1.26.2007
More Than A Pretty Face
Posted by Chris Morley
A lot has been said about the graphical features of Vista, and they sure do look good. But not much has been said about how cool some of the features and technologies are!
Here's a quick run-down for those who are looking forward to Vista:
Under the hood
- SuperFetch - what's the point of having gobs of memory if it isn't utilized? Vista "learns" your computing habits and caches important files to memory in order to make the programs that you run every day start faster and react quicker.
- IPv6 - This new revision to the Internet Protocol has been fully integrated into Vista. It allows for several enhancements to network performance.
- Windows Search - similar to the Google Desktop, this indexed search technology significantly enhances the speed of searching your computer for documents, email, or media.
- Enhanced Core Technologies - improvements have been made to the memory manager, process scheduler, heap manager, and I/O scheduler.
Applications Galore
- Aero - the premiere feature of Vista, this 3D rendered desktop looks great, feels great, and allows for some very nifty management of open programs with Flip 3D and real-time thumbnail previews in your task bar.
- SideBar - a panel docked on the right of your screen where you can place Gadgets, small programs designed for specific purposes, like a CPU and memory tachometer, calendar, RSS feeds, and many more. Completely customizable.
- Internet Explorer 7 - supports tabbed browsing, improved web standards, and runs in protected mode for enhanced security.
- Windows Media Player 11 - a very robust reworking of Media Player, users can "search as they type," which brings up results as you type in your query. It is also features a new, highly graphical interface, and supports the ability to share your media library with other Vista machines, XBOX 360, or Media Center Extenders.
- Windows Mail - the replacement for Outlook Express, this new mail client now features the junk mail filtering of its big brother, Outlook. It also features a realtime search, a relief to those of us with a lot of mail!
- Windows Calendar - a new calendar and task application, it further adds Outlook functionality for free in Vista.
- Windows Photo Gallery - a photo and video management application that can import from digital cameras, tag pictures with keywords, adjust colors and exposure, create and display slideshows, and then burn them to DVD.
- Windows DVD Maker - the sister application to Windows Movie Maker, DVD Maker is a robust DVD authoring program that allows you to create custom DVDs with menus, chapters, and more.
- Windows Movie Maker - my personal favorite, the new Movie Maker is finally useful. Now you can capture HDV footage (YES!), utilize the power of your graphics card to enable real-time previews of transitions and effects, and then finally, FINALLY be able to burn it all to DVD.
- Media Center - OK, I think THIS really is my personal favorite. Media Center is now bundled with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate. It better supports HDTVs, and, drumroll please, supports digital cable! Get rid of that clunky cable box and forget TiVo! Also, Blu-ray and HD-DVD are finally supported, albeit with a 3rd party application. But boy, do they look good!
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