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Welcome to the first
edition of a new series of IT Briefing notes from
appiChar. In this series we aim to cover a range of
issues that IT decision makers, such as yourself, need
to know about in order to make the best use of your IT
systems. We will cover topics that you may have seen in
the press and then present you with a digest of the
information you really need – what is it all about, what
are the costs and benefits, and do you really need to
worry about it right now. We hope you find the notes
informative and easy to understand, and we would love to
hear your thoughts – whether good or bad. Email us at:
feedback@appichar.co.uk.
In this issue we
profile Windows Vista, Microsoft’s latest operating
system and their replacement for Windows XP.
What is Windows Vista?
Windows Vista is
the latest offering from Microsoft of their Windows
operating system. You may have heard about Windows
Vista in the press, and certainly you will have seen a
lot about it if you read online IT news groups. It’s
taken its time coming but Microsoft has finally set a
date for when it will be readily available to buy and
shipped on new PCs – 30th January 2007.
Windows Vista has
been released to Microsoft partners, such as ourselves,
to allow them to familiarise themselves with the new
system. At appiChar we have it up and running on one of
the test machines in our lab so we can be fully prepared
for when Vista hits the streets.
What benefits does
Windows Vista offer?
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Microsoft are
marketing Windows Vista to businesses as the
most secure version of Windows yet. It is the
first Microsoft operating system to go through
their “Secure by Design, Secure by Default”
programme and it shows. An example of the new
security features they have included is User
Account Control (UAC) facility. This works by
automatically blocking any action which will
make a change to the system settings. The
system then prompts for the details of a user
with administrative access, without which the
action will be refused. This will greatly
reduce the ability of spyware and viruses
infecting a PC, which very often results in a
complete rebuild of the system – a costly
business in both downtime and support time.
Windows
Defender, Microsoft’s anti-spyware software, is
now fully integrated into the operating system,
providing realtime protection against malicious
software. Regular spyware scans can be scheduled
and unwanted startup programs can be disabled,
further protecting the system. |
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One of the most
obvious changes in Windows Vista is a completely
restyled user interface. Aero, as the new theme is
called, uses a glass-like user interface which adds a
new and much more enjoyable feel to using Windows. Gone
is the sluggish menu animation included with XP; Aero
uses your computer’s graphics power to add a crisp and
smooth feel to your desktop experience, and really does
give the Windows desktop something to rival Apple Macs
when it comes to the user experience.
One feature that
businesses are bound to find most useful, Microsoft have
finally included a vastly improved search function
within Windows Vista. Accessible directly from the
Start menu, this gives you almost instant results when
searching for documents on your system, text within
documents, emails, attachments and photographs. Never
lose a document again!
Are there any downsides
to Windows Vista?
As with all new
versions on Windows, Vista requires more resources on
your PC than previous versions, such as Windows XP.
Thus, whereas Windows XP would run quite happily with
512MB of memory (or even 256MB), Windows Vista will
likely require anything up to 1GB to run smoothly.
Also, the gorgeous Aero user interface will only run on
a PC which has a reasonably powerful graphics card.
Most business workstations bought in the last couple of
years are unlikely to have shipped with a sufficiently
powerful graphics card, and so won’t be able to
experience the new interface. However, all the other
features that businesses will find useful will still be
available.
Do I
need to worry about Windows Vista now?
There is no doubt
that Windows Vista is a great product that will have as
huge an impact on business PCs as Windows XP has.
Inevitably, once it is released, new PCs will start to
ship with Windows Vista pre-installed. However, this
won’t pose a problem for the stability of your office
network – Windows Vista will work with Microsoft Office
2003 and will join to your existing server without
causing problems. Naturally, before supplying a PC with
Windows Vista pre-installed, appiChar will ensure that
all of the software that will be used is compatible with
your new operating system.
Nevertheless, we
would counsel caution over deploying Windows Vista
immediately. Although it does contain some compelling
new security features and visual tricks, there are bound
to be bugs in the initial release version which will be
ironed out in the coming months. In contrast, Windows
XP with SP2 is now a very stable and well developed
operating system, and we would recommend staying with
this for at least the next few months.
Adam Monnery, IT
Consultant, appiChar Ltd |
