Windows Vista - First Impressions
by John Wilets
This article originally appeared in the March 21, 2007 edition of the Wisconsin Law Journal.
After many Beta tests, delays and years in development, Microsoft has finally released its newest operating system entitled Windows Vista. It would have been nearly impossible to miss the release – stores were open at midnight, parties were thrown and the news was full of reports about its release. To be honest though, even as a self-professed computer geek, I’m not quite sure why anyone would be excited enough about an operating system to stand in line in front of CompUSA at midnight.
It would be impossible to cover all the new features and enhancements found in Vista in a single article. Microsoft added a tremendous number of new features and implemented hundreds of additional changes to the interface of existing applications and utilities. I have been asked by many clients and friends whether it’s worth the upgrade, so I thought I’d approach this article by discussing the various versions that are available, some of the new features, the pros and cons, and finally, whether it makes sense to upgrade now.
Vista Versions
Microsoft has released multiple versions of its operating systems for many years. Windows XP, for example, was available in both Home and Professional editions, as well as Enterprise editions for larger corporations. Microsoft has expanded this by offering eight different versions of Vista. Fortunately for most consumers at least half of these versions can be tossed out the window immediately. Three are unavailable in the United States (mostly due to lawsuits in the EU that determine which types of multimedia technology are embedded in the system). The majority of home and small business owners can also ignore the Enterprise edition as it is only available through volume licensing.
The choice then comes down to the four remaining versions (each being available as an upgrade or full standalone edition):
Home Basic ($199 full, $99 upgrade)
Home Premium ($239 full, $159 upgrade)
Business ($299 full, $199 upgrade)
Ultimate ($399 full, $259 upgrade)
Vista Ultimate, as the name suggests, contains all the features that are available in all versions of Vista. If you don’t mind the additional cost and want to ensure you are getting all the new features Windows has to offer, this is the version to get. Home Basic is a very stripped-down version, lacking many of the interesting new interface features and multimedia applications that would make it worth an upgrade and therefore makes little sense to purchase as an upgrade to Windows XP.
For most small business users, those with a server and/or small peer-to-peer network, the Business or Ultimate versions will be the only choice. Neither of the Home editions allow a user to set up offline files or join a domain, critical for business users with a server.
Finally, for the home user, the choice really comes down to Home Premium or Ultimate. The Home Premium edition adds all the multimedia bells and whistles that the Home Basic edition lacks – the new Aero interface, multimedia center, dvd maker, games, high definition movie maker, etc. However, it does lack a few important new features that Ultimate provides, including a PC Backup and Restore utility, BitLocker drive security encryption and remote desktop connection. If you have a laptop, all three of the features mentioned are highly valuable for backing up your system, providing enhanced security if your system is ever lost or stolen and giving you remote access to an office’s Terminal Server.
New Features and “Pro’s”
Regardless of which version you choose, however, you’ll probably want to become familiar with Vista’s new features. What I found most interesting about the majority of new features is that they are available already for Windows XP – as either third-party or Microsoft add-ins. Microsoft consolidated and tweaked a number of these, whether they were from Microsoft directly or already available in other forms as third-party add-ins. It’s obviously impossible to list all the features in this article; however, the following are some of the more interesting and useful new features that Vista offers.
1. Instant Search. If you’ve used Google Desktop Search, or a number of other local search engines, you’ll recognize this immediately. The application is quickly accessible on the Start menu as a text box, and will perform a search for matching text in documents, e-mails, internet favorites, multimedia files, applications – really everything that has been saved and indexed on your system.
2. Windows Sidebar & Gadgets. I’ve been in many law firms throughout Wisconsin and have discovered that we Wisconsinites love to know that it’s 15 degrees and cloudy most of the year. The Windows Sidebar picks up where little plugins like Weatherbug left off. By default Vista displays not only the weather, but also a newsfeed, the current time (on a huge clock) and a mini-photo album on a transparent sidebar. The individual items are called “gadgets” and can be customized with hundreds of other time-wasters – everything from mini-games to a clock that counts the seconds in Jack Bauer “24” style. Great for home users, probably not the best application for office productivity.
3. User Account Control. While not as much fun as the gadgets, this can save a lot of time if you have users on your network that are constantly installing things they shouldn’t (which can lead to hours of cleanup removing spyware, adware, etc.) This is also the feature that is ridiculed so well in the new Apple Mac ads. In the past most XP systems were set up so that users had local administrative rights – that is, the users could install anything on the system. This was usually a necessary evil as many applications did not run properly if the user was not logged in as a local administrator.
Vista still provides lower level access for standard users. What has changed is that administrative accounts no longer run applications by default as the administrator. This means that many types of adware, malware, etc. will not have the same sort of access to critical system functions as they have in the past. The downside? You’ll see a lot more pop-ups asking if you want to run certain items as an administrator. Vista does allow extensive customization of the feature, however, including the ability force a user to enter administrative credentials in order to proceed.
4. Windows Defender. This is another feature Microsoft added to help combat malware, spyware and adware. In many ways it is similar to popular anti-spyware applications such as Spybot and Ad-Aware. Windows Defender works with Internet Explorer to block the installation of damaging software (and no, that doesn’t mean anything that doesn’t start with “Microsoft.”) In addition, you may perform full system scans for known spyware and malware products.
5. BitLocker Drive Encryption. BitLocker allows a user to encrypt the data on a hard drive. This will prevent someone from using another system or utility to access the files stored on the drive. The obvious benefit here is if you have a laptop that is lost or stolen it is much more difficult for someone else to access (or steal) the data.
6. Backup and Restore Center/Shadow Copy. Windows has provided backup utilities going back a few versions. However, Vista’s Backup and Restore Center provides an easy-to-use interface for backing up your documents and data to many types of media. The Shadow Copy feature lets you “roll back” files such as documents to prior versions that had been saved. For example, if you made a number of changes to a Word document that you meant to save into a separate client folder, but accidentally overwrote the original, you can now roll back to the prior version.
The “Con’s”
With all the new features, is there a downside (other than the cost) to the upgrade? The points below will explore some of the pitfalls in jumping on the Vista bandwagon right away.
1. Bugs. Let other users shake out the bugs and issues first. Although the product has been in Beta testing for a long time you can count on a number of fixes being released quickly after the rollout.
2. Drivers. Wait until drivers for your hardware and updates for your software have been written and thoroughly tested. Microsoft does have a utility to check your current hardware and software, but it’s not 100% accurate, and many applications will be playing catch-up for a short while.
3. Speed. Vista will run slower on your current system than Windows XP, and has pretty steep system requirements. The speed issue has been true of just about every version upgrade of Windows. Do you really want a performance hit on your current laptop or desktop?
4. Productivity. Windows Vista, as well as the new Microsoft Office 2007 suite, has gone through some pretty extensive interface changes. It will likely slow you down just poking around trying to find features that you’ve used often in XP and Office 2003. Whether the new interface will boost productivity in the long run remains to be seen.
Recommendations
Based on a review of the new features of the product, and balancing it with the disadvantages of moving to the new operating system, for most people I would recommend waiting on the upgrade. If some of the features mentioned above sound interesting, you may want to consider looking for an applications written for XP that perform the same functions.
If you are buying a new home system, you will likely not have a choice and will want to have Vista installed anyway to take advantage of the new features. Most systems manufactured today will have the processing and video card power to handle Vista. Most that are more than a year or two old will slow down significantly with Vista installed.
In most office environments I would recommend not upgrading the current systems, and instead waiting until application compatibility with your firm’s specific software has been confirmed. In addition, you will almost certainly not want to upgrade systems already in place, but instead install the new Vista systems down the road as they replace the older workstations.
All things considered, Vista does offer a number of useful new features as well as improvements to existing ones. Depending on your firm’s internal process and the aptitude of your staff to adjust to change, Vista could provide a boost to productivity. However, due to potential application compatibility and system performance issues, the best approach may be to wait until you get a new computer before taking the time to dig into the new operating system.
Advertisement: If you have additional questions about upgrading to Microsoft Windows Vista, please call ITP at 414-328-1751.
© 2007 ITPros USA. All Rights Reserved.
