows Workflow Foundation (formerly known as the Windows Orchestration Engine, or WinOE). Although users will not directly run these components, Microsoft must include this plumbing to make it easier for developers to build Windows applications and Web services without forcing developers to distribute the components with their applications. However, most of this plumbing will not be exclusive to Vista—some of these components and their features will be available for versions of the Windows client and server OSs still in Mainstream support. (For a list of these components and which platform they will be available on, see the charts "New Windows Features by Platform", and "New Windows APIs by Platform".)

Be a compelling upgrade. Vista must provide a compelling reason for customers to upgrade from older versions of Windows. Because many IT departments perceived Windows XP as being targeted at consumers rather than business users, they decided to continue to use Windows 2000 or another legacy version of Windows rather than deploy or upgrade to Windows XP. When SP2 improved the security and reliability of Windows XP, some customers decided they could no longer wait for Windows Vista and deployed Windows XP with SP2. Microsoft must convince customers still running older versions of Windows, and customers who recently upgraded to Windows XP SP2, that Vista is worth both the cost to acquire, including hardware upgrades in some cases, as well as the cost to deploy. The fact that Windows 2000 is no longer in Mainstream support works in Microsoft's favor, since some IT organizations are nervous about using an OS with reduced support levels.

Reassert its OS leadership position. Microsoft wants to reassert Windows' position as the leading OS in terms of quality and features—a role that some say now belongs to Apple's OS X.

Delivering Vista's Vision

To deliver on Microsoft's vision for Vista, the OS will include the WinFX APIs and use these APIs as well as new Win32 APIs to build features that improve security and reliability, help users organize their data, and connect with other users and computers.

New OS Components: WinFX

The OS components that will ship in Windows Vista are collectively called WinFX, and the version of these components for Windows XP SP2 will be called the WinFX Runtime Components. Included under the WinFX umbrella are the following technologies:

Windows Communication Foundation (WCF, code named Indigo). This set of APIs extends the .NET Framework to make it easier for developers to build connected systems of Web services and Windows applications that communicate with each other by supporting secure, reliable, transacted, and interoperable Web Services via the WS-* architecture.

Included in the WCF is technology called InfoCard—a self-issued identity provider enabling secure identification and authentication for Windows-based services and applications. InfoCard can be integrated with WCF to enable evidence-based authentication and encryption facilities, helping enhance users' security. (For more information about InfoCard, see "InfoCard to Aid Online Log-On".)

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF, code-named Avalon). These APIs are designed to make it easier for developers to build user interfaces (UIs) that take advantage of the full power of modern graphics hardware. The new Vista UI and shell will be built using the WPF, and a subset (WPF/E) will run on older versions of Windows and other OSs such as Mac OS X. Included in the WPF are APIs to build new XML-based documents using Microsoft's XML Paper Specification (XPS, initially code-named Metro). (See "New Graphics Framework Built Around .NET, XML".)

Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF). This combination of a workflow engine, API, and run-time services lets developers model human or system processes. For example, the next version of Office (code-named Office 12 and expected to shortly follow Vista's release) will use the WWF to allow the Office System to provide enterprise content management. (For more information about WWF, see "Workflow Strategy Takes Shape".)

All of the APIs listed above are based on the .NET Framework. When Microsoft first began discussing Windows Vista, one goal appeared to be that all new APIs for Vista would be based on the .NET Framework. The older Win32 APIs would continue to be available for application compatibility, but Vista would mark the start of a transition to new managed-code implementations of all the existing Win32 APIs and APIs for new services, such as WCF and WPF.

However, at least one new feature in Vista named "People Near Me," which provides peer-to-peer networking, is implemented using only traditional Win32-style APIs. Customers and partners will want to evaluate whether the new WinFX APIs will make it easier for them to develop applications or allow them to write new applications that would have been too hard to develop with the older, unmanaged Win32 APIs.

Improving Security and Reliability

Vista will build on the security and reliability improvements in Windows XP SP2 by adding several new and important features, including the following:

User Account Protection (UAP). Windows Vista will join other OSs, such as Linux and Mac OS X, that enforce good security practices by encouraging users to run with the least privileges needed to perform any task, rather than running as a system administrator—the current default with Windows XP.

UAP is one of the changes that customers and partners need to evaluate early to determine whether the applications they use on an ongoing basis will install, configure, and execute if the user is not an administrator, or whether they will need to be changed to run on Windows Vista.

Microsoft will provide mechanisms that will address common problems that cause applications to fail when they are run without administrator privileges and that will allow users to perform some OS operations that currently require administrator privileges, such as changing the system time. One such tool is the Consent User Interface, which is being added to many control panel dialog boxes to allow users to temporarily raise their privilege level by presenting administrator credentials. The escalated privilege only remains in effect long enough to complete the specific task.

UAP will also affect the way in which applications are installed and updated. While installing applications will still (appropriately) require administrative privileges, configuring user preferences is a common installation step that may not occur until the first time the application is run and should not require administrative privileges.

Restart manager. To reduce the number of reboots, the restart manager will be able to identify running applications and services that are using a component that must be patched, temporarily suspend those applications, stop the component or service, patch it, and then restart the service and the application, all without requiring a reboot of the PC. Developers will want to ensure that their patches work with the reboot manager.

Secure startup. Secure startup ensures that the OS has not been tampered with prior to loading and supports improvements for fully encrypting the contents of the computer's hard drives. Secure startup will require that the PC have a Trusted Processing Module (TPM)—a chip typically installed on the motherboard of a computer to store keys, passwords, and digital certificates. Secure startup is the last remnant of Microsoft's Next-Generation Secure Computing Base (NGSCB), a planned "secure OS" that was to rely on the TPM and ship with Vista; for now Microsoft appears to have abandoned other NGSCB features, with the exception of some additional video copy protection. Although Microsoft has not announced complete details on packaging and pricing, it has indicated that secure startup will be available only to corporate customers who license Windows Vista through an Enterprise Agreement or purchase Software Assurance.

Copy protection. Windows Vista will have new capabilities for enforcing content owners' restrictions on what end users do with their material, particularly high-definition video. For example, a set of technologies called Protected Video Path (PVP) can turn off unprotected digital outputs and require that video be encrypted as it travels across user-accessible buses. Although this won't improve security for end users, it improves security for content owners, who are worried about the PC as a tool for piracy.

Internet Explorer (IE) 7.0. Windows Vista will also include a more secure version of the integrated browser. Among other things, IE 7 will support a protected browsing mode, which prohibits the browser and any controls running in the browser from updating system files such as the Registry. Although some of the features in IE 7.0, such as anti-phishing technology, will be available on Windows XP SP2, the protected mode will only be available on Vista.

Organizing User Data

When Microsoft announced in Aug. 2004 that it would ship Vista in 2006, it also announced that Vista would not include the much-ballyhooed Windows File System (WinFS). At first, the removal of WinFS appeared to signal that Vista would not have an integrated search feature, but the Windows Desktop Search technology originally released as the MSN Search Toolbar will be integrated into Vista. This feature will allow users to index all the files on their computers and search for files based on keywords and attributes.

In addition, Vista will allow users to store search results as a "virtual folder," making it easier for users to group related files in a meaningful way so that they're easier to find. Vista will ship with several prebuilt virtual folders, such as All Documents, which will find all Office documents, and All Pictures, which will find all graphics, such as JPG and BMP files. Developers will be able to associate file types for their application data so data automatically appears in the appropriate virtual folder. For example, by creating an ".inv" file extension for invoices, and registering the .inv file extension as a document, any invoice files would be part of the All Documents virtual folder. (For an illustration of virtual folders in action, see "Windows Vista Virtual Folders".)

To allow Windows Desktop Search to index data stored in an invoice file, developers may need to provide implementations of the appropriate search APIs or provide a protocol handler and an Explorer Namespace Extension.

WinFS, which still runs as an extension to NTFS file system, is also currently in a first beta. However, it will not be a part of Vista when it ships, but likely will be released as an add-on.

Microsoft is now promoting WinFS as an essential piece of its Integrated Storage strategy, which is a new relational file system that provides new data types to cover all of the user's data and creates new data models that move beyond data organized in folders.

Communicating with Others

In addition to the Windows Communication Foundation, which simplifies the development of applications that can communicate by secure and reliable communication APIs, Vista will include several features designed to improve the way users and applications communicate. In addition to the People Near Me peer-networking feature, Vista will include support for Really Simple Syndication (RSS), which Microsoft and other advocates expect to become a common way for users to receive many kinds of information—even information that doesn't come from a Web site. A corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) application, for example, might produce an RSS feed with sales information updated on a daily basis, in addition to offering such information through traditional reporting technologies or via e-mail.

Microsoft plans to support RSS through two major components that will manage the download of feeds and provide an API for applications to retrieve the data.

The Common RSS Store will hold the list of RSS feeds (XML files that summarize a site or blog's contents) to which the user has subscribed and give application developers an API for adding and removing feeds and accessing content from feeds. A systemwide list of RSS feeds will allow multiple applications to access data from any of the user's feeds. A user could subscribe to a blog via IE, for example, and have any audio content published by that blog appear in Windows Media Player and any calendar entries appear in Outlook.

The Platform Sync Engine will download new content as it becomes available and place the content into the Common Store. Providing a system-level component that downloads RSS content removes one of the limitations of current RSS applications—the fact that new content is downloaded only while an RSS-enabled application is running.

Still Missing in Action

The first beta of Windows Vista does not include all of the features that will be in the final release. While some features in the current beta and technology preview will likely appear in the final release without additional changes, other features may gain additional functionality, and others that are missing from the current releases will be added.

The following three areas are likely to change between now and the final release:

The Windows desktop. Microsoft will continue to change the UI of the Windows desktop as it balances added features with the cost of retraining users already familiar with the current desktop.

Additional security features. Although it is expected that Vista will include integrated antispyware and perhaps antivirus support, these features are not part of the current beta or technology preview. In addition, it is not known whether the PC health monitoring features of the Windows OneCare Web service, such as scanning drives for errors or defragmenting files when needed, will be integrated into Vista.

Deployment. Microsoft has indicated that Vista will include new imaging tools to facilitate deployment, but only rudimentary command-line access to these imaging tools is available in the current builds.

Specific hardware requirements. Microsoft has still not provided specifics as to what hardware will be required to fully exploit Vista features. It appears that to exploit some new security features, such as secure startup, a computer must have a Trusted Processing Model. Similarly, to exploit WPF and the new desktop, computers need a graphics card with the ability to support at least DirectX version 9.0, but the experience could be better with graphics cards with an onboard Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and significant video memory.

The End Game

The Windows team has significant development and testing to complete before they will be able to ship Windows Vista. Microsoft insists it is still on schedule to ship Windows Vista before the end of 2006 and has apparently implemented new development processes designed to both ensure that it delivers a quality product and that it delivers it on schedule.

While the beta shows good stability, the fact that so many features are still to be added to the remaining beta and release candidates means that Microsoft will need to allow time for beta testers to provide feedback on issues that Microsoft cannot always detect, such as compatibility problems with certain combinations of hardware and software. This could cause unexpected delays or changes in features.

Because features will change and be added throughout the process, customers and partners need to take the time to evaluate changes in Vista to ensure that they understand how these changes might impact their existing applications and deployment strategies.

Also, while the first beta and PDC preview builds show how Vista is striving to meet Microsoft's stated goals, as well as delivering new plumbing for developers, it's too early to say whether it will meet the unstated goals of driving business upgrades and allowing Microsoft to claim an OS leadership position. Over the next year, if corporations decide to add Vista upgrades to their volume licensing agreements, and beta testers and early reviewers look upon it favorably, then Microsoft will be able to claim success in these areas as well.

Resources and Availability

Subscribers to the Microsoft Developer's Network (MSDN) can download Windows Vista Beta One from msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions.

General information on developing applications to exploit Windows Vista is available at the Vista Developer Center, msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default.aspx.

For background on the new content protection technologies in Windows Vista, see "New Content Protection Technology in Longhorn" on page 7 of the July 2005 Update.

A preliminary overview of the new search technologies in Windows Vista is available at msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/discoverable.

The first beta of the WinFS file system can be downloaded from msdn.microsoft.com/data/WinFS/default.aspx.

The Windows Vista Logo, which appears to still be undergoing substantial revision to incorporate partner feedback, purports to detail what is currently known about the hardware requirements of Windows Vista. It can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.mspx.